Perspectives Winter/Spring-2017

32 • NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Health and Human Performance FORT LAUDERDALE Exercise and Sport Science Students Assess Professional Hockey Hopefuls A group of exercise and sport science students were able to put their skills to the test in the big leagues in the summer of 2016. For the third straight year, Tommy Powers, CSCS, PES, CES, head strength and condition- ing coach for the Florida Panthers hockey team, invited NSU students and their faculty mentors to assist with physiological and functional testing at the team’s development camp. The participants, which included faculty mentors Corey Peacock, Ph.D., CSCS, CISSN, CPT, and Tobin Silver, Ph.D., CSCS, also had the opportunity to test some of the veteran players. Powers and his staff members use an approach where athletes rotate through stations, such as body composition, functional movement patterns (e.g., overhead squat), vertical jump, and muscular endurance (e.g., side-plank hold). The testing process is imperative to identify areas for improvement from both a performance and injury-risk perspective. “It was a great experience,” said student participant Samuel Castillo. “It helped me get repeti- tions under my belt for functional testing as well as my evaluation and goniometry skills.” n From left: Tommy Powers; Kourtney Kostzer; Winter Rodriguez; Tobin Silver; Brittany Calaluca; Samuel Castillo; Eddie Reyes, Florida Panthers’ strength and conditioning specialist; Dan Ogle; and Corey Peacock