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Strength and Conditioning Room Goes Digital

The vision to go paperless in the strength and conditioning room at Springfield College is an idea that Brian Thompson had been floating for several years. However, this year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced everything surrounding workouts to be re-evaluated, and the paperless vision became a reality.

What resulted was yet another differentiator for the Springfield College Athletics program that aides in the recruitment and retention of student-athletes. The initial plan was to have iPads at each platform, a common practice at other facilities, but it was determined that the setup would not be feasible. Instead, six 48-inch flat screen monitors were placed in the strength and conditioning room, creating an environment that is only rivaled at Division I football facilities.

“This separates us from others. Especially during the pandemic, we didn’t want to hand out papers and store files, it just didn’t seem like a best practice,” said Thompson, graduate program director for strength and conditioning. “The televisions allow us to post programs for student-athletes to see and show videos of example exercises. Not many facilities, especially not at our level, have anything like this.”

In addition to how the Springfield College student-athletes can benefit from this streamlined process of information, it also has proven to be a terrific classroom enhancement and teaching tool for lectures for the classes that are held in the strength and conditioning room.

Thompson added, “It really has been great for us. We just had Apple TV units installed as well, just further enhancing the experience.  It’s been so well received from the student-athletes to our coaches.  We can do so many things, from the ability to assist our instruction to assisting to recovery and recapping the workout afterwards.” 

Funds made available through Friends of Springfield College Athletics continue to benefit all our student-athletes through upgrades in the strength and conditioning facility, from the most recent purchase of televisions to the turf addition in 2018. The resources continue to allow our student-athletes to thrive as they reach for their potential.