NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 110: Christina Rasnake

Christina Rasnake, Director of Sport Science and Analytics at the University of Delaware, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about the budding future of sport science in college athletics. Topics under discussion include the staffing of sport science initiatives, effective communication across departments, and how technology and wellness surveys can support actionable change in the coaching process. 

Find Christina on Twitter: @Coach_Raz26 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

Show Notes

“I think having an understanding of different ways to measure power, power output through just jump mat, for instance, or a Vertec utilizing the metrics that you're collecting to use equations to give you power in watts is really easy to do. Most universities, D1 to D3 to NAIA to JUCO, they're going to have something there that you can measure jump height, even if it's a wall and a tape measure. You can make that work.” 8:30

“If I get a red flag from a student athlete and let's say their sleep is poor and their muscle soreness is really high, we can ask our athletic trainers to provide self-care information for the athlete on what they should be doing to help with their nicks and bruises.” 13:21

“I'm going to have about nine sport management majors that are going to assist me with the administration of our performance technology, assisting the strength and conditioning coaches and athletic trainers with providing self-care, as well, to our students, and to help me with dashboards. And yet again, I'm looking at it as an opportunity to help educate and build the field, grow the field, because it is young.” 15:00

“So a lot of what I took from it was understanding how to communicate to different people and different personalities. If I spoke to everybody on staff the same way, not everybody is going to hear me correctly or understand or take it the same way. So it really taught me to get to know the people around me.” 18:20