| Lacrosse participation in recent years has experienced tremendous growth. Though lacrosse has been documented as the oldest team sport in North America, lack of research exists regarding appropriate strength and conditioning systems for the sport. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two lacrosse-specific preseason strength and conditioning programs offered to NCAA DII men's and women's lacrosse players. This synthesizes literature covering lacrosse's past; lacrosse's current status; differences in play between men's and women's lacrosse; physiological profiles of male and female lacrosse athletes; injury prevalence in both genders; and the various strength training and conditioning programs offered to lacrosse players of both genders that have been published to date. Performance testing data was collected from the head strength coach at three different testing intervals, and these secondary data underwent a statistical analysis in order to determine whether or not the strength and conditioning programs increased lacrosse-specific performance abilities.;The results of this study indicate that each strength and conditioning program increased the performance of male and female lacrosse athletes as measured by a timed 40-yard dash, timed 5-10-5 agility drill, vertical jump measured in inches, 1 rep max bench press measured in pounds, and 1 rep max squat measured in pounds. The increases in performance were similar for both male and female athletes. The results are not broadly generalizable, as other performance testing parameters exist that are more specific to the game of lacrosse than those used by the strength coach in this study. Lastly, this study does not examine any effect that the strength and conditioning programs may have had on injury prevention. |
