USA Lacrosse is looking for an Applied Sport Scientist & Researcher to join our team and work with the VP, High Performance in our Center for Sport Science & Safety. The primary responsibilities of this role are to lead applied sport science support for the National Teams (NT) and National Teams Development Program (NTDP), manage the applied research and innovation programs, and collaborate in knowledge translation and education in this area of our business. This role will work cross-departmentally and alongside key stakeholders (i.e., athletes, coaches, medical personnel, research collaborators, etc.) to ensure all athlete support, applied research, and educational initiatives of the Center have positive outcomes.
If you are an analytical and driven researcher who excels in collaboration and wants to work in the field of sport science to support and help elite athletes excel on the lacrosse field, this could be a great opportunity for you. You will get to work alongside talented and passionate professionals, top athletes, coaches, medical personnel, and research collaborators to apply sport science and research in a way that will enable athletes to enhance their performance so they can perform at peak levels.
A Typical Day Looks Like…
National Teams and National Teams Development Program
- Collects, manages, analyzes, and reports on training, competition, and testing data for National Team (NT) and National Team Development Program (NTDP) athletes.
- Travels with USAL’s NTs to implement and oversee all protocols for athlete monitoring systems, including but not limited to GPS, heart rate, surveys, and hydration.
- Coordinates and oversees GPS data collection and implements performance testing protocols for NT and NTDP athletes.
- Applies best practices to data lifecycle management including, but not limited to, data collection, processing, storage/access, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and dissemination to ensure accuracy and compliance.
- Leads the ongoing data/technology integration and reporting using our Athlete Management system (AMS) software.
- Supports NT Strength & Conditioning coaches with use of online training prescription platform.
Research, Analysis, & Reporting
- Stays up to date and informed on current research, best practices, and emerging technologies relevant to sports science, sharing insights with the team to enhance department initiatives.
- Leads and contributes to internal applied sport science research projects to include potential collaboration with external researchers.
- Manages applied sport science research protocols ranging from MOUs to manuscript submissions to ensure projects remain on schedule and are successfully completed.
- Generates post-event reports and data feedback workflows to promote the dissemination of data and performance insights to appropriate NT and NTDP stakeholders.
Administration & Communication
- Collaborates with the marketing and communications team to develop educational assets and content (across different formats) for USAL membership on relevant and timely sport science and sport medicine related topics. Knowledge translation is critical to this process.
- Implements and updates internal standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Sport Science protocols for areas including, but not limited to, GPS technology, hydration monitoring, recovery/regeneration strategies, and injury surveillance.
- Assists in developing an overview of long-term athlete profiling across technical, tactical, physical, and mental performance pillars.
- Supports return-to-play protocols with NT medical support personnel as needed.
- Supports the development and execution of the budget for the Center for Sport Science & Safety.
- Supports the VP, High Performance by providing administrative leadership and organizational support to the Center for Sport Science & Safety and the Sports Science & Safety Committee.