NSU Strength and Conditioning program develops champions

By Isabella Fernandez De Cueto and Bella Giaquinto •

The Strength and Conditioning program for NSU’s student-athletes has been a contributing factor to the recent success NSU athletics has had on a national level.

Steve Orris is the assistant athletic director for Sports Performance and Student Athlete Wellness, as well as the head strength and conditioning coach. He currently trains the softball team and assists with volleyball and women’s soccer.

He began his career at the University of Florida, training the football team from 2003-2004, the baseball team from 2004-2009, the softball team from 2004-2011, and the women’s basketball team from 2009-2011. He came to NSU in 2011 and has made substantial changes to the program due to his experience at a Division I university.

“When I got here, I tried to recreate the big program I came from, so since then we’ve added a lot of funding, facilities, and equipment. We have definitely made it a priority,” Orris said.

The growth and emphasis on strength and conditioning training at NSU can be seen through the number of staff.

“Most Division II programs have one, maybe two, strength coaches. Here at NSU we have five, which shows how much we have put into this training,” Orris said.

During Orris’s almost 13 years training various teams here, he was able to watch one of his former athletes develop a similar passion.

Andrew Labosky is the assistant strength and conditioning coach, who trains baseball, men’s and women’s swimming, and men’s and women’s basketball. He played baseball for NSU from 2017-2021.

“Because I played baseball here for five years, I learned strength and conditioning inside and out. I fell in love with it and knew I wanted to be a part of this program,” Labosky said

Strength and conditioning training involves lifting weights to get stronger, but the program here at NSU stresses the importance of lifting for injury prevention.

“We focus a lot on injury prevention because we want our athletes performing at a high level all of the time, and they can’t do that if they’re injured,” Orris said. “The teams that win championships are the healthiest teams at the end of the season, so we spend a lot of time making our athletes’ bodies strong and we’ve seen the results over the last several years.”

Another fundamental aspect of the strength and conditioning program is the environment the coaches foster during training.

“I always tell my athletes to leave your problems out of the weight room. This is a place where we have fun, work hard, and focus on ourselves,” Labosky said.

This approach seems to have worked for the athletes.

“We have created a culture where the athletes don’t just come in for their team sessions, but whenever they want to get work in. This comes from the work ethic we have helped instill in them,” Labosky said.

While athletes are working on their strength and conditioning, they are also working on their mental toughness and developing life skills.

“Responsibility, grittiness, mental toughness, and confidence are all values our athletes use in training, but they will also use them as they venture out into the world after college athletics,” Labosky said.