BEHIND THE SCENES: SMI Strength & Conditioning Symposium

January 31, 2026

Virtual

Coach Joe “Big House” Kenn

This past weekend, Dynamic Fitness & Strength (DFS) served as the title sponsor for the 12th Annual Sports Medicine Institute (SMI) Strength and Conditioning Symposium, hosted by Gary Hazelwood, Sports Performance Supervisor at SMI, and Coach Keith Swift, Director of Strength and Conditioning at Wofford College. This marked the third consecutive year DFS has served as the title sponsor.

In past years, the symposium was hosted live on Wofford’s campus. This year, DFS was excited to give clinicians a virtual look inside Wofford’s newly renovated weight rooms, fully outfitted with DFS equipment.

Unfortunately, the weather threw us a curveball, and the event had to pivot quickly to a virtual format. Credit to Gary and his staff—the decision was made Friday afternoon for an 8:00 a.m. first speaker to start on Saturday. Despite the short turnaround, the event ran flawlessly. We made it through an entire day without a single technical issue, which is what I like to call a major #WORDS-WIN moment.

The speaker lineup was not only strong but extremely diverse. Nearly every major topic related to improving athletic performance was addressed, including speed training, nutrition, jump training, programming, sport psychology, and sports science. I was impressed by both the depth and practicality of the information presented. A sincere thank you to all the speakers who came prepared and delivered actionable takeaways for coaches at every level.

Our featured speaker was Dr. Adam Feit, based at Springfield College. His presentation, Building the Complete Athlete: Merging Sport Psychology and High Performance, was outstanding. This topic is one I’m personally diving deeper into, and Adam is also a former staff member of mine from our time together at Arizona State, Louisville, and the Carolina Panthers.

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Building the Complete Athlete: Closing the Gap Between Performance and Potential

In high-performance sport, we often focus on what’s measurable—strength numbers, speed times, conditioning outputs, and competitive results. Those metrics matter. However, most performance limitations aren’t physical. They exist in the space between what an athlete can do and what they consistently do under pressure.

That gap is where psychology, behavior, and environment intersect.

Building the complete athlete requires understanding that performance isn’t driven by a single system. Athletes operate across multiple, interconnected domains, and when one is neglected, performance eventually stalls. Research highlighted in this presentation emphasized a four-coactive model of athlete health: emotional regulation, cognitive processing, identity and purpose, and physical preparation. High performance requires alignment across all four—not just strength and conditioning.

A recurring theme throughout the presentation was the contrast between where we are and where we can be. Every athlete and program exists somewhere on that spectrum. The real questions aren’t motivational; they’re practical: What’s holding us back? How is comfort limiting progress? What daily behaviors must change to close the gap? Progress doesn’t happen by accident—it happens through intentional, daily actions.

This is where the role of the strength and conditioning coach continues to evolve. Beyond applying scientific principles, coaches already influence confidence, motivation, and goal clarity—often without labeling it as sport psychology. In fact, collegiate strength coaches most frequently engage mental skills through confidence building, motivation, and goal setting. The opportunity isn’t to add more responsibility, but to be more deliberate with what we already do.

Belief is a powerful driver of behavior. The Pygmalion Effect reminds us that expectations shape outcomes. Athletes perform better when high standards are clearly communicated and consistently reinforced. Our language, tone, and standards matter. Athletes must believe that we believe in them before they fully commit to themselves.

Mental skills are not abstract concepts—they are trainable capacities. They help athletes manage stress, stay focused, respond to setbacks, and adapt under pressure. Confidence is ultimately built through competence—earned through mastery, experience, and exposure to challenging environments.

High performance scales fastest when the entire organization is aligned. When coaches, staff, and athletes row in the same direction, potential becomes performance. Start with what you have. Start where you are. But start intentionally—because building the complete athlete is about doing what matters, together.

As we continue our goal of delivering elite speaker lineups, keep an eye out for next year’s event. A sincere thank you to Robbie Cole, Jennifer Brunelli, Rod Hill, Tony Smith, Adam Feit, and Juan Camacho for outstanding presentations, and a special round of applause to Gary, Coach Swifty, and their staffs for adapting on the fly to deliver a tremendous event.

Words Win.

Joe “Big House” Kenn

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