Welcome

The National Strength and Conditioning Association is proud to announce the revitalization of the National Strength and Conditioning Association Foundation (NSCAF). The mission of the foundation is to act exclusively for charitable, educational, or scientific objectives.

The newly appointed Foundation Officers are: President, Joseph P. Weir, PhD, FNSCA, Vice President Jeffrey R. Stout, PhD, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT, *D, FNSCA, Secretary/Treasurer Joan Eckerson, PhD, CSCS, FNSCA. This team is eager and excited to oversee the growth and development of this foundation.

A major goal of the foundation is to aid in the increase of assets of the foundation in order to increase grants and scholarships for NSCA members. Donations will come from contributors and selected sponsors who are also dedicated to science and research.

With the growth of the foundation, the NSCA will have the ability to give back to its membership, affirming the mission of being the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning, supporting and disseminating research-based knowledge and its practical application.

From the National Strength and Conditioning Association Foundation

This is my final update to the NSCA community before my term ends in July 2009. It has been an honor to serve as President of the NSCAF for the past three years. First, we are in the midst of completing our yearly funding of scholarships and grants for 2009. I want to thank the members of the various committees, especially Education and Research, for their hard work in reviewing proposals and applications. This is a lot a work and is largely thankless.

In keeping with the current reality of research costs, the size of the research grant awards was increased so that now we fund $5,000 for Master’s grants (up from $2,500), $10,000 for Doctoral grants (up from $5,000), and $15,000 for Young Investigator Awards (up from $10,000). In total, we will fund over $60,000 for research grants, which is about $20,000 more than in 2008. I would also like to thank GNC, our corporate sponsor, for their generous support of these grants. The growth of these grants positions the NSCA to be an extremely attractive organization for young sport scientists, and I expect that we will see an expanding infusion of research talent into the NSCA family. We will also fund $16,000 for scholarships this year. As with the research grants, these funds support our young members and help fuel the future of the NSCA. I hope that an emphasis of the NSCAF next year will be to expand our scholarship program.

With respect to the NSCAF investments, in November of 2008, after much discussion and near daily tracking of the markets with our financial advisor, we initiated our predetermined investment strategy. We moved about 1.4 million dollars from a money market fund into a conservative, diversified, and balanced portfolio of about 50% equities and 50% fixed income assets. I also became acquainted with the stress of being responsible for the performance of other people’s money during a time of economic turmoil. Despite the ups and downs of the markets since then, as of this writing our portfolio has markedly outperformed a 100% money market strategy. We have been fortunate to “get in” after the huge market correction of last Fall, and we are positioned to benefit greatly from the economic recovery.

As a result of cost savings, the NSCA has recently transferred approximately $700,000 to the NSCAF. The NSCAF spending policy is based on allocating ~5% of NSCAF assets (calculated at the beginning of each calendar year) to funding new grants and scholarships. So based on the current 2.2 million dollars in NSCAF assets, we should expect to see significant increases in grants and scholarships next year.

Yours Truly,

Joseph P. Weir, PhD, FNSCA
NSCAF President

Dates to Remember

March 15—All grant and scholarship applications due

July—Winners announced

September—Funds disbursed to the college or university