Nick Ball is a Professor at the University of Canberra specializing in Strength and Conditioning. Nick obtained his Ph.D. in neuromuscular mechanics and its application to resistance exercise from the University of Portsmouth (UK). Nick has held positions prior as Head of School for Health Science and Discipline Lead for Sport and Exercise Science. Nick has been an Accredited Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach for over 20 years with qualifications in Australia (Lv 2 Pro-Coach) and UK (ASCC). Nick has held roles as Head of Athlete Preparation for the UC Capitals WNBL team, which includes Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth Games athletes. Nick has performed biomechanical and strength coach servicing to aid in the optimisation of techniques in sports such as para-equestrian, basketball, squash, hockey, golf, running and rugby. Nick is currently leading on strength and conditioning delivery for over 100 youth athletes in a range of sports and within the ACT schools system.

Nick’s research expertise has historically focussed the neuromuscular responses to resistance exercise with a focus on co-ordination and transfer of training and the role of the neuromuscular system and resistance exercise in injury prevention.

Nick has an emerging research area in youth sport strength and conditioning, whereby coaching paradigms, exercise modalities, and load management are being explored in the context of biological age and injury prevention.

Specific ongoing research projects in this area include:

• Role of sport sampling on co-ordination in youth athletes 
• Training management in youth athletes during periods of growth related injury.
• Impact of priming activities on youth athletes exercise performance