NART™ – Proven, Tested, and Documented Through Five Decades of Teaching
and an approved program of NARTICA™
Ruth N. Nelson’s NART™ Program was developed from direct observation, applied coaching experience, and documented performance outcomes. Nelson first became interested in pool-based training after observing football and baseball players walking and exercising in the pool following serious injuries. She recognized that the aquatic environment offered two important training benefits: the water created a whirlpool-like effect that helped relax muscles, and changes in water depth provided varying levels of resistance during movement.
These observations led Nelson to begin testing her theory of water-resistance training as a performance-based method for volleyball athletes. She believed the pool could allow athletes to train at a high intensity while reducing excessive muscle overload associated with land-based conditioning, including running, jumping drills, elastic jumping, and weight training. The goal was to support athletic development while helping reduce soreness and injury risk.
The program began in 1973 and was used during the preseason, regular season, and offseason. Nelson designed the water resistance program to progressively overload many of the same physical movement patterns performed on land, but in the water. By keeping most exercises underwater, athletes were able to work against resistance while reducing the impact and pounding normally associated with repeated land-based training.
The training was designed to improve flexibility, agility, speed, quickness, movement efficiency, and vertical jumping ability. Pool training allowed Nelson to maintain high-intensity conditioning year-round while helping athletes continue to train and perform without the same level of physical breakdown often associated with traditional high-volume training.
During Nelson’s eight years at the University of Houston, athletes documented significant improvements in vertical jump performance. Players increased their vertical jump by approximately 8–10 inches, with the top jumper improving from 23 inches to 36 inches in less than two years. While athletes entered the program with varying levels of natural ability and volleyball experience, most averaged approximately a 10-inch increase, reaching approach jumps in the 28–30-inch range during their collegiate careers.
These results were achieved during a demanding training era in which athletes trained 4–6 hours per day, 12 months out of the year, while competing in an average of 50 in-season matches and approximately 60 offseason matches. The ability to maintain training intensity while helping athletes manage soreness, workload, and physical stress became a defining feature of Nelson’s aquatic resistance training approach.
In 1978, Nelson began testing weighted exercises in the pool at Ravenscroft School, just outside Raleigh, North Carolina. During that time, she met Mary Abdalla, a successful volleyball player at the University of North Carolina, who assisted Nelson during her camps. Abdalla became the first collegiate volleyball player outside the University of Houston to be introduced to Nelson’s water-resistance training methods.
In 1979, Abdalla accepted a graduate assistantship at Lamar University, where she designed and conducted her master’s thesis, “A Comparison of Swimming Pool Vertical Jump Training with Weight Vertical Jump Training and Their Effects on Vertical Jumping Ability.” The study compared swimming pool vertical jump training with land-based weight vertical jump training. The findings showed that the increase in jumping ability from the pool-based jump-training program was greater than that from land-based weight training, supporting the effectiveness of water resistance training for vertical jump development.
Special recognition is given to Dr. Mary Abdalla Steinhardt for designing and conducting the first formal study verifying the value and importance of Nelson’s water resistance training methods. Additional recognition is given to Terry E. Wiese, who motivated Nelson to demonstrate and document the essential exercises, data, and teaching progressions that became part of the NART™ Program. Wiese became the first certified NART™ instructor and trained more than 500 athletes in the Dallas–Fort Worth area over 5 years.
Through Nelson’s coaching application, Abdalla’s academic research, and Wiese’s continued implementation, NART™ became a proven, tested, and documented aquatic resistance training program with roots in collegiate, national, international, and professional volleyball performance.
Note: Ruth N. Nelson’s NART™ Program, along with Mary Abdalla’s master’s thesis, “A Comparison of Swimming Pool Vertical Jump Training with Weight Vertical Jump Training and Their Effects on Vertical Jumping Ability,” completed at Lamar University in 1980, helped identify and validate innovative aquatic resistance training techniques.
These techniques were successfully utilized from 1972–1991 at the University of Houston, LSU, the University of Iowa, and the 1984 U.S.A. Junior National Team, the 1979 U.S.A. World University Games Team, and the 1987 Dallas Belles Professional Team.
Today, many programs continue to use some form of water resistance training, reflecting the impact of Nelson’s work across collegiate, national, international, and professional volleyball.
These observations led Nelson to begin testing her theory of water-resistance training as a performance-based method for volleyball athletes. She believed the pool could allow athletes to train at a high intensity while reducing excessive muscle overload associated with land-based conditioning, including running, jumping drills, elastic jumping, and weight training. The goal was to support athletic development while helping reduce soreness and injury risk.
The program began in 1973 and was used during the preseason, regular season, and offseason. Nelson designed the water resistance program to progressively overload many of the same physical movement patterns performed on land, but in the water. By keeping most exercises underwater, athletes were able to work against resistance while reducing the impact and pounding normally associated with repeated land-based training.
The training was designed to improve flexibility, agility, speed, quickness, movement efficiency, and vertical jumping ability. Pool training allowed Nelson to maintain high-intensity conditioning year-round while helping athletes continue to train and perform without the same level of physical breakdown often associated with traditional high-volume training.
During Nelson’s eight years at the University of Houston, athletes documented significant improvements in vertical jump performance. Players increased their vertical jump by approximately 8–10 inches, with the top jumper improving from 23 inches to 36 inches in less than two years. While athletes entered the program with varying levels of natural ability and volleyball experience, most averaged approximately a 10-inch increase, reaching approach jumps in the 28–30-inch range during their collegiate careers.
These results were achieved during a demanding training era in which athletes trained 4–6 hours per day, 12 months out of the year, while competing in an average of 50 in-season matches and approximately 60 offseason matches. The ability to maintain training intensity while helping athletes manage soreness, workload, and physical stress became a defining feature of Nelson’s aquatic resistance training approach.
In 1978, Nelson began testing weighted exercises in the pool at Ravenscroft School, just outside Raleigh, North Carolina. During that time, she met Mary Abdalla, a successful volleyball player at the University of North Carolina, who assisted Nelson during her camps. Abdalla became the first collegiate volleyball player outside the University of Houston to be introduced to Nelson’s water-resistance training methods.
In 1979, Abdalla accepted a graduate assistantship at Lamar University, where she designed and conducted her master’s thesis, “A Comparison of Swimming Pool Vertical Jump Training with Weight Vertical Jump Training and Their Effects on Vertical Jumping Ability.” The study compared swimming pool vertical jump training with land-based weight vertical jump training. The findings showed that the increase in jumping ability from the pool-based jump-training program was greater than that from land-based weight training, supporting the effectiveness of water resistance training for vertical jump development.
Special recognition is given to Dr. Mary Abdalla Steinhardt for designing and conducting the first formal study verifying the value and importance of Nelson’s water resistance training methods. Additional recognition is given to Terry E. Wiese, who motivated Nelson to demonstrate and document the essential exercises, data, and teaching progressions that became part of the NART™ Program. Wiese became the first certified NART™ instructor and trained more than 500 athletes in the Dallas–Fort Worth area over 5 years.
Through Nelson’s coaching application, Abdalla’s academic research, and Wiese’s continued implementation, NART™ became a proven, tested, and documented aquatic resistance training program with roots in collegiate, national, international, and professional volleyball performance.
Note: Ruth N. Nelson’s NART™ Program, along with Mary Abdalla’s master’s thesis, “A Comparison of Swimming Pool Vertical Jump Training with Weight Vertical Jump Training and Their Effects on Vertical Jumping Ability,” completed at Lamar University in 1980, helped identify and validate innovative aquatic resistance training techniques.
These techniques were successfully utilized from 1972–1991 at the University of Houston, LSU, the University of Iowa, and the 1984 U.S.A. Junior National Team, the 1979 U.S.A. World University Games Team, and the 1987 Dallas Belles Professional Team.
Today, many programs continue to use some form of water resistance training, reflecting the impact of Nelson’s work across collegiate, national, international, and professional volleyball.
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