From Barbells to Boardrooms: Finding your place at the Table - General Session
Rick Canter joined the Longwood University athletics department in August, 2011 and oversees all areas of Longwood’s student-athlete enhancement unit, which includes academic services, sports medicine, compliance and student services, and sports performance. He was promoted to Deputy Athletics Director in January, 2021, after previously serving as Senior Associate Athletics Director/Administration beginning in June, 2019. Canter's ascent at the uppermost levels of Longwood athletics' administration followed nearly a decade working on the Longwood Sports Performance team, on which he held posts as Director of Sports Performance and Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Performance and Leadership. He also served as Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Enhancement before being promoted to Senior Associate AD in 2019. At Longwood, Canter has direct oversight of academic services, sports medicine, sports performance, and sports psychology consulting, while also serving as sport supervisor of the baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, and men's soccer teams. Canter manages the entirety of the SAF/SAOF as well as the student-athlete scholarship budget. He has served as an Adjunct Professor since 2011, teaching courses in kinesiology, sports administration, and sports leadership, being highly involved in curriculum design. Canter streamlined the Coaches Leadership Academy in Fall 2019, which aims to develop leadership traits for Longwood sport coaches through monthly meetings and exposure to leadership development programming. Canter previously served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Robert Morris University from 2009-11. At Robert Morris, Canter developed and implemented training programs for women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, tennis and golf. He also created and executed training programs in conjunction with the RMU wellness committee for faculty, staff and students. Prior to Robert Morris, Canter served as an intern strength and conditioning coach at Auburn from May through August of 2009. He assisted in strength and conditioning programs for football and softball and worked with student-athletes on sports nutrition. In addition, Canter worked as an intern strength and conditioning coach at the University of Pittsburgh with men’s and women’s basketball from May-August 2008, as well as an intern strength coach at Bloomsburg during his time as an undergraduate. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Canter earned his bachelor of science degree in exercise science from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2009, and his master of science in instructional leadership with a concentration in sport management from Robert Morris University in 2011.
