In the matrix of skills and professions that make up Applied Sports Science, the clinical professions–physical therapy and sports medicine–feel like the most difficult to integrate with the data and research that are becoming platforms for collaborations within teams and throughout sports. Art Horne told me about work he’d done at Northeastern University to foster closer […]
Read More →Archive for September, 2014
Strategy, Tactics and Applied Sports Science
Applied Sports Science has its most obvious application in the training athletes do to improve performance. It is straightforward enough to see how that extends to athletes’ injury prevention and rehabilitation. A bit further out, but still pretty obvious, is how sports science impacts talent development. Those are three of, what I think are, four […]
Read More →Improvement is a Weak Signal
The cliche goes, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” But data-enabled improvement is not automatic, especially when what you would like to get better at is everything, and everything is multi-faceted, but the data measures one thing at one point in time. It helps to have a plan and a goal. The plan should be flexible […]
Read More →Last Week in Applied Sports Science, 9/14-9/20
Teams are doing more and more with sports science, and more and more writing about sports science surfaces on the Internet. I try to pay attention to as much of it as I can. See enough of it and you start to make value judgments. Chief among those judgments is the mental note I make when I see an organization […]
Read More →SEL = Social-Emotional Learning
Human performance psychology is the term that I have adopted for the subset of social science that I happen to think is interesting and sports-relevant. I don’t know if it is actually a “thing” but it makes it possible (and, I’ll admit, easy) to get a bunch of important ideas under the big tent that […]
Read More →The Confident Sports Scientist
The schadenfreude directed at the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line after Week 1 was noticeable. Injury-free and fantastically productive, the five-man group was last season’s crowning sports science achievement, then boom, two get hurt, Pro Bowl left guard Evan Mathis (left knee) and right tackle Allen Barbre (right ankle). While the misfortune cannot be denied, if the Eagles […]
Read More →Last Week in Applied Sports Science, 9/7-9/13
Increased attention is being paid to the qualifications for people involved with athlete performance. As the professions involved with athlete performance integrate, the task of Applied Sports Science is often about collaboration, but absent real expertise those multi-faceted processes falter or fail. And as Applied Sports Science becomes a bigger deal, it becomes easier to […]
Read More →NCAA: Administrating Sports Science Since 2014
The NCAA recently announced that it will be leading a major longitudinal study on concussions, partnering in the work with the U.S. Defense Department and the National Institute of Health. The study will cost at least $30 million and it plans to include 40,000 athletes during the initial 3-year run. (More from the NCAA announcement, […]
Read More →Last Week in Applied Sports Science, 8/31-9/6
Companies were busy announcing fitness tracking products, attempting to gain a sliver of attention before Apple announces iWatch (expected for Tue) and consumes 100% of the oxygen available for these technologies. The recent reports on new products, and on Apple rumors, is long: Sony and Asus Jump Into Smartwatch Fray (The New York Times, Bits blog) First […]
Read More →Skill Endurance
I’m enjoying this year’s US Open tennis. The athletes making it through the tournament are winning with skill, and winning with endurance. The men’s matches take a different shape when it goes to the fourth and fifth sets. The women’s matches don’t have the same in-game pattern as the men, but you see the endurance plus […]
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