The Cubs’ win in the World Series generated lots of reports on how to build a championship team:
Five years in the making, ‘The Plan’ ends Cubs drought (Yahoo News, Reuters)
MLB: How Theo Epstein transformed the Cubs roster (ESPN, Bradford Doolittle and Luke Knox)
The Cubs Just Ended Baseball’s Analytics War (The Ringer, Rany Jazayerli)
Why a 39-year-old, back-up catcher is the real star of the World Series (Mashable, Jacob Lauing)
Other team-building how-tos in college football, NHL hockey and women’s college soccer are worth checking out:
How Nick Saban turned Alabama into a sleeker, faster juggernaut (SI.com, Campus Rush, Andy Staples)
Maple Leafs’ talent infusion all according to Shanaplan (Sportsnet.ca, Chris Johnston)
How Anson Dorrance built the one of the best women’s soccer teams (Excelle Sports, Tim Nash)
Talent identification and development take place at the intersection of sports psychology and sports data analysis. Often the how-to narratives emphasize the “plan” and forget the interaction between coaches, players and all of the chance circumstances that led to opportunities for teams’ improvement. The master builder who achieves what others cannot is a narrative archetype, not reality.
What’s more realistic is the team that punches above its weight and achieves beyond normal expectations will, if the success is sustainable, earn its way out of underdog status (from Blake Wooster at 21st Club Limited). It’s one team, but circumstances put the team and its coaches and players in two different worlds. And coaches and players have the opportunity to move to more prominent teams once they have shown their world-class ability. Consider Leicester City in the Premier League last year and now this year, or the current work of Julian Nagelsmann at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Bundesliga soccer.
Even before you look at building a team you can also look at what goes on at before athletes enter a team’s player pipeline. The world of pre-professional development and scouting have so many washouts that analysis defies easy explanation. Statistics are unreliable indicators, because athleticism at a young age misrepresents the actual talent of individuals. See:
April Heinrichs on Under-17 World Cup, Development Academy vs. ECNL and high school options (SoccerAmerica, Mike Woitalla)
I want you to make mistakes (USA Volleyball, John Kessel’s Growing the Game Together blog)
Scouting the Scouting Directors, Part 1 (The Hardball Times, John Larue)
Scouting the Scouting Directors, Part 2 (The Hardball Times, John Larue)
Tales of a Football Scout: An Interview with Massimo Tanzillo (Outside of the Boot, Kaustubh Pandey)
In an age of public game statistics and social media what counts as competent decision-making fluctuates. Amidst the noise there is ground truth. Knowing that ground truth should lead to confident decisions and quality outcomes, regardless of the competence consensus.
More things that I read and liked last week:
The Thrilling Competence of Joe Maddon and Terry Francona (November 02, The New Yorker, Ian Crouch)
Sleep Debt Accumulates Quickly (November 06, Breaking Muscle, Marc Halpern)
How Nick Saban turned Alabama into a sleeker, faster juggernaut (November 03, SI.com, Campus Rush, Andy Staples)
Does Sports Science Even Matter? (November 04, LinkedIn, Stephen Smith)
MLB: How Theo Epstein transformed the Cubs roster (November 06, ESPN, Bradford Doolittle and Luke Knox)
Research Finds Brain Changes, Needs To Be Retrained After ACL Injury (November 04, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center)
The Saturday Read: How a baby-faced genius re-invented Hoffenheim (November 05, Onefootball magazine)
Maple Leafs’ talent infusion all according to Shanaplan (November 06, Sportsnet.ca, Chris Johnston)
How Anson Dorrance built the one of the best women’s soccer teams (November 04, Excelle Sports, Tim Nash)
How (and How Not) to Refuel | Runner’s World (November 04, Runner’s World, Sweat Science blog, Alex Hutchinson)
Football injuries and their prevention with Swedish football injury warriors Martin & Markus (November 02, BMJ Blogs: BJSM blog)
Machines Can Now Recognize Something After Seeing It Once (November 03, MIT Technology Review)
Nanosensor reveals temperature variation in the muscles of live creatures (November 03, Chemical & Engineering News)
Punching above your weight (November 03, 21st Club Limited, Blake Wooster)
The Cubs Just Ended Baseball’s Analytics War (November 03, The Ringer, Rany Jazayerli)
April Heinrichs on Under-17 World Cup, Development Academy vs. ECNL and high school options (November 03, SoccerAmerica, Mike Woitalla)
Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect: Scott Barry Kaufman and David Epstein Reconsider the Science of “10,000 Hours” to Greatness (November 01, Heleo)
The myth of self-control (November 03, Vox, Brian Resnick)
Five years in the making, ‘The Plan’ ends Cubs drought (November 03, Yahoo News, Reuters)
How genetic testing of questionable value is infiltrating the world of sports (November 02, STAT, Rebecca Robbins)
I want you to make mistakes (November 01, USA Volleyball, John Kessel’s Growing the Game Together blog)
Scouting the Scouting Directors, Part 2 (November 02, The Hardball Times, John Larue)
Tales of a Football Scout: An Interview with Massimo Tanzillo (November 03, Outside of the Boot, Kaustubh Pandey )
Pep Guardiola ‘Another Way of Winning’ by Guillem Balague extract: The Manchester City approach (November 01, Sky Sports)
Scouting the Scouting Directors, Part 1 – The Hardball Times (November 01, The Hardball Times, John Larue)
Why a 39-year-old, back-up catcher is the real star of the World Series (November 02, Mashable)
How turmoil in US women’s soccer could drive players to Europe (November 01, The Guardian, Beau Dure)
VO2 Max guide: Understand and increase your VO2 max with wearables (November 01, Wareable, UK)
Reliving the moment Minnesota Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater went down (October 31, ESPN NFL, Tim Keown)
Influence of Fatigue on Tackling Ability in Rugby League Players: Role of Muscular Strength, Endurance, and Aerobic Qualities (October 31, PLOS One; Tim J. Gabbett)