When it comes to succeeding at an overseas club, the assimilation game that U.S. prospects must play is an enigma, one that might very well have stumped famed cryptologist Alan Turing. Yet for U.S. under-17 international Christian Pulisic, it’s a code that he’s determined to crack.
It’s a challenge that is complex and full of subtlety. There is an entire culture to adapt to, both in terms of playing and everyday life. The game becomes a job, and not just a passion. Individual clubs and coaches add layers of complexity. Language can be a major barrier as well. Then there is the pressure to perform.
Seattle defensive tackle Kevin Williams will consider retiring after the big game on Sunday, reports azcentral. With 12 NFL seasons under his belt, the 34-year-old is quite literally an old pro now. But retiring from the NFL, or any high performance sport, isn’t easy. A lot of obstacles can come up as players transition into “normal life” — a life they’ve technically never had.
… Sunstein and Hastie understand why some leaders may take decisions on their own. “Making good group decisions is hard, and the difficulty sometimes makes us wonder whether it is worth the effort. For some people, a good group discussion is a rare experience,” they write. They point out that group decisions inevitably cost more because more people are involved, but they can also increase the cost of errors because they can make bad decisions.
Harvard Business Review, Christopher M. Barnes from
Humans have a well-defined internal clock that shapes our energy levels throughout the day: our circadian process, which is often referred to as a circadian rhythm because it tends to be very regular. If you’ve ever had jetlag, then you know how persistent circadian rhythms can be. This natural — and hardwired — ebb and flow in our ability to feel alert or sleepy has important implications for you and your employees.
In this study we compared different approaches to monitor changes in jump and sprint performance while using either the best or the average performance of repeated trials. One hundred and two highly-trained young footballers (U13 to U17) performed, in two different testing sessions separated by four months, 3 countermovement jumps (total player files = 87) and 2 sprints (n = 98) over 40 m with 10-m splits to assess acceleration (first 10 m) and maximal sprinting speed (best split, MSS). Standardized group-average changes between the two testing periods and the typical error (TE) were calculated and compared for each method. The likelihood of substantial changes in performance for each individual player was also calculated. There was a small increase in jump performance (+6.1% for best and +7% for average performance). While 10-m time was likely unchanged (~+1.2% for both best and average performance), MSS showed likely small improvements (~+2.0% for both best and average performance). The TE for jumping performance was 4.8% (90% confidence limits, 4.3;5.6) and 4.3% (3.8;5.0) using either best or average values, respectively; 1.8% (1.6;2.1) and 1.7% (1.5;1.9) for 10-m time, and 2.0% (1.8;2.3) and 2.0% (1.8;2.3) for MSS. The standardized differences between TE were likely unclear or trivial for all comparisons (e.g., 10-m, 0.01 (-0.09;0.10)). The number of players showing a likely increase/decrease in performance was: 30/0 and 29/0 for best and for average jump performances, 9/4 and 12/2 for 10-m times and finally, 33/4 and 33/4 for MSS. In conclusion, the two monitoring approaches are likely to provide similar outcomes.
Exclusive: Mark Ogden is granted rare, behind-the-scenes access to the world’s most glamorous club to see how Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and their fellow galacticos are taught to get even better. [video, pre-roll + 3:40]
Intellectual property licensor Rambus is going to provide a “platform” for the maker community and others to use to experiment with its previously announced lensless image sensors, according to CEO Ron Black.
Rambus is developing a lensless form of image sensor that replaces the lens with a diffraction grating and computation. Image sensors for smart objects don’t necessarily need to see the world the same way, or in as much detail, as humans. They can use lower cost, lower energy image sensors and a little computation.
At Intel’s big Make It Wearable competition in San Francisco late last year, the theme of the day was “no way.” As a parade of entrepreneurs took the stage to promote their Next Big Things, the phrase erupted in my brain again and again. A glove that tracks workers’ movements on a factory floor? No way. A turtle-shaped bionic baby that new mothers, whose premature infants have to stay in incubators, wear on their chests? No way. A drone that attaches to your arm, flies off when you flick your wrist, hovers, and snaps a selfie? I mean, come on!
And yet all of these notes from a sillier future were real—at least real enough to compete for a half-million-dollar prize from one of computing’s Godfather companies. Intel is covering itself in wearables. It bought Basis, maker of a multisensor watch that monitors movement, heart rate, and skin temperature to track your activity and sleep; it rolled out a line of technologized jewelry; and it is rumored that the next-generation Google Glass will have Intel inside. The reason for this push? Intel thinks wearables will be more ubiquitous than computers or phones. And it’s right. You won’t have just one wearable—you’ll have dozens. The biggest mistake everyone makes is assuming we’re going to wear the same one all the time.
The NFL will create the new position of chief medical officer to oversee all the league’s health policies.
In his annual Super Bowl news conference Friday, commissioner Roger Goodell announced the plan to hire an executive who will work with the league’s medical committees, advisers and the NFL Players Association.
Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy from
Objectives The purpose of this study is to better understand how ethical issues are experienced by university sports team athletic therapists and physical therapists. Background Clinical practice with sports teams is associated with a range of ethical issues. Common issues reported in the literature include confidentiality, return-to-play decisions, conflicts of interest, advertising, doping, and use of local anaesthetic. To date there has been limited examination, however, of how athletic therapists and physical therapists involved with sports teams experience these ethical issues, or exploration of how the ethical issues encountered are shaped by therapists’ professional roles and responsibilities. … Results Four key themes were developed relating to the participants’ experiences of ethical issues: establishing and maintaining professional boundaries, striving for respectful and effective collaboration, seeking answers to ethical concerns, and living with the repercussions of challenging decisions. Conclusion While many ethical issues reported by participants resemble those faced by sport medicine physicians, they are experienced in distinctive ways due to differences in professional roles and identities. Issues around professional boundaries are also more prominent for the participants than is reported in the literature for sports physicians. Effective communication and enhanced collaboration appear to be key elements to manage these ethical challenges.
LeBron James predicted the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers, featuring himself and new Cav Kevin Love, would take a while to hit their stride. (“A couple of months and maybe a few,” as he put it last month.) He appears to have been correct: After starting 19-20 — with enough ups and downs that at times some commentators prematurely declared the Cavs to have gelled — Cleveland has won eight straight games, including impressive victories against the Clippers, Bulls, Thunder and Trail Blazers.
We’re pretty sure that when James made that prediction, he wasn’t running regressions on historical NBA data. That’s because we tried, and we couldn’t find much evidence to back up the conventional wisdom.
Arsène Wenger is ready to give new arrival Gabriel Paulista his debut against Aston Villa on Sunday, after revealing that the Brazilian was signed in part because of his excellent statistics.
Arsenal paid Villarreal £12m for defender Gabriel, who does not speak a word of English. Like all signings, he was watched by club scouts, but Wenger said the 24-year-old’s statistics were particularly impressive. Arsenal have their own US-based data analysis company, StatDNA, which they bought for more than £2m in 2012 and which judges player performance based on detailed criteria.