Applied Sports Science newsletter – July 15, 2015

The Mavs have finalized what has been billed as a ‘two-year deal’ with oft-injured point guard Deron Williams. But in truth, this will be a one-year deal as the DFW native comes home to rehab … well, everything.

Beneath every striped cap, somewhere in the psyche of each player in the All-Star Game on Tuesday, were two competing emotions.

“You’ve got to pinch yourself and go, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” Mark Melancon, the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, said before the game. “And on the other side you go: ‘I belong here. This is me.’ ”

The feeling was most acute, it seemed, for pitchers, no two of whom dominate in quite the same way. Even at a game in which every pitcher was among the best in the world, envy was everywhere.

Congratulations David Lloyd and team on winning an ARC linkage grant with Phillips, Noraxon and Orthocell. … The project aims to develop a better understanding of the loading conditions that optimise tendon metabolism. Based on this, it then intends to develop new technologies to estimate the mechanical behaviour of the human Achilles tendon in real time based on integrated use of wearable technology, and new training guidelines that will optimise human tendon adaptation.

ollegiate athletes often use nutritional programs and supplements to elicit body composition changes in muscle or fat. It is unknown if athletes can accurately perceive their fluctuations in body composition, yet their understanding may help them make more accurate interpretations regarding the success of potential nutrition or exercise regimens. The purpose of this study was to investigate if collegiate hockey players could accurately perceive a change in body composition during a 3-month period within their regular season, in which no pre-determined nutritional or exercise program was provided. Twenty-four male Canadian collegiate hockey players completed pre-season and mid-season body composition assessments using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Immediately before the mid-season scan, players attempted to accurately match their perceived fluctuation in composition, with pre-determined categorical ranges of relative body composition and strength. Two thirds of players and one-half of players accurately perceived changes in arm-lean and arm-fat tissue respectively. Approximately two-thirds of players did not accurately perceive gains or losses of lean or fat tissue within their leg and overall body. Although some athletes partially detected changes in the lean and fat tissue of particular regions, the vast majority of players cannot detect the type, or amount of tissue gained and lost across the overall body. Body composition assessments, rather than an athlete’s perceptions should be used to help interpret the success of a sport nutrition or exercise program. Athletes should be aware that physiologic adaptations might take place unnoticed, which could affect the acceptance and adherence of nutrition or exercise interventions.

… When it comes to rosters and playing time, there is no limit on the number of players that can be rostered as long as each player starts a minimum of 25% of the club’s games. Each Academy club plays approximately 30 league games, including six games played at Showcases. The season begins in September and commences with Finals Week in July.

Based on these facts, if your son is getting more exposure and game time playing for his high school and club team with success as you have indicated, you need to consider whether you want to risk reducing his playing time.

Mathematically speaking, with all the Academy organizations, it is interesting to read that U.S. Soccer showed only 45 clubs reported national signing day players and the total for 2015 was 357.

Fitbit now features a Tory Burch-branded line of fitness trackers. The devices themselves—the gizmos that actually turn your movements into data—feature the recognizably be-mazed Burchian logo, rendered in rich golds and silvers; they’re displayed, in turn, on bands of metal and leather. In a few cases, they hang from chains like pendant necklaces. The partnership that gave rise to these jewelry-esque trackers, the Burch meets the ’bit, bring the ideas they embody—fitness! fashion!—together, and suggest what anyone who has ever worn a Fitbit bracelet, or a Jawbone Up, or a Withings watch, knows to be true: That fitness tracking can double, in its way, as a fashion statement.

The problem with fashion trends, though, is that they tend to be true to their name: They’re fickle, coming in and out of style with predictable volatility. (According to the Klum Law of Fashion Thermodynamics: “One day you’re in, and the next day, you’re out.”) In that sense, it’s unsurprising what the Associated Press is now reporting: That many fitness tracker owners are abandoning their devices, consigning them to junk drawers/obliging relatives/the junk drawers of obliging relatives.

In a radio show this week and a live event next week, EE Times hosts contenders for a low cost, wide area network for the Internet of Things.

Last week, we reported that Los Angeles is replacing upward of 100 grass soccer fields (an incredible number for one city, if you think about it) with artificial turf, in an effort to save water and give soccer players a surface that won’t devolve into dirt every four months.

The new fields will not use the dreaded “crumb rubber,” those tiny bits of recycled tire rubber that make the turf a bit more bouncy. That will come as a relief to the growing number of people who deem crumb rubber a health hazard — and a cancer risk.

But what does the prevailing science have to say about crumb rubber’s carcinogenic effects?

Forget everything you thought you knew about Fitbit. According to founder and CEO James Park, speaking to Forbes International Editor Brian O’Keefe at a recent Forbes event, Fitbit doesn’t see itself as a hardware company or a wearable company, but rather as a consumer health and wellness company that happens to sell wearables — for now.

“While press and analysts focus on Fitbit as a wearables company, the mission of the company is actually a lot broader,” he said, responding to a question about whether activity trackers might be a fad. “We’re all about ‘How do we use technology to help people become healthier and more active, giving them data and inspiration and guidance?’ And we’re pretty agnostic about how that’s done.”

… We’ve picked out six of the most intriguing startups to come out of Virginia Tech to highlight the kind of innovation going on in Blacksburg.

VirtualU – Originally a shopping app, VirtualU pivoted successfully to creating a 3D scanner to model, measure and track a user’s fitness program. The company closed a $625,000 seed round fund last year and has started to work with gyms and even Whole Foods to promote its tech.

Move over iBeacon—today Google is launching “Eddystone,” an open source, cross-platform Bluetooth LE beacon format. Bluetooth beacons are part of the Internet of Things (IoT) trend. They’re little transmitters (usually battery powered) that send out information about a specific point of interest, and that info is then passively picked up by a smartphone or tablet in range of the transmitter. A beacon-equipped bus stop could send out transit times, stores could send promotions to the customers currently in the store, or a museum could send people information about the exhibit they’re standing in front of.

… here’s the thing about spot-up shooters: More than just about any other type of scorer, their performances depend on external factors. Even the best catch-and-shoot guys live and die by the ability of their teams to create the kinds of shots they thrive on; Tom Thibodeau’s Kyle Korver was a lot less scary than Mike Budenholzer’s version. Yet while there is no shortage of evidence to support this idea, there is a shortage of teams that are capable of generating wide-open catch-and-shoot looks beyond the arc on a regular basis. And every time a big-name spot-up guy switches uniforms, he and the team acquiring him are taking on all the risk that comes with changing a shooting environment.

Consider this cautionary tale: Vince Carter converted almost 40 percent of his 371 3-point attempts with Dallas in 2013-14. On the back of that success, Carter signed with Memphis, where he proceeded to make just 30 percent of his 3s. What happened last year? Did Carter’s ability to shoot 24-foot jump shots suddenly fall off of a cliff? Or was the landscape too crowded for him to find the right kind of looks?

Following a crisis, regulators and managers naturally take steps to prevent a recurrence. In 2002, after Enron and WorldCom succumbed to massive accounting fraud, U.S. legislators passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which gave directors and executives new oversight responsibilities. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis many large banks changed their business models, and other companies implemented systems to better manage credit risks or eliminate overreliance on mathematical models.

But there’s a problem with managing risk retrospectively: It’s a variation on what military historians call “fighting the last war.” As memories of the recession fade, leaders worry that risk management policies are impeding growth and profits without much gain. “Firms are questioning whether the models they put in place after the financial crisis are working—and more fundamentally questioning the role of risk management in their organizations,” says Matt Shinkman of CEB, a Washington-based firm that researches and disseminates best practices among its 10,000 member companies.

“Most of the league’s 3-pointers are more like touchdown passes than home runs; they involve a key interaction between two offensive players.” – Kirk Goldsberry

Every offseason, basketball players head to the gym to get up some repetitions in an effort to improve their shooting. We view shooting as an individual skill, and consequently players practice their shooting individually. The above comment from Kirk Goldsberry in his article about the NBA’s best spot-up shooters highlights an important, but forgotten element of shooting: The interaction between teammates.