Applied Sports Science newsletter – July 23, 2015

It may sound obvious, but Daley Blind loves football. The Dutchman is a student of the game and all that it involves, which is exemplified by his ability to excel in a number of different positions for Louis van Gaal and Manchester United.

With this in mind, ManUtd.com sat down with the Dutchman to quiz him on the modern world of football, delving into his past to gain an insight into his flourishing career. From discussing the benefits of sports science and the ramifications of fame, here’s what he had to say…

Are you a fan of sports science and has it changed your game in any way?

Things like GPS have made it better, you can measure a lot with those systems and see exactly how many times the heart beats in a minute, see what your heart-rate is and if you are fit or not. I think it is important to improve the sport, but not only football – other sports as well. I think we have improved in the last 10 years with all of the new advancements and I think that is good.

There appears to be more going on with Joel Embiid’s right foot than the 76ers want to let on.

On June 13 the team released a statement that said, in part, “Joel and Sixers personnel traveled to Los Angeles for a series of routine exams . . . During his visit . . . a standard CT scan on Joel’s right foot revealed less healing that anticipated at this point.”

On July 11, after the Inquirer reported that the 7-foot center would miss the season due to another surgery, the team came out with a statement acknowledging such.

Now there appears to be a need for more answers. As of Sunday, two sources told the Daily News that the navicular bone has been broken again.

… Martin: What would you say makes your planning methods the most unique?

Bondarchuk: I use a different periodization theory. There are 42 methods of periodization I have outlined, but the general idea is that my athletes will reach four, five, or even six peak conditions each year. In the United States with most methods athletes have one peak each year. This is first main difference of my approach.

Everybody makes mistakes. If your peak condition takes one year you are finished. You lost that year. If you make a mistake again then you lose another year. My system is different. For example I will give my athletes a program with certain intensity, volume, and exercises. After two or three months they will reach peak condition. If the result did not grow then I made a mistake. Then I give another system for the second peak condition. If again the results do not grow I try again. If the first time there is no growth, the second time no growth, but the third time a little growth then I learned what works. With six peak conditions each year you have time to learn and make mistakes. Everybody needs different training and you learn this way what is best. The standard approach is to have a preparation period, competition period, and rest period. We need to change our minds. We do not need to use the whole year for one development period.

A study of top-level German players (including national team players) in comparison with their amateur counterparts suggested that an interaction of playful and organised experiences had positive impact on the development of those that reached elite level.

Those that reached elite level “mostly combined moderate volumes of instructed exercise with extensive forms of game play where play shifted in large parts from non-organised play and other game sports in childhood/youth towards organised in-club play in adulthood” (Hornig et al, 2014).

Here it comes.  The vogue of professional athletes world wide.  It seems if you aren’t into sports science by now, you just don’t get it.   But when The Philadelphia 76ers hired Dr. David T. Martin as the team’s Director of Performance Research and Development, who or what are they getting?  A mad scientist?  Or someone who is madly innovative?

Perhaps a little of both.

You see, Martin is an American who studied up to the PhD level in Zoology and Physiology from the University of Wyoming in 1994.  Following his degree, he  spent 21 years working at the Advanced Institute of Sports (AIS) in Canberra, Australia.   There he trained cyclists and olympic competitors in martial arts.  The reason the PhD took on the task in Australia was simple: it was a new field and he was one of the original pioneers to generate the international excitement for the field.  The 76ers are new to the program as well, and have agreed to bring on Martin to create the science in their basketball program in a similar fashion to Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly’s initiatives have brought the concepts to their football program.

Objectives

The ability to perform a context-free 3-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) task has been highly related to athletic performance. In the present study, we assessed the transferability of a perceptual-cognitive 3D-MOT training from a laboratory setting to a soccer field, a sport in which the capacity to correctly read the dynamic visual scene is a prerequisite to performance.
Design

Throughout pre- and post-training sessions, we looked at three essential skills (passing, dribbling, shooting) that are used to gain the upper hand over the opponent.
Method

We recorded decision-making accuracy during small-sided games in university-level soccer players (n = 23) before and after a training protocol. Experimental (n = 9) and active control (n = 7) groups were respectively trained during 10 sessions of 3D-MOT or 3D soccer videos. A passive control group (n = 7) did not received any particular training or instructions.
Results

Decision-making accuracy in passing, but not in dribbling and shooting, between pre- and post-sessions was superior for the 3D-MOT trained group compared to control groups. This result was correlated with the players’ subjective decision-making accuracy, rated after pre- and post-sessions through a visual analogue scale questionnaire.
Conclusions

To our knowledge, this study represents the first evidence in which a non-contextual, perceptual-cognitive training exercise has a transfer effect onto the field in athletes.

The process of strength-power training and the subsequent adaptation is a multi-factorial process. These factors range from the genetics and morphological characteristics of the athlete to how a coach selects, orders, and doses exercises and loading patterns. Consequently, adaptation from these training factors may largely relate to the mode of delivery, in other words, programming tactics. There is strong evidence that the manner and phases in which training is presented to the athlete can make a profound difference in performance outcome. This discussion deals primarily with block periodization concepts and associated methods of programming for strength-power training within track and field.

In this era of player health and safety, medical news continues to make headlines. Every year there are new initiatives implemented. What are the changes for the upcoming season? Below are my top five new things to look out for during the 2015 season.

1. Medical timeout rule

   Some have referred to it as the “Julian Edelman rule”. Controversy began when the Patriots wide receiver was not immediately removed or evaluated when the medical spotter called down to have him checked. From my direct observation covering the Super Bowl, New England appeared to follow all concussion rules; however, I pointed out potential deficiencies as there was no mechanism to stop a game when the spotter calls down.

Background Our 2012 review on therapeutic interventions for acute hamstring injuries found a lack of high-quality studies. The publication of new studies warranted an update.

Objectives To update and reanalyse the efficacy of conservative treatments for hamstring injury.
…
Main results 10 RCTs (526 participants), including 6 new RCTs, were identified. Two RCTs were of good/excellent quality, the rest were fair or poor (median Downs and Black score 16 (IQR 9)). Meta-analysis of two studies on rehabilitation (lengthening) exercises showed a significantly reduced time to return to play (HR 3.22 (95% CI 2.17 to 4.77), p<0.0001) but no difference in risk of re-injury. Meta-analysis of three studies investigating platelet-rich plasma (PRP) showed no effect when compared to control (HR 1.03 (95% CI 0.87 to 1.22), p=0.73). Limited evidence was found that progressive agility and trunk stability training may reduce re-injury rates.

Conclusions Meta-analysis showed superior efficacy for rehabilitation exercises. PRP injection had no effect on acute hamstring injury. Limited evidence was found that agility and trunk stabilisation may reduce re-injury rates. The limitations identified in the majority of RCTs should improve the design of new hamstring RCTs.

Getting bigger, faster and stronger while avoiding injury are the keys to success in most any sport. Over the past three months, doctors at the University of Rochester Medical Center have screened more than 400 mostly suburban high school athletes with the goal of helping them do just that.

On. Aug. 8, student athletes in the Rochester School District get their chance.

UR Medicine Sports Medicine, the district and the Democrat and Chronicle are teaming up to host a free, invite-only combine at East High. The focus is injury prevention. Participants will run drills and do exercises with some of UR Medicine’s top specialists, and also get advice about nutrition.

… Whether you have a broken bone from a crash, or an overuse injury, it likely that you are going to want to recover as fast as possible and get back to full health and continue competing. However, the most important consideration is long term health and competitive potential. After all, what is six weeks off in a 40 year racing career? This article will address the balancing act of returning to training and competition as quickly as possible, while maximizing the opportunity for long term resilience.

… [Allen Lim] went into business with two partners, investing $200,000 to create a company, Skratch Labs, aimed at pros and more casually fit folks. “There are more people participating in things like running and bike races,” says David Clucas, deputy editor of SNews, a trade publication that covers the industry.

That’s given rise to boutique electrolyte drinks, most of which are sold in national groceries like Whole Foods and Kroger. No one tracks category sales yet, but the running retailer Fleet Feet says it sold about $900,000 worth of specialty sports drinks in 2014, and that number will increase to $1.1 million this year. Fifty-six percent of its sales are for beverages from Nuun, a company in Seattle that’s seen 40 percent growth during the past two years and expects to take in $20 million in 2015. But Skratch Labs ($19.50 for 40 servings) is Fleet Feet’s fastest-growing offering: In one year, it’s swelled to about 10 percent of boutique drink sales. “People like the story behind how it was made. It tastes good, and it works,” says Luke Rowe, vice president for business development at Fleet Feet. Skratch has expanded sales by more than 100 percent each year, earning just less than $5 million in 2014.

Researchers from Cornell University discovered self-proclaimed experts often operate on a knowledge bank of completely made-up information and false facts, a phenomenon known as “overclaiming.”

The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“Our work suggests that the seemingly straightforward task of judging one’s knowledge may not be so simple, particularly for individuals who believe they have a relatively high level of knowledge to begin with,” said psychological scientist Stav Atir of Cornell University, first author on the study.