Applied Sports Science newsletter – September 15, 2015

The sellout crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium was cheering Novak Djokovic’s miscues and even disrupting his service motion on occasion, all with the common goal of trying to propel Roger Federer across the finish line under the Sunday night lights at the United States Open.

But Djokovic said that was not the way he processed the partisan noise.

“What I was actually doing was trying to play a mind game with myself,” he said in an interview on Monday. “They would scream, ‘Roger!’ and I would imagine they were screaming, ‘Novak!’ ”

Football managers have feelings, too. They hurt, they cry, they bleed. They are not pieces of machinery without hearts or souls, who dream of electric referees.

All of which might sound obvious to you. But not to others. For ’tis that time of the season when managers are told to die, get covered in spittle and dare not smile – whether in the ground, playing with their kids in the park or out for a meal with their wife. ‘Tis that time of the season when wild optimism curdles to bitter distrust on social media, where empathy is at a premium. ‘Tis that time of the season to get sacked. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Asked whether the life of a football manager is defined by emotional turmoil and suffering, Karl Robinson, manager of MK Dons, is quick to reply: “Yeah. That’s our life – people calling us every name under the sun, laughing at managers when they get the sack, telling them they should never work again.

He is the IT expert Louis van Gaal has described as ‘like my son’, but the elevation of Max Reckers would appear to be causing friction within the Manchester United family.

As reported on Thursday, senior duo Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick voiced their concerns to their Dutch manager over his training methods.

A large part of their frustration is thought to be down to the amount of time spent in meetings pouring over video analysis. [commercial video autoplays in right column]

Someone can’t teach it to you. They can guide you, but you have to force yourself. Mental fitness helps a player avoid unforced errors, and it’s unforced errors that lose matches. Whenever I had someone charting one of my matches, it would piss me off to see them mark an unforced error. I had anger towards that person rather than the fact that I had made an unforced error.

What I think is best to do, and that all juniors should do, is to chart yourself every time you sit down on the changeover. Just keep a tally of how many unforced errors you make in each game. When you do it yourself, it kind of takes the pressure off. Maybe a ball took a weird spin and to you it didn’t quite count as an unforced error.

You teach yourself, and I think that’s the most important part.

Pushing the boundaries

For centuries plucky men and women have pushed themselves to the very edge of human endurance in some of the world’s toughest sporting events and most inhospitable places.

As early man began to hunt over long distances, our long-limbed, furless bodies, combined with the ability to sweat and keep cool, evolved through endurance. But our bodies are not without their limitations.

As the 2015-2016 NFL season kicks off, EXOS proudly supported 281 players who prepared for the new season with EXOS specialists around the country.

The 153 veterans and 128 rookies received performance training, nutrition solutions, and physical therapy services at EXOS facilities during the offseason and in the lead up to the NFL combine and draft. Veterans included Colin Kaepernick (QB, San Francisco 49ers), Tyrod Taylor (QB, Buffalo Bills), and Jordan Matthews (WR, Philadelphia Eagles), all of whom were highlighted as “offseason beasts” by STACK Magazine. (Link to web link) The rookie class that prepared with EXOS included 13 first-rounders and 72 overall athletes selected in the 2015 NFL draft, including Leonard Williams (DE, New York Jets), Todd Gurley (RB, St. Louis Rams) and Melvin Gordon (RB, San Diego Chargers).

New smart shirts, pants and bras are being developed to improve workouts.

There’s a bridge between the runways of New York Fashion Week in Manhattan and the U.S. Open in Queens, and it’s not the one spanning the East River. Wearable tech embedded in an emerging breed of clothing designed for functionality and fitness is also poised to make a fashion statement.

Standards are needed to assure that the Industrial Internet of things becomes a reality. In the meantime, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon because the risks of waiting are too high.

The technology to implement a smart network of sensor data that gives an instant sense of an industrial machine’s or system’s well-being is available. With this technology, you can even project the cost savings in anticipating breakdowns, forgoing not-needed maintenance, not requiring folks just-in-case, and boosting the efficiency of operations. So, why is it being hyped so much, but not happening?

Under Armour has its eye on wearable technology.

Within the next few years, every product made by the Baltimore sports apparel and accessory company will “have something smart in it,” according to Robin Thurston, chief digital officer of Under Armour. That could include biometric sensors, temperature control and even lighting.

“We believe everything will be smart in the future,” Thurston said in his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless industry trade show on Friday.

Hamstring injuries are the most prevalent time-loss injuries in major sports like football and track and field athletics1,2. Besides being out of play due to the injury, high re-injury rates remain a major problem following acute hamstring injuries1.

For medical staff there are three important time points while dealing with acute hamstring injuries:

Just after injury, we are forced by the athlete and coaching staff to predict the return to play (RTP) duration. But can we accurately predict the duration of the injury?

At RTP, we have to balance between quick RTP and re-injury risk. Are there evidence-based criteria to guide our RTP decision?

After RTP, we will be held responsible for the re-injuries. Can we identify the players with increased re-injury risk?

Scientists lead by a team at the NYU Langone Medical Center say they have found out why a particular strain of Staphylococcus aureus, known as HA-MRSA, becomes more deadly than other variations. These new findings open up possible new pathways to vaccine development against this bacterium, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says accounts for over 10,000 deaths annually, mostly among hospital patients.

With the transfer window now closed, attention now turns to maximising the potential of the existing playing squad.

One of the ways clubs can do this is by paying bonuses – for appearances, for wins and for league or cup performance. On paper these bonuses are incentives, designed to encourage the player to perform even better than he normally would.

This is combined with the primary incentive to perform – the competition stakes – to create the motivation equation for a footballer:

… Two examples of what Khan, 32, does: Last year, he supplied coach Gus Bradley with data on how explosive plays increase the chances of producing a touchdown drive and also the importance of winning defensively on first down.

And during the final day of the draft in May, general manager Dave Caldwell told Khan to find a possible undrafted player who could return kickoffs.

Khan and analyst Kellen Blumberg delivered Auburn’s Corey Grant, who had the top “Speed Score” of any running back available (122.1), which incorporated a player’s 40-yard dash time (Grant’s was 4.26 seconds) with his weight (205 pounds). Big-and-fast is better than small-and-fast.