Applied Sports Science newsletter – January 30, 2016

During his short managerial career Pep Guardiola has coached many modern-day legends, including Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi. But there’s only one man he’s ever labelled as “the most intelligent player I have ever coached”, and it’s none of the aforementioned names. Instead it’s Philipp Lahm, the World Cup-winning captain of Germany and a player whose name makes most lists of modern greats.

For over a decade now, Lahm has remained a constant in the Bayern Munich team and in the process has won 114 caps for Germany, the last coming in the victorious World Cup final before a calculated retirement from the international scene. Along with the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Paul Breitner, he will go down in history as a true great for both club and country; a consistent performer on the pitch and a well-spoken, humble man off of it.

… “Fatigue is the great equalizer,” Kelly said. “The ability to take someone, who at 100 percent is probably a tough matchup for you, but take that same person at 75 percent and you kind of even out the playing field there.”

Kelly’s offenses are most known for a high-powered passing attack, but the coach said that everything starts with the ability to run the football. He said there’s a “toughness” that is established within a team when you’re able to win at the point of attack and run the football.

… [Lance] Thomas’ role sounds simple but is actually quite difficult. His job is, essentially, to make everyone else’s job easier when he’s on the court.

“It is a skill, Thomas said. “You’ve got to really pay attention. Knowing every position on the floor, knowing where everyone’s supposed to be, even if you’re not the point guard, and just paying attention.”

In order to do that job well, Thomas had to spend the summer getting better. He had to become a glue guy who was more than just a glue guy.

As the sun was setting outside of the lobby of the StubHub Center, it was clear that the vast majority of U.S. players attending the January camp had long since left for the day. Yet Jozy Altidore was still there.

Altidore had been getting some extra work and treatment in, even though it wasn’t required by U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann. The coach, at the urging of some senior players, has opted for a more relaxed atmosphere for this camp, and players have some flexibility in terms of how they organize their days. It’s an approach that Altidore welcomes, though he doesn’t seem keen to take advantage of the extra leeway, arriving in Carson a week early to get a head start on the season. He knows what his coach wants, and when asked if Klinsmann had changed, he lets out a laugh and shakes his head.

“[Klinsmann] is the same guy, but if you do things long enough, you adjust to things and patch things here and there,” Altidore says.

… Klopp insists he will not work players until they “lay on the ground” to improve his prospects of another Wembley final. The Liverpool manager last year accused the Football Association of treating players “like horses” after Jordan Rossiter suffered the hamstring injury on England Under-19 duty that has blighted his season.

Before Liverpool’s ninth game in 29 days and his 26th game in 106 days as manager, Klopp will not take that risk with players who have carried the club through their recent injury crisis.

Ryan Hall, one of the great American distance runners of the past decade, announced recently that he is retiring from competition. Hall blamed low testosterone and fatigue so deep and unrelenting that, after years of running more than 15 miles daily, he can now barely manage 12 miles a week. Among insiders, that sounds an awful lot like a mysterious but pervasive affliction broadly known as Overtraining Syndrome — a miserable suite of physiological and psychological symptoms that stalks surprising numbers of endurance athletes, both amateur and professional.

Ethan Zubak has never been closer to his dream. Since getting accepted into the LA Galaxy Academy three years ago, he’s inched closer and closer to his goal of playing professional soccer. In September, he took what he hopes is a major step toward being a professional.

The 17-year-old forward now goes to high school just a long free kick’s distance from StubHub Center, the place he hopes to call his home stadium one day. He trains when professionals train, eats what professionals eat.

The Galaxy began their Blended Learning Environment in September, combining high school classes for the organization’s under-16 and under-18 teams with a daily training schedule to build the club’s next generation of stars and help develop youth soccer development in the United States.

The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games commence on 5th August, followed one month later by the Paralympics. For Team GB and Paralympics GB the challenge is Herculean: to be the first nation to win more medals than at the 2012 home Games. To surpass the historic success of 2012 where Great Britain finished 3rd in both the Olympic and Paralympic medal tables will be immense – in London, Team GB won 65 medals, 29 of which were gold, and Paralympics GB won 120, with 34 gold. Author Joe Poyer’s quote of “Thorough Preparation Makes its own Luck” has perhaps never resonated so loudly.

It seems like information should be information, after all facts are facts. It shouldn’t matter when we learn facts and theories, as it’s generally assumed they are independent, but this assumption is often false.. The sequence in which you learn something determines the view from which you see the information.

Take, for example, endurance development. If you are a cross-country or track coach, chances are you grew up running. So you learned training theory via practice, before you even knew you wanted to coach. You learned what a long run, tempo, intervals, and so forth were and, more importantly, how they felt. Once you decide to go down the coaching road, the next step is often to layer the science on top of this foundation.

On the other side of the coin, if you are a non-endurance athlete who then gets into coaching a sport with an endurance component, you don’t start with this practical/applied knowledge, but instead generally learn the science first. If you pick up a book or go to a conference, the science section, explaining the training is often presented first or at least alongside the training theory. You then start with a foundation of science and have to try to layer the practical points on top.

It’s a subtle difference, but it shades how we see endurance development

After he won a four-hour, 32-minute match at the Australian Open on Sunday, Novak Djokovic, the world’s best tennis player, showered, spoke to the media, and then hustled over to a quiet late-night spot that’s popular among several players: A small clinic two miles from the tournament that has four hyperbaric oxygen pods for rent.

The machines look like deep-sea diving submarines with glass windows and hatches in the back. Inside, players slip on a plastic breathing mask attached to a long tube. Once the hatch seals they’re off, compressor and regulator whirring and pressure building until they’re basically 40-feet under water and breathing 100% oxygen through the mask (outside air contains just 21% oxygen).

… A company called Edge Up Sports is using Watson, IBM’s cognitive computing system, to gain an edge in fantasy football. Jim Rushton, head of IBM’s Sports & Entertainment division, predicts that in the next few years Watson could help teams predict and reduce injuries, and pick the best players from the draft.

The application of artificial intelligence to play-calling is already upon us. Last spring, two students at North Carolina State, William Burton and Michael Dickey, built a model to predict whether an NFL team would pass or run, information that would hugely benefit defensive coordinators. Tested against decisions made in a 2014 Cowboys-Jaguars game, the model picked the play type 91.6 percent of the time. Before this season SI approached a big-data analysis company, Splunk, and asked whether it could forecast the next play. Nate McKervey, Splunk’s director of technical marketing, plugged 15 years’ worth of NFL data into his company’s platform. On Nov. 8, with the Falcons at their own 46-yard line with 5:21 to go in the third quarter, McKervey’s friend asked him to make a prediction. McKervey glanced at his phone. It showed that Atlanta would line up in shotgun formation, and quarterback Matt Ryan would pass short left. Although the throw was incomplete, everything matched perfectly.

… In hopes of optimizing physical performance, teams have begun to collect more detailed biological data. This is presented to the players and the public in its most flattering light, which is as a movement towards improved player health. And while that’s true enough, it’s not the end of it: a team cares only about the health of a player’s body insofar as it can remain a productive body, and the team finally seeks to gain more information about the body only to improve its performance in labor.

This new information requires players to practice and train a certain way to maximize their bodies’ productivity. As a result, the workday lengthens, and the workplace is everywhere. The offseason requires longer hours and more intense training to ensure better performance; the team now knows about what a player is eating, how they’re training, how much they’re sleeping. The next step, naturally, is mandating it, in the interest of best practices and productivity. Somewhere in here we confront a maxim regularly espoused by a good friend of mine: that capitalism can turn even the most wonderful activity into the most miserable job.

Everyone who works for a living knows how this goes. Eventually the techniques of power disappear from view and appear, instead, in the form of self-discipline and individual responsibility. The goal of the institution is to produce a subject who welcomes the increasing demands. Under this system, each player’s actions speak to his character rather than the forces being used on or against him. Ultimately, the rules and techniques produce your great work rather than the other way around. You are simply a vehicle of efficiency, productivity; in fact, your agency, your life, are only recognized in your potential to impede efficiency, to throw the whole system off. The last thing that is left up to you is the opportunity to fail in your duties.

… we are at the dawn of a new technology age, characterized by the explosive growth of data, connectivity, and processing power. And while history might suggest that today’s digital, cloud, and connected technologies will have little effect on productivity, we believe their benefits could be substantial. Compared with the industrial systems of the past (massive HR, ERP, and CRM databases), today’s technology is more flexible, forgiving, and conducive to collaboration and data analytics. For example, agile software development, which is based on iteration and continual improvement, allows developers to write code that conforms to how people actually do their jobs.

If companies successfully marry these new digital approaches with what we call “smart simplicity,” they can unleash the latent power of their technology and their people. Smart simplicity is built on the premise that companies are most productive when they harness the intelligence of their employees.

Start-up Dutch firm SciSports has raised €1.35 million to develop its BallJames three-dimensional pixel technology that is used to enhance football data analysis.

The technology works by converting a match in real time into three-dimensional pixels that provide new and more accurate data fields. The solution SciSports has come up with draw from the medical field of radiology.

Strength training is all about getting results in the shortest time possible. But unless you’re an expert how do you know where to focus your efforts for optimal performance? This is where Mpower believes it can provide a solution. Mpower is a new training accessory with the ability to accurately measure and show muscle activity, allowing for training to be adjusted accordingly.

The idea was first conceived in 2011 by Finnish company founder Mika Herrala, a biophysics and muscle expert. It uses a small, 23 gram pod which can be easily attached to the skin surface of any muscle. The pod then measures the EMG electrical signals produced by muscles when they are activated during exercise, using surface EMG (sEMG) technology. Following this, the information is transmitted to a mobile app, where it is analysed to produce new, helpful training parameters for the athlete to work with.

Deficits in muscles of the lumbo-pelvic region, such as a relatively small multifidus muscle, have been used to predict lower limb injuries in professional football players. Results have been less consistent for the size of the quadratus lumborum (QL) muscle. Changes in size of the multifidus and QL muscles could be functionally related to each other, and modeling this relationship could improve prediction of lower limb injuries. Ultrasound imaging examinations were performed on male elite football players at the start of the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season and playing season. Injury data were obtained from records collected by each club. Results indicated that the cross-sectional area of the multifidus muscle was related to the occurrence of an injury in the pre-season (odds ratio [OR] = 2.08/cm2 decrease below the mean; OR for dichotomized measure = 12.2) and in the season (OR = 2.43/cm2). The size of the QL muscle was significantly related to an injury in the pre-season (OR = 2.12/cm2 increase above the mean; OR for dichotomized measure = 7.26) but not in the season. A significant link was found between the ratio of the multifidus and QL muscles, and the incidence of pre-season (OR = 14.71) and season injuries (OR = 5.29). The sensitivity and specificity of the model in the pre-season were 75% and 85.7%, respectively; values for the playing season were 88.4% and 62.5%. A model was developed for prediction of lower limb injuries in football players. Combining size measurements of the multifidus and QL muscles improved predictive power. This information may have clinical implications for injury screening and prevention.

A Swedish study indicates that a psychological skills training programme for teams engaged in sports on an elite level could be useful in reducing overuse injuries.

Ulrika Tranæus, a researcher in sports medicine at Halmstad University and the Karolinska Institute, has investigated how psychological training on a group or team basis can help prevent injuries in floorball – an offshoot of hockey played on an indoor rink without ice.

“So far, most of the research has examined details of the human body and its joints and muscles to understand the injury mechanisms. To my knowledge, all athletes and people I have met also have emotions and thoughts leading to behaviours, which in some cases prevent injuries and in other cases might contribute to the occurrence of injuries,” writes Ulrika Tranæus in her doctoral thesis.

LAST March, the N.C.A.A.’s chief medical officer, Brian Hainline, announced that he was going to recommend that all male college basketball players undergo an electrocardiogram, which measures the electrical activity in the heart, presumably as a requirement for being cleared to play competitively. He said his action was in response to research suggesting that the risk of sudden cardiac death in Division I basketball players was about one in 5,200 per year, much higher than previously thought.

However, Dr. Hainline backed off his proposal after an outcry by about 100 college team physicians who questioned the use of electrocardiograms, or EKGs, as a screening tool for these athletes. EKGs can appear abnormal even in the absence of heart disease. These false positives, some physicians argued, would create a lot of unnecessary secondary testing, anxiety and sidelining of athletes, not to mention potential legal liability.

Those are legitimate concerns, but Dr. Hainline’s original proposal was the right one: We should begin targeted screening of some groups of college athletes — starting with those in sports that recent research indicates pose a high cardiovascular risk, such as basketball and soccer.

The Mid-American Conference will host a Mental Health Summit in a joined effort with the NCAA to focus on student well-being on Tuesday, February 16th at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel.

Liverpool must do more to assess the root cause of Daniel Sturridge’s injuries as his recurring absence is not a coincidence, says Graeme Souness.

England striker Sturridge has been beset by problems since moving to Anfield in January 2012 with hamstring and thigh complaints the biggest issue.

Shortly after taking over at Liverpool, manager Jurgen Klopp stated that Sturridge must “learn what is serious pain and what is only pain”.

If you’re nodding off as you read this, don’t blame my prose style. You probably didn’t sleep enough last night, or maybe you just slept poorly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 50 million and 70 million US adults have some kind of sleep disorder—think insomnia, apnea, or narcolepsy. This troubled slumber, in turn, is linked to increased risk of everything from car accidents to Alzheimer’s.

It turns out your diet might be to blame for restless nights, a new study by Columbia University researchers suggests. The team subjected 26 normal-weight adults to a controlled food regimen—high in dietary fiber and low in saturated fat and added sugars—for four days. On the fifth day, I’ll call this the dietary “free-for-all” day, they let the participants eat whatever they wanted. Each night, they monitored both sleep duration and quality—the number of times the participants woke up during the night, and the amount of time they spent in “slow-wave sleep,” the most restorative sleep stage.

Professional and college sports teams think they have found a cutting-edge advantage hidden in one of the most basic nutrients: vitamin D.

With millions of dollars at stake, elite teams are tracking player health more precisely than ever to make sure their athletes keep playing. As part of this push, teams in all U.S. major leagues, some college athletic departments and the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams have started monitoring players’ vitamin D levels and intake. A few are even recommending more time in the sun, which helps the body produce the nutrient.

People have been asking me why clean athletes don’t speak out more, in light of the appalling news about doping, corruption, cover-ups etc in athletics. These are my thoughts on this question from my own experience and observations. Other athletes may have different views.

1. You’re in the sport to do the sport. Athletes go into elite athletics because they love doing the sport, have dreams, want to fulfil their potential, maybe have talent, want to do something terrific with their lives. They don’t go into it to hassle corrupt, greedy, dishonest people who aren’t doing their jobs properly. If the authorities in athletics aren’t doing their jobs properly, then it is the job of the Police and law-enforcement agencies to go after them. We shouldn’t have to speak out!

During human running, softer parts of the body may deform under load and dissipate mechanical energy. Although tissues such as the heel pad have been characterized individually, the aggregate work performed by all soft tissues during running is unknown. We therefore estimated the work performed by soft tissues (N=8 healthy adults) at running speeds ranging 2–5 m s?1, computed as the difference between joint work performed on rigid segments, and whole-body estimates of work performed on the (non-rigid) body center of mass (COM) and peripheral to the COM. Soft tissues performed aggregate negative work, with magnitude increasing linearly with speed. The amount was about ?19 J per stance phase at a nominal 3 m s?1, accounting for more than 25% of stance phase negative work performed by the entire body. Fluctuations in soft tissue mechanical power over time resembled a damped oscillation starting at ground contact, with peak negative power comparable to that for the knee joint (about ?500 W). Even the positive work from soft tissue rebound was significant, about 13 J per stance phase (about 17% of the positive work of the entire body). Assuming that the net dissipative work is offset by an equal amount of active, positive muscle work performed at 25% efficiency, soft tissue dissipation could account for about 29% of the net metabolic expenditure for running at 5 m s?1. During running, soft tissue deformations dissipate mechanical energy that must be offset by active muscle work at non-negligible metabolic cost.

The business of sport revolves around stats — from those who use them to improve performance, through to enthusiasts who look at them for fun, or for more financial ends. Now a startup that helps make it easier for regular people to dig into and visualise sports stats has picked up some funding to grow. StatMuse, a startup out of San Francisco that currently lets you search for basketball facts and statistics through ordinary “natural” language requests, has picked up a $10 million round of funding to expand to new sports and services around the basic stats.

The Series A comes from the Walt Disney Company and TechStars (StatMuse was in a 2015 cohort in the Disney/TechStars Accelerator), along with Allen & Company, Greycroft Partners, Promus Ventures, Haas Portman, Deep Fork Capital, and Bee Partners. The round also included some notable names from the sports world: former NBA commissioner David Stern and United Talent Agency also chipped in.

… 1. Training

“Poor training can lead to injuries, fatigue, poor development and lack of tactical familiarity. I find training at high intensity on team cohesion and fitness prepares my team during pre-season. Then dropping off to medium intensity and balanced works well once the competitive season kicks off. You can push players in pre-season but may suffer injuries by demanding high intensity past that point.

“While scheduling, lean slightly more towards match training and allow your team rest after a match – recovery time is vital. Set all your players to train individually on the role/position you expect them to play. The more familiar they are in the position you deploy them in, the better they will perform.

Can we predict how soccer players will perform when they switch leagues? It’s a question on the minds of many clubs’ coaches and executives during this European transfer window. A host of factors can influence the answer: playing style, role in the squad, age, adjustment to a new home, and more. Today I’ll focus on just one, league quality.

Adjusting player ratings for league quality is a critical task when using analytics for recruitment. NYA computes adjustment factors between leagues all over Europe and sometimes further afield as well. I don’t want to disclose too much about the methods, but the adjustments cover several of the ratings NYA uses to evaluate players.

Anyone who is a fan of English Football, from the Premier League to the third division, has a strong opinion on Sam Allardyce. For better or for worse, Big Sam’s consistent banter makes him a well known figure in England. He says what he wants to say, and sometimes he’s right, sometimes he’s wrong. On this occasion, Big Sam’s latest statements to the press are something everyone should be aware of, because Big Sam is right. Allardyce was quoted as saying that the PL’s winter fixture list was “diabolical” and it shows that the league “doesn’t respect the FA cup”. He finally said that the midweek PL fixture after the FA cup game was “a stupid fixture” that “they don’t bloody need to” have the Premier League in the middle of the week after the FA cup. Sam’s comments are certainly what has been on the mind of Premier League fans and managers in recent seasons. Every other league, from the La Liga to Ligue 1, has multiple weeks off in the winter. Why not the Premier League?

The Premier League does exactly the opposite of the others, and piles on the fixtures during the winter period.