Applied Sports Science newsletter – February 13, 2016

it should come as no surprise that after Daniel Sedin won $91,000 USD (approximately $125,00 CAD) for helping the Pacific Division win the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, he gave away the money.

This time, he rewarded the team’s training staff.

The U.S. recently completed its annual January Camp, which this year took on a different flavor as a combination of senior team players and U-23s who are each preparing for important qualifiers in March. Following consecutive victories against Iceland and Canada, ussoccer.com spoke with MNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann about his takeaways from the four weeks in Los Angeles. In the opening half of a two-part Q&A with the MNT boss, Klinsmann expounded on which players stood out, and how the camp and friendly wins set the table for 2016.

American distance running offers its fans an interesting choice ahead of the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles on Saturday:

Be inspired by the veteran runners in their mid-30s and 40s who can still win at the elite level in the U.S.

Or grow despondent that no one in the younger generation has surged ahead and put these veterans out to pasture.

… ussoccer.com: Going into this camp, you said the primary goals were “identification and development.” Were you able to achieve those?

Jurgen Klinsmann: “I think we achieved the goals. We looked after the Olympic team, preparing them toward the Olympic Qualifiers at the end of March, and also got them closer to the Senior Team. I think having these two groups both together and feeding off each other really worked out well. I think it gave the younger players a real boost of confidence, of understanding of how it really works with the experienced guys. Obviously they struggled a bit in the beginning because the level, the tempo, the intensity is more than they are used to. So they adjusted then, and after a week to 10 days into camp, it really got into a flow and was very smooth. The spirit and atmosphere of the camp was very positive because everybody was looking after each other.”

… a basic overview and understanding of various neuromuscular adaptations to training, the next aspect which we will look at, is the evaluation of our athlete’s ability to express power as well as what best practice is to improve it.

Samozini et al, recently published a study on an iPhone app that allows you to not only determine jump height through flight time but also build a force-velocity profile on your athletes

… Masterful movement on a football field is going to be determined by a complex combination of numerous determining factors. Unfortunately, the current NFL performance landscape frequently acts as a deterrent and creates numerous roadblocks for players on their path towards attaining this mastery. However, everyone involved in this movement skill acquisition at their respective levels must acknowledge this and realize that there are changes we can make; it will just take us stepping out of our comfort zones at times in order to do so.

If there’s one thing Cam Newton and Russell Wilson clearly have in common, it’s confidence.

But if there’s another, more subtle, similarity between the back-to-back Super Bowl quarterbacks, it’s their exposure to mental strength conditioning — a process catching on in the hyper-competitive worlds of NFL and college football.

Trevor Moawad, a leader in the field who worked with Newton in preparation for the 2011 NFL draft combine and his rookie season, tells CNN the mental fortitude of the Carolina Panthers stalwart is often overlooked.

… Toughness, or at least the traditional view of “toughness,” i.e., the ability to push through exhaustion and fatigue, is simply not enough to guarantee success in any sport. To be sure, this aspect of mental toughness – perseverance – is an admirable trait to have. However, perseverance is just one contributing component of sport success and just one aspect of mental toughness. Many of us have heard of, or have experience with individual athletes and teams who were all heart in practice, had great attitude and effort, and pushed themselves very hard, only to fall flat in actual competition. Great intensity does not always translate to great execution in competition, particularly in those key pressure situations and games that count the most and often determine the outcome of a season. Aggression must be balanced with poise, and intensity must be balanced with the focus necessary for great decision-making. This is where the other key components of mental toughness take center stage.

Toughness is not just about our ability to push ourselves extremely hard and demonstrate great perseverance; it is also about our ability to be at our best when it counts the most. This much more realistic view of what it truly means to be tough and what it truly takes to dominate at a high level in the real-world athletic arena, will always involve so many more skills than just the ability to physically push through the proverbial brick ‘wall.’ A more direct approach takes us directly to the source – applying actual skills and drills that directly improve our composure, concentration, confidence and commitment – the 4C’s of toughness and peak performance.

Dynamic balance is an integral component in screening lower extremity injury risk. Previous research has identified the need to create sport and competition level specific dynamic balance injury cut points. The purpose of this study was to determine if dynamic balance differences exist, utilizing the Lower Quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT-LQ), across varying competition levels (middle school, high school, college and professional) in basketball players. Subjects were participating at the middle school (MS; n=88), high school (HS; n=105), college (COL; n=46), and professional levels (PRO; n=41). Statistical analysis was completed with a series of ANOVA tests. Tukey post-hoc tests were utilized to identify specific group-to-group differences if statistical significance (p<0.05) was observed. Effect Size Indices (ESI) was also calculated to provide an estimate of the clinical relevance. In the anterior reach, HS basketball players performed statistically better than the MS and COL (p<0.01, ESI = 0.58) athletes and all of these groups performed better than the PRO basketball players (p<0.01, ESI =1.72). For the posteromedial, posterolateral reach directions and the composite score, the HS, COL and PRO basketball players were not significantly different from each other, however the HS group did reach further than the MS group (p<0.01-0.02, ESI = 0.40-0.55). PRO basketball players exhibited a lower asymmetrical total score compared to MS, HS and COL players (p<0.01-0.02, ESI = 0.52-0.68). Different competition levels displayed varying dynamic balance strategies. Creating basketball competition levels normative values for dynamic balance could help define injury risk cut points.

Notre Dame is at the forefront of a technological push aimed at creating the best athletes in the country.

… In search of injury prevention and to monitor their players in more detail, the Miami Heat have partnered with VERT. VERT produces wearable jumping technology, allowing users to analyze the factors associated with strenuous jumping. Earlier this year, VERT announced the launch of VERT2, their new device to capture jump load, jump count, and even G-force. Which is of course ideal for an NBA team to track.

This range of analytics, plus many others, are transmitted through a small, stable and discrete unit attached to the athlete’s body. And, most importantly given the hectic schedule of the NBA, the information is transmitted to the analyst in real-time.

Coach Deets is the Director of Athletic Performance for the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams at Mississippi State University. Before Mississippi State, Deets was the Director of Performance at the University of Arkansas. He has also coached at Oklahoma State, Texas Christian, and Northwestern State.

When I first heard about Sparta I was hesitant. I’ve been doing performance programs a certain way for a long time. How am I supposed to believe this piece of technology? Would I have to change my whole philosophy or program design?

The answer is simple. No! Sparta Science doesn’t have to change who we are. With the movement signatures it gives us, it helps us become even better at what we do.

It remains one of the most fundamental questions in neuroscience: How does the flood of sensory information — everything an animal touches, tastes, smells, sees, and hears — translate into behavior?

A state-of-the-art microscope, which allows scientists to peer into the brains of animals in real time, may provide the answers.

Built by Vivek Venkatachalam, a postdoctoral fellow working in the lab of Professor of Physics Aravinthan Samuel in collaboration with fellow postdoc Ni Ji, Professor Mark Alkema of UMass Worcester, and Professor Mei Zhen, a former Radcliffe Fellow at the University of Toronto, the microscope captures 3-D images of all neural activity in the brains of tiny, transparent C. elegans worms as they crawl.

… There are strong voices from those who believe that curiosity-driven basic research deserves special support, free of linkage to mission-driven applied research. This suggestion of the primacy of basic research has shaped research policy, government funding, educational programs, and more.

Similarly, some applied researchers are content to solve their specific problems without thinking about the theories that could lead to universal principles with widespread adoption.

While there are clear differences between the methods of applied and basic research, the ABC Principle (Applied and Basic Combined) is based on the belief that projects that pursue both applied and basic goals have a higher chance of producing more dramatic advances in both arenas. The ABC Principle is aligned with the growing ambitions of researchers and the increased appreciation for innovations that address contemporary problems. The case studies in this book show diverse approaches that provide inspirational templates for combining applied and basic research.

James Commey-Bortsie, a former player of Sekondi Hasaacas and Accra Hearts of Oak was appointed as the club’s first ever Physiotherapist since it’s formation in 2009.

Weeks after joining the Kweiman based club, the well experienced Physio who also hold a UEFA licensed coaching badge had a tet a’ tete with the club’s official website to discuss his appointment.

As runners, we’re lucky that we don’t have to worry too much about blowing out an ACL or breaking an arm. Most of our injuries are caused by overuse: gradual breakdowns or flare-ups that result from repeating the same motion over and over again.

Or are they?

A letter just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, from a pair of physiotherapists at the Australian Institute of Sport and the University of Canberra, makes the case that we should dump the term “overuse injury” and refer instead to “training load errors.” They draw on a growing body of research suggesting that how much you train, on its own, isn’t what raises injury risk. Instead, it’s how training load changes that determines your risk.

Runners love running, and it is often difficult for a non-runner to understand the desire to run, even when injured. A big fear for our patients who run regularly is to be told to ‘give up ’, which may explain why runners struggle on, delaying seeking advice.

Thankfully, there is a great deal we can do to help if we spot the problem early. Stress fractures and ‘stress responses’ (when the softening of bones occur prior to an actual fracture occurring) are very common, Yet the perception is that they are uncommon. Why do we overlook them? Well it might be because consciously or subconsciously, we can tend to stereotype our patients, and be under the impression that stress fractures only occur in elite level, underweight females. The reality is that any runner is susceptible to a stress fracture, particularly if they are relatively new to the sport, have gone through a rapid increase in mileage, or have poor biomechanics or muscular conditioning.

More and more pharmacists are showing interest in sports pharmacy and doping prevention, specifically.

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, pharmacy students expressed a strong desire to help athletes with their medication regimens, and many also called for more sports pharmacy education in school curricula.

Nine and counting. That is the tally for serious anterior cruciate ligament problems in the Premier League this season after Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma joined the growing squad of players whose season has been wrecked by the most unwanted injury in football.

The list currently reads: Callum Wilson, Tyrone Mings, Max Gradel, Tim Krul, Joe Gomez, Danny Ings, Carl Jenkinson, Jordan Amavi and Zouma.

According to research done by Ben Dinnery, an injury data analyst and the founder of the excellent premierinjuries.com website, this season could be set to see the highest number of ACL injuries since 2010-11, the starting point of their data collection.

Is this down to modern pitches? Or bladed boots? Here, Sportsmail speaks to experts in the field to discuss the popular theories concerning this spate of injuries, as well as looking at what Zouma will have to do to make his return from the horrific injury he suffered last Sunday… [commercial video autoplays]

… What advice does [Bryan Snyder] give the [Broncos] players before this weekend’s matchup? “I tell players to stick to their routines as much as possible, especially the night before the big game,” Snyder says. “Hydration is another area that sometimes gets overlooked when we are traveling. The last thing we want is to have guys cramping up.”

On the other side of the field will be Jennifer Brunelli, MS, RD, LDN, who has been with Carolina for two years. Recalling her first day with the team, she says, “The minute I walked in the dining area, players approached with a ton of questions. I was so impressed to see how educated many of them already were when it came to nutrition.”

Comfort foods don’t have to be the enemy. All it takes is a few smart tweaks to turn high-calorie, high-fat snacks into performance fuel. We caught up with sports nutritionist Sarah Koszyk, founder of San Francisco-based nutrition consultancy Family. Food. Fiesta, to find out how to get maximum nutrition from some unlikely places. Here are our 10 favorites, approved for athletes.

This Sunday, Feb. 7 millions of people around the world watched America’s biggest game night: the Super Bowl. But even though the Denver Broncos came away technically victorious last night, the bright lights of San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium could not hide the fact that one brand of football is on the rise while another may soon be in decline.

Simply put, the National Football League is on the edge of a crisis. There are increasing concerns about head injuries, with more and more NFL players becoming sidelined with concussions after earthquake-shaking hits. In one very illuminating example from last year, rising San Francisco 49ers star Chris Borland called it quits at the age of 25, convinced he would suffer longterm damage if he continued to play. ESPN dubbed Borland “the most dangerous man in football”—and they have a point.

Gary Lineker has suggested Leicester City’s title rivals Arsenal “nicked the wrong scout” after the man credited with helping to sign two of Claudio Ranieri’s star performers, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté, left the Premier League leaders.

Ben Wrigglesworth announced this week on social media that he is joining Sunday’s opponents after more than three years at Leicester. The Leicester assistant manager, Steve Walsh, was also linked with a move to Arsenal in December but the former England striker and Match of the Day host Lineker, who says his boyhood club’s achievements so far this season have been “magical”, believes Walsh is the man who deserves most credit for recruitment at the club.

On Professor Neri Oxman’s Krebs Cycle of Creativity of the relationship between the disciplines, design and science are opposite one another on the circle, and the output of one is not the input of the other as is often the case of engineering and design or science and engineering. I believe that by making a “lens” and a fusion of design and science, we can fundamentally advance both. This connection includes both the science of design and the design of science, as well as the dynamic relationship between these two activities.

Our goal is to give outsiders a view of what it’s like for an analytics specialist to be employed by a professional sports team (2/n)

Center for Business Analytics Practitioner Lecture

“Sport Analytics – Applied Research on Performance, Development and Injury Prevention”

Presented by:
Jo Clubb, Applied Sports Scientist, Buffalo Sabres

The most valuable player in today’s NBA isn’t a guard or a forward or a center. It’s all of the above. The new prototype is someone who plays not one position but every position.

That’s a huge problem for most teams, though, because players like that basically don’t exist. They are so few and far between that you could count them on your fingers and then type out a text message.

San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard is one of these unicorns. So is Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green. Both have become first-time All-Stars this season and indispensable pieces on the NBA’s two best teams after a series of basketball forces collided with their unusual genetic advantage: their wingspans.