Applied Sports Science newsletter – June 27, 2016

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for June 27, 2016

 

Bolomboy’s path from Weber State to the NBA paved by work ethic

Skyline Sports from June 23, 2016

… The daily work Bolomboy put in during his four years playing for Randy Rahe in Ogden helped transform him from a rail-thin kid into the physical specimen he is today.

Bolomboy came to Weber State as a 6-foot-8 string bean who only weighed 200 pounds. His broad shoulders, natural leaping ability and tightly bound athletic frame were major pieces to the puzzle for his prodigious potential. As a freshman, he was among the top rebounders and shot blockers in the Big Sky. By his sophomore season, his body began developing as the Weber State strength coaches worked to hang muscle on his frame. Two seasons ago, he earned Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year honors as Weber State advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

By his junior season, Bolomboy had grown an inch and had the body of a man. By his senior year, he had the body of an NBA player, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound block of chiseled muscle. Rahe said Bolomboy has just three percent body fat.

 

How New York Jets quarterback Christian Hackenberg reinvented himself

ESPN, New York Jets Blog from June 23, 2016

When Christian Hackenberg finished the 2015 season at Penn State, he turned pro as a junior, hired a personal coach and a fitness trainer and a nutritionist, and moved to Southern California in early January. For 2 1/2 months, he lived like an NFL quarterback, sans team practices and games.

He started at 5:30 a.m. with film study, followed by passing drills on the field, a workout in the gym, and an evening homework assignment from his coach, usually involving more film breakdown. He ate well, as prepared meals were delivered to his condo in Dana Point. When he ventured to the local Whole Foods, he was accompanied by his nutritionist, who explained the importance of smart shopping and eating.

There were no exams, no schoolwork and no distractions. It was 24/7 football, a 10-week boot camp that helped him prepare for the scouting combine, pre-draft workouts and, well, life. The quarterback life.

 

Quantifying Explosive Actions in International Women’s Soccer. – PubMed – NCBI

International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance from June 13, 2016

The aims of the current study were to examine the external validity of inertial based parameters (inertial movement analysis; IMA) to detect multi-planar explosive actions during maximal sprinting, change of direction (COD) and to further determine its reliability, set appropriate magnitude bands for match analysis and assess its variability during international women’s soccer matches. Twenty U20 female soccer players, wearing GPS units with a built-in accelerometer, completed three trials of a 40-m sprint and a 20-m sprint with a change of direction to the right or left at 10-m. Further, thirteen women’s national team players (157 files; 4-27 matches per player) were analyzed to ascertain match-to-match variability. Video synchronization indicated IMA signal was instantaneous with explosive movement (acceleration/deceleration/COD). Peak GPS velocity during the 40-m sprint showed similar reliability (CV = 2.1%) to timing gates, but increased pre- and post-COD (CV = 4.5-13%). IMA variability was greater at the start of sprints (CV = 16-21%) compared to pre- and post-COD (CV = 13-16%). IMA threshold for match analysis was set at 2.5m.s-2 by subtracting one standard deviation from the mean IMA during sprint trials. IMA match variability (CV = 14%) differed from high-speed GPS metrics (35-60%). Practitioners are advised that timing lights should remain the gold standard for monitoring sprint and acceleration capabilities of athletes. However, IMA indicates a reliable method to monitor between match explosive actions and assess changes due to various factors such as congested schedule, tactics, heat or altitude.

 

16 for ’16: CFB Coaches who are best at developing NFL talent | NFL.com

NFL.com, Chase Goodbread from June 15, 2016

College Football 24/7’s “16 for ’16” series continues with a look at 16 coaches who are most effective at developing NFL talent. Recruiting certainly plays a big role in which programs bring in the top high school talent in the country, but getting that talent adjusted to the college game and, eventually, ready for the NFL is an entirely different task. While some coaches listed here produce a very high number of draft picks, it’s not just a compilation of football factories — room was made for coaches who develop players effectively regardless of the volume of NFL talent they produce.

 

In Chasing a Legend, Katie Ledecky Discovers a Buoyant Ally

The New York Times from June 26, 2016

… “I’m at a loss for words sometimes when I think about what she has been able to do the last four years,” said the Olympian Rowdy Gaines, an NBC swimming analyst, adding: “She loves to train. She loves to be out there every day and loves that feeling. You don’t get that a lot, and I think that’s really helped her.”

[Debbie] Meyer exerted an enormous influence on her heir apparent, though Ledecky was wholly unaware of it until they met in 2014. Ledecky and her older brother, Michael, inherited their love of the sport from their mother, Mary Gen, who was a teenage swimmer in North Dakota in 1968 when Meyer broke the American record in the 800-meter freestyle five times.

Ledecky’s mother, a freestyler who went on to compete at the University of New Mexico, was beguiled by Meyer. She begged her parents to allow her to stay up to watch the telecast of the swimming at the Mexico City Games, where the women’s 800 freestyle made its Olympic debut.

 

Printed Sensors to Steal Spotlight at Sensors Expo

EE Times from June 17, 2016

Printed sensors, paste-on transducers that read temperatures and moisture states from the surface of your skin, will get new scrutiny at this month’s Sensors Expo Conference (June 21-23 at the McEnery Convention Center San Jose, CA).

Sensors are electrical transducers that interact with the environment to help us examine and evaluate everything from human cancer cells to jet engine pressures. Sensors must be considered part of the IoT network and are included in the architecture and power budget of microcontrollers, memory, and IoT module packaging.

 

Mobile 3D ultrasound speeds brain injury diagnosis

ApplySci discoveries from June 23, 2016

University of Aberdeen researchers are developing software to create 3-D models of soldiers brains while on location, which is then sent to an expert for immediate diagnosis.

 

Wearable Biosensors Studied for Clinical Monitoring and Treatment

JAMA from June 23, 2016

Pricking a finger multiple times a day to monitor their blood glucose levels often proves overwhelming for patients with diabetes. Many simply won’t follow their physician’s recommendation to test so frequently, making it harder to manage their condition.

“It’s a lot of stress,” said Dae-Hyeong Kim, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University in Korea. “Many patients don’t want to do it every day so they will do it once a week or once a month, and that will aggravate their diabetes.”

Kim and his colleagues have been working to develop a noninvasive way to monitor blood glucose using a tiny wearable electronic biosensor that detects glucose levels in sweat. In fact, preliminary research demonstrated that their Band-Aid–sized device not only monitors sweat glucose, but also might be coupled with microneedles to deliver medication (Lee H et al. Nat Nanotechnol. doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.38 [published online March 21, 2016]).

 

Research: Physical Performance Tests Predict Injury in College Athletes – High Point University

High Point University from June 09, 2016

A three-year research study at High Point University has revealed that certain physical performance tests developed by the university can be used to predict athletic injuries before they occur. The results are helping HPU identify injury potential in student-athletes and develop training programs to prevent those injuries from happening.

Dr. Eric Hegedus, professor and founding chair of the physical therapy department, recently published the findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in an article titled “Physical performance tests predict injury in National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes: a three-season prospective cohort study.”

 

Kens Comment On From Podium to Public Health Translation In Research and Innovation

GSK Human Performance Laboratory, Ken van Someren from May 26, 2016

There’s much debate as to whether elite sport can have a wider impact on society, not least on public health. Recently, I took part in a conference panel discussion on this very topic. Panel members agreed that elite sporting success, including hosting a home Olympic and Paralympic Games, has little or no impact on sport mass participation – indeed evidence from across the globe consistently shows that such events have, at best, only a very short-term impact on mass participation. For those of us in the UK, this is perhaps best illustrated by the ‘Wimbledon effect’ – where we see a short-lived increase in tennis participation each year – but more on this in a future comment feature.

If we look at this question through a research and innovation lens, we see a more positive image – or at least the emergence of one coming into focus. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games provided a stimulus for unprecedented collaboration between elite sport, academia and industry in science, medicine and technology. Not only did this help afford Team GB and Paralympics GB every advantage for their home Games, it also saw a step change in knowledge and practice.

 

Right vs. Left; It Still Doesn’t Matter

SpartaPoint blog from June 20, 2016

I recently returned from another refreshing trip to Australia, learning from colleagues and often discussing the vague process for athletes seeking to return to play (RTP). One of the major RTP assumptions is that tissue heals amongst different individuals at the same rate, yielding a similar healing process across different individuals. The majority of occurrences continue to operate in the manner of a time-based system (i.e. 6 months for an ACL), as opposed to a meritocracy (SpartaPoint).

Perhaps the largest assumption continues to be the importance of right versus left limb performance; specifically, the relationship of an athlete’s injured leg/arm compared to another limb. For lower limb injuries, such as an ACL, a forward hop or repeated forward hops are often used to assess an athlete’s dynamic stability between the left and right leg. This comparison is often referred to as a ratio or index, such as the limb symmetry index (LSI). An LSI less than 85 or 90% is thought to be indicative of an increased risk for additional injury. However, recent studies have found this concept to be flawed.

A 2016 publication was performed by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio (citation below), which is a source for many papers on best practices of ACL reconstruction and rehabilitation. While there was some differences in single leg hop performance between limbs on female athletes with ACL history, the proposed index of 85-90% proved to be insignificant.

 

The making and comparison of draft curves

Michael Lopez, StatsbyLopez blog from June 22, 2016

Over the years, there have been several ‘draft curves’ put together in each of the four major North American sports. These charts provide intuitive visualizations of the relative value of each pick, while allowing us to better understand prospect potential and evaluate trades.

 

Guest Post: Age and upside in the NBA Draft – Nylon Calculus

Fansided, Nylon Calculus from June 24, 2016


In this analysis, I’ll be taking a look at how age drafted corresponds to how NBA-ready player is, as well as their upside. Additionally, I’ll be looking at when players have their best seasons, as a function of age drafted.

 

Analytics, stats making way into draft process

NHL.com from June 23, 2016

… “I think the trickle down has started to seep into the majority of organizations,” Florida Panthers director of scouting Scott Luce said. “I think all organizations are trying to fine-tune what and how they can take the data and how they can use it and better utilize it for decision-making when it comes to making a draft pick at the draft.”

As they are at the NHL level, scouts and general managers are reluctant to talk about how they use advanced analytics at the amateur level, or on what information they place the most emphasis. However, most will admit to using analytics as part of their evaluation process.

 

We Just Can’t Handle Diversity

Harvard Business Review, Lisa Burrell from June 25, 2016

… While merit sounds like an easy, obvious filter for talent decisions, it’s anything but. We believe we know good talent when we see it, yet we usually don’t—we’re terrible at evaluating people objectively. That’s why orchestras started holding blind auditions decades ago. It’s why today algorithms often make smarter hires than people do. It’s why so many companies are searching for alternatives to traditional performance reviews. Even (and especially) when leaders proclaim a commitment to fairness in their organizations, stereotypes cause them to evaluate and treat equal performers differently, as Emilio Castilla, of MIT, and Stephen Benard, of Indiana University, have demonstrated in their well-known research on the “paradox of meritocracy.”

What’s tripping us up? Robert H. Frank, a Cornell economist and the author of Success and Luck, provides one explanation: We just don’t see the large role that chance events play in people’s life trajectories. If someone lands a great job and makes lots of money, we interpret those outcomes as evidence of smarts and hard work. (We look at our own lives the same way.) As for those who don’t thrive? Well, we tell ourselves, maybe they’ve caught a bad break here and there, but they could turn things around if they tugged on their bootstraps a bit harder.

 

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