Applied Sports Science newsletter – August 14, 2017

With the exception of a TMZ airport ambush and a handful of Instagram posts from the other side of the world, NBA fans haven’t heard a word from O.J. Mayo since last July, when the league announced his dismissal for an unspecified violation of its anti-drug program.

One year later, it seems no one in or around the NBA has heard from him, either.

That’s the takeaway from 10 months of reporting, in which attempts to reach nearly 40 of Mayo’s former teammates, coaches, agents, GMs and players union reps turned up little more than a parade of no comments—when they responded at all. Most of our dozens of calls, emails and Twitter messages were never returned.

USC’s star quarterback and his parents do not live by the LaVar Ball theory of the universe. They let a multisport supernova grow up into his own man. And that’s why this 20-year-old might be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft.

Rob McClanaghan has worked with everyone from Steph, KD, John Wall, and Westbrook to little-known journeymen who never made it to the NBA. This is the story of a college walk-on who became one of the most instrumental behind-the-scenes figures in basketball.

… It will come as no surprise to most that Mike Gundy is in that second camp, and those of you at the AFCA this past January may recall him talking about how he and his staff approach developing toughness in players while practicing shorter and lighter than most. Oklahoma State players are never on the practice field longer than an hour and 45 minutes.

Following a recent practice, Gundy (and his glorious mullet) gave some insight to CBS Sports into why he and his staff believe so strongly in practicing shorter and lighter, and how science is on their side. [video, 1:24]

Overtraining syndrome (OTS) and related states are results of a combination between excessive overload in training stress and inadequate recovery, which leads to acute feelings of fatigue and decreases in performance [1]. The whole spectrum of underperformance conditions includes: a. functional overreaching (FOR), when there is a very short-term (days to few weeks) decrement in performance and supercompensation (improvement in performance) after recovery [1]; b. non-functional overreaching (NFOR), when performance worsens for a short period (but longer than FOR, between weeks to months) and a full recovery (although not always the previous performance capacity is reestablished) is observed after proper recovery period [1]; and c. overtraining syndrome (OTS), when a long-term (usually several months but can be indefinitely) decrement in performance capacity allied to psychological symptoms are seen [1]. Despite of these descriptions, it is unfeasible to set an unquestionable definition and precise limits between OTS, NFOR and FOR.

The imbalance between training and recovery, which can be worsened or confounded by inadequate nutrition, illness, psychosocial stressors and sleep disorders [1], among many other causes, leads to dysfunction of pathways and responses in immune, inflammatory, neurological, hormonal and metabolic systems as a maladaptation to chronic exposure to extreme metabolic and tissue environments. This includes, for instance, chronic glycogen depletion (although normal levels of glycogen are found at the moment of the examination of athletes).

There are apparently no reliable or accurate biomarkers that help diagnose OTS/NFOR/FOR, even though diminished maximal lactate concentration, creatine kinase altered reaction to eccentric and new-onset exercises and decreased plasma glutamine levels have been found.

PURPOSE:

To explore the influence of body composition on thermal responses to cold water immersion (CWI) and the recovery of exercise performance.
METHODS:

Male subjects were stratified into two groups; low fat (LF; n=10); or high fat (HF; n=10). Subjects completed a high intensity interval test (HIIT) on a cycle ergometer followed by 15 min recovery intervention (control (CON) or CWI). Core temperature (Tc), skin temperature (Tsk) and heart rate were recorded continuously. Performance was assessed at baseline, immediately post-HIIT and 40 min post-recovery using a 4 min cycling time trial (TT), countermovement jump (CMJ), and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) tests. Perceptual measures (thermal sensation (TS), total quality of recovery (TQR), soreness and fatigue) were also assessed.
RESULTS:

Tc and TS were significantly lower in LF compared to HF from 10 min (Tc: LF 36.5±0.5, HF 37.2±0.6°C; TS: LF 2.3±0.5, HF 3.0±0.7 arbitrary units (a.u.)) to 40 min (Tc: LF 36.1±0.6, HF 36.8±0.7°C; TS: LF 2.3±0.6, HF 3.2±0.7 a.u.) following CWI (P<0.05). Recovery of TT performance was significantly enhanced following CWI in HF (10.3±6.1%) compared to LF (3.1±5.6%, P=0.01) however, no differences were observed between HF (6.9±5.7%) and LF (5.4±5.2%) with CON. No significant differences were observed between groups for CMJ, IMTP, TQR, soreness or fatigue in both conditions. CONCLUSION:

Body composition influences the magnitude of Tc change during and following CWI. Additionally, CWI enhanced performance recovery in the HF group only. Therefore, body composition should be considered when planning CWI protocols to avoid overcooling and maximise performance recovery.

Klopp’s longtime friend and former colleague is bringing more high-pressing, German-style soccer to the Premier League. Will it work?

One problem with sensors that derive information from sweat is that the patient being tested has to actually sweat. Oftentimes this entails exertion or room temperatures that run the gamut from impractical to unsafe. But thanks to Eccrine Systems Inc., testing sweat may soon become both easier and safer.

Founded by University of Cincinnati professor Jason Heikenfeld, Eccrine Systems has developed a device that can stimulate sweat glands on a small, isolated patch of skin. It does so using chemicals, allowing the patient to remain relaxed and comfortable. And according to a study in the journal Lab on a Chip, the sensors can also make predictions on how much a given patient will sweat, allowing researchers to better understand the hormones and chemicals involved in the process.

A pioneering new study is set to help surgeons repair hearts without damaging precious tissue.

A team of scientists from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), The University of Manchester, Aarhus University and Newcastle University, have developed a way of producing 3D data to show the cardiac conduction system – the special cells that enable our hearts to beat – in unprecedented detail. The findings were published in Scientific Reports. ​

The new data in this study gives them a much more accurate framework than previously available for computer models of the heartbeat and should improve our ability to make sense of troublesome heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation that affects 1.4 million people in the UK. The data reveals exactly where the cardiac conduction system is in a normal heart. For example, it shows just how close it runs to the aortic valve.

Males and females experience pain differently—and appear to process it differently, too. Why has it taken so long for science to find out?

Everyone feels pain, whether from disease, trauma or aging. But new research into pain’s underlying biological mechanisms has revealed that males and females seem to experience it differently—and pain signals may pass through the body using completely different mechanisms. These startling facts somehow eluded science until quite recently.

“Females are more sensitive to pain than males,” said Jeffrey Mogil, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, in a keynote address this spring at the annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. “It doesn’t matter how you measure the pain or what kind of pain you are measuring—this has been done hundreds and hundreds of times, and that debate is pretty much over.”

The start of college comes with expectation and excitement, but it also can trigger depression. A Michigan Medicine psychiatrist offers advice to ease the transition.

The man in charge of the International Champions Cup says the competition represents a new approach to pre-season preparations by Europe’s elite clubs.

Fifteen of the continent’s biggest clubs are contesting the 2017 edition, which is broken down into separate competitions in three countries.

This year, eight teams – Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris St-Germain, Juventus and Roma – will have played three games each at 11 venues in the United States.

“These clubs realise they are bigger together than they are separate,” says Charlie Stillitano, chairman of Relevent Sports, which launched the competition in 2013.

We’ve all seen a pitcher when he’s zeroed in: His mechanics are clean, his curveball is dropping off the table and he’s painting the edge of the zone. But just as often, a hurler can lose command, and we see pitches that normally look sharp getting hammered into the stands. These streaks are confounding; for no apparent reason, a journeyman can look like a Hall of Famer, or a Cy Young winner can look like an ordinary junkballer.

Sabermetricians usually insist that such streaky performances are really just an artifact of fans and journalists forcing narratives onto random patterns. No matter how much it seems like a pitcher is getting hot, the more likely explanation is that they just happen to have bunched a few good innings together. But that’s not quite correct: Using a new method that focuses on fastball velocity, we found a way to detect whether a pitcher is actually throwing with a hot hand — and just how big of a difference it can make.

… The targeting foul turns 10 this season, though the real rage against it did not start until 2013 when player ejections became part of the penalty. The rule remains unchanged despite an offseason discussion of whether to eliminate ejections for certain infractions, and the effort to protect players is spreading: The NFL competition committee earlier this year approved automatic ejections for egregious hits to the head.

Put emotional attachments and club loyalties aside: what does the data tell us about the new Premier League season? And we’re not talking simple stats, we’re talking big data and bayesian artificial intelligence algorithms.

“Much information is input to our model, from at what point goals were scored in the game to how red cards affected the final results,” says Luis Usier, quantitative analyst at 21st Club, a consultancy that advises football clubs about squad evaluation and player transfers. That level of data allows analysts to build a world league table that ranks teams using the same objective criteria, from Indonesia’s Liga Prima to England’s Premier League. And, according to 21st Club’s world league table, Tottenham are currently favourites to win the Premier League. However, there’s a caveat: all the top six teams – Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool — have very similar odds. “We deliberately didn’t put a number on Spurs’ or anyone else’s title odds at this stage,” Usier says. “Our model rates Tottenham as the best team in the Premier League currently, but there’s very little separating the top six teams and a lot of uncertainty around new transfers, so the probabilities of winning the title are pretty evenly spread.”