Applied Sports Science newsletter – January 14, 2019

Dominique Wilkins could hear the melancholy in DeMarcus Cousins’ voice last June. Five months removed from a season-ending Achilles injury, Cousins’ career was suddenly in doubt: Would anyone pick him up in free agency? Could he play at an All-Star level again?

During that phone conversation, Wilkins told Cousins not to worry about his critics because “no one knows your heart like you do.” The Hall of Famer’s message resonated. Twenty-six years earlier, Wilkins was 32 when he tore his right Achilles tendon, only to come back nine months later and make two more All-NBA teams.

As Cousins prepares for his Warriors debut Friday night against the Clippers, he knows that Wilkins’ story is an outlier. Players with torn Achilles tendons are more likely to never play another game than to return to their pre-injury form. Cousins’ size — 6-foot-11, 270 pounds — only makes his odds of a full recovery steeper.

Former phenom Donna Vekic has a warning for today’s young stars—it won’t be a straight climb to the top.

The 22-year-old Croatian reached her first WTA final at 16 and won her first title at 17, but didn’t get her second until she was 21 years old. But now, Vekic says she has found more consistency and will break into the top 30 for the first time following her semifinal appearance at Brisbane this week.

“You see all these young girls now. I don’t want to name any names, but they’re winning,” Vekic said. “They’re like, they have the hype. And I’m like, oh, you have no idea what’s in store for you. It’s almost never happens. There’s ups and downs in every career, every sport. Not only in sport, in life. And I think I’ve already gone through that, and to say I’ve already gone through that at 22, I think is pretty good. So I hope it’s going to be a little bit more stable now.”

Talk to anyone about Drew Brees, from family to longtime friends to past and present teammates — and you’ll get some awesome stories about his legendary competitiveness.

Before the New Orleans Saints quarterback became the NFL’s all-time passing leader, he was a multisport star who once beat a younger Andy Roddick in youth tennis and once committed to play baseball at TCU. But there also are many classic tales of his exploits on a golf course, pingpong table, a pickleball court, a horseshoe pit or the seed-spitting and grasshopper-catching contests he had with his brother, Reid, on their grandfather’s ranch. Apparently the only thing he can’t do is stunt bartending.

Apparently it isn’t just Chris Carlisle who is on the Seattle Seahawks chopping block.

Following Wednesday’s report that Carlisle, the team’s longtime head strength and conditioning coach, would not return for the 2019 season, it’s since been reported that his assistants are also gone, as is head trainer Donald Rich.

Curtis Crabtree wrote on Thursday that in addition to Carlisle, assistant S&C coaches Mondray Gee and Jamie Yanchar are out. Gee was with the Green Bay Packers and brought on by GM John Schneider in 2010, while both Carlisle and Yanchar have been with Carroll dating back to Pete’s days at USC.

Background:

A cruciate ligament (CL) injury is a severe injury in soccer. Neuromuscular training programs have a well-documented preventive effect, but there are few studies on the effectiveness of such a program at a national level. The Swedish Knee Control Program (KCP) was found to be effective in preventing CL injuries in youth female soccer players. The KCP was implemented nationwide in Sweden in 2010.
Purpose:

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Swedish KCP in reducing acute knee injuries in soccer players at a nationwide level.
Study Design:

Descriptive epidemiology study.
Methods:

All licensed soccer players in Sweden are covered by the same insurance company. Using this insurance database, around 17,500 acute knee injuries that were reported to the insurance company between 2006 and 2015 were included in the study. By matching the number of licensed soccer players with the number of reported injuries each year, the annual incidence of knee and CL injuries was able to be calculated. To evaluate the spread of the KCP nationally, a questionnaire was sent to all 24 Swedish district football associations (FAs) with questions regarding KCP education. The number of downloads of the KCP mobile application (app) was obtained.
Results:

The incidence of CL injuries decreased during the study period for both male (from 2.9 to 2.4 per 1000 player-years) and female players (from 4.9 to 3.9 per 1000 player-years). The overall incidence of knee injuries decreased in both male (from 5.6 to 4.6 per 1000 player-years) and female players (from 8.7 to 6.4 per 1000 player-years). Comparing before and after the nationwide implementation of the KCP, there was a decrease in the incidence of CL injuries by 6% (rate ratio [RR], 0.94 [95% CI, 0.89-0.98]) in male players and 13% (RR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.81-0.92]) in female players and a decrease in the incidence of knee injuries by 8% (RR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.89-0.96]) and 21% (RR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.75-0.83]), respectively (P < .01 for all). This trend corresponded to a reduction of approximately 100 CL injuries each year in Sweden. A total of 21 of 24 district FAs held organized KCP educational courses during the study period. The percentage of district FAs holding KCP courses was between 46% and 79% each year. There were 101,236 downloads of the KCP app. Conclusion:

The KCP can be considered partially implemented nationwide, and the incidence of knee and CL injuries has decreased in both sexes at a nationwide level.

Suunto is looking for creative minds who can find and invent new fields of application for their revolutionary motion sensor. Whether in the areas of sports, fitness, wellness or even Internet of Things – the possibilities for developers of the Suunto Movesense sensor are unlimited.

The interest is already huge: the sports watch manufacturer Suunto has sent out more than 700 developer kits. In cooperation with ISPO Open Innovation the Finnish company is looking for exciting new applications for its Movesense sensor, ISPO Award 2019 Winner in the Fitness & Activity Tracker category in the Health & Fitness segment.

This video explains some of the key issues relating to athletic footwear and specifically what you need to know to help your athletes make the right choice.

There are some big myths busted here, and I teach you that bending a shoe at the midfoot is a big no no, and that flexibility in a running shoe does not mean lack of stability. [video, 7:39]

… If I remember the 2019 CES for anything, it will be both the diversity of wearables on display and the fact that companies have lost all shame in placing them anywhere on your body — in your underwear, on your purse, or on your forehead. Sometimes, this proximity is a good thing. CES producer CTA put wearables exhibitors right next to health companies, and the lines between “health” and “wearable” are often so blurry that you need to really dive into the booths to see them.

Here are some of the bigger trends I saw within the wearables category at this year’s CES.

The contact lenses used by 45 million people worldwide to improve their vision could someday help monitor health by sensing when levels of disease-indicating chemicals in tears change. Scientists believe lenses could one day diagnose dry-eye syndrome, glaucoma, or even cancer, with the ultimate hope that in the near future contacts could let the wearer know when something is wrong, before they have to go to the doctor.

A research team in the UK led by mechanical engineer and nanotechnology expert Haider Butt has developed a contact lens that can monitor glucose levels in tears in diabetics using an app that’s available on most smartphones. The lenses work by slightly swelling when glucose is present, which changes the way light bounces off of them, similar to how a CD changes colors when you shift it in the light. Except instead of moving the contact lens to change the color, the change occurs when glucose concentrations increase. When a white light source is shined on the lens, the illumination can be detected using Lux, a light-measuring app available for Androids and iPhones.

… The NHL this week tested puck and player tracking for the first time in regular-season games, an exciting step with plans to have it place across the league next season. The NHL will join and perhaps surpass the NFL with real-time tracking technology it hopes will have broad ramifications for teams, players and fans from Florida to Vancouver.

An overwhelming amount of data will soon be available for analytics, broadcasters and, yes, gamblers as expanded sports betting takes hold following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision clearing the way.

… As a medical doctor and public health specialist, I have been involved in several studies and clinical trials examining the benefits and risks of micronutrients and nutritional supplements, such as selenium, across several populations in North America and Europe. … There is, on the other hand, ample scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of other lifestyle modifications for healthy aging and the prevention of major chronic disease. These include: improving the overall quality of diet, increasing physical activity, refraining from smoking, maintaining healthy sleep patterns and minimizing stress.

… The project will merge human genomic, microbiome, and social network data to examine important relationships among our own genes, the organisms living in our bodies, and our social connections to one another. In addition, conducting this study within an existing research project will enable further inquiry into how these phenomena are related to the socioeconomic and health data of thousands of people within a social network in rural Honduras.

Although bacteria are typically associated with infection, the human gut microbiome — all of the microbial species found in the human digestive tract — plays a crucial role in human life. Humans are dependent on the bacteria that live on and inside them in order to digest food, produce vitamins, regulate the immune system, and provide protection against pathogenic bacteria.

Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once asked his Caltech students to calculate the probability that, if he walked outside the classroom, the first car in the parking lot would have a specific license plate, say 6ZNA74. Assuming every number and letter are equally likely and determined independently, the students estimated the probability to be less than 1 in 17 million. When the students finished their calculations, Feynman revealed that the correct probability was 1: He had seen this license plate on his way into class. Something extremely unlikely is not unlikely at all if it has already happened.

The Feynman trap—ransacking data for patterns without any preconceived idea of what one is looking for—is the Achilles heel of studies based on data mining. Finding something unusual or surprising after it has already occurred is neither unusual nor surprising. Patterns are sure to be found, and are likely to be misleading, absurd, or worse.

… “It’s one of the best leagues in Europe and a very, very good league for young players,” said [Timothy] Chandler, who said he has actively recruited young Americans to play in Germany.

“We talk a lot with players about the Bundesliga,” he said. “I hope the young guys would see it and say ‘Hey, we want to play in Germany.’ For the kids, it’s a good opportunity.”

Opportunity isn’t the only draw. The traditional playing cultures of the two countries, which put a premium on strong, athletic players, has led German clubs to recruit more heavily in the U.S. than do clubs from Spain or England. Add in Germany’s deep, well-organized developmental system, which stresses discipline as well as tactical acumen, and the success of those who have gone there — including Pulisic, Wood and, before them, Steve Cherundolo and Eric Wynalda — and it’s obvious why Germany has become an increasingly attractive destination for young Americans.

Major-college sports’ never-ending fight over competitive balance has a new point of contention.

The federal tax-law changes passed in December 2017 included the creation of an excise tax on the pay of non-profit organizations’ most highly compensated employees, a levy that targeted any college or university with a coach or athletics director making big money.

However, while many athletics departments are now facing a substantial new expense, there also are schools that employ some of college sports’ highest-paid coaches and will not have to pay, according to newly issued guidance from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service and the schools’ assertions of their federal tax-exempt status through documents posted on their websites and statements to USA TODAY Sports from school spokespeople.