Applied Sports Science newsletter – May 28, 2019

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for May 28, 2019

 

In Giannis They Trust

Bleacher Report, Jonathan Abrams from

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ability to go around, or over, any opponent has made him a superstar, but his dedication to becoming the Milwaukee Bucks’ leader just might make him an NBA champ.

 

Mariota’s approach to final year of contract: ‘Let it ride’

Associated Press, Teresa M. Walker from

Going into the final year of his rookie contract, Marcus Mariota hasn’t changed anything about how he prepares for this season.

That includes no talk of holding out or public demands for a new contract. The Titans quarterback and 2014 Heisman Trophy winner prefers to show up and work hard during the voluntary offseason program to be the best he can be.

“Let it ride,” Mariota said Tuesday. “I mean no matter what still I get to come out here. I get to play a game that I love and I’m going to make the most of it.”

 

An apartment full of Broncos rookies helped Troy Fumagalli in tough times. Now he gets a second chance to prove he belongs as an NFL tight end.

The Denver Post, Kyle Fredrickson | from

… “There are days where you’re hurt that things go up and down,” Fumagalli said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.”

He didn’t need to look far for support. Just knock on the front door of a fellow Broncos rookie down the hall.

“We’re all going through the same thing living alone and playing in the NFL for the first time,” Fumagalli said. “It was nice to be able to lean on each other and enjoy each other’s company.”

But enough with the sappy teammate talk. The NFL is a results-oriented business, and through a full year with the Broncos, Fumagalli has not made an on-field impact. The clock is ticking

 

How MLB’s Biggest Surprise Team Transformed Its Pitching Culture

SI.com, MLB, Tom Verducci from

At the quarter pole of the season, the Twins are the biggest surprise team across baseball. How have they found success so far? Start with the homer-happy offense, but don’t look past the reoriented starting rotation.

 

Klopp: Liverpool’s backroom team and ‘the details that make it all’

Training Ground Guru, Simon Austin from

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to his new-look backroom team and ‘the details that make it all’ ahead of next Saturday’s Champions League final against Tottenham in Madrid.

When assistant Zeljko Buvac – nicknamed ‘the brain’ – left in mysterious circumstances last April, some predicted it would seriously damage Liverpool’s prospects.

However, the Reds have gone from strength to strength with some new personnel. Pep Lijnders returned to the club in June to replace Buvac and Klopp said: “ I could write a book about him, about what a big influence he had. About what a fantastic young – I still don’t know what his title is – assistant manager.

 

Longtime Rockies trainer Keith Dugger is the heart and soul of franchise

The Denver Post, Patrick Saunders from

… Veteran catcher Chris Iannetta, who’s played for four major-league teams, said, “When you are in the training room with Doogie, you feel like you’re talking to a doctor, just minus the degree. He’s seen everything and his evaluation skills are the best I’ve ever seen. He puts the players’ interests first, plus he knows the game.

“All of that makes him indispensable. We joke with him that he’s the actual GM. We’ll say, ‘Doogie, please don’t send us down, please don’t trade us.’ Because, really, he’s been here so long and his opinions really matter.”

 

The 10,000-hour rule for sporting success is largely a myth, so let kids dabble

The Guardian, Sean Ingle from

This column comes from the sleepy Austrian town of Götzis, where Katarina Johnson-Thompson has obliterated a world-class heptathlon field, winning four of the seven disciplines. Her event is a supreme test of speed, strength, stamina and technical skill. Yet Johnson-Thompson did not start out wanting to be an athlete. Instead, while still in nappies, she began taking ballet classes. Then, later, she became obsessed with football, kicking about with friends outside her house in Liverpool while wearing a Steven Gerrard top. Only when she was older did she focus on track and field.

I mention this because I have been reading an extraordinary new book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialised World, by David Epstein, which skewers what he calls “the cult of the head start” and makes an overwhelming scientific case for playing the sporting field.

 

In the FIFA World Rankings, Belgium are first. Because, as ⁦@KrisVDHaegen⁩ outlines, from U6 all the way up, they put the player first.

Twitter, Kieran Shannon from

Today’s big interview on The Coaching Switch they made: focus not on the game or the team but every player

 

Age-related physical and technical match performance changes in elite soccer players. – PubMed – NCBI

Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports from

The age of peak performance is likely to vary between sports and competitions, affected by the specific skills and attributes needed to succeed in the particular competition. However, no studies using modern tracking techniques have examined on the effects of age on competitive match play performance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of age on match physical and technical performance using a large-scale analysis of match performance in professional soccer players. A total of 14,546 individual match observations were undertaken in the first German league (Bundesliga) during the 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 seasons using a computerized tracking system (VISTRACK, by Impire Corp., Germany). Differences on physical and technical match performance of soccer players were analysed for the following variables: total distance covered, number of fast runs, number of sprints and percentage of successful passes. Professional soccer players aged >30 years showed a significant lower performance in the total distance covered, the number of fast runs, and the number of sprints compared with younger players (≤30 years). Conversely, the player’s ability to make successful passes increased with age. These effects were observed in all positional roles except wide midfielders. These findings may help coaches and managers to better understand the effects of age on match-related physical and technical performance and may have the potential to assist in decisions such as, for example, when a new contract would be signed, the duration of the contract, the salary or when to replace or transfer a player depending on their age.

 

‘Velocity is the number one thing’: This high-tech biomechanics lab is changing baseball

The Washington Post, Dave Sheinin from

… A bleak industrial park about 20 minutes south of Seattle — with neighbors ranging from a plumbing company to a wine importer to a company that manufactures and sells hydraulic lifts — is a strange place to find baseball’s most successful and influential biomechanics laboratory.

Driveline’s mission, according to founder Kyle Boddy, is “data-driven player development.” But in terms of where it fits within baseball’s shifting landscape, Driveline is best known as “that place where pitchers disappear for the winter and show up the next spring with a few extra ticks on their fastballs.”

Driveline didn’t invent velocity — or “velo,” in the industry vernacular — but it has done perhaps as much as any other entity in existence to cultivate and hone it.

“Velocity is the number one thing,” said the 36-year-old Boddy, a former collegiate pitcher, Microsoft software developer, competitive weightlifter, professional gambler and Hardball Times blogger who started Driveline in 2008 and now serves as its chief technology officer. “We don’t shy away from saying that. You hear all this stuff about, ‘You don’t have to throw hard. You just have to learn to pitch.’ It’s not true.”

 

CNBC’s 2019 Healthy Returns Summit: Full Panels

CNBC from

… How, and what, you sweat can tell a lot about your overall wellness. Northwestern University professor John Rogers reveals how his wearable microfluidic sweat analytics system measures sweat and sweat biomarkers accurately and in real time so athletes, fitness pros and others can keep hydrated and stay healthy, alongside CNBC.com technology and health reporter, Christina Farr. [video, pre-roll + 8:00]

 

Resting Muscle Shear Modulus Measured With Ultrasound Shear-Wave Elastography as an Alternative Tool to Assess Muscle Fatigue in Humans

Frontiers in Physiology journal from

The aim of this study was to investigate the time course of the resting vastus lateralis (VL) muscle shear elastic modulus (μ) measured with ultrasound shear-wave elastography during repetition of isometric maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) of the knee extensors (KE). Fifteen well-trained young males repeated 60 5-s isometric MVCs. Evoked electrical stimulations and the VLμ were measured every ten MVCs at rest. The resting VLμ significantly decreased (−34.7 ± 6.7%; P < 0.001) by the end of the fatigue protocol. There was also a 38.4 ± 12.6 % decrease in MVC after exercise (P < 0.001). The potentiated doublet and single twitch torque amplitudes and properties were significantly modified by the end of exercise (P < 0.001). This study shows the time course of the resting VLμ during the repetition of maximal voluntary fatiguing exercise of the KE muscles. The decrease of the resting VLμ could directly affect the force transmission capabilities accounting for peripheral fatigue. [full text]

 

As ACL tears pile up, doctors and coaches worry that kids are playing too much basketball

The Washington Post, Samantha Pell from

Long before high school basketball star Anthony Harris tore his ACL in December, his father was doing his best to prevent his son from suffering the serious knee injury.

Anthony Harris Sr. visited multiple doctors and trainers and asked what workouts were best for strengthening the knee. He had them run tests to see how vulnerable his son — a senior at Paul VI Catholic High in Fairfax City, Va., who is signed to play at the University of North Carolina next season — was to getting hurt. He built rest time into his training schedule.

“There was a lot of things we tried to do to prevent him getting injured,” Harris Sr. said.

However, the precautionary approach wasn’t able to keep Harris from tearing his ACL during a December game when a defender collided with his knee as he went up for a layup.

 

Wolves turn to Saunders to help lead franchise modernization

Associated Press, Dave Campbell from

Three decades after their entry into the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves have deployed an aggressive plan to modernize their operation.

What better way, they concluded, than to hire the youngest head coach in the league?

Ryan Saunders, at the ripe old age of 33, has been tasked with using his lifelong passion for the organization, player-friendly communication style and tech-savvy analytical skill to help take the Timberwolves to championship contention, something they’ve only briefly reached in a mostly clumsy history. Saunders, the first millennial to hold the job in the NBA, is the 13th head coach the franchise has had in 30 seasons.

“It was hard for me to find another leader who could connect with our players at the level he has connected, not just on the court but off the court,” said president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, who feted Saunders at a news conference just two weeks after his own introduction . “It was hard for me to find a leader that shares my vision of how the game should be played, offensively and defensively.”

 

Bruins, Blues set to clash in bruising Stanley Cup Final

Associated Press, Stephen Whyno from

When the NHL altered its rules with an eye toward speed and skill, this is not the Stanley Cup Final it had in mind.

Hockey is becoming less of a big man’s game, offense is up and it’s faster than ever. Then there’s the big and tough St. Louis Blues facing off against the bigger and tougher Boston Bruins in the final that shows size still matters in the playoffs.

“They are physical, we’ll be physical,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said Sunday. “I don’t think we shy away from that type of game.”

 

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