… “Obviously I would do anything I can to be out there, but it’s all in their hands,” Thompson said of the training staff. “If there’s any pain, it will be a no-go just because of the position we’re in. This could be a longer series, so there’s no point in trying to go out there and re-aggravate it and potentially keep myself out of the whole entire Finals instead of just one game.”
The use of the phrase “any pain” suggests we should perhaps take Thompson’s injury a little more seriously than he’s letting on, but he clarified his comments later, saying that a slight bit of pain is fine, as long as it’s not consistent throughout the game.
“Probably, if you only feel it on a certain couple moves, you’re fine,” Thompson said. “But if you feel it every step of the way, that’s not a good sign. I do not feel it with every move I make, only on certain ones. So you can kind of play through that. But if it was something that was consistent whenever I move my leg or every sharp cut or every sprint, that would not be good. But it’s only a few exact movements that I really feel it. So that’s very encouraging.”
… Getting on the field in front of them was something special for Gyau, whose career has been largely derailed by the ACL injury he suffered nearly five years ago. He has had a trio of seasons since then in which he has played somewhat regularly, but two of them came in Germany’s third division and the other and more recent was this past campaign as a rotational player for Duisburg.
“It means everything to me, it means everything to me,” said Gyau, who made seven starts in 20 appearances and scored two goals this season. “All of the people that were behind me the whole time, all the people that stuck with me through the hard times and they finally got to be able to see me out there today on the pitch. That was good for the soul.”
For Gyau, the focus is now on finding a good club situation. He wants to regain the sharpness and quality he had in the early days of his career, before the injury happened, so that he can get back to playing at a higher level and into the national team picture on a more consistent basis.
… Kerr’s stardom is the latest breakthrough for a league that started just over a decade ago. For most W-League players, soccer is still a passion, not a profession. Last season was the first in which all 57 W-League games were broadcast live on television, and only last year did the W-League begin selling jerseys. (Ray, for the record, is wearing a men’s Glory jersey his wife special-ordered for him with Kerr’s name and number on the back.)
“Most of my teammates work 9 to 5, so the commitment level is different [in the W-League],” says Kerr, 25, a few days later between bites of zucchini and haloumi fritters at one of her favorite lunch spots. Her dark hair is pulled low into a ponytail, still wet from a dip in the Indian Ocean with her 5-year-old boxer, Billie. “Sometimes it’s frustrating,” she says. “You’re giving up your life for the sport, and for a lot of players, it’s just another part of theirs.”
So why is one of soccer’s brightest stars playing in Perth with part-time teammates in a venue the size of a high school football stadium? Because she can’t imagine preparing for the most important tournament of her career anywhere else. “To play in front of Perth fans is special,” Kerr says. “They know me on a different level, as the hometown kid who plays for fun. They see me as who I am.”
… Back in 1999, we had never heard of Sports Science. No team studied players the way that just about everyone does now. There wasn’t a strong focus on nutrition, rest, and recovery. That is all standard today. The evolution of Sports Science has really impacted the game. Players are playing longer than ever. Jason Peters is 37 and remains one of the better left tackles in the league. That would not have happened in the past.
Teams now understand the importance of regularly checking on players. Does the guy need a day off? Is he sleeping enough? Is he getting enough fluids? Players used to hate missing reps. They wanted to do it all, show how tough they were. Now teams and players work together to keep guys in peak condition.
Teams used to be very wary of players above the age of 30. Those guys would wear down and you would be stuck with a high-priced veteran who just wasn’t as good anymore. That has changed. Age is just a number. Teams are willing to keep older players around and players can continue performing at a high level. The football world keeps waiting for Tom Brady or Drew Brees to slow down, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Research in the mind sciences often uses cognitive load to distinguish automatic from controlled mental processes. In the past 5 years, more than 1000 journal articles have included the keyword ‘cognitive load’ (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed). During that time, experiments using cognitive load tasks (see Glossary) have informed conclusions about the automatic and controlled components of nearly every aspect of human thought and behavior, ranging from visual perception to stereotyping, social comparison, and even juror sentencing decisions [1]. Such experiments have been particularly influential in the domain of social thought and behavior, where they have contributed to debates about human nature, including the automaticity of human prosociality.
A fundamental assumption behind typical cognitive load experiments is that there exists a distinction between two sets of processes in the mind. On such dual-process accounts of cognition, one set of processes is thought to be relatively fast, automatic, and/or intuitive (‘System 1’), whereas another is thought to be relatively slow, controlled, and/or deliberative (‘System 2’). In a typical experiment, participants perform a cognitive load task thought to ‘occupy’ the resources of System 2 (e.g., mental arithmetic, digit string memorization), thereby diminishing the availability of those resources for a concurrent task (Figure 1).
… The NHL scouting combine can provide the most physically and mentally exhausting days in a draft prospect’s season. This week, prospects eligible for the 2019 NHL draft will descend on Buffalo to make their last impressions on scouts and executives from all 31 teams in both physical testing and interviews with individual clubs. Each of the top players eligible for the draft is slated to attend, including likely top-two picks Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko.
[Josh] Norris was one of the standout performers during the physical testing at the 2017 combine, finishing first in five tests and in the top 10 in two more. Coming out of that event, it was clear that Norris was one of the best pure athletes in the class. It’s hard to know exactly how much that helped his stock, but as a player thought to be a bubble candidate for the first round, he ended up going 19th overall to the San Jose Sharks.
“You can definitely help yourself at the combine,” said Judd Brackett, who is the director of amateur scouting for the Vancouver Canucks, noting that the interview portion is the most important part of the week for his club. This week can help further clarify things for a team, especially since many of the general managers will be even more heavily involved in this part of the process.
The aims of this study were to examine the medium-term effects of previous experiences during early stages of sport development on physical capacities of under-13 (U-13) talented basketball players and, to identify variables that discriminated under-14 (U-14) national team training camp selection. Anthropometrical and physical measurements were collected during a basketball training camp. Previous sport experiences (6–10 years), maturity offset, power outputs for jumping and sprinting were determined. A cluster analysis was used to allocate the subjects according to their different levels of sport experiences (more specialized vs. less specialized) to allow creating a dummy variable for the subsequent analysis of the physical variables. A stepwise discriminant analysis was computed to identify the construct that best classifies selected and non-selected players for U-14 national team training camp. The less specialized group outscored more specialized in all physical parameters, irrespectively of gender. The Abalakov Jump Peak Power and Predicted Adult Height (PAH) could successfully discriminate selected from non-selected players for U-14 national team training camp in boys and PAHin girls. The diversified and non-specific sport stimulus during early ages seem to be determinant to the acquisition and development of fundamental movement skills of talented basketball players.
The limits on maximum sustained energy expenditure are unclear but are of interest because they constrain reproduction, thermoregulation, and physical activity. Here, we show that sustained expenditure in humans, measured as maximum sustained metabolic scope (SusMS), is a function of event duration. We compiled measurements of total energy expenditure (TEE) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) from human endurance events and added new data from adults running ~250 km/week for 20 weeks in a transcontinental race. For events lasting 0.5 to 250+ days, SusMS decreases curvilinearly with event duration, plateauing below 3× BMR. This relationship differs from that of shorter events (e.g., marathons). Incorporating data from overfeeding studies, we find evidence for an alimentary energy supply limit in humans of ~2.5× BMR; greater expenditure requires drawing down the body’s energy stores. Transcontinental race data suggest that humans can partially reduce TEE during long events to extend endurance.
Wearable devices that harvest energy from movement are not a new idea, but a material created at Rice University may make them more practical.
The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has adapted laser-induced graphene (LIG) into small, metal-free devices that generate electricity. Like rubbing a balloon on hair, putting LIG composites in contact with other surfaces produces static electricity that can be used to power devices.
Four years ago, fewer than a million units of smart clothing shipped worldwide; today, it is predicted that global sales will total US$ 1.18 billion by 2025 as the Internet of Things expands to connect more than 75 billion devices.
DuPont had been making flexible circuitry for decades, but manufacturers wanted electronics in clothing to stretch, snap back to size and survive exposure to the elements. The introduction of DuPont brand Intexar, an electronic ink and film that transforms fabric into smart clothing, kicked off a cascade of innovative ideas for multiple applications including fitness gear, heated garments, and wearable health care.
Consumer interest in DNA testing has exploded, helping to ignite a new “hybrid” model of genetic testing that blends elements of traditional laboratories with direct-to-consumer models (DTC) models like 23andMe, according to new research published in JAMA Network.
It’s tough to quantify what proportion of genetic tests is fulfilled via hybrid models versus traditional and DTC models, but data suggests hybrid labs are eating up a big chunk of genetic testing: A large traditional laboratory recently reported that it’s conducted 4 million genetic tests since launching in 1991, while a hybrid laboratory reported it’s conducted 1.4 million tests since its founding in 2004.
Hybrid DNA labs emerged to bridge the gap left by traditional and DTC genetic tests — which are centric to either the clinician or the consumer, not both.
Mike Trout might be the best player in MLB history, but he wasn’t even seen as the best player in his own draft class, or close to it. Ten years ago, he lasted until the Los Angeles Angels’ back-to-back picks at Nos. 24 and 25, meaning that 21 teams could have drafted Trout but passed (the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks each picked twice before that).
That has led to the chronic question of why the industry as a whole didn’t realize Mike Trout was, in fact, Mike Trout when he was a 17-year-old high school senior. To find an answer, I went to the best sources possible: The scouts who saw him that spring, especially those with the Angels who were responsible for drafting and signing him. This is that story.
… Can the “synergy” between RB Leipzig and the Red Bulls, one that sends players like [Tyler] Adams to Germany at the first sign that they’re ready to play at a higher level, produce both players to send to Leipzig and MLS Cup titles? It’s certainly possible. Looking at a lack of spending would apply to more MLS clubs than just the Red Bulls. Playing young players is not in and of itself a bad thing especially in traditionally young player-shy MLS. Still, any requirements handed down from on high mean the coach in New York is not entirely free to play the lineup he thinks gives the team the best opportunity to win. Again, that’s another question for the Red Bulls leadership.
The Red Bulls have a core of talented players and maximized return on several savvy acquisitions in recent years. What they haven’t done is spend the money necessary to find a backup/heir to Bradley Wright-Phillips at striker and are generally loathe to compete for the new breed of talent that is arriving in places like LAFC and Atlanta.
Pushing the “either/or” narrative that RBNY can invest in the academy or the first team roster but not both softens the blow when the club fails at the playoff hurdle, but sells a homegrown product to the parent club. Development, if done well, can work as a stand-in for winning. Turning out players of a high enough caliber to play and thrive in the Bundesliga is a natural point of pride. Only one team can win a championship in a given year, but player development is not a zero-sum game.