… [Adam] Peaty’s dad is a supermarket caretaker and his mum a nursery manager, a family just about managing but unable to fund the astronomical cost of a life in elite swimming.
Famously, a local appliance cover company stepped in to fund their trip to Rio to watch Adam break a world record and win 100m breaststroke gold in 2016.
His performances were rewarded with National Lottery funding from 2012 to 2016 and it’s not a stretch to say it was make-or-break for Peaty.
“Financially, it was tough for us,” said the 25-year-old.
… [Freddy] Juarez acknowledges a lot of that is likely a product of the humid weather in Orlando, but it also speaks to how hard the team has worked in the roughly four weeks since returning from the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando.
“We’ve just used these training sessions after Orlando to try and hit as much as we feel we have to improve on,” said Juarez.
The bulk of that has been in the attack, as he’s pushed his players to get more numbers going forward and get behind the defense more regularly. RSL scored four goals in four games at MLS is Back.
Saturday Down South blog, Michael Wayne Bratton from
… One specific comment Jones made was interesting, as some around the Alabama program had begun to take issue with the number of injuries the team suffered in recent seasons under Cochran’s leadership in the weight room.
The way Jones tells it, the new leaders of the strength and development program in Tuscaloosa have brought some much-needed energy to the program.
“And I feel like that just boosts morale and we don’t feel like we’re just going through the motions, we’re getting better every day,” Jones said. “There’s science to prove it. They’ve done a great job leading us, and you know, we love those guys already.
… “It’s about giving young people an amazing childhood experience that sets them up for life, that’s going to give them a set of experiences and skills that they can transfer to any walk of life and still be successful.
“It’s about making sure that we don’t put football so central to the plan that it’s detrimental to other areas of their childhood. We don’t want to compromise childhood because you only get one chance at that.”
After their 2019-20 season was abruptly cut short with the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, it’s been an offseason full of upheaval and uncertainty for the returning players to the UConn women’s basketball team. With stay-at-home orders in place due to to the coronavirus pandemic, it hasn’t been easy for the players to get into the gym, and their return to campus for summer workouts was delayed nearly two months. But even through all that disruption, the Huskies’ four returners — setting aside Evina Westbrook, who while technically a returner, did not play last season — still found ways to get better.
Aubrey Griffin played against her brothers. Christyn Williams got in better shape. Olivia Nelson-Ododa worked on her strength and post moves. Anna Makurat trained with the Polish national team and physically transformed herself as well.
The New York Red Bulls are in a transitional phase right now. Tyler Adams, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Luis Robles, and others are no longer there. While there have been some unproven summer acquisitions, ASN’s Justin Sousa believes the solutions are where the club has had so much success in its past – in its academy and USL team.
Physicists from Switzerland, Japan and Germany have unveiled the mechanism by which the first event of respiration takes place in heme proteins. … “The conclusions of our work apply to all heme proteins,” says Chergui. “In particular to hemoglobin in its uptake and release of oxygen when we breathe. Although this takes place at the thermal temperatures of the body, breathing is governed by electronic changes in the heme.”
No matter how long or how often she napped, Sydney Colson woke up exhausted, wanting only to go back to sleep. She was so nauseated, it was difficult to stand. When she was awake, she barely ate and couldn’t taste anything. She dropped five pounds, a big loss for the lean 5-foot-8 Chicago Sky guard who tested positive for the coronavirus in late June.
“I still can’t taste, but I’ve been scarfing food down and trying to gain some weight,” Colson said, and then tried to make light of her sense of smell not returning yet, either.
FOX Sports, Associated Press; Teresa M. Walker, Steve Megargee, Steve Reed and Dave Skretta from
… “There are so many steps along the way. You’ve got to fill out your questionnaire on our app when you wake up in the morning,” Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “Then when you come in, you sanitize your hands, do your temperature check, get your COVID tests, put on your lanyard, grab your tracker. So there’s just a lot of things that have now been added to your routine.”
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), Robin Fambrough from
[Catherine] O’Neal, an infectious disease specialist, has been at the local forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though COVID-19 is a political football for many, O’Neal says myocarditis and other illnesses like multi-system inflammatory syndrome, which is being diagnosed in children and some young adults, make the role of health care professionals vital to the return to sports.
“I think there is a dichotomy in our country regarding how people feel about this virus,” O’Neal said. “It’s our job as health professionals who work with young people to explain the importance of raising your hand. Say ‘I’m congested’ or ‘I’m short of breath.’
“From a sports perspective, we have to be vigilant. Know the signs and symptoms. Parents want to play just as much as kids. That is why it is so important to educate the entire family.”
Objective To systematically review risk factors for hamstring strain injury (HSI).
Design Systematic review update.
Data sources Database searches: (1) inception to 2011 (original), and (2) 2011 to December 2018 (update). Citation tracking, manual reference and ahead of press searches.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Studies presenting prospective data evaluating factors associated with the risk of index and/or recurrent HSI.
Method Search result screening and risk of bias assessment. A best evidence synthesis for each factor and meta-analysis, where possible, to determine the association with risk of HSI.
Results The 78 studies captured 8,319 total HSIs, including 967 recurrences, in 71,324 athletes. Older age (standardised mean difference=1.6, p=0.002), any history of HSI (risk ratio (RR)=2.7, p<0.001), a recent HSI (RR=4.8, p<0.001), previous anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury (RR=1.7, p=0.002) and previous calf strain injury (RR=1.5, p<0.001) were significant risk factors for HSI. From the best evidence synthesis, factors relating to sports performance and match play, running and hamstring strength were most consistently associated with HSI risk. The risk of recurrent HSI is best evaluated using clinical data and not the MRI characteristics of the index injury.
Summary/conclusion Older age and a history of HSI are the strongest risk factors for HSI. Future research may be directed towards exploring the interaction of risk factors and how these relationships fluctuate over time given the occurrence of index and recurrent HSI in sport is multifactorial. [full text]
… SalivaDirect is considered a “game changer” in testing because it is cheaper (as low as $4 a test), faster (results can come within a couple of hours and be handled by nearly any lab in the country) and easier (saliva, not nasal swabs) than current tests.
If you need to repeatedly test lots of people (such as a college student body, let alone the football team that comes from it) on a daily basis then this is significant. Potentially very significant.
It can provide accurate, near real-time testing, and the ability to use that information to quickly quarantine anyone infected before they spread the virus. That could limit the infections within a team.
“If you test frequently enough you are going to pick up on the positives early on before there is a spread,” Robby Sikka, a doctor and the vice president of basketball, performance and technology for the Minnesota Timberwolves told Yahoo Sports on Saturday. Sikka played a key role in the study of the testing procedure.
… The key question that comes to my mind is: what skill or skills underlie this elite passing accuracy and efficiency?
According to numerous top coaches and players, the foundation of elite passing starts far before actually touching the ball. It begins when scanning the pitch for information — defensive positioning, teammates potential runs, etc — prior to receiving the ball.
For example, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola refers to this skill as “seeing the game before you receive the ball”.
… Take Ben Mee, captain of English Premier League soccer team Burnley. He faced the TV cameras in June after his team put in a ragged performance and was beaten 5–0 by Manchester City. The score line was only half the story that day. A handful of Burnley fans had arranged for a banner bearing the phrase “White Lives Matter Burnley!” to be flown over the stadium before the match.
“I’m ashamed and embarrassed” at the fans, said Mee. “They need to come into the 21st century and educate themselves. They don’t represent what this club is about.” After his interview, Mee was praised for his leadership and honesty, which changed the narrative that day. Burnley’s defeat will be remembered for Mee’s intelligent, decisive response more than his defending, and for how he used his platform to deliver a message to encourage education and improvement.
These new measures of success — having a purpose and making a greater impact — are more culturally important than ever. And Burnley went on to win its next two matches without conceding a goal.