He’s endured a disastrous draft night, losing seasons, coaching changes, and trade rumors. When the Texans offensive tackle had the opportunity to exert more control over his career, he seized it by negotiating his record-setting contract extension without an agent.
… Gio is a rising star in the Bundesliga. He is one of the American sensations who is supposed to help transform the U.S. national team over the next two World Cup cycles. His parents are soccer royalty and yet, even at his young age, there are plenty who believe he might end up being better than both of them.
But at this moment, Gio isn’t any of those things. He is just a sick kid, far from home, who has sandpaper in his throat and a runaway train in his head. He tosses and turns, and then, finally, bolts upright, gripped suddenly by the thought that truly frightens him:
What if I have the coronavirus and it leads to the whole league getting shut down? He groans. What if I ruin everything?
The female menstrual cycle (MC) is characterized by varying levels of endogenous sex hormones. Previous investigations have indicated that fluctuating levels of estrogen and progesterone may influence vascular function, ventilatory chemosensitivity, and exercise‐induced fatigue throughout the MC. However, a comprehensive analysis of the role of these sex hormones on determining cardiovascular, ventilatory, and neuromuscular responses during whole body exercise is currently lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate cardiovascular, ventilatory and neuromuscular responses to submaximal cycling exercise of eumenorrheic females throughout the MC. METHODS
Females were studied during three MC phases: early follicular (EF; days 1–4), late follicular (LF; days 8–12), and mid luteal (ML; days 8–10 post LH peak). Prior to exercise, venous blood was collected each visit to characterize endogenous hormone concentrations. Subjects cycled at 50 W, 75 W, 100 W, and 80% Wpeak (129 ± 12 W) for 4 min per stage. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), femoral artery blood flow (QL, Doppler ultrasound), minute ventilation (VE), oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), and estimated arterial hemoglobin saturation (SpO2) were quantified throughout all cycling trials. Preto post‐exercise changes in potentiated quadriceps twitches (ΔQtw) were used to quantify peripheral locomotor muscle fatigue. RESULTS
HR, MAP, and QL were not different at any intensity throughout the MC (P > 0.4). VE, VO2, VCO2 were also not different throughout the MC (P > 0.2). Furthermore, neither hemoglobin content, nor SpO2 and arterial oxygen content changed significantly across the MC (P > 0.1). Consequently, leg O2 delivery during exercise at all intensities were similar during the MC. Finally, exercise‐induced peripheral fatigue was not different throughout the MC (ΔQtw: ~47%; P = 0.2). CONCLUSION
Fluctuating endogenous female sex hormones do not significantly influence central or peripheral hemodynamics or the ventilatory response to submaximal whole‐body exercise. Similarly, the exercise‐induced development of peripheral fatigue also remains unaltered across the MC during submaximal cycling exercise of the same duration and intensity. Although depending on the research question, these data suggest that controlling for MC phase may not be necessary when examining cardioventailtory or neuromuscular responses to whole body exercise in females, and should encourage the participation of more females in these types of studies.
… Although a general multifactorial injury risk reduction approach is likely needed, professional football players vary substantially in how many risk factors they possess. Therefore, from a holistic injury management perspective, a multifactorial approach should be individualised. Specifically, individualisation is an approach where training towards a certain common outcome, such as reducing injury occurrence (eg, injury risk reduction programmes), is constructed to a certain extent independently for every player. This is done by first evaluating what training stimuli a certain individual seems to require based on categories of ‘screening’ tests. Research within football using individualised training for HMI risk reduction has only been completed once, whereas research including individualised multifactorial training has only been performed within a hamstring rehabilitation setting. Individualisation can also be done by merely manipulating the training volume of a certain stimuli or even within exercise selection depending on the situation.
Therefore, this study aims to determine if a specific multifactorial and individualised programme can reduce the occurrence of HMI in a professional football setting.
… I cannot state more emphatically that international youth athletic development research, resulting in improved training methodologies, is only accelerating. For example, the MLS in partnership with the US Soccer federation commissioned Double Pass, a leading European player development consulting firm to extensively access and audit MLS academies over a four year period ultimately providing MLS a clear picture of where and how to MLS academies can improve (resulting in a 150 page document).
In addition, MLS created a partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF) to promote the exchange of best practices and experiences in youth development. The FFF provides MLS youth academy coaches a 14-month world-class training and certification program. Twenty American coaches will spend months in Europe observing either a French, German, or Spanish club, as well as extensive classroom, on-field instruction and coaching evaluation, at a French club. (Note: After Brazil, France produces the second most international soccer players, 1740, in 132 leagues worldwide, 948 playing outside of France).
This also means that the requirement to innovate, by all MLS academies, has increased dramatically.
Athletic coaching is a massive, multi-billion-dollar industry. No surprise, really, given the massive revenue some top athletes are able to generate. Mustard is working to supplant — or at least augment — some of that pricey coaching with the launch of a new mobile app designed to analyze an athlete’s mechanics and offer corrective tips to help them improve.
The company was co-founded by Tom House, a former reliever whose coaching career has earned him the reputation as one of the “father[s] of modern pitching mechanics.”
… “The tip of the ball, underneath the threads, sometimes we used two tags inside the football and ultimately we came up with the configuration that when it’s melded just underneath the [NFL] shield, that the tag cannot be noticed and the players themselves can’t tell the difference when they pick up the football,” Vice President of Business Development, Zebra Sports John Pollard said.
The data collected throughout a game is what makes the advance stats we find at Next Gen Stats possible.
It isn’t just the footballs that contain tags, but players’ shoulder pads as well.
Preseason goals in elite football are diverse. On the one hand, it is about testing (alternating players in preparation or friendly matches, experimenting with various tactical approaches or game systems, etc.), “measuring forces with other teams” and developing the physical abilities of the players to prepare them in the best way possible for the demands of the season. The European elite teams tend to play a very long competition season (from August to May), with a previous short preparation period that usually lasts between 4 and 6 weeks. However, most of these clubs often take advantage of the preseason for promotional trips that can reduce the number of days available for training. Is there a relationship between the work teams do in preseason and the injuries they suffer during the rest of the year?
A recent publication has analysed how the number of training sessions performed by teams during the preseason influences the frequency of injuries and the players’ availability to compete during the season. The study, published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine in 2020, was based on the analysis of 44 elite teams from 13 different European countries for 15 consecutive seasons (2001/2002-2015/2016). The teams included in the study took part in the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League. The number of preseason sessions included the period from the first training session to the first official competition game. A member of each club’s medical staff recorded each player’s injuries and participation in training sessions and games. Injury-related problems were measured by means of 5 different indicators: (1) injury rate, (2) frequency of severe injuries, (3) attendance at training, (4) availability to compete and (5) frequency of injuries.
The Pac-12 will soon be able to provide its student-athletes with daily coronavirus testing after entering into a deal with Quidel Corporation, a manufacturer of FDA-approved rapid tests for a number of medical conditions.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott called the development a “game-changer” and said the availability of rapid testing will allow the conference to consider resuming competitive activities before Jan. 1, 2021. Scott didn’t provide a firm timeline for how it will impact the conference’s return to play because of other to-be-determined variables.
“We still have six universities — our four California schools, our two Oregon schools — that don’t have the requisite approvals from public health authorities to engage in contact practice at the moment,” Scott said. “Even if we were ready to start tomorrow, we couldn’t start what we know as training camp.”
… The Pac-12 will soon be able to provide its student-athletes with daily coronavirus testing after entering into a deal with Quidel Corporation, a manufacturer of FDA-approved rapid tests for a number of medical conditions.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott called the development a “game-changer” and said the availability of rapid testing will allow the conference to consider resuming competitive activities before Jan. 1, 2021. Scott didn’t provide a firm timeline for how it will impact the conference’s return to play because of other to-be-determined variables.
“We still have six universities — our four California schools, our two Oregon schools — that don’t have the requisite approvals from public health authorities to engage in contact practice at the moment,” Scott said. “Even if we were ready to start tomorrow, we couldn’t start what we know as training camp.”
The headline was alarming: Roughly one-third of Big Ten student-athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 were found through cardiac MRIs to have myocarditis after contracting the disease.
It wasn’t entirely true, however. While Penn State athletics doctor Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli did make those comments to a group of school directors, what was left unsaid was that not all of the Big Ten student-athletes who were COVID-positive had undergone cardiac MRIs, and it wasn’t clear why those who did undergo the testing were chosen for it.
But doctors are seeing myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle, in COVID-19 patients, which should give us pause, especially when it comes to the desire of many to forge ahead with the FBS season in spite of the potential risks and unknowns.
Yahoo Sports, NBC Sports Philadelphia, Reuben Frank from
… Playing for the Eagles means you’re going to get hurt. With only a few exceptions.
The Eagles have overhauled the training and medical staffs after each of the last three seasons and embarked on a youth movement this past offseason fueled by a desire to get healthier.
They’ve hired physical therapists, nutritionists and sports performance specialists.
Football fans wondering whether the next handoff to a running back could be another Beast Quake have another stat to track thanks to Next Gen Stats, the platform powered by Amazon Web Services.
The new stat, called Expected Rush Yards, was born out of the National Football League’s Big Data Bowl, a data analytics competition which focused on the run game this year and sought to answer the question, “When an NFL ball carrier takes a handoff, how many yards should we expect him to gain on the play?”
According to Amazon, more than 2,000 people participated in the open-source contest and a two-person team from Austria — who had more expertise in machine learning than American football — came away as winners.
Understanding the game demands encountered in basketball provides useful insight for developing specific, individualized and team-based training sessions. This study quantified and compared the game activity demands encountered by basketball players of different playing positions: i) strictly when in possession of the ball and ii) overall during live playing time (irrespective of ball possession). The activity demands encountered by 44 (22 guards, 14 forwards, 8 centres) adult, professional, male basketball players were assessed across 10 official games. Time-motion analysis was used to determine the frequency and proportion (%) of playing time performing recovery (REC), low- (LIA), moderate- (MIA), and high- (HIA) intensity activities. Linear mixed models were constructed to examine differences in dependent variables between playing positions, accounting for repeated measures. Guards, forwards, and centres spent 11.9±5.9%, 3.5±1.3%, and 2.9±1.1% of live playing time in possession of the ball, respectively. Guards performed more activities at all intensities (total movements, REC, LIA, MIA, and HIA) than forwards (P < 0.05) and centres (P < 0.05) when in possession of the ball. The proportion of time spent performing HIA in possession of the ball was greater for forwards (P = 0.001) and centres (P = 0.001) than guards. During live playing time overall across games, centres performed more HIA per minute (P = 0.049) and spent a greater proportion of time performing HIA (P = 0.047) than guards. Activities performed when in possession of the ball and during live playing time across basketball games are affected by playing position. These data highlight the need to develop position-specific training drills, particularly with ball possession.
