Applied Sports Science newsletter – September 13, 2021

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for September 13, 2021

 

Marcus Semien’s Sensational Season – ACTA Sports

Acta Sports, Mark Simon from

The Blue Jays have muscled their way back into the AL Wild Card race, and though it’s easy to say that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has led the charge, the all-around excellence of Marcus Semien has also been a huge factor.

If not for Shohei Ohtani, Semien would be leading the majors in our player value stat, Total Runs, which combines hitting, baserunning, fielding, and pitching performance. He currently ranks second, and though he’s 30 runs behind Ohtani, he’s 14 runs ahead of third place Cedric Mullins.

Two seasons ago, Semien placed third in that stat, only one run behind Trevor Story and Cody Bellinger for the MLB lead.


Golden inspiration: USA Volleyball’s Black stars helped make history – and can serve as catalysts for changes in the sport

The Undefeated, Mechelle Voepel from

… The U.S. women won what is perhaps an even tougher overall tournament, the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, in 2014. But the Olympic gold was the last prize that had eluded them, and this year’s team carried the hopes and dreams of the entire U.S. volleyball world – players and coaches past and present – on the joyride with them. It created a buzz for the sport as the 2021 collegiate season is now getting underway.

“In the gym, we always talk about doing what has never been done before,” three-time Olympic medalist Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson said. “That’s been our theme for a very long time. A theme that kind of just seemed on the horizon that we couldn’t quite reach. To have finally accomplished it in the manner we did makes it so thrilling. For USA Volleyball and our team, we’ve changed the culture and kind of set a blueprint as to how things should be run.”


How Josh Kerr Trained His Body and Mind to Win an Unexpected Olympic Bronze

PodiumRunner, Molly Hanson from

… Kerr’s group, Brooks Beasts, is based in Seattle, but he bounces back and forth between there and Albuquerque — where he went to school. (Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, he opted for the opposite climate when choosing a university.)

After graduating in 2018, Kerr found quick success after signing professionally with Brooks and joining Brooks Beasts Track Club, led by coach Danny Mackey. Kerr notes that despite the distractions signing brings (often moving cities and learning how to work with a new coach) he meshed well with Mackey who has coached the group since it was founded in 2013 and has guided many athletes through the transfer.

“We were kind of a match made in heaven a little bit,” says Kerr of his coach. “I think we’re very similar in the way that we want to get to places — we want to work extremely hard, but we want to also just have massive goals.”


The Best Nap Length for Energy, According to Research

Well+Good, Rebecca Norris from

Living in the always-on, boundary-defying world that we do, satisfying the National Sleep Foundation’s recommendation of snagging seven to nine hours of sleep each night is no small feat. As such, many folks have leaned into napping in order to counteract the effects of sleep deprivation. And amid the pandemic, especially, the practice may be beneficial, given research that has noted the positive effect napping has had on stress levels for some during this time. But, what’s the best nap length for energy that allows you to reap those benefits and counteract the effects of sleep deprivation?


From Strangers to Teammates: How Getting on the Same Wavelength Might Be More than a Metaphor

Behavioral Scientist, Jay Van Bavel and Dominic Packer from

… Emergencies and disasters are extreme events, but we can learn much from them about how identity dynamics operate under more normal, less terrifying circumstances. A sense of common fate produces a shared identity, the knowledge that we, together, are part of a group. In turn, that shared identity produces solidarity and the ability to work together collectively. When they cohere, shared identities become foundations on which people can coordinate and cooperate. It allows them to face and overcome a crisis that might have been difficult to address alone.


Sky Sports to show real-time GPS insights at Super League’s Magic Weekend in UK first

Sky Sports, Rugby League News from

Sky Sports, Betfred Super League and Catapult have combined to deliver a UK-first for in-game real-time GPS statistics during Dacia Magic Weekend.


We are excited to be joining @whoop !

Twitter, PUSH from

WHOOP shares our mission to deliver personalized data, actionable insights, and demonstrable health improvements. We look forward to what’s to come!


NFL Opens New 450,000-Sq.-Ft. Headquarters in Los Angeles

Sports Video Group from

… Relocating from Culver City – which had served as NFL Media’s operational hub since the launch of NFL Network in 2003 – NFL Los Angeles is a 450,000 square foot Class A building with 214,063 square feet of office space and 74,922 square feet of studio and studio support space to serve as the home for NFL Network, NFL.com, NFL RedZone, the NFL app and many other department’s supporting the league’s media and business operations.

“Since the launch of NFL Network in 2003, the NFL and its media operations have become a go-to source for news, entertainment and engagement for millions of football fans around the globe,” says David Jurenka, Senior Vice President of NFL Media & General Manager, Los Angeles. “We are thrilled to relocate our operations into a space that puts us closer to the game than ever before and places the NFL at the center of what will be the next great global entertainment destination with the amazing SoFi Stadium in our backyard. We look forward to the opportunity to establish the NFL as a recognizable presence within Hollywood Park and the broader Inglewood community.”


An Exact Breakdown of How One CEO Spent His First Two Years of Company-Building

First Round Review, Sam Corcos from

… I started tracking my time more seriously after I installed an app and, to my horror, discovered that I was spending more than three hours per day on social media and several additional hours consuming news. This was especially surprising because if you had asked me how much time I was spending on these things, I would have guessed probably 20 minutes a day. It nudged me to make some serious changes with how I spent my time.

Being intentional about time management has also forced me to be realistic about how much I could actually accomplish in a given time period. There are seemingly endless demands on your time as a founder-CEO. I’ve found that by tracking my time rigorously, I’m constantly taking the pulse if I’m spending the appropriate amount of time on the areas most critical for the business.

So in the spirit of the two-year anniversary of the founding of Levels, I thought I’d share a little about how I spent my time for the first two years, backed up with data. My goal? For folks out there with hopes to become a startup CEO, you can get a behind-the-scenes deep dive into how you might actually spend your time on the path to building a company.


Track160 developed the only fully automated data analytics solution for football (soccer…) leagues and clubs, at any level.

Twitter, Track160 from

Check out this overview of the product


Next Generation of Wearables Will Be ‘Transformative’

HealthTech Analytics, Donna Marbury from

Health and wellness wearable technology has grown beyond shiny accessories. Companies are developing and testing clothing-oriented wearables to enhance remote monitoring for critical healthcare needs.

“I’d say we are in the third generation of wearables, and the industry is converging the best of both the medical and wellness sides,” says Venk Varadan, co-founder and CEO of Nanowear. “It is really going to be transformative in healthcare.”

This next iteration of wearables is going beyond well-known devices such as smartwatches and exploring other clothing options to gather more detailed data and become more user-friendly.


How NFL survived COVID season without utilizing secret plan

Los Angeles Times, Sam Farmer from

… As other leagues staged abbreviated seasons and quarantined their players in hopes of shielding them from COVID-19, the NFL navigated its way through an entire schedule, postponing when necessary, continually adjusting safety protocols, but never canceling a game.

“The NFL proved things that I don’t think people thought we could do,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

In multiple interviews with the Los Angeles Times, Goodell and more than two dozen people — league executives, front-office personnel, players and medical professionals — close to the situation reconstructed the fragile process of staging a season amid a pandemic, and the commissioner’s focus to safely complete all 256 regular-season games, the playoffs and Super Bowl without relying on an NBA-style bubble.


A recent publication has proposed a pyramid 7 levels to understand better why people get injured & what decisions clubs can take to avoid them.

Twitter, Barca Innovation Hub from

From factors such as player’s profile to factors such as “luck”. Keep reading to learn the different levels.


Alabama Basketball: How the Crimson Tide’s Innovation Continues to Roll

SI.com, Fan Nation, Bama Central, Harrison Holland from

… Meet Adam Bauman, the Director of Scouting and Analytics for Alabama basketball. He’s the assistant unseen, even to top-notch cameramen, and his input to the Tide’s innovation, whether in recruiting, scouting of opponents, or trend-spotting outliers in the team’s performance via data, is all part of a job description recently growing in popularity.

It’s just that his boss spotted the sport’s direction before most else.

He’s another pair of eyes as receptive to the role numbers play in the game as Oats, the high school math teacher-turned-SEC Coach of the Year. And he’s been with him since he was at Buffalo, after he served as a manager to the Southern Illinois basketball program and spent time as a graduate assistant at multiple stops following graduation from SIU.


High school analytics team plays pivotal part in Ben Wallace’s Basketball Hall of Fame selection

The Undefeated, David Steele from

Armstrong High’s sports analytics club is the second group to help an HBCU great get inducted

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