Female Sports Science newsletter – October 28, 2018

athletes

Taking a cue from Vogue‘s successful 73 Questions video series, the 2018 Boston Marathon champion Des Linden answered a few of her own questions—26.2, to be exact—ahead of her big race at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 4. [video, 2:31]

… Over the summer, she stayed on campus with Weissman and a few other tennis players to train, but needed an outlet so she wouldn’t burn out. She started making quarterback videos, and after confirming the account would abide by NCAA guidelines, began posting them to @theqbchick.

The two sports overlap in Kulikov’s muscle memory. She drops back to smash overheads like she is moving in the pocket, keeping her shoulders open like a quarterback would for a wider view of the court. Her serve flashes extra power because it mimics the throwing motion.

Kulikov enters her third season at USC, playing mostly in the No. 4 spot last season as she and her doubles partner, Rianna Valdes, ranked No. 58 in doubles.

According to league sources, the Denver Nuggets and WNBA Champion Sue Bird have had discussions about potentially hiring Bird to work as an intern with the Nuggets. Nothing is official, but Bird did take time to travel to Denver to observe practice on Friday afternoon as a visitor.

Sources have told Mile High Sport that if Bird is hired, it would be as an intern. She has not retired from the WNBA and is expected to play with the Seattle Storm this upcoming season. Because she is still playing for the Storm, Bird would not be able to accept a full-time position with the Nuggets. That is what makes bringing her in as a possible intern so fascinating. Bird has a wealth of basketball knowledge and learning the NBA through an internship is the most efficient way for her to begin carving out a career once she retires as a player.

Caroline Wozniacki, her tennis season over after a loss at the WTA Finals on Thursday, revealed that she had recently received a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and stiffness and problems with mobility.

“In the beginning, it was a shock,” Wozniacki, 28, said at a news conference in Singapore, the site of the WTA Finals. “Just, you feel like you’re the fittest athlete out there — or that’s in my head, that’s what I’m known for — and all of a sudden you have this to work with.”

Arsenal’s Danielle Carter is wrestling with the term ‘white privilege’. She exhales. “I’m not too sure how I would explain it.” She pauses, clicking her tongue, and the voice recorder goes silent for seven seconds. “It’s probably a case of… opportunity. For some reason, it seems to be that white privilege is where they don’t necessarily have to work as hard as, maybe, a black player or a black person.

“I think it’s kind of like a level playing field. I’ve got an image in my head – I think there was one circulating on social media at one stage – about equal opportunity, which doesn’t necessarily mean starting at the same line. It’s like having the equal opportunity to see over the fence the same way the next person does.”

training

… Over and over again it is written in articles as such: “women are more likely to suffer its effects over time, partly because their biology creates the perfect recipe for hip pain of all varieties.”

Please, tell me: what is the biological recipe for hip pain? A concoction dealt at birth perhaps? Is it just the affliction known as, being female?

Statements such as this, “Women also tend to have wider hips than men and need extra-strong glutes—especially the gluteus medius, the muscle at the top of the butt—for support and stability,” are completely inaccurate.

The width of a woman’s hips, does not determine the required strength she needs to live her life however she sees fit and to play sports. As if women weren’t already nervous enough about the size and shape of their butts, now they need to be concerned about if they’re “strong enough” to support their activity needs. To insinuate that a naturally occurring anatomical difference makes our biological evolution somehow fail to work is not only inaccurate, but insulting.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to explore how elite women athletes perceived and experienced mental toughness and self-compassion and their compatibility in the pursuit of athletic success and stress management.
Method

Adopting an interpretivist constructionist approach, we conducted two semi-structured interviews with seven participants (14 interviews), aged 22 to 34. Through a thematic analysis, we identified and analyzed patterns within the data related to how the athletes experienced and perceived self-compassion and mental toughness.
Results

Three overarching themes were identified, including the role of mental toughness as critical for coping with sport-related adversity, the role of self-compassion as critical for coping with sport-related adversity, and self-compassion and mental toughness as compatible. Participants experienced mental toughness as a coping resource, which included perseverance through adversity, remaining present, maintaining perspective, and adequate competition preparation. They perceived that common humanity, mindfulness, and self-kindness were also key to coping with sport-related adversity. Finally, the women identified self-compassion and mental toughness as compatible and contextual processes. Self-compassion was critical to the development of mental toughness, and mindfulness was key to developing and maintaining both self-compassion and mental toughness.
Conclusions

The findings revealed that self-compassion and mindfulness are worthy of investigation in elite women athletes, particularly with regards to their utility in coping with sport-related adversity and in achieving a mentally tough mindset. Self-compassion and mental toughness are compatible processes that may both require mindfulness, and if used in an effective and complementary balance could create optimal mindsets for the pursuit of athletic success.

… “Over the past two, three years we’ve grown so much closer,” U.S. midfielder Lindsey Horan said. “Now, we’re becoming closer than ever and this tournament (the Concacaf Women’s Championship) has brought us even closer. Going out and winning like we did and not getting any goals scored against us and staying as a team the whole time, that’s incredible and shows the true character of this team.”

Ellis is now into her third decade of coaching and knows that when a squad is a close as the U.S. women are, it’s much easier for everyone to be on the same page in terms of shared team goals.

sports medicine

… if student-athletes perceive that their coaches and other athletes expect them to tough it out, that’s what they’re likely to do. If they believe others approve disclosing concussion symptoms, then they’re more likely to report symptoms and get the treatment they need.

A new study that will be published in the November issue of “Pediatrics,” the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics finds that gender and family dynamics play a part in how long concussion symptoms last.

The study found that being female, having a mood disorder before the injury, having a lower family income or family discord might play a part in concussion recovery.

nutrition

Maintaining proper nutrition is a very important factor in living a long, healthy life. Foods that have little nutritional benefits have become easier to get our hands on, so the emphasis on proper nutritional health has become a fleeting priority for some people and their families. As a result, most individuals have inadvertently accepted the western diet, rich in empty carbs, red meats and saturated fats, as their everyday diet.

Diet can also impact a person’s epigenetics, and people can but themselves and the health of their future offspring in danger. In addition to the numerous ailments associated with a poor diet, young children who are obese may actually experience puberty earlier than their peers, and this process may be due to in part to epigenetic influence.

In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists from the Oregon Health & Science University set out to determine the correlation between diet, and early puberty in young girls. “Knowing how nutrition and specific molecules play a role in starting puberty early could one day help physicians prevent the condition in humans,” said Dr. Alejandro Lomniczi, the lead author of the study.

analysis

… Much of the credit for the team’s recent run of form must go to head coach Jill Ellis, whose switch to a 4-3-3 last summer proved a revelation. Moving Julie Ertz into the defensive midfield position, Ellis took advantage of her former center back’s ability to break up plays, while simultaneously freeing up the U.S.’ outside backs to go forward with abandon—a longtime goal of the coach.

The formation change-up also cut Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath loose on the wings, allowing them to attack with abandon, unchained from the responsibility of tracking back when played as more traditional outside midfielders. Additionally, the coach has overseen the return of Alex Morgan to top form, now as the team’s lone No. 9, and turned over the keys to the midfield to a new generation of playmakers in youngsters Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle.

As a result, the U.S. has moved away from its long-held tradition of direct play coupled with speed and superior fitness and, instead, implemented a system that dominates in possession and blankets opponents in suffocating defensive pressure as soon as the ball is lost.

… In an agreement that was kept under wraps until this week, the NHL agreed to pay USA Hockey $25,000 per player to help fund their four-year agreement with the women’s national team.

In March 2017, the U.S. women’s team was in a bitter showdown with its own organization over what the players felt was complete inequity with the men’s program, given their accomplishments, which at that point included three straight titles at the IIHF Women’s World Championship.

But on March 28, an agreement was finalized that ended that contentious negotiation, which had included the threat of an international tournament boycott and USA Hockey seeking to use younger replacements on the national team.

How can women’s soccer realize its commercial potential?

How much time do you have? The first question is one so many of us in this industry ponder every day. Women’s soccer is a commercial sleeping giant waiting for the right, committed investment to wake it. We’ve seen through the growth of the U.S. women’s national team that there are opportunities for significant commercial opportunity. In so many cases, what’s lacking is the initial commitment.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, in Miami, I’ll be hosting a panel at Soccerex discussing this very topic. Joining me will be: Amanda Duffy, NWSL managing director of operations; Mike Golub, Portland Thorns/Timbers president of business; Karina LeBlanc, head of Concacaf women’s soccer; and Pedro Malabia, LaLiga women’s football director.

Scholars and advocates of women’s sports have documented a troubling and unintended consequence of Title IX. In sharp contrast to the unprecedented gains in participation rates, the number of women occupying key leadership positions—particularly as head coach—has dramatically declined over the last four decades. At the intercollegiate level alone, the percentage of female head coaches has gone from over 90% in the early 1970s to 43% currently. Traditional beliefs and stereotypes about women’s leadership capacities in sports remain firmly entrenched in one of the most powerful institutions in our nation.

Research indicates that having women as coaches matters. Young women need strong and confident same-sex role models who enhance their own self-esteem, and make it more likely they will go into the coaching profession.

fairness

With a laugh, Kim Pegula’s competitive nature kicked in when the subject of the Toronto Maple Leafs hiring Hayley Wickenheiser was broached.

Impressed as the Sabres president was by the gender-breaking move in August, Pegula’s first reaction was wondering how Buffalo’s cross-border rival beat her to the punch in making Wickenheiser the NHL’s first woman to hold a hockey operations role as assistant director of player development.

“Darn it,” Pegula said, smiling. “I wish I would’ve done it first.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants more women throughout the league. He’s getting his wish.

In recent days, two significant moves were made, with Kristi Toliver being added to Washington’s staff of assistant coaches, and Chasity Melvin getting hired as an assistant coach with Charlotte’s G League affiliate in Greensboro, North Carolina.

And on Monday, two female referees were making regular-season debuts.

… The status conference was the next step in the saga surrounding EMU’s decision to eliminate four sports in March. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Sept. 27 temporarily halting the elimination of two women’s sports teams at Eastern Michigan University.

U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh ruled that there was a “clear showing that (EMU is) in violation of Title IX,” meaning the university needed to work out a plan to bring back its women’s softball and tennis teams.

Discussions on how that would happen were held Tuesday, with attorneys for two former student-athletes who filed the complaint and the university discussing the implementation of the court’s order in a session closed to the public.