Female Sports Science newsletter – April 14, 2019

athletes

… The runner is coming back to racing after having one of the best, yet most challenging, seasons of her career in 2018. It was a year that saw impressive personal bests in the full and half marathon distances. But it was also interrupted with injuries. Rather than dwelling on those lows, though, Hall said that they were just par for the course.

“Ryan and I are both high risk, high reward people,” Hall said. “I wanted to find my line as a runner. I took a lot of risks in training. That’s kind of my personality.”

… At mile 23 of the 2018 Boston Marathon, Rachel Hyland heard her husband Sean yell, “Rach, you are in 8th place!” Or something that sounded like that. He must have said 18th place, she thought. Rachel was in marathon delirium and she didn’t know what to believe, but there was no way she could have been in the top-10 at a marathon major. The temperature was in the low 40s, rain was coming down in sheets and a headwind had blasted the point-to-point course all day long. But while some runners were faltering in the torrential weather, Rachel was enjoying every minute of it. “I was so grateful to be there,” she said, “and so happy to run on the course with all my friends and running community and everyone.”

Growing up in Western New York less than 20 miles from the Canadian border, Hayley Scamurra hit the ice when she was 4 years old, playing in boys’ leagues coached by her father, NHL veteran Peter Scamurra.

During one of those seasons, a parent made a book for the kids, and they all wrote what they’d like to do when they grew up.

“Everyone’s aspirations were on there,” Scamurra said. “All the guys have, ‘NHL player, NHL player.’ I had, ‘Olympian.’ That’s when I was, like, 9 years old. So yeah, this is something I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.”

For five semesters, Meghan Lloyd’s career as a track and cross country athlete was stable, until she was given startling news — she had thyroid cancer.

“That was something that really came out of nowhere,” Lloyd said. “I was at the peak of my career, I had just set another school record — my personal record in the 5K.”

Through this setback, Lloyd, a speech and language psychology senior, said she gained a greater appreciation for her position on the team, as well as enhanced motivation. UT student-athletes face challenges unique to their experience in addition to those faced by students with more typical circumstances. For some, status as a student-athlete motivates them to persevere in the face of these challenges. Lloyd said the UT athletic complex played a considerable role in shaping her perspective and abilities — and she’s not the only one.

training

In 1967, 20-year-old Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to complete the all-male Boston Marathon as an official entrant. Registered as ‘K.V. Switzer’, Kathrine hid her gender and participated under entry number 261 with Syracuse University athletic club. She managed to fight off a race official who tried to force her from the course after only several kilometres, and made history as she crossed the finish line four hours later. Empowered by her experience, Kathrine became determined to create change for all women and campaigned to officially allow women to participate in the Boston marathon – which finally happened in 1972.

Five decades and many marathons later, Kathrine is still running and is actively advancing women’s sport, health and equality.This year in June, Kathrine will be sharing how she has dedicated her career to creating greater opportunities for women in sport at the 4thbiennial Female Athlete Conference in Boston. Kathrine will be presenting alongside a world-class line up of local and international experts on women’s sport and exercise medicine, coaching, leadership and culture.

The menstrual cycle (MC) phases carry to several psychophysiological alterations; however, no study has investigated the impact of MC phases on training load or technical training. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the follicular phase (FP), ovulatory phase (OP), and luteal phase (LP) on training load and technical training in young athletes. Twelve female athletes performed regular daily training sessions with the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and duration being registered every session. Training impulse (TRIMP), monotony and strain were calculated. MC symptoms, RPE, and duration were also measured during technical training, which was carried out on a specific day during each phase. The TRIMP was not affected by MC phases during regular training (p > .05), but training monotony and strain were higher in FP compared to OP (p < .05). During the technical training, MC phases did not affect RPE (p > .05), but the session was longer in both FP and LP, compared to OP (p < .05). MC symptoms were exacerbated in FP compared to both OP and LP (p < .05). These findings suggest that MC disorders were elevated during FP, which indicate that monitoring MC phases might provide important feedbacks for programming training and expected results during competitions.

The small nation of Denmark might not be as well known for its hockey as its neighbors elsewhere in Scandinavia, but the its women’s national team has big plans for expansion in the future. The Danish lions are currently preparing to head to Hungary for the IIHF World Championship Division I, Group A tournament in Budapest, Hungary, which runs April 7 – 13.

Although the team has never qualified for an appearance at the Olympics and their last time competing in the IIHF Top Division was in 1992, head coach Fredrik Glader has high hopes for Denmark’s future in international play. Glader, who has coached the SDHL’s Luleå Hockey during their back-to-back league championships, joined the national team’s staff this fall. This will be his first world tournament with Denmark.

The Ice Garden met with Glader at the team’s practice rink in Kastrup, Denmark to discuss the upcoming tournament and the team’s future.

technology

… The impact of smart watches and wearables that monitor health is profound. These devices can spot potential medical problems, improve patient behavior, and boost compliance. The Apple Watch is perhaps the highest-profile smart wearable device—and it has already been credited with saving lives—but numerous other manufacturers and devices are now streaming into the market with wearables that address an array of health challenges.

For example, iSono Health has introduced a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound system that uses a bra to transmit data to a smartphone or tablet about women’s breast health; it detects unusual lumps and masses without having to visit a doctor or clinic.

Medical device maker Omron has received FDA approval on a blood pressure monitor that looks like a smartwatch and connects to a smartphone. It provides clinically accurate readings and offers insights into how behavior and lifestyle can impact heart health.

As an athlete it’s all about how fast you move—how hard you can swing, throw, or kick, and how high you can jump. What you wear either hinders or improves those things. How does the world’s largest athletic apparel company design clothing that actually enhances the performance of an athlete? How does it create the bridge that connects technology with design? At Nike, that job is designated to the Apparel Innovation department, which partners with The Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL), the very epicenter of human performance data and knowledge that helps the company create apparel that removes any limits that keep each individual from doing his or her best. The Apparel Innovation team—helmed by Janett Nichol, the VP of Apparel Innovation—works with the NSRL, which has the capability to assess every aspect of the human body in relation to sports, in turn breaking down barriers to sport. It can measure just how much a body moves before it starts sweating profusely or experiences fatigue.

d
“The athletes are at the center of everything we do,” said Nichol the day after Nike held a massive presentation to unveil the Women’s World Cup kits and to celebrate the female athlete.

There was something different about the soccer kits Nike unveiled last month for 14 of the countries competing at this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

For the first time, the kits were specifically designed for women’s teams. Searching for the optimum fit for the female form in motion, the sporting brand received detailed feedback from professional female players during the design stage. There was 4-D body scanning, and numerous fits were tested. Unique patterns and features were incorporated into the jerseys.

Previously, the women’s national teams wore versions of the shirts designed for the men’s side.

As apps to help moms monitor their health proliferate, employers and insurers pay to keep tabs on the vast and valuable data

sports medicine

CONTEXT:

The advent of Web-based sports injury surveillance via programs such as the High School Reporting Information Online system and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program has aided the acquisition of girls’ and women’s softball injury data.
OBJECTIVE:

To describe the epidemiology of injuries sustained in high school girls’ softball in the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years and collegiate women’s softball in the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years using Web-based sports injury surveillance.
DESIGN:

Descriptive epidemiology study.
SETTING:

Online injury surveillance from softball teams in high school girls (annual average = 100) and collegiate women (annual average = 41).
PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS:

Girls’ or women’s softball players who participated in practices and competitions during the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 academic years in high school and the 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 academic years in college.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):

Athletic trainers collected time-loss injury and exposure data. Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs) were calculated. Injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) compared injury rates by competition level, school size or division, event type, and time in season.
RESULTS:

The High School Reporting Information Online system documented 1357 time-loss injuries during 1 173 722 AEs; the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance Program documented 1848 time-loss injuries during 579 553 AEs. The injury rate was higher in college than in high school (3.19 versus 1.16/1000 AEs; IRR = 2.76; 95% CI = 2.57, 2.96). The competition injury rate was higher than the practice injury rate in high school (IRR = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.82, 2.25) and in college (IRR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.27, 1.52). Softball players at both levels sustained a variety of injuries, with the most common being ankle sprains and concussions. Many injuries also occurred while fielding or running bases.
CONCLUSIONS:

Injury rates were greater in collegiate versus high school softball and in competitions versus practices. These findings highlight the need for injury-prevention interventions, including strength-training and prevention programs to reduce ankle sprains and provide protection for batters from pitches and fielders from batted balls.

The purpose was to quantify the effects of mid-flight whole-body and trunk rotation on knee mechanics in a double-leg landing. Eighteen male and 20 female participants completed a jump-landing-jump task in five conditions: no rotation, testing leg ipsilateral or contralateral (WBRC) to the whole-body rotation direction, and testing leg ipsilateral (TRI) or contralateral to the trunk rotation direction. The WBRC and TRI conditions demonstrated decreased knee flexion and increased knee abduction angles at initial contact (2.6 > Cohen’s dz > 0.3) and increased peak vertical ground reaction forces and knee adduction moments during the 100 ms after landing (1.7 > Cohen’s dz > 0.3). The TRI condition also showed the greatest knee internal rotation angles at initial contact and peak knee abduction and internal rotation angles and peak knee extension moments during the 100 ms after landing (2.0 > Cohen’s dz > 0.5). Whole-body rotation increased contralateral knee loading because of its primary role in decelerating medial-lateral velocities. Trunk rotation resulted in the greatest knee loading for the ipsilateral knee due to weight shifting and mechanical coupling between the trunk and lower extremities. These findings may help understand altered trunk motion in anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

Innovators across health care technology are grappling with this issue of unrepresentative data. The field of genetics demonstrates the problems caused for patients if we don’t get this right. Our understanding of genetics is often built from the analyses of large international collaborations. Yet the datasets on which genetic innovation is developed still exclude many populations. People of European ancestry make up 79% of all participants of genetic studies, despite being only 16% of the global population.

This omission has a real impact on patients. Because we know less about genetic variation in non-European populations, genetic tests are more likely to give ambiguous or uninterpretable results for these patients, excluding certain groups from the many benefits that genetic tests promise.

analysis

The WNBA draft will be held on Wednesday, just three days after the women’s NCAA Tournament wrapped up. It’s an incredibly tight turnaround for the players and their prospective teams, particularly for anyone who made it to the Final Four. The tournament therefore serves as both a fitting capstone on collegiate careers and a real-time combine for a league that doesn’t have one for its tops prospects.

Take Notre Dame, which fell 1 point short of a second-straight national title on Sunday. It has four elite seniors and one junior expected to hear their names called; they will have had less than 72 hours after finishing their work in Tampa to prepare for the moment their professional dreams come true.

“They don’t have time to search for agents, and they don’t have time to make decisions,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said Saturday. “Every game they go into, they’re thinking about their future. Because if they play poorly, they’re wondering is their stock going to drop? If they play well, is their stock going to rise?”

… Their formation, in 1985, however, was almost by chance. With few women’s national teams competing around the world at the time, the U.S. were invited to compete in a one-of-a-kind tournament in Italy called The Mundialito. U.S. Soccer officials hastily assembled a squad, plucking the best and brightest from regional teams around the country to compete on behalf of a nation.

One year later, the arrival of coach Anson Dorrance saw the USWNT’s identity truly take shape. And there was one player from that inaugural national team in 1985 who stuck around longer than everyone else and who helped, perhaps more than anyone, define a lasting American style: Michelle Akers was the physical, marauding central-midfielder who allowed the team to control games and dominate their opponents. “I play hard and people just bounce off me or I go through them. I don’t notice it until after I get hit in the face,” she once revealed.

The lawsuit recently filed by the U.S. women’s soccer team is part of a wider public “awakening” to the challenges that women athletes face, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told Reuters on Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of an initiative aimed at the development of more women coaches, Garcetti said the suit against the U.S. Soccer Federation alleging wage discrimination marked an important step toward gender equality.

“I think there is an awakening happening in women’s sports whether it’s abuse, discrimination or simply having basic civil rights denied,” he told Reuters.

“I support women athletes who are saying enough is enough. That for too long the federations have not done right by them to protect them and empower them,” he said.

With the news that the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is folding as of April 1, many players are faced with the option of moving to the United States to follow their hockey dreams. Although the NWHL has opted to add two teams in Montréal and Toronto, the decision still leaves many players who may be on the roster bubble wondering if they might be able to make the move to another U.S. team.

Aside from practical considerations, every individual who is not a U.S. citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (the formal term for green card holder) needs to have two kinds of legal authorization from the U.S. government: 1) authorization to be present in the U.S.; and 2) authorization to work in the U.S.

fairness

Psychologists have lots of evidence that implicit social biases—our unconscious, knee-jerk attitudes associated with specific races, sexes and other categories—are widespread, and many assumed they do not evolve. The feelings are just too deep. But a new study finds that over roughly the past decade, both implicit and explicit, or conscious, attitudes toward several social groups have grown warmer.

The study used data from a standard test of implicit attitudes collected via a Web site called Project Implicit. Participants were asked to quickly press a certain computer key in response to positive words, such as “happy,” and a different key in response to negative words, such as “tragic,” that appeared on a screen. These words were interspersed with images or words that represented two categories of people, such as blacks and whites, and participants were asked to flag these using the same keys. Faster reactions when, for example, black rather than white faces shared a key with negative words suggested a racial bias.

The rise of eSports has been amazing. It has gone from a minute group of elitists playing at small gatherings and LAN (Local Area Network) tournaments to bombastic televised events, complete with sponsorships and media buys. Heck, Las Vegas and online sportsbooks like sportsbetting.ag even have betting lines on matches nowadays.

So… considering these aspects, eSports have evolved to become a lot like real sports. This begs the question: how inclusive are eSports now that they’ve hit the big time?