The inside details of how McKennie broke a barrier for U.S. players at one of world soccer’s giants—and the young American talent lined up at Schalke after his departure.
… The demise of the Fall League is the latest example of baseball’s arrested development for young players this season. From high school to college to MLB-sponsored, low-level professional leagues, there hasn’t been an organized place for most youngsters to play.
That’s been an overlooked consequence of COVID-19, which has affected baseball in many ways this season. “There’s no minor leagues,” long-time baseball analyst Suzyn Waldman said during a New York Yankees radio broadcast Wednesday. “And that’s been a big problem.”
… the health of the professional game in England has not stagnated – in fact, at the very top, it has benefited from the chaos. In the US, the poor handling of the pandemic has led to the new season being disrupted, prompting a number of its biggest stars to move to the WSL for safer competitive action before the postponed Olympics next summer.
“I was always confident that the momentum built pre-Covid would mean we were able to come back strongly,” Kelly Simmons, the FA’s head of the women’s professional game, told the Observer. “I think this has been demonstrated by world-class signings, new overseas rights deals in US and Canada and record opening-weekend viewing figures.
UK Sport has pledged to “identify, confront and eradicate” bullying and abuse in the high-performance system in the wake of the staggering allegations across British gymnastics.
The funding body for Olympic and Paralympic sport also warned it could cut money to individual sports if they continued to misbehave, although that would be as a last resort.
Addressing the shocking revelations in gymnastics the UK Sport chair, Katherine Grainger, said she had read the multiple claims of abuse with a “mix of disappointment, disbelief, deep, deep sadness and frequent anger” and promised that the depth of her concern was matched by her determination to tackle it.
Tenney is returning to MLS with Austin FC, donning the title of High Performance Director like he once did for the Sounders. An acquaintance of head coach Josh Wolff’s dating back to their days with the Kansas City Wizards more than a decade ago, combined with the prospect of constructing a club from scratch, proved decisive after three years in the NBA’s bright lights.
“I think Josh is going to be an excellent coach, so for me, to have the ability to work with someone I consider a bright young coach in an organization that is exciting as Austin looks to be, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Tenney told MLSsoccer.com as he drove from Florida to Texas last week.
“And then it’s exciting because it is becoming another tech hub city, tech-centric city,” he added of his new home base. “I think the organization has bought into that as well, and Josh very much plans on utilizing data to make decisions in figuring out his game model and how he wants to play, and then us being able to collect data on what that actually means, and how do we sustain the ability to play Josh’s game model in different climates, different parts of the year in Austin.”
With their “culture of data,” Tenney and former Seattle colleagues like Ravi Ramineni and Sean Muldoon shifted the sports-science paradigm in North American soccer, particularly in their efforts to manage stressors imposed on players by artificial turf, long travel, marathon seasons and veteran legs. Now he’ll seek the right formula for the bright sun and dry summer heat of central Texas.
… A biosensor works similarly. The devices can detect the presence or concentration of analytes such as biomolecules, biological structures or microorganisms. Biosensors typically consist of three parts: a component that recognises the analyte and produces a signal, a signal transducer, and a reader.
Most biosensors, however, can only bind a single analyte, limiting their ability to detect different odours. Rosa Biotech, a spin-out from the University of Bristol, UK, has developed biosensing technology that mimics mammals’ olfactory system to work more like an electronic nose. The sensors bind to a huge range of analytes and, as such, detect various combinations of molecules and odours.
About a third of college athletic trainers said their athletes were fully following COVID-19 safety protocols, and less than half reported that coaches and staff were in full compliance, according to a survey conducted by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
The survey of about 1,200 athletic trainers across college divisions showed that 59% of respondents said athletes were “somewhat” following COVID-19 protocols, and 46% said coaches and staff were somewhat following safety measures.
Proceedings, 13th conference of the International Sports Engineering Association, from
Upper extremity injuries are common in baseball. One of these is the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury. In the field of sports injuries, most research focuses on average kinematics and kinetics between subjects, whereas focusing on within-subject variability appears to be more relevant for determining injury risk. We constructed a simple explanatory simulation model to illustrate the relationship between within-subject load variability and risk, illustrating how pitchers with a higher load variability are more likely to sustain an injury compared to pitchers with less load variability. Furthermore, the model comprises the (theoretical) effect of fatigue on load variability and injury threshold over time. [full text]
Understanding the relationships between physical fitness characteristics and sports injury may assist with the development of injury minimisation programs. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the association between physical fitness attributes and sports injury in female, team ball sport players. Methods
Four scientific databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, Scopus) and reference lists of relevant research were searched for eligible studies up to September 2, 2019. Full-text articles examining the relationship between physical fitness and sports injury in female, team ball sport players were included. A modified Downs and Black checklist was used to assess methodological quality. Data synthesis determined summary conclusions based on the number of significant relationships divided by the total relationships investigated and reported as a percentage. Level of certainty was identified for summary conclusions based on level of evidence. Sub-analyses regarding competition level, age, and single injury types were also conducted. Results
A total of 44 studies were included. Data synthesis revealed no associations (low to moderate certainty) between body composition (1/9; 11%), flexibility (18–20%), and balance (2/8; 25%) and ‘any injury’ classification. No associations (mostly of moderate certainty) were found between flexibility (0–27%), muscular strength (0–27%), and body composition (14–33%) and various body region injury classifications, whereas mixed summary conclusions were shown for balance (0-48%). Many associations between physical fitness and sports injury were deemed ‘unknown’ or with an insufficient level of certainty. Sub-analyses revealed no association between strength and noncontact ACL injuries (0/5; 0%) or ankle sprains (0/12; 0%), and between flexibility and ankle sprains (1/5; 20%); however, insufficient certainty of these results exists. Clear associations were concluded between balance and lower body injuries in female, non-elite (10/16; 63%) and junior (9/12; 75%) team ball sport players, with moderate and insufficient certainty of these results, respectively. Conclusion
Limited evidence is available to demonstrate relationships between physical fitness and sports injury in female, team ball sport players. High-quality evidence investigating the multifactorial nature of sports injury, including the interactions physical fitness qualities have with other injury determinants, is needed to better understand the role of physical fitness in minimising sports injuries in female, team ball sport players. [full text]
Outside the Indiana Pacers basketball complex on the massive Grand Park youth sports campus in Westfield, Ellen Bailey waited with more than 200 parents and players to get inside the Gatorade Finals tournament, which featured 105 teams from across the Midwest.
Many bunched around the entrance, anxious and angry they were delayed, some shouting at the organizers. When the first round of eight morning games finally ended and the courts were cleared, the next group hurried in, passing signs taped to the doors and on the ticket table that read “Masks are mandatory.”
Despite alcohol’s well-known negative effects on athletic performance and recovery, surprisingly few athletes abstain from drinking, even at the highest levels of competition. College and professional athletes can be seen boozing into the wee hours of the night, chugging down multiple beers, tequila shots or vodka Red Bulls at the local watering hole.
Whenever I hear tales of these talented athletes engaging in liquor-induced festivities, I can’t help but wonder:
How much better would they be at their sport if they hit the sheets instead of the bars at night? Recent research indicates that athletes who do the latter could be significantly harming their performance on the field.
The Florida State Athletic Department has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
On a call with the FSU Board of Trustees Friday morning, FSU Director of Athletics David Coburn put a number on exactly how significant a hit the department’s new safety measures have put on the budget.
Coburn estimated a loss of $11 million in revenue, as well as an additional $2 million in expenses in trying to keep players, coaches, staff and fans protected against the virus.
If people try n identical pairs of shoes, but you told them the shoes were ACTUALLY different, think they’d find one more comfortable than another? Separating the footwear properties from perceived comfort is hard.