Game by game, week by week, season by season the evidence piles up that healthier teams are better teams. News stories about the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bulls are positive and negative takes on how health equals wins.
Looking at the injury problems of current NBA rookies highlights a larger problem. Bad teams are more likely to damage young players, often players that were drafted high because, you know, bad teams draft first. The cycle perpetuates losing but what’s worse, it hurts players and put their careers on a lower trajectory than their draft potential projected.
The Best Things I Read Last Week:
- Development Academy Making Progress and Staying Ambitious’ (Tony Lepore Q&A, Part 1) Soccer America … An incredible amount of thought and effort is going into how the US develops young soccer talent.
- Mind-body connection not a one-way street UChicago News … University of Chicago psychology professor Sian Beilock follows through on important ideas in human performance psychology with quality research and writing.
- Red Sox create new behavioral health department The Boston Globe … This article sent ripples through off-season MLB watchers. All professional athletes depend on their habits to elevate performance, but good habits might be most critical to successful baseball.
- Rethinking Mileage – A Systems Based Approach (Part 1) ELITETRACK … It is often just as important to measure time-at-work as it is to measure work. Reminders about the neverending quality versus quantity dilemma are good to see.
- How to make sense of the constant onslaught of nutrition studies The Globe and Mail … The irony is underplayed but the social norms around nutrition are not very healthy.
- The Art of Off-Season Training The New York Times … USWNT and NWSL soccer player Yael Averbach calls the off-season “painting my blank canvas.” Two things: She’s not by herself; she collaborates with her performance coach. She’s not just working; she pays attention to recovery throughout.