Data provides no benefit when usable information fails to reach knowledgeable decision makers. The problem of getting the right information to the right person at the right time has been called dat socialization by Bernard Marr.
Plentiful data and a lack of quality information is a social problem and it pervades sports. A small number of experienced individuals can monopolize information for their own benefit rather than broadly diffusing it for widespread benefit, something that keeps sports science from occupying a larger footprint in sports organizations and in the larger culture of sports.
Examples of imperfect information holding back athletes and organizations are easy to find:
Sports industry gradually comes to terms with new maxim: ‘Humans are really, really bad at making decisions’ (National Post (Canada), Scott Stinson)
Fear of Reinjury in Athletes (Sports Health journal)
The Secret to Happiness? Simplify. (Outside Online, Jen Schwartz)
Mets’ Matt Harvey Adds a Key Element, Prudence, to His Repertory (The New York Times, Tyler Kepner)
James Harden: The Beard Untangles His Life And Game (SI.com, Lee Jenkins)
Elite Athletes’ Anxiety Over Illness Ups Risk of Injury in Competition (Psych Central News, Traci Pedersen)
Fitbit’s decline is a reflection of the end of the over-hyped promise of wearables (The Conversation, David Glance)
The primary information transaction in competitive sports takes place between coach and player. Often the motivation is education but with so much information out there there are limitless opportunities for teaching and learning.
State of Play: Role of youth coach more challenging than ever (The Irish Times, Mark O’Sullivan)
Charting the development of sport expertise: challenges and opportunities (International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology)
NFL Combine 40-yard dash training: Can you teach speed? (SI.com)
Is there return on investment of talent development? (double pass)
NFL combine after dark: Behind the scenes of prospects’ late-night prep (USA Today Sports, Lindsay H. Jones)
To Put Ball in the Net, Dutch Clubs Shoot Space Aliens First (The New York Times, Rory Smith)
Ben Lammers’ remarkable balancing act of books, basketball (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AJC.com, Ken Sugiura)
Eat like a champion: University of Iowa teaches athletes how to cook (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
Texas Rangers: The Rangers are creating an advantage over every team in baseball — and they’re doing it in the kitchen (Dallas Morning News, SportsDay blog, Evan Grant)
How to Improve Monitoring Compliance With Athletes (SimpliFaster Blog, Carl Valle)
Jozy Altidore starts a conversation (US Soccer Players, Charles Boehm)
The Power of Overlearning (Scientific American, Victoria Sayo Turner)
Calvin Johnson trains Penn State WR Chris Godwin for NFL combine (Detroit Free Press, Dave Birkett)
Could sports psychology work for me? (BBC iWonder)
The information transaction is more complex when it involves incorporating data analysis into decision making.
Bigger Data Isn’t Always Better Data (Bloomberg View, Cathy O’Neil)
The verdict on the 2017 SSAC Soccer Analytics panel (Soccermetrics Research, LLC)
Reimagining the modern pitching staff (SB Nation, Beyond the Box Score blog, Henry Druschel)
Player Medicals and Screening at Arsenal FC – Part One (BMJ talk medicine podcast)
This $200 AI Will End Tennis Club Screaming Matches (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Ashley Vance)
Basketball on the Brain – Could a computer programmer prove the most valuable player? (University of British Columbia, Trek Magazine)
Monitoring Elite Soccer Players External Loads Using Real-Time Data (International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance)
Statcast wants to change how we’re consuming baseball games (Yahoo Sports, Jeff Passan)
OptaPro launches ProVision, in association with TruMedia (The Opta Blog)
The Secret Soccer Analyst: The Glory of Helping Your Club Win (Paste Magazine)
Student athletes find big wins in big data (University of Rochester, NewsCenter)
Data analysis can get even more complex in a research setting. Research insights are more difficult to achieve, and once accomplished, face the daunting task of its transfer from lab to implementation to impact.
Data-Driven Ghosting using Deep Imitation Learning (Disney Research)
How should we categorise self-reported data on subsequent injuries? (European Journal of Sport Science)
The Relationship Between Training Load and Injury in Men’s Professional Basketball Players (International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance)
The New Science of Team Chemistry (Harvard Business Review, Suzanne M. Johnson Vickberg and Kim Christfort)
Growing Pains – When to Be Concerned (Sports Health journal)
What will it take to break the 2-hour marathon? (Science, Latest News, David Schultz)
The effect of prior knowledge of test endpoint on non-local muscle fatigue (European Journal of Applied Physiology)
Return to play criteria after hamstring muscle injury in professional football: a Delphi consensus study (British Journal of Sports Medicine)
New Imaging Tool Gives 3-D View Of Patients’ Anatomy (Stanford Medicine, Scope Blog)
Sleep Scientists Say NFL Scouting Combine Competitors Should Hurry to Bed (Inverse, Yasmin Tayag)
Protect Your Joints: The Benefits Of Gelatin (Breaking Muscle, Andy Peloquin)
Mary Lou Jepsen on wrist-worn optoelectronics (YouTube, ApplySci)
More things that I read and liked last week:
Growing Pains – When to Be Concerned (March 01, Sports Health journal)
Rapid Revolution: the Irishman making waves in the American sports landscape (March 05, The42.ie)
How technology gets us hooked (February 28, The Guardian, Adam Alter)
Angels righty Richards taking alternative path to Tommy John (March 05, Associated Press, Mike Tulumello)
How late growth spurts spawned some of college basketball’s most talented big men (March 01, Yahoo Sports, Henry Bushnell)