Applied Sports Science newsletter – July 25, 2016

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for July 25, 2016

 

How Colorado’s Mallory Pugh quickly rose to top of U.S. women’s soccer

denverpost.com, The Denver Post from July 22, 2016

… Mallory’s resume and list of accolades has expanded faster than her legs can move, putting her among veterans more than a decade older than her. She has been described as the future of women’s soccer, as a special talent that comes around maybe once every 10 years.

But that “phenom” label carries an element of surprise. Peel back the layers, and this ice cream- loving teenager plays with a resolve far beyond her years.

“She’s talented, but because of her mental (maturity),” says Sterling Joseph, Pugh’s longtime trainer who owns Team Speed Training in Centennial. “That’s what gets her what she wants. If you see her on the field, it’s as if she’s supposed to be there.”

 

Morgan Brian’s return boosts U.S. women’s soccer team in 4-0 win over Costa Rica

espnW, Graham Hays from July 23, 2016

… If last year was a test of belief in her ability, one she aced, this year is a test of her belief in her own body.

In the space of about a year, Brian has gone from untested as the youngest player on the World Cup roster, to a figure of continuity. Consider that there is every chance Lloyd will be the only player positioned in front of the back line to start the Olympic opener after doing the same in the World Cup opener against Australia. Part of that is because Morgan was still working her way back from injury, but the United States will most likely feature major tournament rookies on the wings, Dunn and Pugh, and in the box-to-box midfield role, Horan.

 

Why rest after ‘car crash’ of a season is an important part of off-season training | The Hockey News

The Hockey News, Jared Clinton from July 24, 2016

Not since 1991 has the NHL season ended before June, and with players getting faster and hitting harder with each passing season, the toll on the body has become more gruelling with shorter times for recovery than ever before.

Ask training guru Ben Prentiss, who has worked with everyone from Martin St-Louis to Jonathan Quick, and he’ll describe the season like a car crash. It’s a marathon that exacts such a toll on each player that Prentiss has yet to see a player enter the off-season completely healthy. That means recuperation after an arduous season is a must, regardless of how a player says he’s feeling.

“If a guy starts (training) too early, not only physically is he not ready, but mentally, too. He’s just gone nine months — if his team made the playoffs, seven months if they didn’t — of straight hockey,” Prentiss said. “They need to get out of skates…or they’re going to burn themselves out by the time September comes around.”

 

Jesse Kropelnicki On Coach/Athlete Trust

LAVA Magazine from July 21, 2016

As the stakes have risen, and triathlon has become more and more competitive, there has been a great increase in the number of athletes who are seeking coaching, to help them achieve their goals. To meet this demand, the number of available coaches has also greatly increased. The number of possible coach/athlete relationships has grown exponentially, and it is therefore extremely important that these bonds are as strong as possible, to ensure that the athlete’s success is fully maximized.

In my mind, trust is the single most important concept in these coach/athlete relationships. When I, or one of my coaches, begin working with a new athlete, we always lay the groundwork for the following two-way relationship: 1) the athlete must have 100% trust that the program being provided will result in the achievement of the athlete’s goals, and 2) the coach has to trust that the athlete will execute the program, as planned, with the intended intensities and volumes.

 

Glen Mills: the man behind Usain Bolt’s record-shattering career

Telegraph UK from July 24, 2016

Glen Mills, Head Coach at Racers Track Club in Kingston, Jamaica, hasn’t a single athletics’ medal to his name. His fledgling career petered out in its infancy, when he came to the significant realisation that he wasn’t particularly fast (a somewhat insurmountable obstacle in the world of sprinting). However, his love of the sport endured, Mills turned his attention to coaching, and the rest – as they say – is history. His tutees at the Racers Track Club have won an incredible 71 medals at the IAAF World Championships, and 33 at Olympic competitions – a tally that continues to rise.

19 of these have come from one man – the fastest man ever, in fact – who unhesitatingly praises his mentor at every opportunity. As Usain Bolt gears up for what looks to be his penultimate summer of competition, we take a moment to consider the man responsible for his meteoric rise.

 

Sleep scientist helping Canadian athletes perform better

CTV Calgary News from July 21, 2016

A Calgary researcher is working with top rowing athletes to improve their sleep in hopes of improving their athletic performance.

When it comes to the Olympics, a fraction of a second can mean the difference between metaling or not. That’s why the Canadian Women’s Eight Olympic Rowing Team is getting some help from science.

“It’s all about recovery, so any sleep extension that they can get, these athletes are travelling a lot, so trying to bank sleep before an important competition is very important,” said Amy Bender, Sleep and Athletic Performance Researcher. “There have been a number of studies that show that a 10-hour time in bed for athletes is very helpful at improving performance and boosting mood.”

 

Why Technologists Should Think Like Biologists

Harvard Business Review, Samuel Arbesman from July 20, 2016

Our technologies are far from pristine constructions. Frankly, they’re a mess.

Our software evolves over years, or even decades, with bits and pieces being added over time. The IRS uses technologies from the 1960s, and the Space Shuttle used computer chips that were decades old. The code in our automobiles is fantastically baroque, and in many cases may be too complex to understand. Everything from our kitchen appliances and medical devices to our legal codes and bureaucratic structures are, in a word, kluges. A kluge — a term from the engineering and computer science world — refers to something that is convoluted and messy but gets the job done. Think Rube Goldberg contraption meets MacGyver, but without the playfulness.

 

SportsEngine takes another M&A lap, buys swimming-focused TeamUnify

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal from July 21, 2016

SportsEngine completed its second acquisition in three days, snapping up TeamUnify, a maker of technology for managing swimming teams, meets and lessons.

Minneapolis-based SportsEngine, which itself was sold earlier this month to NBC Sports Group, didn’t disclose terms of the deal.

 

Why Some are Worried About Health Data Privacy

Bloomberg BNA, Alex Ruoff from July 20, 2016

Federal regulators are worried that Americans are giving up ownership of their private health data by sharing it online and in ways not protected under federal privacy laws, according to a report to Congress.

Americans regularly share information about their health on social media, on fitness and diseases websites and with researchers online, often under the false assumption their privacy is protected by federal law, the report said.

The concern for regulators, according to privacy advocates, is that people are unwittingly giving up their right to privacy and ownership of their health data. Many of these people believe, falsely, that because their doctors can’t sell their information, mobile app companies and websites can’t either.

 

EVIDENCE BASED EXERCISES FOR ACL INJURY RISK REDUCTION – GUEST POST BY ANDY BARR

TD Athletes Edge, Andy Barr from May 28, 2016

The highest incidences of ACL injuries are seen among athletes involved in sports that require pivoting and jumping, such as basketball, soccer and volleyball (McLean et al. 2005; Myer et al. 2005; Olsen et al. 2003). Deceleration when landing from a jump on one leg was reportedly one of the most serious ACL injury causing actions in sports and 70% of ACL injuries emanate from non-contact events (Yu et al. 2002; Boden et al. 2000).

Players returning from ACL injury show a significant decline in performance statistics. Busfield (2009) reported that 78% of players with ACL injury return to playing after surgery and 44% of them had a reduced player efficiency rating. Harris et al. (2013) also reported that NBA player performance upon return to play after ACL injury declined significantly (P< 0.05) showing less games played per season, less minutes, less points, less rebounds per game and a reduction in field goal percentage. [video, 0:55]

 

Development of a test battery to enhance safe return to sports after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. – PubMed – NCBI

Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy from July 16, 2016

PURPOSE:

There is a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate criteria for releasing patients to return to sports (RTS) after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). A test battery was developed to support decision-making.
METHODS:

Twenty-eight patients (22 males and 6 females) with a mean age of 25.4 ± 8.2 years participated and were 6.5 ± 1.0 months post-ACLR. All patients followed the same rehabilitation protocol. The test battery used consisted of the following: isokinetic test, 3 hop tests and the jump-landing task assessed with the LESS. The isokinetic tests and single-leg hop tests were expressed as a LSI (involved limb/uninvolved limb × 100 %). In addition, patients filled out the IKDC and ACL-Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) scale. RTS criteria to pass were defined as a LSI > 90 % on isokinetic and hop tests, LESS 56 and a IKDC within 15th percentile of healthy subjects.
RESULTS:

Two out of 28 patients passed all criteria of the test protocol. The pass criterion for the LESS 90 % for SLH, 85.7 % for TLH and 50 % for the SH. For the isokinetic test, 39.3 % of patients passed criteria for LSI peak torque quadriceps at 60°/s, 46.4 % at 180°/s and 42.9 at 300°/s. In total, 35.7 % of the patients passed criterion for the peak torque at 60°/s normalized to BW (>3.0 Nm) for the involved limb. The H/Q ratio at 300°/s > 55 % for females was achieved by 4 out of 6 female patients, and the >62.5 % criterion for males was achieved by 75 %. At 6 months post-ACLR, 85.7 % of the patients passed the IKDC score and 75 % the ACL-RSI score >56 criteria.
CONCLUSION:

The evidence emerging from this study suggests that the majority of patients who are 6 months after ACLR require additional rehabilitation to pass RTS criteria. The RTS battery described in this study may serve as a framework for future studies to implement multivariate models in order to optimize the decision-making regarding RTS after ACLR with the aim to reduce incidence of second ACL injuries.

 

The most interesting fitness stats from the 2015 Women’s World Cup

SB Nation, Stars and Stripes FC from July 19, 2016

IFA has released its technical report on the physical analysis of teams and players in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. This is part of ongoing efforts to increase the amount of scientific data and research in the women’s game. Here are some of the most interesting findings from the report.

 

Which college football coaches consistently produce overachievers or underachievers?

SB Nation, Football Study Hall from July 15, 2016

… I note when teams strayed pretty far from their win expectations, one way or the other, and in 2015 three teams strayed really far from expectations: Boston College was 2.9 wins below where it should have been, while Houston and Northwestern were both 2.8 wins above.

From year to year, this is a sign of randomness. But over time, certain coaches fare better year-to-year than others. And as I noted last offseason, the coaches at the top and bottom of this list tend to be the ones fans say are particularly good or bad coaches.

 

How CEOs Can Keep Their Analytics Programs from Being a Waste of Time

Harvard Business Review; Chris McShea, Dan Oakley and Chris Mazzei from July 21, 2016

Despite billions of dollars invested in big data and analytics, the simple truth is that most projects and programs fail to meet expectations. And we have figured out why: analytics forces changes on the C-suite that the CEO has to anticipate and manage, but many don’t.

From how we choose presidents to what movies we choose to watch, big data and analytics have become integral parts of our lives. But for too many companies, analytics is an unsolved puzzle with the pieces flung all over the floor. In research spanning 20 years, we closely examined 36 companies in eight industries to find out why companies are struggling. The findings show that fewer than half of analytics programs met initial return-on-investment (ROI) goals.

But poor ROI is only part of the story.

 

Lucky You

WGBH, Innovation Hub from July 15, 2016

… [Robert] Frank argues that luck plays a bigger role in our lives than we would like to admit. He says successful people are “almost certainly” very talented and probably worked very hard. But, when successful people look back on their careers, they often forget that factors beyond their hard work and smarts led to their prosperity.

What they don’t think about, Frank says, are the outside factors that allowed them to get to the top: a teacher in high school steering them in a certain direction, or the coworker who had to turn down a promotion to tend to a sick parent. And these are the sorts of things that can make or break someone’s trajectory. [audio, 16:41]

 

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