… Djokovic was chasing his fifth major in the past 11 Grand Slams. Williams, who nearly had a calendar-year sweep in 2015, glided into the tournament hoping to win a 22nd Grand Slam singles title that would tie Steffi Graf’s record and cementing Williams’ own claim to Best Ever, if she hadn’t already.
Yet, over the next 12 months, Scotland’s Andy Murray and Germany’s Angelique Kerber gave everyone a lesson on what it takes to thrive, not just survive, in the time of legends.
The striking thing is that none of it seems exotic. For both players, it starts with talent wed to an unstinting work ethic and fitness. It takes being a cold-eyed critic of yourself, too — but offsetting that with a determined, often audacious self-belief that it’s never too late to improve or to defy your critics. It requires understanding how chasing day-to-day excellence is what leads to big-picture success.
… “Looking back it was the right thing to do,” said Gonzalez, who began his second year in Mexico on Saturday when Pachuca kicked off the Liga MX Clausura season against Leon.
“Change is good,” he said. “And for me it was perfect timing to get out.”
Out of MLS. Out of his Galaxy uniform. Out of a situation that had become so routine that Gonzalez said he stopped challenging himself.
Communications of the ACM, blog@CACM, Mark Guzdial from
… At ICER 2016, Briana Morrison, Lauren Margulieux, and Adrienne Decker presented a replication study showing that introductory students miss important details in problem statements, but they figure them out when the students reach their second CS course. Briana thinks that it takes students that long to develop their understanding so that they are more effective at problem-solving. We could perhaps achieve better understanding earlier, but we’d have to teach for understanding. We computer science teachers tend to under-emphasize program comprehension, because it’s boring for us — and it’s easy for computer science teachers. It falls in our expert blind spot. A focus on understanding can be boring for the students, too, because it’s not about making stuff.
We need a new balance point. We need to do more to get students to understand. They need to build, too, because that’s important for student motivation. We need to create learning situations where we ask students to practice program reading, to predict program execution, and to understand program idioms. More problem-solving might need to wait until student understanding catches up.
No studies have analysed the acute effects of the FIFA 11+ and Harmoknee warm-up programmes on major physical performance measures. The aim of this study was to analyse the acute (post-exercise) effects of the FIFA 11+, Harmoknee and dynamic warm-up routines on several physical performance measures in amateur football players. A randomized, crossover and counterbalanced study design was used to address the purpose of this study. A total of sixteen amateur football players completed the following protocols in a randomized order on separate days: a) FIFA 11+; b) Harmoknee; and c) dynamic warm-up (DWU). In each experimental session, 19 physical performance measures (joint range of motion, hamstring to quadriceps [H/Q] strength ratios, dynamic postural control, 10 and 20 m sprint times, jump height and reactive strength index) were assessed. Measures were compared via a magnitude-based inference analysis. The results of this study showed no main effects between paired comparisons (FIFA 11+ vs. DWU, Harmoknee vs. DWU and Harmoknee vs. FIFA 11+) for joint range of motions, dynamic postural control, H/Q ratios, jumping height and reactive strength index measures. However, significant main effects (likely effects with a probability of >75–99%) were found for 10 (1.7%) and 20 (2.4%) m sprint times, demonstrating that both the FIFA 11+ and Harmoknee resulted in slower sprint times in comparison with the DWU. Therefore, neither the FIFA 11+ nor the Harmoknee routines appear to be preferable to dynamic warm-up routines currently performed by most football players prior to training sessions and matches. [full text]
Performance tests are used for multiple purposes in exercise and sport science. Ensuring that a test displays an appropriate level of measurement properties for use within a population is important to ensure confidence in test findings.
The aim of this study was to obtain subject matter expert consensus on the measurement and feasibility properties that should be considered for performance tests used in the exercise and sport sciences and how these should be defined. This information was used to develop a checklist for broader dissemination. Methods
A two-round Delphi study was undertaken including 33 exercise scientists, academics and sport scientists. Participants were asked to rate the importance of a range of measurement properties relevant to performance tests in exercise and sport science. Responses were obtained in binary and Likert-scale formats, with consensus defined as achieving 67% agreement on each question. Results
Consensus was reached on definitions and terminology for all items. Ten level 1 items (those that achieved consensus on all four questions) and nine level 2 items (those achieving consensus on ≥2 questions) were included. Both levels were included in the final checklist. Conclusions
The checklist developed from this study can be used to inform decision-making and test selection for practitioners and researchers in the exercise and sport sciences. This can facilitate knowledge sharing and performance comparisons across sub-disciplines, thereby improving existing field practice and research methodological quality. [full text]
… fitness wearable devices and clothing such as the ones created by Baltimore-based Under Armour and its rivals have taken a prominent role center stage as well, along with drones, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
“CES is about progress. It’s about finding a better way,” Plank said in his keynote, adding: “That same philosophy [is what] we’ve been operating under the past 20 years. We believe, and hopefully you agree, Under Armour belongs at CES because we’ve always been a technology company.”
Plank clearly indicated that his company has no intention of giving an inch to its current or future rivals. “The challenge that I give to our product teams beyond what are they going to do when the traditional technology companies…start making shirts and shoes [also is] how do we compete here, how do we deserve to be here, how are we worthy to be here?” he said.
2017 is set to be a big year for smartwatches. Android Wear 2.0 is finally set to land, we’re expecting to see even more hybrid smartwatches and you can bet your money we’ll be seeing follow-ups to the Apple Watch Series 2 and the Samsung Gear S3. Hey, we might even finally see a Fitbit smartwatch.
Some companies have already laid out their plans while others are just hoping to get those MIA devices out after delaying them in 2016. We’ve updated our watchlist of the smartwatches that are set to land this year and when we can expect to be wearing them.
… All of which brings us back to Boltt, an Indian-based company whose technology is the brainchild of Arnav Kishore. In addition to many other accomplishments, Arnav was an international tennis champion at the age of 18 and he’s currently one of the world’s youngest CEOs (he reminds me of a younger version of myself, except that I’ve never been a tennis champion or founded a successful high-tech wearables company, of course).
We start with Boltt’s smart shoe and advanced stride sensor, which provide real-time bio-mechanical data on speed, distance, cadence, stride sensing, and sports tracking, and transmits this data, via Bluetooth, to the Boltt AI app running on the user’s smartphone.
Cold and flu season is upon us and inevitably, some of us will end up on antibiotics at some point this winter. The faster we can get through whatever bug it is we picked up, the faster we can get back out to training, right?
Yes, except when we’re talking about a certain class of antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones. Commonly known by their prescription names—Cipro, Levaquin, and Avelox—this group of antibiotics can have dangerous side effects for runners. Specifically, the drugs can weaken tendons, leading to injury and even rupture.
Between the spiked eggnog, New Year’s Eve champagne, and the whiskey you self-medicated with during family gatherings, these last few months have likely been an assault on your liver. Which is why, on many New Year’s resolution lists, there’s a “Stay sober in January” entry.
Dry January, as it’s called, is a phenomenon that popped up in the UK in the 1990s. “It was started by a student, of all people,” says Herald Jonas, an addiction specialist and founder of Sober.com. Over the years, the movement has gained steam across the pond, with as many as 17,000 Brits giving up alcohol for the month in 2014.
Recently, Americans appear to have become increasingly intrigued by the trend
The Washington Post, Kelly L. Haws, Kevin L. Sample and Rebecca Walker Reczek from
… Measuring the relationship between health and price of food is difficult, as it can be evaluated in a variety of ways, from price per calorie to price per average portion.
So how pervasive is the view that “healthy = expensive” and why do consumers think this way?
In studies recently published in the Journal of Consumer Research, we found that consumers do tend to believe that healthy foods are in fact more expensive. While this may actually hold true in only some product categories, we discovered that many consumers tend to believe this relationship holds across all categories, regardless of the evidence.
Prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Rutgers instituted a new drug testing policy that calls for varying punitive and rehabilitative measures for athletes who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs but has reduced penalties for marijuana use.
NJ Advance Media obtained the Rutgers Athletics Alcohol and Drug Education and Testing Program document through an Open Public Records Act request. The 13-page document went into effect on Aug. 1, 2016, and superseded the previous drug testing policy that was created in 2008.
… Both on the micro and macro level, Morey is winning. The Rockets are the league’s best turnaround story this season. And from 30,000 feet, Morey’s ideas have won. The NBA plays his way now, the way the analytics community has argued is the best, most efficient way to play, with 3-pointers coming from every spot on the floor, the game now five-out, none-in, other than the occasional roll to the basket by a new-age center like Houston’s Clint Capela.
And Harden is smiling again through “The Beard”, his unfulfilling and unsuccessful relationship with Howard forgotten. After a slow start, and despite injuries to Capela (a broken leg will likely keep him out another month), Houston is carving up the league.
“It’s fun,” Harden says. “As you can see, the Warriors play like that now, and the last few years. It’s fun. It’s exciting. The crowd’s into it. You’re knocking threes; you’re getting layups. We have the right personnel, we have the right guys for it. It fits what we’re doing.”
Football management is a ruthless profession. The prerequisites for managing a professional team in Germany, a country known for producing excellent football, players, coaches and systems, require individuals to undergo and complete a formal education in the game that usually harks back to a respectable career as a professional player. And so, the story of Julian Nagelsmann – a baby-faced young German coaching prodigy unfairly dubbed ‘Baby Mourinho’ is both awe-inspiring and unabashedly perplexing. For many, it’s a fantasy of Football Manager proportions – except this isn’t a video game. The consequences and rewards are real. This story is more than one pitting youthful zeal and guile against the conventions of a world few understand and even fewer succeed in while keeping their jobs let alone their sanity.
You wouldn’t be wrong to scoff at such a story in one of the world’s top leagues. You would be wrong, however, to not investigate and educate yourself on how and why this story serves as both a use case and a blueprint for 21st-century football management. More than ever before, football management is a business governed by science, culture, politics and experience – or vice versa.
Julian Nagelsmann’s legend is still being written; so much so that the ink is barely dry on the three-year contract TSG 1899 Hoffenheim awarded its young, studious manager back in February 2016. Moreover, Nagelsmann’s story is one rife with perseverance, application, luck, circumstance and loyalty.
Many wide receivers make impressive catches, and Odell Beckham Jr. has compiled a highlight reel of spectacular grabs. But this season especially, what has set Beckham apart is not that he holds onto the football. It’s what happens after the ball is in his hands.
Beckham’s first catch of the season, in Dallas, was a route up the sideline for 45 yards. Eli Manning’s pass traveled 28 yards, and as a sign of things to come, Beckham tacked on 17 more after the catch.