What is clear is that Neymar wasn’t gaining enough ground at Barcelona. The hope when he signed in 2013 was that he would prove a successor to Messi. Despite scoring a remarkable 106 goals in 186 games, he ended up as more of a sidekick. If reports out of Spain are to be believed, for Neymar the move was as much about trying to escape Messi’s shadow as it was about the money.
That assumes that playing with Messi (and Suarez et al.) was doing more to hold Neymar back than it was helping him. Even at its peak, the MSN axis felt a bit like a cobbled-together supergroup—soccer’s own Traveling Wilburys. But Messi and Suarez are hardly ball hogs. Between them they diverted a lot more defensive attention than PSG’s Edinson Cavani will.
At the same time, Ligue 1 is more forgiving than Spain’s La Liga, and the Brazilian has consistently produced while at the center of his national team. So how many goals will Neymar have to score to become the best player in the world? What kinds of highlights will he have to produce?
There’s a presumption that, at each new level of football, everything gets faster, tougher, harder. For NFL players who played college football at Alabama, that may not be the case.
Ryan Anderson, a second-round pick in Washington, recently said that training is more trying in Tuscaloosa.
“Practices there are a little bit rougher than [they are] here,” Anderson (No. 22 in the photo) recently said, via SaturdayDownSouth.com. “We do a lot of banging around there, so it definitely prepared me physically and mentally for this grind that I’m doing now.”
John Hackworth can’t forget the first time he saw Andrew Carleton. It was November 2014, and Hackworth was running his first camp as the new coach of the United States Under-15 boys’ squad.
Early in the session, Carleton, whom Hackworth hadn’t seen play before the camp, took a long, diagonal pass from across the field. With time and space, Carleton had a chance to play it forward, the type of smart and simple play a manager would appreciate. He didn’t. At the last second, Carleton jumped up and contorted his torso. The ball slammed off his back, leading to a turnover. Hackworth, shocked and confused, continued the session but made a mental note to question Carleton about the poor decision in a vulnerable part of the field.
During a water break a few minutes later, Hackworth approached the teenager and asked him what, exactly, he was trying to do. Two-and-a-half years later, Hackworth remembers the exact response. “He said, ‘Coach, I watched Cristiano Ronaldo do it, and I just had to try it,'” Hackworth, now the U.S. U-17 coach, tells B/R. “That’s very indicative of Andrew. He has that creative imagination. And he wants to have fun. He plays soccer with a smile on his face.”
People who consider themselves less active than others in their age group – even if that perception isn’t accurate – are more likely to die younger than their peers who consider themselves more active, according to a study from Stanford University. … “If you live in an area where most of your peers are really fit, you might perceive yourself as relatively inactive, even though your exercise may be sufficient,” Octavia Zahrt, a doctoral student at Stanford, said in a press release. “Or if you believe that only running or working out at the gym count as real exercise, you may overlook the exercise you are getting at work or at home cleaning and carrying kids around.”
Athletes engage mentally and physically in their training and practice so that they will be the most competitive during games. Practicing a skill over time builds muscle memory so that athletes do not have to think about doing a task; their bodies just do it.
It is important that skills are done correctly and that the athletes use proper form so the movement becomes part of muscle memory and reduces risk of injury. Remember that muscles work best when they are not over-stretched or shortened.
Activities at home or outside of a sport during downtime can also affect muscles and the muscle memory of a skill. For example, sitting in front of a computer with shoulders slumped can cause strain on muscles. Similarly, playing video games using that posture can lead to the same results. Shortened muscles can become tight so proper posture can help to stretch those muscles. On the other hand, lengthened, or over-stretched muscles can become weak. Finding the proper muscle balance is the key to success.
Although there is research providing physiologically-based guidance for the content of the taper, this study was the first to examine how coaches actually implement the taper. The purpose of this study was to examine the taper planning and implementation processes of successful Olympic coaches leading up to major competitions and how they learned about tapering. Seven track and field coaches participated in semi-structured interviews exploring their tapering processes. To be considered for inclusion, coaches were required to have coached one or more athletes to an Olympic or Paralympic medal. Through a process of axial and open coding interview transcripts were analysed and lower and higher order themes developed describing the coaches’ tapering processes. Our findings indicate that the strategies employed to achieve the desired physiological adaptions of the taper were consistent with research (e.g., reduction in volume whilst maintaining intensity and frequency). However, our findings also suggest that tapering is far from a straight forward “textbook” process. The taper was not restricted to physiological outcomes with coaches considering athletes’ psychological as well as physical state. Coaches also involved the athlete in the process, adapted the taper to the athlete, continually monitored its progress, and adapted it further as required.
Mary Lou Jepsen’s background in consumer electronics, computers, TV, VR, wearables, healthcare and software at Google x, Facebook, and Oculus has led to the creation of Openwater — a company that will enable us to see the inner workings of the body and brain. At high resolution, continuously.
Using novel opto-electronics, the company aims to replace the functionality of MRI with a wearable. Applications include the detection and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, internal bleeding, and brain diseases, and for communication via thought, and potentially to upload/download and augment memories, thoughts and emotions.
This study aimed to determine whether an increase in muscle shear modulus measured 30 min after eccentric exercise (30 min) reflects the magnitude of force deficit measured 48-h post-exercise (48 H). Methods
A total of 53 healthy participants were distributed in five groups. Four groups performed either repeated eccentric elbow flexions or knee extensions at either a low or high load. A fifth group performed repeated concentric elbow flexions (control load). Results
A significant decreased peak torque was found for elbow flexors and knee extensors 48 h after the eccentric exercises (all P values < 0.001). A significant increase in shear modulus was found at 30 min for the elbow flexors for low (+70.5 ± 44.3%, P < 0.001) and high load (+153.9 ± 192.4%, P < 0.001). Similarly, the shear modulus of knee extensors increased for low (+26.7 ± 19.1%, P < 0.001) and high load (+79.4 ± 67.1%, P < 0.001). The relative increase in shear modulus measured at 30 min was significantly correlated to the relative decrease in peak torque measured at 48 H for both elbow flexors (r = −0.80) and knee extensors (r = −0.82). A further analysis suggested that biceps brachii and rectus femoris were more affected by muscle damage than their synergists.
Conclusion
This study shows that an increase in muscle shear modulus measured 30 min after a damaging exercise reflects the decrease in peak torque measured at 48 H. Shear modulus may therefore, provide a useful tool for coaches and clinicians to non-invasively estimate the amount of muscle damage induced by a damaging exercise.
One downside to medical sensors that test human sweat: You have to sweat.
Sweating from exertion or a stifling room temperature can be impractical for some patients and unsafe for others. And unless they are on the second leg of the Tour de France, it’s unlikely patients will want to sweat all day for the benefit of a sensor reading.
But researchers at the University of Cincinnati have come up with a novel way to stimulate sweat glands on a small, isolated patch of skin so subjects can stay cool and comfortable and go about their daily routine without spending hours on a treadmill.
UC professor Jason Heikenfeld and UC graduate Zachary Sonner came up with a device the size of a Band-Aid that uses a chemical stimulant to produce sweat, even when the patient is relaxed and cool. The sensors also can predict how much patients sweat, an important factor in understanding the hormones or chemicals the biosensors measure.
Background Previous injury is a strong risk factor for recurrent lower limb injury in athletic populations, yet the association between previous injury and a subsequent injury different in nature or location is rarely considered.
Objective To systematically review data on the risk of sustaining a subsequent lower limb injury different in nature or location following a previous injury.
Methods Eight medical databases were searched. Studies were eligible if they reported lower limb injury occurrence following any injury of a different anatomical site and/or of a different nature, assessed injury risk, contained athletic human participants and were written in English. Two reviewers independently applied the eligibility criteria and performed the risk of bias assessment. Meta-analysis was conducted using a random effects model.
Results Twelve studies satisfied the eligibility criteria. Previous history of an ACL injury was associated with an increased risk of subsequent hamstring injury (three studies, RR=2.25, 95% CI 1.34 to 3.76), but a history of chronic groin injury was not associated with subsequent hamstring injury (three studies, RR=1.14, 95% CI 0.29 to 4.51). Previous lower limb muscular injury was associated with an increased risk of sustaining a lower limb muscular injury at a different site. A history of concussion and a variety of joint injuries were associated with an increased subsequent lower limb injury risk.
Conclusions The fact that previous injury of any type may increase the risk for a range of lower limb subsequent injuries must be considered in the development of future tertiary prevention programmes.
Cannabis is the perfect medicine for athletes,” says retired NFL offensive lineman Eben Britton over the phone, stating matter-of-factly what’s still, generally, considered taboo. (In the world of modern cannabis advocacy, you’re never talking about “weed,” “pot,” “marijuana,” or [insert slang term here]. It’s cannabis.)
“This is not some back-alley street drug,” he continues. “It’s a medicinal herb that provides the only potential solution to both concussions/CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and the opiate epidemic.”
That hypothesis is the impetus behind Athletes For Care, a new nonprofit of which Britton—alongside 26 other athletes from the NFL, NBA, NHL and UFC—is a founding member. The organization is dedicated to promoting a holistic, alternative approach to athlete wellness, both for those still playing and retirees. Cannabis is but one part of the wellness package—albeit an important one.
Machine learning isn’t something you buy but something you do. Use TensorFlow to experiment now with machine learning so you can build it into your DNA
… This is not, as some have suggested, the end of football as we know it. It’s either a bold, game-changing move from Paris Saint-Germain or a colossal blunder by folks with more money than sense or, perhaps, something in between. Yet the web of implications is so far-reaching that it’s worth looking at this deal from various perspectives.
Barcelona
This is probably more of a psychological setback than a footballing one. It’s the third time a buyout clause has been used by a rival club to swoop into the Camp Nou and make off with a prize asset. Twenty years ago, Inter Milan showed up with $27 million — don’t laugh, young readers, it was a world record at the time — and secured the original Ronaldo, the “Phenomenon”. In 2000, Real Madrid made off with Luis Figo for $74m, launching the Bernabeu’s “Galactico” era.
Baseball’s trade deadline last week provided a referendum on how much value relief pitchers have in today’s game. And the results were fairly clear: Teams just don’t care about saves as much as they used to.
This season, we’ve been using our new relief pitching statistic, the goose egg, to track how bullpens are used. And the way relievers are deployed has, in fact, changed. Although it hasn’t been quite as dramatic as, say, the widespread adaptation of the defensive shift in baseball, there’s at least some evidence of teams using their best relief pitchers in smarter ways — using them in the highest-leverage situations, regardless of whether or not a save is on the line. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who has been the best relief pitcher in baseball this season, is one prominent example. He often enters games in situations that the goose egg rewards but the save does not — such as when the score is tied, or anytime before the ninth inning.1 (A goose egg is essentially a clutch, scoreless relief inning.)
But a series of deadline trades provided evidence on the diminished value that teams place on saves. Plenty of relief pitchers were traded, but teams were seemingly indifferent about whether the pitchers they’d acquired had accumulated high save totals or not.
Associated Press, NCAA College Football, Ralph D. Russo from
The game still nags at Tulane coach Willie Fritz. The big upset that got away.
Fritz was head coach at Georgia Southern when the Eagles took a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter of their 2014 opener against North Carolina State. The Wolfpack rallied to win 24-23 after Fritz made a fourth-down decision — a gut call he is still kicking himself about.
Fritz is no longer interested in following his gut.
“That may be the hot dog I had before the game,” Fritz said. “I want facts and numbers.”