Applied Sports Science newsletter – January 30, 2018

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for January 30, 2018

 

Rob Gronkowski In High School: A Dominant Athlete, But Keep an Eye on the Gronk-O-Meter

SI.com, NFL, Jenny Vrentas from

In the Buffalo area, Rob Gronkowksi is remembered as perhaps the best athlete Williamsville North ever produced, an overpowering multisport star who wrecked basketball rims, launched massive homers and giggled while he pulled down ball-carriers.

Opponents pulled out all the stops against him—so much so that coaches had to monitor his frustration level and pull him before he snapped

 

Bowe’s back, bruised but unbowed and bent for skating gold

Associated Press, Raf Casert from

Bump into a skating teammate on the ice, and besides some black and blue bruises, chances are it ends up being a bunch of laughs, too.

Not for Brittany Bowe.

One such clash turned her world class career upside down at the height of her powers — a personal nightmare from which she is emerging only just in time for the Olympics.

At first, the July 2016 collision in Kearns, Utah, left her dazed and with a sore head, which was diagnosed as a concussion. Still, expectations were that a few weeks would take care of it.

 

Kazuyoshi Miura, the world’s oldest soccer player, extends contract

CNN, Euan McKirdy and Yoko Wakatsuki from

… The forward’s record-breaking career began as a 19-year-old with Brazilian club Santos in 1986 — spanning more than 30 years and taking on club soccer for 13 different teams across South America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

He managed an impressive 55 goals in 89 appearances for Japan, notching 14 in qualifying as he fired his country to the 1998 World Cup Finals in France.

World body FIFA, celebrating the landmark contract, noted that the Japanese ace was also part of the squad which won the AFC Asian Cup back in 1992.

 

Up, up and away: Julia Marino’s lifelong fearlessness catapults her to Olympics

The Washington Post, Rick Maese from

Julia Marino and gravity were never really a great pair. To her, everything was a launching pad — furniture, household objects, playground equipment. “She was always on the lookout for something to jump off of,” her father, John Marino, said.

It resulted, ultimately, in a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 20-year-old Marino, but there was no way to know that then. When she was younger, it was often a cause for alarm — or at least raised eyebrows. Like when she was 11 months old and insisted on climbing up the playground slide backward. Or when she was 2 1 /2 years old and banging a wrench against her bicycle, trying to remove the training wheels. Or that first day of kindergarten when the principal called to say the energetic, young girl had somehow scaled a wall.

“The principal said, ‘We don’t know how she did it, and we don’t think adults could do it. But if you could just please tell her not to do that again, we’d appreciate it,’” her father recalled.

Turns out, it was all early training for a meteoric snowboarding career and what could be a memorable PyeongChang Games. Marino is from Westport, Conn., and began seriously snowboarding six years ago. But she suddenly finds herself as a medal threat in two Olympic events — slopestyle and big air — having enjoyed perhaps the quickest rise of any Olympian on the U.S. roster.

 

Association between Match Activity Variables, Measures of Fatigue and Neuromuscular Performance Capacity Following Elite Competitive Soccer Matches.

Journal of Human Kinetics from

The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between match activity variables, subsequent fatigue and neuromuscular performance capacity in elite soccer players. Subjects (n = 10) were professional soccer players participating in the English Championships. Match activity variables and markers of fatigue status were measured before and following two matches. Creatine kinase (CK) and muscle soreness were measured at baseline, immediately following, as well as 40 and 64 h post-match. Countermovement jump performance and perceived ratings of wellness were measured at baseline, then 40 and 64 h post-match. Relationships were shown between CK and the total number of accelerations and decelerations immediately (r = 0.63; large), 40 h (r = 0.45; moderate) and 64 h post-match (r = 0.35; moderate) (p < 0.05). Relationships between CK and total sprint distance (r = 0.39; moderate) and the number of sprints (r = 0.35; moderate) 40 h post-match (p < 0.05) were observed. Furthermore, relationships were shown between the perceived rating of wellness and number of accelerations 40 (r = 0.52; large) and 64 h (r = 0.40; moderate) post-match, sprint distance 40 h post-match (r = 0.40; moderate) and the total number of sprints 40 h post-match (r = 0.51; large) (p < 0.05). The quantification of match activity variables, particularly the total number of accelerations and decelerations and the number of sprints, provides insights into the fatigue status in elite soccer players 40 and 64 h post-match.

 

The Importance of Strength and Power on Key Performance Indicators in Elite Youth Soccer

Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research from

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the importance of strength and power in relation to key performance indicators (KPI’s) within competitive soccer match play. This was achieved through using an experimental approach where fifteen subjects were recruited from a professional soccer club’s scholarship squad during the 2013/14 season. Following anthropometric measures, power and strength were assessed across a range of tests which included the squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), 20 metre (m) sprint and arrowhead change of direction test. A predicted 1-repetition maximum (RM) was also obtained for strength by performing a 3RM test for both the back squat and bench press and a total score of athleticism (TSA) was provided by summing z-scores for all fitness tests together, providing one complete score for athleticism. Performance analysis data was collected during 16 matches for the following KPIs: passing, shooting, dribbling, tackling and heading. Alongside this, data concerning player ball involvements (touches) was recorded. Results showed that there was a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between CMJ (r = 0.80), SJ (r = 0.79) and TSA (r = 0.64) in relation to heading success. Similarly, a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between predicted 1RM squat strength and tackle success (r = 0.61). These data supports the notion that strength and power training are important to soccer performance, particularly when players are required to win duels of a physical nature. There were no other relationships found between the fitness data and the KPI’s recorded during match play which may indicate that other aspects of player’s development such as technical skill, cognitive function and sensory awareness are more important for soccer-specific performance.

 

Non-Invasive Assessment of Internal and External Player Load: Implications for Optimizing Athletic Performance

Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research from

Few data exist that assess athlete tracking and monitoring for the development of strategies to optimize performance and reduce fatigue in elite athletes. The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of external load and internal stress monitoring as assessment tools for examining a performance index of fatigue. A retrospective analysis was performed on data collected over the course of the pre-season in 10 elite male NCAA Division 1 basketball players. Internal stress was assessed using Omegawave Technology readiness scores and compared to the performance index of counter-movement jump (CMJ). The external load accumulated during the previous practice, quantified by PlayerLoad™ (PL; Catapult), was compared to CMJ values and Omegawave scores. The results indicated that high, compared to low CNS Omegawave Readiness Scores (6.7±05.1, 4.5±1.2AU; p < 0.001), were associated with increased CMJ (62.1±6.5 vs 59.4±6.6cm; p = 0.05), Power (6590±526.7 vs 6383.5±606.8W; p = 0.05), Omegawave Overall Readiness (5.8±1.1 vs 5.0±0.7AU; p = 0.05), and Omega Potential (Omega) (21.3±6.3, vs 9.9±20.8mV; p = 0.07). An increase PL during the previous exposure was associated with decreased CMJ (58.7±4.7cm vs 60.4±5.1cm; p<0.001) and increased TRIMP (135.1±35.9 vs 65.6±20.0 AU; p < 0.001), and duration (115.4±27.1 vs 65.56±20.0min; p= <0.001) despite no differences in Omegawave CNS readiness scores. We conclude that Omegawave and Catapult technologies provide independent information related to performance and may be effective tools for monitoring athlete performance.

 

The secret to Northwestern’s success? Pat Fitzgerald says their strength staff is “the secret sauce”

FootballScoop, Doug Samuels from

While you may not recognize the name Alex Spanos, the Northwestern assistant strength coach got some serious camera time this year rocking cut off polos in freezing rain and while getting players amped up after arriving in Madison in a tight cutoff polo shirt.

He’s just one of the many instrumental assistant strength coaches under Northwestern director of sports performance Jay Hooten, who got profiled in a video the Wildcats released over the weekend. Hooten was elevated to his current role in 2011 after two years as the assistant director of strength and conditioning in Evanston.

At one point during the season, as the video points out, Fitz was talking during one of his regular media sessions and noted that players had broken over 30 personal best records IN A SINGLE WEEK at one point in 2017.

 

Goal Line Lasers, Football Sensors and More: Why the NFL Is Slow to New Tech

Bleacher Report, Natalie Weiner from

… Could the advanced technology we all have access to make that, and other improbable officiating decisions, a thing of the past? Is the NFL holding out on fans to intentionally add ambiguity to outcomes? The answer, as it so often is, is yes and no. The past few years have seen a technological revolution that could save the league and its fans a lot of frustration—and help create a more dynamic, safe version of football in the process. Actually utilizing that technology, though, isn’t always an easy decision for a notoriously conservative sport.

“Three years ago, I would have said some of the sports science and performance tech was a little behind compared to other sports,” said Emmett Carey, a scientist with STATSports, whose player-performance-tracking wearable technology is used by some of the world’s top soccer clubs as well as the Panthers, Raiders and Bengals. “Now, it’s kind of catching up.”

 

If The Shoe Fits: How HP Is Helping NFL Players Avoid Injury

Fast Company, Daniel Terdiman from

Now installed in all 32 NFL teams’ locker rooms, HP’s FitStation technology helps players find the best cleat models for their feet in a few seconds.

 

Optical Heart Rate – A Chat With Valencell

the5krunner blog from

I had an interesting chat recently with Valencell. There are no revelations as such but it was good to hear some of the directions the company and the wider market are heading down.

In no particular order here are some of the things we discussed:

Valencell estimated that optical HR sensors for sport are probably sold in the ratio of something like 80:20 for wrist locations vs. other locations. Valencell are stronger in the market for ear-based sensors and the ratio would be different for them. Surprisingly, more like 50:50.

 

Symposium: The NCAA Cartel—Introduction

Review of Industrial Organization journal from

This Symposium was sponsored by the Robert F. Lanzillotti Public Policy Research Center. In addition to the participants, I am grateful to Katheryn Eifert, Brooke Harmer, and Joseph Whitman for their assistance. Larry White improves every paper with his skillful editing and deserves much credit (but no blame) for the final product.

 

Steve Yzerman Keeps Adapting, and the Lightning Keep Winning

The New York Times, Andrew Knoll from

… Yzerman, who has won four Stanley Cups and three Olympic gold medals as a player and executive, has been credited with much of the Lightning’s sustained success the past eight seasons.

“Whatever you do in life, part of being successful is passion,” said Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland, who began training Yzerman during his playing career and presided over Yzerman’s three championships as a player before working with him when Detroit won another title in 2008. “It can’t be work. If it’s just a job, your energy level is going to be drained over time. That passion and desire to gather knowledge are what Steve had as a player and he’s also taken into the front office.”

 

Ph.D. student develops math formula to predict where recruits will sign

Gridiron Now from

… A student at the University of Iowa has developed a math-based formula to predict where top recruits will sign, and it seems to be working pretty well, as reported by Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post.

The model, designed by Iowa Ph.D. candidate Kristina Bigsby, relies on social media posts and “basic biographical information” – presumably including publicly available data like hometown and school. Her work was published in the journal Decision Analysis, from INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences).

The reported accuracy rate is 70 percent – not bad for a purely math-based formula that involves zero direct interaction with recruits and coaches.

 

Modern recruiting: Technology, social media dehumanize early recruiting steps

La Crosse Tribune, Colton Bartholomew from

… Welcome to the world of modern recruiting. Technology, social media and other aspects of modern life have become germane to recruiting prospective student-athletes to colleges and universities across the country. In a three-part series, through stories and columns, the Tribune will explore how new technological tools and the rise of social media have come to shape how high school athletes are found, recruited, and ultimately land at their collegiate destinations.

This story will focus on Hudl, the industry leader in capturing, dissecting and sharing video in the high school and college sports world. Based out of Lincoln, Neb., Hudl has become a worldwide brand and a dominant player in the sports video space.

 

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