n June of 2016 Andrew Carleton inked his Homegrown contract with Atlanta United at just 15 years of age. Now, with nearly two years spent in the professional ranks, he’s maturing exponentially both on and off the pitch.
“Being around guys like Parky [Michael Parkhurst], [Jeff] Larentowicz, Leandro [Pirez], guys like that who have been there and done that. Just picking up little things they do to take care of their body. On the field, just little things. Talking more, helping other guys out that will help you out as well, if they’re in the right spot, you may not have to run as much to cover up for that. Or whatever the situation is, combining with guys and building some chemistry with the guys on the team. That’s probably the main thing I took from my first year.”
As Carleton learns from the vets, he’s also looking to pass on that knowledge to whomever he can. He may only be 17 years old, but the boy from Powder Springs, Georgia is no longer the youngest player on the ATL UTD squad.
Carson Wentz said to this day, he doesn’t know how his knee injury happened.
All the Eagles’ quarterback knew at the time was that it was bad, and that it was going to end his season. Wentz confirmed that he tore his ACL and LCL in his first comments to the media since suffering the injury on Dec. 10 in a game against the Los Angeles Rams.
It was the first time that Wentz or the Eagles mentioned the LCL being torn. It’s not known if that will make it a longer recovery process.
Wentz said “I’m aiming” to return in time for Week 1 of the 2018 season in September, and that he “truly believes” he’ll be ready by then. But he couldn’t say for sure.
… “So many people don’t really work out their eyes, and I think there are a lot of muscles in the eyes that are just like normal muscles. You need to train it. You need to work it out,” said [Randal] Grichuk, who took a course on vision training specifically to address that.
Recently retired star outfielder Carlos Beltran famously used a device known as a Conditioned Ocular Enhancement, in which coloured and numbered tennis balls are fired at the plate at up to 155 miles per hour, as players try to pick out the speed and follow it into the catcher’s mitt.
Vision training in sports, though, remains underutilized by athletes, experts say, despite decades worth of evidence suggesting it works.
Importance of speed and power in elite youth soccer depends on maturation status. J Strength Cond Res 32(2): 297-303, 2018-Maturation status is a confounding factor when identifying talent in elite youth soccer players (ESP). By comparing performance of ESP and control participants (CON) matched for maturation status, the aims of our study were to establish the importance of acceleration, sprint, horizontal-forward jump, and vertical jump capabilities for determining elite soccer playing status at different stages of maturation. Elite youth soccer players (n = 213; age, 14.0 ± 3.5 years) and CON (n = 113; age, 15.0 ± 4.4 years) were grouped using years from/to predicted peak height velocity (PHV) to determine maturation status (ESP: pre-PHV, n = 100; mid-PHV, n = 25; post-PHV, n = 88; CON: pre-PHV, n = 44; mid-PHV, n = 15; post-PHV, n = 54). Participants performed 3 reps of 10- and 20-m sprint, bilateral vertical countermovement jump (BV CMJ), and bilateral horizontal-forward CMJ (BH CMJ). Elite youth soccer players demonstrated faster 10-m (p < 0.001) and 20-m sprint (p < 0.001) performance than CON at all stages of maturation. Mid-PHV and post-PHV ESP achieved greater BV CMJ height (p < 0.001) and BH CMJ distance (ESP vs. CON; mid-PHV: 164.32 ± 12.75 vs. 136.53 ± 21.96 cm; post-PHV: 197.57 ± 17.05 vs. 168.06 ± 18.50 cm; p < 0.001) compared with CON, but there was no difference in BV or BH CMJ between pre-PHV ESP and CON. Although 10 and 20 m and sprint performance may be determinants of elite soccer playing status at all stages of maturation, horizontal-forward and vertical jumping capabilities only discriminate ESP from CON participants at mid- and post-PHV. Our data therefore suggest that soccer talent identification protocols should include sprint, but not jump assessments in pre-PHV players.
Sounders FC today announced several updates to its technical staff ahead of the 2018 season, including the hiring of Damian Roden – previously with Stoke City of the English Premier League – as its new High Performance Director to oversee all aspects of the club’s fitness and sports science programs. Additionally, John Hutchinson has been promoted to Head Coach of Sounders FC 2 following the departure of Ezra Hendrickson to the LA Galaxy.
“Heading into a new campaign, we are pleased to announce a number of quality additions to our technical staff and several deserving promotions,” said Sounders FC General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey. “As S2 readies for its first season in Tacoma, we feel fortunate that we have a talented leader like John Hutchinson on-staff to lead the development of our top young pros in the United Soccer League. Ezra Hendrickson has been a tremendous steward for our club, bolstering the launch of S2 in 2015 and guiding the development of our young players since that time. We wish him every success with the Galaxy in the next step of his career. Additionally, we’re excited to welcome Damian Roden to our club – one of the top sports science minds in our business that has proven himself in arguably the world’s most challenging topflight division throughout his career.”
Nebraska wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey and defensive lineman Dylan Owen were hospitalized and treated for rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo), the program announced today. Lindsey spent three days in the hospital and Owen two; both have since been released and returned to the team.
Obviously, any time two players under the coaching staff’s care are taken to the hospital is a major story, particularly when a new coaching staff has just taken over. And Scott Frost’s program treated it as such. He released this statement Tuesday afternoon, detailing the workout, the program’s subsequent reaction and his responsibility therein.
… During the device’s development, they tested runners on inclined treadmills while wearing Stryd units, measured their oxygen and carbon dioxide consumption to calculate energy expenditure, and used that data to adjust their algorithm to give the “right” answers. So, on flat ground, they measured power (200 watts, say) and noted that this corresponded to a given rate of metabolic energy consumption (1,000 watts, say). On the inclined treadmill, they cranked up the speed and angle until the metabolic energy consumption was 1,000 watts, and then, for consistency, programmed the algorithm to call that power 200 watts.
From a scientific perspective, this means the number your running power meter spits out is essentially meaningless. Even on flat ground, “positive external mechanical power” is an indeterminate mishmash of contributions from muscles and springy tendons. It doesn’t accurately reflect the underlying processes that determine energy consumption. And on hills, you’re not looking at an actual power measurement at all—you’re looking at “the positive external mechanical power I would be generating on level ground if I burned energy at the same rate I’m burning it on this hill.” I don’t know the inner workings of the Garmin or RunScribe algorithms, but they face exactly the same issue: Either you’re measuring mechanical power or you’re estimating metabolic energy, but you can’t do both at once.
Motus Global is bringing big changes to its motusTHROW app ahead of the 2018 season. The free update will be available on the App Store just in time for Spring Training. The update to the app will work with current motusTHROW sensors, giving new functionality and improving the ability for pitchers, coaches, and parents to reduce risk and improve performance through the use of the motusTHROW.
The motusTHROW is currently the only pitching wearable approved by MLB and remains the best-selling baseball pitching wearable ever. With this upcoming update, Motus is improving the thousands of current units already on the field and affirming Motus’ commitment to baseball players at all levels.
Ben Hansen, the Chief Technology Officer at Motus, is driving forward on what he feels will be a game changer.
A pair of AI developers turned a $10 webcam into a motion-tracking system. It’s like a DIY Kinect with a Google brain. And best of all they named it Skeletron.
The project, a collaboration between Or Fleisher and Dror Ayalon, was developed using TensorFlow, an open source AI platform created by Google, and Unity, a popular video game engine.
Motion-tracking usually requires expensive cameras, high-end computers, and someone to wear a skin-tight bodysuit with those silly plastic balls Velcroed all over. With this project though, all you need is that webcam you’ve had buried in your junk drawer for half a decade.
Constantly tracking a person’s glucose levels through their tears or sweat could be one step closer to providing people with diabetes an improved monitoring tool. Researchers report in the journal ACS Nano the development of an ultra-thin, flexible sensor that could be incorporated into contact lenses or on the backs of watches for real-time glucose tracking.
Wearable sensors are part of an increasingly digitized world. But those that are commercially available typically monitor physical activities by measuring steps taken, for example, or heart rate. Creating ways to measure health markers on a molecular level has been far more challenging, but the benefits could be life-changing for some. Diagnosing and tracking conditions are often done by analyzing a sample of someone’s blood. The pain of pricking fingers or drawing blood, however, can deter people from vigilantly monitoring conditions such as diabetes that require regular checks. To take the sting out of the process, wearable glucose sensors are in development but have been hampered by several factors. Some devices can’t detect the low levels of glucose that are in sweat and tears, or they stop working when they’re bent. Moh Amer, Chongwu Zhou and colleagues wanted to tackle these issues.
… Hajo Seppelt: Can you explain how organised doping has developed in Russia over time?
Grigory Rodchenkov: Year by year, generation by generation the system of doping was “deeply rooted” in Soviet times. And of course later confidential doping conspiracy in Russia was developed permanently. And let’s say over the last ten years, when I was the director, it was almost focused on immediate response to any emerging threats. We developed this methodologies, but then we developed antivenome. You know. Again… Introduction of new biological passport – changes in WADA requirement to international standard laboratory and technical documents.
We had to respond to each thread or change. Then very important is that it was not my initiative, it was a teamwork, it was a Ministry of sports paid structure. They purchase for us instrumentation of latest models and top configurations, automatic new computers. They provide money for scientific and other research. We knew everything like one step ahead.
Purpose: This study aimed to explore whether the outcome of professional football matches is affected by changes in intra-team movement synchronization. Methods: Positional data from 77 players were collected during 4 matches of an English Premier League team, using the ProZone® tracking system. Intra-team movement synchronization was calculated using the relative phase of all possible pairing combinations of outfield teammates (dyads) and quantified by the overall percentage of time spent near-in-phase (−30º to 30º bin). Per each displacement axis, a 2 × 2 mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the overall dyadic movement synchronization according to the team and the match final outcome. A two-way ANOVA was used to compare movement synchronization according to dyads’ on-field position (defensive or offensive) and match final outcome. Results: Despite individual dynamical trends during each match, the analysed team tended to exhibit lower movement synchronization when losing. Also, dyads with an emphasis in defensive roles seem to present a more synchronized behaviour during the match than dyads with more offensive roles. Conclusions: Findings suggest that movement synchronization may serve as a tactical performance indicator candidate, reflecting the dynamical interaction between teammates and opponents during the match.
… Inside and outside of sports, I’ve studied what makes some teams thrive and what makes others falter. Because talent goes only so far, it’s important to evaluate a team’s structure and mindset to determine its true strength.
Having the ability to adapt to adverse or unpredictable situations plays a big role. So do “collective efficacy” – a team’s shared belief that it can attain a given goal – and “interdependence,” whether a team believes each member is valuable.
By considering these three latent team characteristics, we can dig deeper into how the Eagles and Patriots made it to Super Bowl LII.
… Opta, the soccer analytics company that fuels live stats for leagues around the world, hosted an event to discuss the increasing use of analytics in MLS, in the NWSL and worldwide. Almost all of the day’s proceedings were off the record, because some presentations included clubs’ proprietary data.
But there was also an understanding in the room that soccer analytics are being used more and more by the public. You’ve seen it most prominently with the expected goals statistic, which uses formulas to show not just how many chances a team has in a game, but also how good they are.
The metric can easily be converted into a graphical shot chart, which has led to its use on social media and MLS’ national TV broadcasts.
“It’s a very graphic-friendly stat, and I think seeing it makes it easier to understand if you’re not as mathematically minded,” ESPN soccer stats guru Paul Carr said. “If you have a visual, it gives you a better way to say it, and you can reach people in different and better ways.”
The Province, J.J. Adams and Patrick Johnston from
The same science of sport that has allowed innumerable records to fall and the superhuman to become routine has also created a Frankenstein.
The knowledge provided by these sciences has spawned entire industries, employing practitioners who charge monster fees. But without that specific coaching, the nutrition training, the strength training and medical support, breaking through to the elite level is unlikely.
The resulting trend has been the stratification of sports: a level for the affluent, and one for most everyone else.
Postmedia News inspects three of the most popular youth sports — hockey, basketball and soccer — to see the models their athletes follow to achieve the elite level, and the pitfalls that threaten players along the way.