Applied Sports Science newsletter – June 5, 2018

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for June 5, 2018

 

MLB Q&A – How Gerrit Cole unlocked his potential to dominate

ESPN MLB, Marly Rivera from

What was the hardest thing for you to deal with when you went from the only organization you had known to another? How did the Astros make that transition easier for you?

“I think getting acclimated to the clubhouse and then figuring out how you fit in. Logistics sometimes can be challenging, moving cities and whatnot, but in this case, it was actually a little easier for us being closer to home.

“And the adjustment was easier by maybe just having an open mind and a lot of help from my teammates, a lot of help from the organization. I’ve just enjoyed learning so much. I’ve enjoyed hearing perspectives of players that I respect and I have respected from afar as I was coming up in my career.”

 

Why Leroy Sane’s Germany omission makes sense for Joachim Low

ESPN FC, Raphael Honigstein from

… the decision to omit Sane was a lot less predictable, to put it mildly. The 22-year-old’s superlative season for the Premier League champions had made him one of the most exciting prospects for this summer but Low, a pragmatist in fancy clothing, is less concerned with Sane’s undeniable promise. His focus is narrower and he doesn’t care much for perception or reputation.

The Bundestrainer’s criteria ahead of his sixth tournament in charge are more hard-nosed: He wants players who have performed for him and who fit into his team, both tactically and socially. On all those three points, Sane has been found lacking, albeit not exclusively due to his own fault.

 

Return of Dont’a Hightower may be New England Patriots’ best addition

ESPN NFL, Mike Reiss from

To the surprise of some, the New England Patriots didn’t select a linebacker until the fifth round of the NFL draft, and also didn’t sign a linebacker in free agency.

The trickle-down effect is that they will be relying on captain Dont’a Hightower, more than ever, to return to form after missing the second half of the 2017 season and playoffs with a torn pectoral muscle.

“I always say, when you have good players out there and guys that have a ton of experience, you always miss him. Last year, we had to learn how to play without him, so now you add him back; I think everyone around him was forced to get better last year, so you hope in turn that makes us a better team this year,” said safety and fellow captain Devin McCourty. “He’s been able to come back in there and not miss a beat. Hopefully we just keep him out there and continue to improve.”

 

Novak Djokovic Reunites With an Old Coach and Rediscovers His Game

The New York Times, Christopher Clarey from

… “Slowly, it is coming back,” [Marian] Vajda said. “Still not there fully, definitely, so I don’t think I should favor him in this tournament, like to win it or something.”

Yet there is cause for renewed optimism for Djokovic, which was hardly the case in March as he crashed out of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open without winning a round.

It seems no coincidence that his run to the semifinals at the Italian Open and return to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros are happening with Vajda back on his team.

Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’s longtime coach, pointed to the recent results of Djokovic and Maria Sharapova as evidence that coaching is too often underestimated. Sharapova, who will face Williams on Monday in the fourth round, recently reunited with former coach Thomas Hogstedt, the hard-driving Swede who once helped her return to No. 1 after shoulder surgery.

 

BRIEF: Sleep Helps Players Excel in NBA Finals

Inside Science, Chris Gorski from

… On Wednesday at a meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Minneapolis, Cheri Mah highlighted the issue. Mah researches the relationship between sleep and athletic performance at the University of California, San Francisco and consults with many sports leagues and teams — including the Warriors.

Athletes, Mah said, are much like the rest of us. They often don’t sleep enough and pride themselves on their ability to endure tiredness. But that kind of attitude can inhibit their performance.

“We truly are not healthy unless our sleep is healthy,” Mah said.

Slowly but surely, attitudes may be changing among elite athletes. The NBA has changed the way they schedule regular season games to avoid the inevitable fatigue that can come from playing as many as five games in a week, and the higher risk of injury that comes with it. Some teams now have nap rooms for their players, she said.

 

A Trainer to Players like LeBron James and Victor Oladipo Shares the Recovery Secrets of NBA Stars

GQ, Clay Skipper from

Minutes after losing to LeBron James and the Cavs in the first round of the NBA playoffs, Indiana Pacers’ star Victor Oladipo texted his trainer, “When do we start? I’m ready to take it to another level.” That trainer is David Alexander, who serves as fitness guru to Oladipo and, previously, James. Alexander owns DBC Fitness in Miami, which features a long list of high-profile clients that also includes NFL stars Von Miller and Antonio Brown.

The gym’s underlying fitness philosophy is based on “biomechanics” and begins with a detailed assessment of a new client’s body that includes 60 orthopaedic measurements, including knee flexion, curvature of the lumbar, and thoracic extension. Then, Alexander and his team apply math and science to create a program designed to optimize movement for that athlete’s specific body. And if that seems like it’s over your head—don’t worry, it’s over ours, too—just consider the results: Victor Oladipo had a breakout All-NBA season this year, and LeBron James, in his fifteenth season, might still be at the peak of his powers. (LeBron’s current personal biomechanist is Donnie Raimon, the Movement Analyst and Academic Director of Alexander’s DBC Fitness.)

Alexander has some advice for mere mortals, too, particularly when it comes to recovering from the worst things you put your body through. In the event you ever face the Sisyphean task of having to drag a bunch of subpar teammates to your eighth straight NBA Finals—or you just don’t want to hurt as much when you roll out of bed in your thirties—listen up.

 

How Today’s Athletes are Playing Harder, Faster, and Longer

KQED, Forum, Michael Krasny and Jeff Bercovici from

Thanks to the evolution of sports science, professional athletes are extending their playing days well beyond their youth — quarterback Tom Brady is 40. Serena Williams is pushing 37. Soccer player Carli Lloyd turns 36 this summer. In “Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age” journalist Jeff Bercovici illustrates how science is extending the timeline of athleticism. What questions do you have about staying agile while aging?

 

Analytics Startup Will Monitor Athletes’ Off-Field Behavior

SportTechie, Tom Taylor from

If you’re an aspiring pro athlete, being careful about what you tweet, or like, or share has never been more important. Not only is Big Brother watching, but soon he might be passing along tips to your potential employers.

Canadian startup Avrij Analytics plans to analyze online photos, text, and videos to gain insights into an athlete off the field. As well as simply tracking and monitoring online conversations and interactions, Avrij believes it can predict behavior. The goal of this is to help protect brands, whether those of the athletes themselves, or the teams that hire and fire them.

 

How to Adapt For External Factors – Charlotte Independence

SoccerPulse, Matt Danaher from

… Using the data in the app, we’ve been able to implement some individual and team periodization to training, without having to change the tactical objectives of Coach Jeffries. We also have an idea of which players typically need more rest than others, and baselines for what players typically report as the intensity of training and the intensity of games.

We take all this into account when adjusting for sessions, to ensure players are fit but also fresh for the match on the weekend. We also make sure to take into account the external factors, which might impact players and our preparation.

We define external factors as circumstances which are beyond our control, but which will need to be accounted for, as they could have a negative impact on performances.

 

Preseason intrinsic risk factors—associated odds estimate the exposure to proximal lower limb injury throughout the season among professional football players

BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine from

Background/aim Football players frequently face the occurrence of non-contact musculoskeletal injuries. The purpose of the study was to verify whether the evaluation of combined risk factors could produce a score system to determine the probability of injury in football players during the Brazilian football season.

Methods Sixty-two male professional soccer players recruited from the first and second division soccer teams, with ages between 18 and 36 years. Functional performance evaluations were carried out at the beginning of the preseason which included strength and jumping tests, history of injuries and characteristics of athletes.

Results and conclusions The results were grouped and a score/monogram was constructed. [full text]

 

DCU to lead largest ever prospective European study of injuries in recreational runners

Irish Tech News, Alison McGuire from

A new research project at Dublin City University plans to “revolutionise” the analysis of running techniques in a bid to halt the rising catalogue of injuries among leisure runners and joggers. It brings together expertise in human movement and sports related injuries from the School of Health and Human Performance with expertise in data analytics and artificial intelligence from Insight Centre for Data Analytics.

It has been estimated that up to 79% of all runners become injured from recreational running every year – and with its growing popularity as a leisure activity this rising catalogue of injuries is inflicting a strain on both the work force and the health system, according to researchers in DCU. These injuries are likely to prevent recreational runners from continuing with running and gaining the health and social benefits associated with running.

 

Nick Saban’s open-door policy a factor in Alabama’s draft success

ESPN NFL, John Keim from

Alabama coach Nick Saban knew what he wanted when he coached in the NFL — first as a defensive assistant with the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns, then as head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2005 and 2006.

He has spent the past 11 years as a college head coach making sure he provides that information to the league he left behind. NFL talent evaluators crave information; Saban’s policy at Alabama helps them obtain it.

He has maintained an open-door policy for scouts, a philosophy that can help recruiting, keep college players sharp in practice and, yes, lead to more information for NFL teams. It also can help underclassmen decide if they’re ready for the NFL.

“I know it’s a lot easier when you have that policy than when you don’t,” Saban said. “When I was in the NFL and I wanted to go see a player and work out players, places that had a policy that embraced that, you were always looking forward to going there. Places that didn’t, you almost didn’t want to go sometimes. It was counterproductive for the player.”

 

Former Bulls assistant Ron Adams is the ‘truth teller’ on Steve Kerr’s Warriors staff

Chicago Tribune, K.C. Johnson from

… General manager Gar Forman chose not to renew Adams’ contract in June 2013, a move that drew leaguewide attention, upset Thibodeau and cut Adams to his core. Bulls management believed Adams had been disparaging the organization to some of his colleagues around the league.

But this story isn’t about that. Adams bared his soul regarding that incident in a startlingly candid interview with the Tribune in 2014, saying, “If the intent was to be hurtful to me and my family, it succeeded.”

This story is about what has followed.

Brad Stevens picked Adams as his lead assistant with the Celtics when Stevens transitioned from coaching in college at Butler. After one season with Stevens, Adams joined the Warriors.

“You take some hard knocks in this business, like in Chicago, and you move on,” Adams said. “It was great being with Brad. He’s a marvelous coach, one of the best certainly in the world. And then being around Steve and this staff has been so wonderful. We have a lot of fun.

 

At 69, This Coach Lives on the Front Line of Baseball’s Revolution

The New York Times, Tyler Kepner from

As the pitching coach for the Houston Astros, the most data-driven team in the game, Brent Strom has embraced the era of analytics in a way that many members of his generation have not.

 

This is interesting! First evidence I’ve seen that actually looks like TNF games might have more injuries.

Twitter, Zachary Binney from

 

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