Applied Sports Science newsletter – October 12, 2018

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for October 12, 2018

 

Dodging nerves, skier Shiffrin vows to enjoy ride

Associated Press, Pat Graham from

On particularly stressful occasions, Mikaela Shiffrin can feel the anxiety build moments before her run. Her throat tightens, and her eyes water. Her suit feels way too tight, and her stomach churns.

As a teenager, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion never experienced this level of nervousness before a race.

Lately, that pressure has sometimes engulfed her.

 

Texans worry about Deshaun Watson, wary of changing his style

ESPN NFL, Sarah Barshop from

DeAndre Hopkins knows how tough and competitive his quarterback can be. But when he sees Deshaun Watson take hit after hit when he’s running the ball, he has just one message for him.

“[I’m] in the huddle telling him to get down,” Hopkins said. “I need [Watson]. That’s what I tell him, honestly. Don’t take those hits unless you — have to.

“But he’s a warrior. He wants to get in the end zone every time the ball is in his hands.”

 

How Blue Jays plan to get the most from their highly rated farm system

Sportsnet.ca, Shi Davidi from

Beneath the surface of the games on the field, beyond the daily routines part and parcel to baseball’s daily grind, the themes of teammate values and purposeful practice underpinned the Toronto Blue Jays’ approach to player development in 2018. The manifestations of those focal points ranged from prospects role-playing different scenarios to the staging of need-specific camps, new elements integrated into the organization’s holistic vision for grooming players.

The goal, ultimately, is to ensure that the base of talent which fuelled GM Ross Atkins’ recent assertion that he’d never been as confident “about the future of an organization” provides the framework for the Blue Jays’ next competitive window. Whether or not that happens in the two- to three-year timeframe Atkins described as looking realistic fully hinges on the club’s ability to successfully transform minor-league potential into major-league production.

“Teammate and practice are two areas we’ve taken to a lot in terms of how we think about development and how to create the best training and practice environments so the players can get better,” says Gil Kim, the Blue Jays director of player development. “Those have been two areas that have been successful this year.”

 

A Conversation with Cleveland Pitching Coach Carl Willis

FanGraphs Baseball, David Laurila from

… Carl Willis on notable changes in the game: “There have been two major changes. The first one is that swings have changed. Because they’ve changed, how you pitch — how you attack those swings — has changed. Certainly, when I played, and when I first became a coach, it was always, ‘You’ve got to command the bottom of the strike zone. You have to pitch down. It’s money.’

“Nowadays, with the evolution of launch angle, we’re seeing the top of the strike zone, and above, becoming much more of a weapon. That’s how we’re attacking those swings. Of course, there are still pitchers who pitch at the bottom of the zone. It depends on your repertoire and, obviously, the action you get.

 

Bears building on Matt Nagy personal “traits”

NBC Sports Chicago, John Mullin from

Matt Nagy intimated that during the Bears’ off-week there wasn’t an overwhelming body of work by his team to self-scout. Four games. Not a lot.

But the first four weeks have offered a few insights into traits of the first-time head coach, and they are for the most part positive. They also point in a good direction for a team about to take on the first of two straight teams with winning records.

The “prep” trait

The first trait is a significant one, perhaps the most significant: While Nagy has never been a head coach other than a brief stint as a high school JV coach, the third-youngest NFL head coach has repeatedly exhibited the ability to prepare and to do so to a degree that produces wins at the NFL level. Marc Trestman was organized; this is different.

 

Government releases funding to help more athletes qualify for Olympics

The Guardian, Sean Ingle from

… Olympic sports such as badminton, basketball and surfing, which do not receive elite funding by UK Sport, will be able to apply for up to £500,000 of financial help from a new “aspiration fund” set up by the government.

Paralympic sports, such as wheelchair rugby and goal ball, will also be eligible for the scheme, which is designed to help athletes from more sports to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport and civil society, said the fund, which amounts to £3m in total, would enable more athletes the chance to inspire the nation.

 

Are You Being Hijacked By Your Emotions?

Psychology Today, Michelle McQuaid & Lisa Weiss from

When was the last time you felt overcome with frustration, fear, or anger at work? Let’s face it, despite wanting to look cool and calm at all times we’ve all had moments when our emotions have hijacked all appearances of professionalism. So what’s the best way to deal with these emotions?

“Trying to suppress your difficult emotions doesn’t make them go away,” explained Dr. Leah Wiess from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of How We Work: Live Your Purpose, Reclaim your Sanity, and Embrace the Daily Grind when I interviewed her recently. “It can just distract your attention and energy from other things in your day.”

Leah suggested that while hiding your difficult emotions at work may feel like the right thing to be doing, at some point these emotions are going to come out. Think of them like a balloon you’re squashing down, they either just keep popping back up or eventually if you squeeze it hard enough it’ll pop.

 

Brain-to-brain communication interface

ApplySci from

Rajesh Rao and University of Washington colleagues have developed BrainNet, a non-invasive direct brain-to-brain interface for multiple people. The goal is a social network of human brains for problem solving. The interface combines EEG to record brain signals and TMS to deliver information to the brain, enabling 3 people to collaborate via direct brain-to-brain communication.

In a recent study, two of the three subjects were “Senders.” Their brain signals were decoded with real-time EEG analysis to extract decisions about whether to rotate a block in a Tetris-like game before it is dropped to fill a line.

 

Flash – Sports industry gears up for virtual reality revolution

France 24, AFP from

From training with Major League Baseball pitchers to bone-jangling racing on board an F1 car, technology’s potential to revolutionise sport was the hot topic as industry leaders met in London this week.

“It’s going to disrupt all aspects of sport that you can imagine,” virtual reality expert Michael Ludden told the two-day Leaders Sport Business Summit at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium.

Ludden said that virtual and augmented reality — together known as mixed reality (MR) — would transform sport for professionals, amateurs and spectators.

 

Will your nutrition tech stand out in 2019?

Food Dive, Amy Shim from

Nutrition and wellness technologies in 2018 are about more than smartwatches with step trackers. It’s about meal plans customized to biochemistry, group fitness classes with members around the world and even replacements for common ingredients. While many in the tech industry have been distracted by virtual reality and self-driving cars, the world of advanced nutrition has staged a quiet coup of the status quo.

As more consumers crave better options for health and nutrition woes, more entrepreneurs and investors are turning their heads toward this emerging market. Consumers will benefit from this concentration of innovation. Would-be disrupters in nutrition tech, on the other hand, now have to contend with an army of competitors vying for attention.

 

Shalane’s Homemade Electrolyte Drink

RunToTheFinish blog, Amanda Brooks from

… I had an interview with Elyse Kopecky after checking out her new cookbook with Shalane Flanagan, Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow.

 

Niko Kovac’s First 100 Days at Bayern- Hit, Miss or Maybe? –

Bundesliga Fanatic, Mathew Burt from

… So what has gone wrong for Niko Kovac and what needs to be done to get this marriage back on track?

The intervention of Sporting Director Hasan Salihamidzic into affairs might be required should the internal disappointments of players being rotated threaten to break-out into potential revolt. How true the story was about James angrily berating Kovac that; ‘It’s not Frankfurt here’ is unclear, but if the rotation policy is to continue (and surely it must with so many stars), then the frustration of certain individuals will need to be handled with care.

 

No Ordinary Interim: How Dabo Swinney Turned a Seven-Week Job Into a Clemson Dynasty

SI.com, College Football, Andy Staples from

When Tigers head coach Tommy Bowden resigned in mid-October 2008, Dabo Swinney was left with a job he never expected but had planned for his entire career. Here’s the inside story of how he made the most of a half-season tryout for the program he has since built into a national powerhouse.

 

The Milwaukee Brewers: Baseball’s Unconventional Underdogs

The New York Times, James Wagner from

On the surface, the Milwaukee Brewers possess the expected elements of a modern major league team: an offense stacked with home run hitters, a bullpen that lights up the radar gun, an analytically driven general manager with an Ivy League degree, and a manager with no previous experience in the role.

Yet the Brewers powering to the National League Championship Series, which begins Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Milwaukee, was far from expected. And much about them is surprising or counterintuitive.

Despite having a payroll in the bottom third of baseball, they won an N.L.-best 96 games in the regular season. Although they play in the smallest metropolitan market in the major leagues, they have drawn at least 2.3 million fans each of the past 13 seasons.

 

Did Aaron Boone Forget That The Yankees’ Bullpen Was Historically Good?

FiveThirtyEight, Travis Sawchik from

… The Yankees entered the postseason with the most dominant bullpen in history by some measures, including wins above replacement (9.7) and strikeout rate (11.4 strikeouts per nine innings). Moreover, managers have never been more aggressive in employing their bullpens. Major league relief pitchers accounted for a record 40.1 percent of innings in the regular season. They absorbed a record 46.5 percent of innings last postseason. Entering LCS play, relievers have accounted for 48.8 percent of innings this postseason. But Boone seemed to forget that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had spent the last two years building one of the most dominant relief units of all time.

 

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