Lucy Bronze acknowledges that Phil Neville is not quite the finished article but the right-back England’s manager labels “the world’s best” believes he has succeeded in confounding the doubters during the past month at France 2019.
“Phil’s said himself he’s not the best coach with the best tactics,” said Bronze as the Lionesses headed home after ending the World Cup in fourth place. “But he’s won over the doubters from the moment he stepped in.
“He’s wanted to create relationships with the players, fans and staff and he’s really done that. That’s helped us drive on at this tournament and become a better team.”
A key figure in the hierarchy of the nation’s high performance sports agency, Diccon Edwards gives an overview of his influential role, reveals how preparations are shaping up for Tokyo 2020 and talks candidly about the flurry of high-profile athlete welfare controversies that prompted a wide-scale investigation by UK Sport.
… Last year, a study found people who considered themselves to be “evening types,” loosely defined as those who prefer to stay up and rise late, were at greater risk than morning types for psychological disorders, diabetes, neurological disorders, gut disorders, and even death. More research in this vein also suggests that evening types are at greater risk for heart disease.
And a study published last week in The BMJ medical journal found that in women, being a “morning person” is associated with a lower risk for breast cancer. The U.K. study team analyzed genetic data, sleep questionnaires, and breast cancer incidence reports collected from hundreds of thousands of women. Using a variety of analytic techniques, they found “consistent evidence” that women who were early to rise and early to bed were less likely to develop breast cancer than women who stayed up and slept in late.
Well, when you are focused on your pregame routine, you are not focused on the ‘what if’s’, the strengths of your opponents, the noisy spectators, past performances and other distractions that generate anxiety and create fears and doubts in your ability. Since you can only focus on one thing at a time, paying attention to your pregame routine grounds you in the present, keeps you relaxed and minimizes distractions. Also, as you move through your warm up routine, it narrows your focus and moves you into your optimal competitive mindset.
“The last Fifa World Cup was a remarkable achievement but we are setting an even more ambitious target for 2023. To achieve this we will be working tirelessly with the clubs in the FA Women’s Super League to create a vision for the women’s game that is mutually supportive and will be the envy of the world.”
That was the Football Association’s head of women’s football, Sue Campbell. She was not speaking after England’s defeat by the USA in Lyon but two years ago, at Wembley. In March 2017 the FA launched its flagship Gameplan for Growth for the women’s game. It was a turning point, with the chief executive Martin Glenn opening by apologising on behalf of the FA for the 50-year ban that excluded women’s teams from association-affiliated grounds.
The plan had three key targets from 2017 to 2020: to double participation, double attendances and show consistent success on a world stage. That third ambition was broken into two parts: to be “within the top three countries across all age groups” and have the “potential to win the 2023 Fifa World Cup”.
Problem-solving is crucial in player development. In this article, Founder of Changing the Game Project, John O’Sullivan shares an excellent article on the importance of guiding children towards solutions and creating autonomy in learning environments.
… The new Mercurial 360 was designed in Italy. The designers shared that it took two-and-a-half years and more than 100 prototypes to find a perfect match.
Six product designers were involved in creating the shape of the shoe and more weight was taken off the bottom plate to give players a lighter and glove-like fit. It’s now 200 grams lighter than the previous Mercurial. The insole provides a more consistent lock down so there is no movement when your foot is inside — which is how a player transfers their power from the cleat and onto the field in order to build speed. Thanks to its soft flyknit finish and its shiny plate underneath, the shoe practically reminds you of a mermaid, especially in the Blue Fury colorway.
The growing number of Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS) available to end-users, such as competition organisers, club teams or national teams, is making their choice of the best system for their needs and circumstances more complex. The FIFA Quality Programme’s new global standard, offers both guidance to consumers and the possibility for providers to highlight the USPs of their products.
With player data growing in importance in the game of football, Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems are becoming more widespread. To counteract issues that would frequently only appear after a period of use, FIFA is looking to address the major questions that it has observed over the last years: which system is most suitable for a user’s needs and intended purpose? What detail and quality of data does the user require? What format and delay is the data expected to be received in? And: does this data need to be compatible with another system within the clubs or federation? The performance standard for EPTS will help navigate these core questions.
A large body of literature supports the effectiveness of using video simulations to improve decision-making skills in invasion sports. However, whether these improvements are transferable (from the laboratory to the court/field) and generalizable (from trained to untrained plays) remains unknown. In addition, it remains to be determined whether presenting the video simulations using virtual reality provides an added-value. To investigate these questions, varsity-level basketball players underwent four training sessions during which they observed video clips of basketball plays presented either on a computer screen (CS group) or using a virtual reality headset (VR group). A third group watched footage from NCAA playoff games on a computer screen (CTRL group). Decision-making was assessed on-court before and after the training sessions using two types of plays: “trained” plays (presented during the CS and VR training sessions) and “untrained” plays (presented only during the on-court tests). When facing the trained plays in the posttest, both VR and CS groups significantly outperformed the CTRL group. In contrast, when facing the untrained plays, the VR group outperformed both the CS and CTRL groups. Our results indicate that CS training leads to transferable but non-generalized decision-making gains while VR training leads to transferable and generalized gains.
… There was limited evidence for an increased risk of shoulder injuries in male high school and college lacrosse players compared with female players.
There was limited evidence that a high number of training hours per week (>16 hours/week) was associated with a higher injury risk among youth baseball pitchers and catchers.
There was limited evidence that junior baseball pitchers and catchers with a history of shoulder pain or elbow pain were at higher risk of injury than those without a history of pain.
A massive police operation that involved Europe’s police agency (Europol), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and Italian and Greek police led to the seizure of 24 tons of steroid powder, 234 arrests, the closure of nine underground labs, and the dismantling of 17 organized crime groups, Europol said Monday.
“This is the sort of multi-party collaboration that produces real results and can make a significant impact on the availability of counterfeit and illegal drugs used by some athletes globally,” said Gunther Younger, intelligence director at WADA.
Go through the start lists of teams at this year’s Gold Cup and one common denominator screams out at you: the number of players plying their trade in the MLS.
In years gone by, as it struggled for recognition outside its own borders, the leagues in north America were widely considered the poorer sister of their European and South American equivalents when it came to developing overseas players. Not any more. When initial Gold Cup squad rosters were announced for the 16 nations at the Gold Cup, there were 78 players named from MLS clubs.
With so many talented individuals unable to break into the saturated European market, MLS has become the number one go-to destination in the region to hone skills and get on the professional ladder.
Coco Gauff, who is 15 years old, made headlines the world over when she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon. Michael McCann dives into the legality of teenager professional athletes like the young American star.
1. You need ~3000 subjects for 80% power to detect a 10pp interaction effect.
2. With 500 subjects, the 95% CIs around the interaction term average ~35pp wide.