Applied Sports Science newsletter – October 7, 2019

… “The goal for me was always to get to Tokyo, which was a part of why I signed in the NBL. Be around my family, more first and foremost, and get to that Olympics.”

Bogut’s decision to returning to Australia was inspired by a need for stability with his family, and a need to manage his load. “[The NBL schedule] played a huge part in [my decision],” Bogut confirmed in an earlier interview with The Pick and Roll’s Kane Pitman. “With my injury history, I thought playing less games for my body will give me some more years down the track and obviously help keep me healthy for the World Cup and the Olympics.

The last time Callum Hawkins tried to win a marathon gold medal he went viral – with the images of him collapsing with heatstroke and dehydration at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia spreading around the world.

But as the 27-year-old Scot prepares to run 26.2 miles in the 32C heat and 50% humidity of Doha he has revealed a secret weapon: using a stack of heaters while on a treadmill in his shed to replicate the desert conditions at the world championships.

“I’ve been doing a bit of work in a heat chamber to prepare as well as getting the Aldi heaters,” he says. “I got it up to 39 degrees at one point. It’s a big proper shed and not a wee tiny one.”

… For so long the 26-year-old was the bridesmaid but never the bride at a world championships or Olympic Games. And she had so many setbacks, injuries and plunges into sinkholes of self-doubt while competing in the heptathlon that after the Rio Games in 2016 – where poor shot put and javelin performances cost her a medal – she wondered whether she should just stick to the long jump or high jump.

“It was probably in the moment at the time,” she said. “I was fed up of not doing a victory lap because I was injured and knowing that my body could not respond, or feeling it couldn’t make it through, or that my performances were not up to scratch to compete.

“ I changed my life after that competition. I didn’t want to give up on something I truly believed.”

… through the first few days of training camp, Guduric was trying to apply those words moment by moment in what could prove to be a pretty wide-open contest for minutes on the wing – even if the presumptive favorite for the starting two spot, Dillon Brooks, wins the job.

“Just be here every day, work hard, and try to win in the practice, compete,” Guduric said. “It’s simple. You have to fight for your position, for your minutes, and then maybe Coach will give you a chance.”

First-year coach Taylor Jenkins has made “let if fly” the team mantra; he wants volume 3-point shooting. That’s a fit with Guduric’s game.

Jez Green, the trainer responsible for first getting Andy Murray into shape and now working exclusively with world No.6 Alexander Zverev, says the locker rooms will be full of players with aching muscles during the grass court season

… Canadian athletes recorded five podium finishes here in Doha, and that’s the best medal total ever, with the exception of Beijing in 2015, where they won eight.

After those championships, Canadian track and field enjoyed a marvelous breakout Olympics the next summer in Rio de Janeiro, where they captured six medals. That’s also the stage where Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., burst into the limelight and now he’s served notice he’s back in form by winning bronze and silver medals in the 100 metres and 200 metres respectively in the Middle East.

But the Canadian success story goes well beyond De Grasse.

… 3/ Were the conditions hot in Doha for the road races? YES- YOU BET! (Ranging from 28 to 32C with 50 to 90% humidity across the various road based events; remember the warm-up track and stadium were air conditioned, but won’t be for Tokyo 2020).

… “This study asserts that without social-network information, we only have an incomplete view of an individual’s wellness state,” Chawla says, “and to be fully predictive or to be able to derive interventions, it is critical to be aware of the social-network structural features as well.”

The findings further indicated the likelihood that people will share similar fitness habits with their close family and friends. Chawla told the online magazine Inverse about reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, an achievement he attributes more to the encouragement and support of his climbing group than to his intense physical training.

“Imagine the context of having a gym buddy or group,” he said. “There is that support, that understanding, that motivation, and that perception of self and others that helps us develop that social-network support.”

… In comparison to a hospital-grade ECG, the Apple Watch version is significantly less precise, so it can’t serve as a replacement just yet.

It uses one lead (with two electrodes) as opposed to a standard twelve lead (with 10 electrodes) ECG, which involves placing electrodes over the patient’s torso and limbs to take readings in twelve directions. The twelve lead ECG can inform the doctor reading the electrocardiogram exactly where any irregularities are stemming from.

Apple Watch’s ECG capabilities have been cleared – but not approved – by the FDA. In order to be fully approved, the technology must be subjected to significantly more rigorous testing and data analysis.

Next week, FC Barcelona hosts Sports Science Week in the Auditori 1899, an event being held by the Barça Innovation Hub, the club’s research, innovation and training programme. This is the second edition of a week that is being divided into four main areas of sporting knowledge, namely medicine, physiotherapy, nutrition and performance.

Background:

Lower extremity injuries are common in high school sports and are costly, and some have poor outcomes. The FIFA 11+ injury prevention program has been shown to decrease injuries in elite athletes by up to 72%.
Hypothesis:

High schools in which coaches implement the FIFA 11+ injury prevention program in their athletic programs will have a decreased incidence of lower extremity injuries compared with schools using their usual prepractice warm-up.
Study Design:

Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1.
Methods:

Fourteen high schools that employed an athletic trainer were randomly assigned to either the FIFA 11+ group or control group (usual warm-up routine). Exposure to sports and injuries were recorded and used to determine the incidence rates of lower extremity injuries per athlete-exposure (AE). The FIFA 11+ program was implemented by coaches and complicance with the program recorded.
Results:

There were 196 lower extremity injuries among 1825 athletes in the FIFA 11+ group and 172 injuries among 1786 athletes in the control group (1.59 and 1.47 injuries per 1000 AEs, respectively; P = .771). The distribution of the types of injury in the 2 groups did not differ, but the body locations where the injuries occurred differed somewhat (P = .051). The FIFA 11+ group had larger proportions of thigh and foot injuries, while the control group had higher proportions of knee and ankle injuries. Group differences in injury rates varied with sport (P = .041 for interaction), but there were no significant differences in injury rates between the FIFA 11+ and control groups by sport, level of play, and sex. In the FIFA 11+ group, 62% of the coaches reported that their teams completed the full FIFA 11+ program at least once a week, and 32% reported that they completed it at least twice a week.
Conclusion:

This study did not demonstrate a reduction in lower extremity injuries in schools randomized to use the FIFA 11+ program compared with schools using their usual prepractice warm-up program. Coach-reported compliance with performing the FIFA 11+ program at least twice a week was low.

During the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Doha and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, minimum daily temperatures are expected to be in excess of 30°C. Due to the metabolic demands of the sporting events and the high environmental temperatures, the risk of exertional heat stroke (EHS) is high. Careful planning by event organizers are needed to ensure that athletes are protected from irreversible long-term health damage, or even death during sporting competitions in the heat. Efforts typically have included standard medical plans, equipment, protocols, and expert medical teams. In addition, the importance of responding quickly to a hyperthermic athlete cannot be understated, as minimizing treatment time will greatly improve the chances of full recovery. Treatment time can be minimized by notifying medical personnel about the health status of the athlete and the extent of any pre-competition heat acclimatization. Technology that allows the live transmission of physiological, biomechanical, and performance data to alert medical personnel of potential indicators of EHS should be considered. Real time monitoring ecosystems need to be developed that integrate information from numerous sensors such as core temperature-monitoring “pills” to relay information on how an athlete is coping with competing in intense heat. Medical/support staff would be alerted if an athlete’s responses were indicating signs of heat stress or EHS signs and the athlete could be withdrawn under exceptional circumstances. This technology can also help provide more rapid, accurate and dignified temperature assessment at the road/track side in medical emergencies.

… Good nutrition promotes a strong immune system before you get sick. This includes eating lots of fruits, vegetables (think beyond potatoes and corn), lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats like nuts and seeds—all while reducing the processed food in your routine. Help protect yourself from infection and boost your immunity by including the following nutrients in your diet.

… The athletic program here provides each of us with a plethora of resources to ensure that our bodies continue to perform under the immense pressure we put on it every day as student-athletes. For soccer, we have a team dietitian, Mary Glen Lipman (MG), who oversees all of our pre and post-practice meals, snacks and other treats. MG plays an integral role in the preservation of our bodies because she doesn’t just give us good food to eat. MG takes the time to teach us about different food groups and combinations, allowing us to understand what food we need to refuel and why.

MG gives us the tools necessary to take an active role in our health to promote nutritional habits that will create a healthy lifestyle for us to have long after we graduate. Naturally, we all have our cheat days and everyone, no matter what sport he or she plays, likes a good burger, milkshake or a slice of pizza. However, because of the resources we have, at the end of the day, we know how to fuel our bodies back to peak performance shape even after a greasy meal.

Recently, I have sustained an injury that will keep me out of soccer for the rest of the season. Now more than ever, nutrition has taken on an important role in my life.

One of the key recommendations made by the Wood Review was for the Government to establish a National Sports Tribunal to ensure the fair hearing and resolution of sports-related disputes for the Australian sporting community. Taking this recommendation on board, the Australian Legislature has recently enacted the National Sports Tribunal Act 20195 (NST Act) establishing a National Sports Tribunal (NST) for a two-year pilot period. The stated aim of the NST is to “provide for an effective, efficient, independent, transparent and specialist tribunal for the fair hearing of sporting disputes” (Section 3(1)).6

This article provides a summary of the key provisions of the NST Act and highlight points for discussion on how its introduction could impact those practising in sports in Australia. It is not intended to provide a summary of administrative steps or details of procedures which are to be followed in referring a dispute for arbitration or appeal.