Applied Sports Science newsletter – January 17, 2020

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for January 17, 2020

 

Zion Williamson’s preparation and preservation have no precedent

ESPN NBA, Baxter Holmes from

DEEP UNDER THE Staples Center basket, cameras are held aloft, each lens moving in unison like starlings in murmuration. Nearly two dozen digital eyes are trained on the vending-machine-sized forward warming up, and each time he drives to the hoop, the crowd of onlookers beneath the basket parts to make ample room.

Also looking on before this early January matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers are athletic trainers for the New Orleans Pelicans. They watch the distance between Zion Williamson’s steps and whether he’s waddling or taking longer strides. They watch to see whether he’s moving on the balls of his feet or transferring more force closer to his toes. They prefer the latter in both instances, says one league source close to the team.

The Pelicans watch the positioning of his feet, ankles and knees as he lands after one of his seismic leaps.

And they’re hardly the only ones in the NBA studying young players for flaws.

“By the time you get them, they don’t have any movement patterns that are worth a s—,” says one veteran trainer for a Western Conference team. “It’s unbelievable.”

 

Jack Hughes works through the tumult in New Jersey: ‘I’m going to have a long career and I’m going to be a great player.’

The Hockey News, Ken Campbell from

As the first-overall pick, much was expected of Jack Hughes, but the Devils rookie has had difficulties finding offensive consistency in a season that has gone sideways for New Jersey. The 18-year-old is handling his situation with a maturity beyond his years, however.

 

New USC strength coach will emphasize speed

WTLX19, Reggie Anderson from

… The new director of strength and conditioning for Gamecock football was formally introduced Thursday and he talked at length about how sprint training will play into the offseason conditioning. [video, pre-roll + 1:39]

 

The Chelsea academy has a new generation of talent on the way

The Guardian, Playing in the Shadows blog, Gavin Willacy from

… The emergence of Chelsea’s academy players has coincided with the club’s transfer ban. With that ban now lifted, Lampard could be tempted to close the window of opportunity for academy players. But his management team is full of former academy coaches – including Jody Morris, Eddie Newton, Joe Edwards and Chris Jones – who are fully aware of the talent at the club.

The club’s Under-23s are also in familiar hands. These youngsters are being nurtured by Andy Myers, whose own career offers a good example of how to progress at the club. Myers joined Chelsea as a boy, progressed through the academy and made more than 100 appearances for the club, winning the FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup in the process.

 

Jones looking to bring ‘fresh ideas and energy’ into Six Nations

Training Ground Guru, Simon Austin from

England rugby coach Eddie Jones will take a new staff into this year’s Six Nations and is eager to bring “fresh ideas and energy” after his side’s heavy World Cup final defeat by South Africa.

The Australian told the Training Ground Guru podcast he had still not watched back the 32-12 final defeat by the Springboks and may never do so. Analysis of the game will be confined to a “psychological and emotional debrief” rather than anything tactical, he added.

 

Yankees overhaul training staff after setting injury record

ESPN MLB, Associated Press, Ronald Blum from

Eric Cressey thinks some injuries can be prevented. After a season in which medical updates overshadowed scouting reports, the New York Yankees hope so.

Cressey was hired by the Yankees in the new role of director of player health and performance, a move made after New York had 30 players make a combined 39 trips to the injured list last year. New York set a big league record for sidelined players, topping the 28 on the 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers.

“You always want to separate bad processes from bad outcomes,” Cressey said during a conference call Tuesday. “Players are going to be hit by pitches, but there are definitely things that we can do on the processes side of things to provide a level of individualization in the way that we assess players, in the way that we listen to players and solicit their feedback on what’s worked for them.”

 

Real Madrid Next, innovation and future for Real Madrid

Real Madrid CF from

Real Madrid C. F., with the aim of remaining sports industry leaders as well as social and economic leaders, have launched Real Madrid Next.

Real Madrid Next is the new brand for innovation at Real Madrid, with the collaboration of start-ups and companies looking for better performance, features and sporting and economic strength of Real Madrid, as well as making the most of what those involved with the club have to offer.

 

Analysis: Baseball has become a prisoner of technology

Associated Press, Ronald Blum from

Technology unleashed baseball’s Analytics Era, and now it’s holding the sport prisoner.

AJ Hinch, Alex Cora and Carlos Beltrán are casualties, a triple play of hubris. At the cutting edge with the Houston Astros, now they have been cut. Their sign-stealing system exposed, all three managers were deposed within a whirlwind 72 hours this week that raised questions about the prevalence of the sport’s rule breakers.

What’s next in a game grappling with innovation and plagued by paranoia?

 

A low-power, highly responsive and reusable sweat pH monitor

National University of Singapore, NUS News from

Sweat, which contains a wide range of biochemical markers, can tell us a lot about our health. Variations in sweat pH (i.e. acidity or alkalinity), for instance, can tell us whether our body is dehydrated and can aid the diagnosis of skin conditions such as dermatitis, acne and other skin infections. In diabetic patients, sweat pH may serve as a good indicator of other life-threatening conditions, for instance, a high sweat pH during excessive sweating and night sweating may have been caused by a prolonged period of low blood glucose that warrants medical intervention.

A team of NUS researchers have come up with an ‘add-on’ to a wearable health monitoring gadget that can tell users about the condition of their health from their sweat. The novel sweat pH monitor, which can be easily integrated into existing fitness trackers or smartwatches at a very low cost, is able to continuously measure and monitor the acidity or alkalinity level of a user’s sweat along with heart rate and oxygen concentration. In this way, users can enjoy round-the-clock, personalised, and non-invasive assessment of their well-being.

 

Nike shoes that have revolutionised marathon times unlikely to be banned

The Guardian, Sean Ingle from

The World Athletics working group investigating the Nike shoes which have revolutionised marathon times is still deliberating over what limits to place on the carbon plate and foam technology and is unlikely to implement a wholesale ban.

The Guardian understands the group met again on Wednesday and intends to announce its findings by the end of the month. But sources suggest that, contrary to headlines about the shoes being banned, the issue remains under debate.

As things stand, the group’s emphasis appears more on putting limits to the future incarnations of the technology, which was first introduced in 2016, rather than restricting the Vaporfly shoes completely.

 

Why fitness trackers may not give you all the ‘credit’ you hoped for

The Conversation, Katie Siek from

January is a time when many people make resolutions – and then break them. Almost 60% of Americans will resolve to exercise more, but fewer than 10% will stick with their resolution. A key to keeping resolutions is ensuring they are measurable, and a simple way to track activity is through a wearable smartwatch or fitness tracker. Indeed, almost one in five adults has used a fitness tracker.

Wearable fitness trackers can also help improve medical care by providing insights into physical activity, heart rate, location and sleep patterns. My research team uses wearable fitness tracker data with smart home sensors to help older adults live safely and independently. We also study wearable fitness tracker data along with electronic medical records and genomic data to investigate the causes of gestational diabetes. Many other researchers utilize wearable fitness trackers to better understand how lifestyles can impact health.

Unfortunately, I’ve found in my health informatics research that wearable devices may not give all the credit their users deserve, and in some cases, users may want to consider how secure and private their data is.

 

From pies to protein shakes: what footballers really eat

FT Magazine, Simon Kuper from


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One sunny day in Barcelona last October, nutritionists from 35 countries, “performance chefs” (a new job in football) and players’ private chefs gathered in an auditorium beside the Camp Nou stadium for FC Barcelona’s Sports Nutrition Conference.

The largest national delegation was British. During the breaks, these fit-looking young people served their fellow delegates the delicious “functional protein muffins” and non-alcoholic “Bloody Marys” that clubs now try to feed their players. Yet listening to the nutritionists, you realised: getting footballers to eat healthily is as hard as getting your children to eat healthily.

 

Do you need potassium, magnesium and calcium in your sports drink?

Precision Hydration, Abby Coleman from

Sodium is the main electrolyte lost in sweat and this electrolyte should be the focus for athletes when considering which sports drink they want to use to hydrate.

But what about the other minor electrolytes – potassium, magnesium and calcium? How important are they?

We do lose all three in sweat too, just to a far lesser extent than sodium, as we shall discuss here…

 

Jurgen Klopp: Inside Liverpool manager’s drive, aura and methods

Sports Illustrated, Grant Wahl from

… Catching up to his new English rivals would be one thing if Klopp had inherited something akin to Man United’s wealth, but Liverpool is hardly Europe’s richest club. The team ranks seventh in revenue, according to the international accounting firm Deloitte, and in recent years has sold off two of its biggest stars, Luis Suárez and Philippe Coutinho, to higher-up-the-money-chain Barcelona. So how has Liverpool made up the wealth difference to conquer Europe?

For starters, the team doesn’t spend for spending’s sake. When the club made no major purchases last summer, Klopp was clear: It’s part of his job to make his own players better. And when Liverpool does spend—like the $48 million dished out to land Salah, an Egyptian forward, in 2016; or the $100 million plopped down in ’17 for Virgil van Dijk, a towering Dutch man-mountain of a center back (and the ’19 UEFA Player of the Year); or the $84 million handed over for Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson in ’18—it starts by identifying targets who fit Klopp’s playing style. He wants guys who can defend collectively all over the field, defenders who can play the ball, fullbacks who can join in the attack and front-liners who can win possession in the opposing end, punishing teams in transition. A transfer committee, led by Edwards, makes heavy use of data to narrow down a list of targets, from which Klopp gives a green light. Then it’s up to him to provide the environment for players to succeed.

 

Newly Promoted Teams Aren’t Supposed To Be As Good As Sheffield United

FiveThirtyEight, Terrence Doyle from

Through its first 22 games back in the Premier League, Sheffield United has amassed 32 points and sits in sixth place, ahead of both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. It’s the best 22-game start to a Premier League season for a newly promoted team since Birmingham City picked up 33 points in as many games in 2009-10.

By all measures, the Blades have adjusted quite nicely to life in England’s top division. The likelihood of Sheffield United being relegated back to the Championship is exceptionally small, so it’s probably time to start wondering what the club’s ceiling looks like. It currently trails fourth-place Chelsea by just 7 points and fifth-place Manchester United by just 2 points, and it has set itself up to make a legitimate run at European Cup qualification. But could this really happen? Could a team that’s playing its fourth-ever Premier League season — and its first since 2006-07 — really be bound for the continent?

 

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