Back from injury and back from El Paso, Loons defender Brent Kallman made his first MLS start since September 2019 in a return last Wednesday that coach Adrian Heath called both “excellent” and “terrific.”
That was welcome news for Minnesota United, which had Sunday’s match at Sporting Kansas City canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests. The game Wednesday against Chicago at Allianz Field is set to be played as scheduled.
… Ridiculously, there was a bit of pressure on Reims coach David Guion, which will hopefully lift after the Montpellier win. But can you say what he has brought, both to Reims and to you personally?
It’s not that he was under pressure, other than the usual pressure to get results, which is the same for all the players as well as the coach. But we never doubted him, nor him us. Personally, he is the one who gave me my chance and put his confidence in me two and a half years ago. And I’ve always tried to repay that faith on the pitch. It went well last year and has started well this season too.
What is he like as a coach? On one side you have for example those like Roland Courbis or Frédéric Antonetti, who are on a short fuse, but he seems to me a lot more relaxed.
He’s very calm. He’s zen! He doesn’t lose it. He rarely shouts – but he does when it’s necessary, like when we don’t follow instructions. But he’s the type of coach who speaks a lot to his players, that’s the kind of relationship he has with us.
… Avdija is one of the only draft prospects to play competitive basketball after COVID-19 hit. He joined Maccabi for the Winner League tournament in June where he scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first game and walked away with league MVP honors.
“There was a choice to either rest before the draft and just workout or play,” Avdija told Yahoo Sports. “Me, I’m competitive. I couldn’t leave my teammates and my coaches so I thought I needed to fight, and I wanted to win this championship to go off in a good and positive way.”
Avdija has the potential to be a top-5 pick in this year’s draft, making him the highest-picked player to ever come out of Israel.
Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand), newsroom, Ashley Stanley from
In the second part of LockerRoom’s series looking at the development of our sportswomen, Ashley Stanley delves into the hotbed of research here into what makes female athletes tick, and what can make them stronger and faster.
For height, DNA is largely destiny. Studies of identical and fraternal twins suggest up to 80% of variation in height is genetic. But the genes responsible have largely eluded researchers. Now, by amassing genome data for 4 million people—the largest such study ever—geneticists have accounted for a major share of this “missing heritability,” at least for people of European ancestry. In this group, they’ve identified nearly 10,000 DNA markers that appear to fully explain the influence of common genetic variants over height.
If there is one thing that is decisive for the big football stadiums of our world, it is the quality of the grass. No wonder that all possible technologies are used to ensure that professional football players can count on a perfect turf for their performance. The Johan Cruijff Arena, a forerunner in football stadiums, has been using HI Sport’s data team for several years now. With dozens of sensors under and above the grass, the status of the pitch is tracked 24 hours a day.
Literally, step by step, a new way of monitoring will be added to all those already in place: thanks to pressure sensors in the shoes of the grass team, an even better picture of the condition of the field will be obtained. Smart soles could reduce the costs of data collection enormously. “Measuring the specifics of your pitch is awfully time and labor-consuming,” Holland Innovative’s data biologist Joep van Cranenbroek says.
… In this chapter, we’ll examine a problem that looks straightforward on the surface, and gets tangled very quickly when the real world, and real people, are thrown into the mix.
We’ll work together to build a basic pedometer. We’ll start by discussing the theory behind a pedometer and creating a step counting solution outside of code. Then, we’ll implement our solution in code. Finally, we’ll add a web layer to our code so that we have a friendly interface for a user to work with.
UNLV’s Sports Research and Innovation Initiative gives a home to the university’s sports-
related research — and is positioned as a crucial touchstone of a burgeoning sports mecca.
Center for Humane Technology, your undivided attention podcast from
We are in the midst of a teen mental health crisis. Since 2011, the rate of U.S. hospitalizations for preteen girls who have self-harmed is up 189 percent, and with older teen girls, it’s up 62 percent. Tragically, the numbers on suicides are similar — 151 percent higher for preteen girls, and 70 percent higher for older teen girls. NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has spent the last few years trying to figure out why, working with fellow psychologist Jean Twenge, and he believes social media is to blame. Jonathan and Jean found that the mental health data show a stark contrast between Generation Z and Millennials, unlike any demographic divide researchers have seen since World War II, and the division tracks with a sharp rise in social media use. As Jonathan explains in this interview, disentangling correlation and causation is a persistent research challenge, and the debate on this topic is still in full swing. But as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and the next big thing fine-tune the manipulative and addictive features that pull teens in, we cannot afford to ignore this problem while we sit back and wait for conclusive results. When it comes to children, our standards need to be higher, and our burden of proof lower. [audio, 40:00]
One of the best ‘medical’ books of recent years is Ending Medical Reversal by Prasad and Cifu1; it is close to essential reading for all doctors, medical students and even health professionals. It is referenced in an important editorial just published in the BJSM 2. In addition, Ending Medical Reversal could be read in conjunction with a series of other non-medical books that can give the context as to why expert beliefs in medicine can be so flawed. The most important book in the genre is Thinking, Fast and Slow 3 but perhaps a more enjoyable read to illustrate the concept and the story of the geniuses behind it is The Undoing Project 4, by the author of Moneyball 5 and The Blind Side 6. Finally on this topic, Blink 7 should rate a brief mention – if only to illustrate that experts make most of their judgements within seconds, noting the important context as to how this sometimes leads to major flaws.
Innovation in taste and texture has propelled protein-fortified F&B into a range of applications beyond sports nutrition. FoodIngredientsFirst speaks with key suppliers about the growing trend for protein-enriched foods and the technologies that make them popular among mainstream consumers.
“Protein fortification affects all sectors,” says Elodie Macariou, senior product manager at Lactalis Ingredients.
“The number of new products launched with a ‘high protein’ claim is increasing by almost 20 percent per year,” she says.
The Philadelphia 76ers made the hiring of former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey as their new president of basketball operations official on Monday morning per a statement by the team. Morey signed a five-year contract with Philadelphia after spending the last 13 years in Houston and parted ways with the franchise just a few weeks ago. Morey’s contract with the Sixers will pay him more than $10 million per season, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. The Sixers expected to compete for a championship last season but lost in a first-round sweep against the Boston Celtics, prompting the organization to fire coach Brett Brown and replace him with former Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers.
“Thank you to Josh Harris for the trust he has placed in me to lead the 76ers. I am humbled by the challenge and will work tirelessly to win the hearts of Philadelphia’s legendary fans,” Morey said via team statement. “The opportunity to work again with Doc Rivers, Elton Brand and a stacked roster that is ready to win made this a can’t miss opportunity.”
Associated Press, Tim Reynolds and Stephen Whyno from
The NBA wants to be back in December. The NHL is aiming at games resuming in January. Baseball’s spring training may begin in February, like normal.
They almost certainly won’t be in bubbles if and when any or all of that happens.
But many of the lessons learned from being in some form of a bubble environment — where the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball each crowned a champion after finding a way to finish their seasons in most unusual circumstances — could apply to whatever the new definition of normal is for those and other sports.