… “These things are here to help us. So if you use analytics the right way, it absolutely is helpful,” Blake Griffin said. “I think we do do that. There’s a lot of information out there, but you have to find what’s most useful to you, to your team, and utilize it like that. So I’m definitely a fan of analytics.”
With the Nets, Griffin is using it in ways he never has before, and for a player who has been in the NBA for more than a decade, that’s saying something. There’s a saying in the league that proceeds him: KYP, or Know Your Personnel. The Nets are using STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to help their players do just that.
It lacked the striking visual drama and powerful aura of history conveyed by last summer’s two-day protest by National Hockey League players who used their Stanley Cup Playoffs stage to shine a spotlight on systemic racism.
But the league’s postponement Friday of the Vancouver Canucks’ return from the most dangerous COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic season was another example of players driving change.
A difference from last summer, when players from all four teams remaining in the Western Conference playoff bubble literally stood in solidarity with Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights, is that there is a lot of unhappiness from opponents regarding the Canucks.
The frustration is not only over ever-changing schedules that affect others in the Canadian division during the playoff race, but a sense that the Canucks organization hasn’t taken responsibility for a player breaking “strongly recommended” NHL guidelines by dining out in public and then passing the coronavirus to teammates who may or may not have been adhering to other safety measures such as basic mask-wearing.
This study investigated the variability in the worst-case scenario (WCS) and suggested a framework to improve the definition and guide further investigation. Optical tracking data from 26 male players across 38 matches were analysed to determine the WCS for total distance, high-speed running (>5.5 m.s−1) and sprinting (>7.0 m.s−1) using a 3-minute rolling window. Position, total output, previous epoch, match half, time of occurrence, classification of starter vs substitute, and minutes played were modelled as selected contextual factors hypothesized to have associations with the WCS. Linear mixed effects models were used to account for cross-sectional observations and repeated measures. Unexplained variance remained high (total distance R2 = 0.53, high-speed running R2 = 0.53 and sprinting R2 = 0.40). Intra-individual variability was also high (total distance CV = 4.6–8.2%; high-speed CV = 15.6–37.8% and Sprinting CV = 21.1–76.4%). The WCS defined as the maximal physical load in a given time-window, produces unstable metrics lacking context, with high variability. Furthermore, training drills targetting this metric concurrently across players may not have representative designs and may underprepare athletes for complete match demands and multifaceted WCS scenarios. Using WCS as benchmarks (reproducing similar physical activity for training purposes) is conceptually questionable.
The Michigan Daily student newspaper, Magdalena Mihaylova from
This March, outcry arose during the NCAA March Madness tournament when Sedona Prince, a forward for the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team, posted a TikTok comparing her team’s weight room to that of their male counterparts. The men’s weight room was an expansive gym full of machines, equipment and free weights. The women’s weight room was a single rack of dumbbells and yoga mats. The NCAA claimed it was a space issue, but the TikTok clearly shows that the women’s area had ample room for a full gym. And while the internet exploded in discourse and debate, many women athletes expressed that these disparities are nothing new.
Indeed, this controversy is a reflection of a greater issue in sports and in society overall. Women athletes, and especially women athletes of color, are not only paid less for the same or better work, but they are denied equal economic resources and facilities, do not receive fair marketing and coverage and suffer stereotyping, sexualization and discrimination. Despite the passage of Title IX in 1972, women athletes today — at the club, high school, collegiate and professional levels — face substantial roadblocks to true equality. And while the University of Michigan does a good job supporting its student athletes who are women, the institution of sport overall is still skewed to support men and their success.
As a woman who grew up playing competitive soccer, I am well aware of the social disparities that occur on and off the field — less fans coming to the women’s games, having to prove yourself while the men do not and the pressure to look good after sweating for 90 m
Before COVID-19 ended last season, Flower Mound girls soccer coach Misail Tsapos thought he had a team with state championship potential. In his mind, the Lady Jaguars were a team that could keep possession and play creatively. They were very good, he said, but they were missing something.
“We had four ties, and three of the four were 0-0 because we didn’t have a true goal scorer,” Tsapos said. “We had a bunch of midfielders with a lot of creativity, but not that one kid who could say, ‘Don’t ask me to do this, don’t ask me to do that, just give me the ball and I’ll put it in the back of somebody’s goal.’”
It’s an ability, Tsapos believes, that can’t be taught — a unique combination of skill, natural ability and instinct that make some players different.
Tsapos had never met senior Riley Baker before she emailed him asking if she could try out for the team this offseason, and when she showed up it didn’t take him long to see she was the missing piece his team needed. She was a difference-making goal scorer who might not be playing in Friday’s 6A state championship game if the U.S. Soccer Development Academy never shut down.
… A prominent player in the development and commercialization of e-textiles is Myant, who cover many different technology areas, product types, and potential markets.
Their product options include many different garments for biometric monitoring, including their SKIIN brand for the consumer approach (e.g. biometrics in underwear), but also biometric monitoring products in the healthcare and medical space, including shirts for monitoring blood pressure, partnership with Zoll on their “LifeVest” wearable defibrillator, knee braces with electrical stimulation and heating, and so on.
The lifestyle of the professional athlete often involves a lot of travel. All those hours spent in the air and not training, or disrupting food and sleep schedules, can sometimes take a toll. In a bid to drive down the disadvantage of playing away, world-leading sports brand Nike teamed up with cabin designers at Teague to develop a concept fit for the most elite of athletes. Let’s take a look inside.
Current research on flexible electronics is paving the way for wireless sensors that can be worn on the body and collect a variety of medical data. But where do the data go? Without a similar flexible transmitting device, these sensors would require wired connections to transmit health data.
Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, and two international teams of researchers are developing devices to explore the possibilities of wearable, flexible antennas.
In this episode of Sky’s Football Benchmark, KPMG’s Sports Advisory Manager Antonio Di Cianni and Sky Italy’s Luca Marchetti, analyse the activities of clubs on the transfer market in recent years, starting from an overview of how FIFA agents’ fees have evolved. [video, 14:53]
SI.com, Fan Nation, Jaguar Report, Kassidy Hill from
Former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback and now trainer Jordan Palmer tells Pat McAfee why Trevor Lawrence is such a special prospect, what makes his marriage with Urban Meyer ideal and how it will mean the Jaguars are “going to build something really, really special.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs are taking a page from the Toronto Raptors. Why not? It worked for Raps. For the non-basketball crowd, in 2019, the Raptors utilized load management for superstar Kawhi Leonard. He sat out 22 of the 82 regular-season games and did not play in any back-to-back contests. It paid off when Toronto won the NBA Championship, and Leonard was named MVP.
The Maple Leafs are sitting Auston Matthews for the game against Winnipeg tonight (April 15). This will be his fourth missed game of the season. Officially he is listed as day today, and it doesn’t sound serious. Toronto has been playing Jack Campbell carefully. Jason Spezza was held out earlier this week. We should expect more healthy scratches or day-to-day listings down the stretch.
Success has been a defining characteristic of the Seattle Sounders, a team that has reached the Major League Soccer postseason in each year of its existence.
Another has been the ability to correctly assess when it needs to overhaul its personnel, whether it’s bringing in an influx of fresh talent or giving younger players in the Sounders’ system a chance.
That’s not always an easy decision to make, especially after Seattle finished second in the MLS regular season, won the Western Conference championship and reached the MLS Cup final before losing to Columbus. But it’s the route Seattle picked going into this season with the aim of avoiding stagnation.
Anthony DeSclafani spun a gem yesterday, fanning eight Colorado Rockies and keeping the scoreboard quiet, pushing his early 2021 run to 11.0 IP with just a lone earned run surrendered. He’s not a Cincinnati Reds pitcher anymore, of course.
While the Reds burst out of the gate this season and, despite a mild stumble in Arizona, still look like they plan on playing the part of scrappy contenders this year, the story of their success so far this season is equal parts about who hasn’t been around to be a part of it.
Disco exited into free agency over the winter, eventually signing a deal with the San Francisco Giants, and he was joined in staff exodus by Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer, who also headed to California to join the Dodgers. Heading west was the theme of the former Reds hurlers, it would appear, as Raisel Iglesias was dumped onto the Los Angeles Angels, too. That’s quite the formidable trio that to whom the Reds simply waved goodbye, but at least they did so in a calculated fashion – even if those calculations were due to machinations of a bottom line.
The Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, Danny Blumenthal from
… With one half-court heave, Jalen Suggs sent Gonzaga to the national championship and sports fans around the world into a frenzy. Dick Vitale called the game an instant classic, and Patrick Mahomes was left speechless. Suggs’ buzzer-beating heroics even inspired LeBron James to crown this game as “one of the best games I’ve seen in a very long time!!”.
Nevertheless, the Zags still had another game to play just 48 hours later – the national championship. Unfortunately though, Gonzaga appeared to enter the title game still dazed from their Final Four slugfest. They fell behind Baylor 9-0 in the opening minutes, and by the 10-minute mark, faced an insurmountable 19-point deficit. By the end, Baylor had cruised to a 16-point win, ending Gonzaga’s season one game short of perfection.
Throughout the game, Jim Nantz and friends suggested that Gonzaga had started flat because of their thrilling win over UCLA.
Why? I have a theory. You may have noticed or read about the somewhat controversial idea that building more highway lanes does nothing in the long run to reduce traffic congestion. (The idea is known as Braess’ Paradox, also known as Induced Demand.) The NBA is the highway analogy in reverse – fewer games won’t reduce injuries in the long run.
In the analogy, lots of cars/players share the same objective, and the opportunities to participate are limited. Building more highway lanes increases the opportunities, but that just attracts more vehicles. Reducing NBA games decreases opportunities, but that just adds work that players willingly do to earn playing time. The situation, and the relevant statistics, don’t ever really change.
Metro governments have turned to integrated traffic solutions to deal with vehicles’ congestion. Athlete management systems are a step in that direction but, in comparison, they lack for sensing, analytical power and control mechanisms.
Players, coaches and teams all have incentives to risk injuries. NBA players develop and improve, especially during their first few professional seasons, some to the point where they are recognized as All-Stars. In January 2018 DeMarcus Cousins experienced a catastrophic injury as he was playing the best basketball of his career, and on track for All-Star recognition. In 2019 it was Victor Oladipo. This year, at approximately the same point in the season, it’s Jamal Murray.
Charles Boehm believes that DC United hired Lucy Rushton as the team’s general manager in part to facilitate the high-octane, super-fit playing style of coach Hernan Losada. Leadership and analysis are both necessary to align those incentives and, in the process, to reduce injury risks in pro sports.