Applied Sports Science newsletter – September 24, 2021

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for September 24, 2021

 

Keeping Andrei Vasilevskiy in top form a top priority for Lightning

Tampa Bay Times, Eduardo A. Encina from

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has shouldered a remarkable load in goal over the past two seasons. Now, coming off a short offseason and the likelihood he’ll also represent Russia in the Olympics in February, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner could use some load management.

“He understands that our priority is to make sure that he’s at his best and, specifically, at his best when it matters most,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said. “And he was able to do that the last few years and we just need to manage these minutes to make sure that that’s the case again this season.”


Modelling the dynamics of change in the technical skills of young basketball players: The INEX study

PLOS One, Eduardo Guimarães et al. from

Although technical skills are a prerequisite for success in basketball, little is known about how they develop over time. In this study, we model the trajectories of technical skill development in young basketball players and investigate the effects of training experience, training volume, body composition, maturity status, physical performance, and club characteristics on skill development. A total of 264 male basketballers from five age-cohorts (11 to 15 years of age) were followed consecutively over three years using a mixed-longitudinal design. Technical skills, training experience and volume, basic anthropometrics, body composition, biological maturation and physical performance were assessed bi-annually. A multilevel hierarchical linear model was used for trajectory analysis. Non-linear trends (p < 0.01) were observed in speed shot shooting, control dribble, defensive movement, slalom sprint, and slalom dribble. Being more experienced and physically fitter had a significant (p < 0.05) positive effect on technical skill development; greater fat-free mass negatively affected skills demanding quick running and rapid changes of direction with or without the ball (p < 0.05). Training volume and biological age did not explain differences in technical skill development (p > 0.05). Moreover, belonging to different clubs had no significant influence on the technical skills trajectories of players. Our findings highlight the important role that individual differences play, over and beyond club structure, in developing skills. Findings improve our understanding on how technical skills develop during adolescence through training, growth, and biological maturation. [full text]


Time to get Kraken: Seattle opens first NHL training camp

Associated Press, Tim Booth from

… While Seattle’s roster is a mix of veterans and some young talent looking for an opportunity, no one on the roster comes close to [Mark] Giordano’s years on the ice.

After 15 years in Calgary — the past eight as the Flames’ captain — coming to Seattle is a fresh opportunity for the nearly 38-year-old veteran.

And nothing is more exciting than the first day of camp.

“It wasn’t light out for a little while but I wasn’t first at the rink, I can tell you that,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Everyone was here earlier, everybody was excited to get going. Overall, it was a good first day for everybody to get under their belts.”


Wolves launch ‘first of its kind’ Academy website inspired by Ajax

Training Ground Guru from

Wolve have launched a dedicated Academy website that they say is the first of its kind in the Premier League and will enable them to “provide a higher level of detail and resource than any other Academy across the globe.”

The site is aimed at parents and carers, prospective players, coaches looking to learn and fans wanting news on the club’s younger age groups. It has based on similar resources provided by Bayern Munich and Ajax and provides news, stats, fixtures, results and tables, and live streams of Under-23 games.


MIT’s toolkit lets anyone design their own muscle-sensing wearables

Engadget, S. Dent from

MIT has unveiled a new toolkit that lets users design health-sensing devices that can detect how muscles move. The university’s Science and and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) created the kit using something called “electrical impedance tomography” (EIT), that measures internal conductivity to gauge whether muscles are activated or relaxed. The research could allow for wearables that monitor distracted driving, hand gestures or muscle movements for physical rehabilitation.

In a paper, the researchers wrote that EIT sensing usually requires expensive hardware setups and complex algorithms to decipher the data. The advent of 3D printing, inexpensive electronics and open-source EIT image libraries has made it feasible for more users, but designing a wearable setup is still a challenge.


Can Wearable Sweat Lactate Sensors Contribute to Sports Physiology?

ACS Sensors journal from

The rise of wearable sensors to measure lactate content in human sweat during sports activities has attracted the attention of physiologists given the potential of these “analytical tools” to provide real-time information. Beyond the assessment of the sensing technology per se, which, in fact, has not rigorously been validated yet in controlled conditions, there are many open questions about the true usefulness of such wearable sensors in real scenarios. On the one hand, the evidence for the origin of sweat lactate (e.g., via the sweat gland, derivation from blood, or other alternative mechanisms), its high concentration (1–25 mM or even higher) compared to levels in the blood, and the possible correlation between different biofluids (particularly blood) is rather contradictory and generates vivid debate in the field. On the other hand, it is important to point out that accurate detection of sweat lactate is highly dependent on the procedure used to collect and/or reach the fluid, and this can likely explain the large discrepancies reported in the literature. In brief, this paper provides our vision of the current state of the field and a thoughtful evaluation of the possible reasons for present controversies, together with an analysis of the impact of wearable sweat lactate sensors in the physiological context. Finally, although there is not yet overwhelming scientific evidence to provide an unequivocal answer to whether wearable sweat lactate sensors can contribute to sports physiology, we still understand the importance to bring this challenging question up-front to create awareness and guidance in the development, validation, and implementation of wearable sensors. [full text]


Toward a smarter electronic health record

MIT News from

Electronic health records have been widely adopted with the hope they would save time and improve the quality of patient care. But due to fragmented interfaces and tedious data entry procedures, physicians often spend more time navigating these systems than they do interacting with patients.

Researchers at MIT and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are combining machine learning and human-computer interaction to create a better electronic health record (EHR). They developed MedKnowts, a system that unifies the processes of looking up medical records and documenting patient information into a single, interactive interface.

Driven by artificial intelligence, this “smart” EHR automatically displays customized, patient-specific medical records when a clinician needs them. MedKnowts also provides autocomplete for clinical terms and auto-populates fields with patient information to help doctors work more efficiently.


RTS To recap, this athlete had a primary ACLR, lateral meniscectomy, and partial medial meniscus repair in July 2020.

Twitter, Nicole Surdyka from

She is now training fully and available for selection! Here’s a sampling of everything that went into her RTS decision making process:
2/11


The food wars

Aeon, Amos Zeeburg from

Vitamins or whole foods; high-fat or low-fat; sugar or sweetener. Will we ever get a clear idea about what we should eat?


Definitive Diet Setup Guide: How to Build and Adjust a Smart Nutrition Plan

Stronger by Science, Eric Trexler from

Learn how to build a well-structured diet that supports your performance and body composition goals. This article will equip you with the basic knowledge required to set up a diet that is compatible with your goals and implement ongoing adjustments to keep you on the right track.


Why BMI: healthtech apps and the ongoing reliance on misleading science

Medical Device Network, Chloe Kent from

… LaurieAnn Scher is chief clinical strategy officer at Fitscript, a digital health company that developed diabetes self-management app GlucoseZone, which does not incorporate BMI into its design. Scher says the reliance on BMI, not just in healthtech apps but throughout the medical industry, means patients aren’t being given an accurate picture of their own health.

“The fact of the matter is that you’re taking a measure that was created primarily on a white male population and applying it overall to every single population,” she says. “It doesn’t always reflect the population that you’re looking at.


Leigh Wojtkiewicz Joins Notre Dame As Associate Athletic Director, Data, Analytics & Strategic Initiatives

Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website from

Leigh Wojtkiewicz, business analytics and data lead for the Pac-12 and co-founder of Sports Data, Analytics & Technology Association, has been named Associate Athletic Director for Data, Analytics and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.


The confounding effect of biological maturity on talent identification and selection within youth Australian football

Science & Medicine in Football journal from

This study measured the influence of biological maturity across numerous performance parameters for talent identification in Australian football. Anthropometry, estimated maturity status using a maturity ratio from anthropometric measurements and chronological age, motor competence, physical fitness and small-sided match involvements of 227 U13-U15 high-level academy athletes were assessed. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant moderate effects of maturity status on physical fitness (p = 0.008, ES = 0.07) and significant large effects on anthropometry (p = 0.001, ES = 0.20), but not on motor competence or match involvements. Univariate analyses of variance demonstrated significant large effects of maturity on anthropometry, but only one subset of physical fitness (i.e. lower-body power). U15 players selected into a U16 development programme were biologically older thandeselected players, despite selection being independent of maturity when a categorical descriptor was used. This study confirms that maturation affects anthropometry and certain measures of physical fitness in youth Australian football players, but not match involvements and motor competence. Furthermore, a player’s maturity could affect selection and progression into advanced academy programmes. Involvements and motor competence should be included in multidimensional assessment batteries for Australian Football as they appear less confounded by maturity than fitness and anthropometry.


Since implementing a 15-second pitch clock in June, Low-A West has seen its average game decrease by 21 minutes.

Twitter, Kendall Baker from

Even better: Runs and homers are up, while walks and strikeouts are down.


Razorback Athletes Now Have Another Way To Get Paid: Academic Success

KUAR, Talk Business from

Razorback athletes may receive money for their academic success through an initiative announced by the University of Arkansas athletic department on Thursday.

With the Razorback Academic Success Initiative, UA athletes will receive educational benefits and monetary awards for their academic success and progression towards graduation.

The program is a response to recent changes in NCAA legislation, specifically the Supreme Court verdict this past summer in Alston vs. NCAA. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the court ruled that the NCAA violated antitrust laws by limiting what universities can supply in educational resources for college athletes.

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