Sports Performance & Tech, Issue 9

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ISSUE 9

WORLD CUP SPECIAL DR PAULO OPPERMANN LOOKS AT NEW TECHNOLOGY IN CONTACT SPORT

HOW COULD NEW TECHNOLOGY HELP PREVENT INJURIES AT THE WORLD CUP?

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Editor’s Letter

Letter From The Editor nologies in the NFL and junior American Football leagues folAs the World Cup in Brazil is lowing the court cases against now well under-way, we want- the NFL from former players. ed to bring you some of the lat- As always, if you like the magaest innovations being used over zine please share it. It was crethere. The main area that this ated to spread ideas and if you issue will be concentrating on is think there is something in here the use of new technologies in that somebody else would find injury prevention, an issue that interesting please send it along to them. is vital in this tournament.

Welcome to this issue of Sports Performance & Tech.

With teams playing in hot, humid conditions the chances of injury are increased as fatigue can onset much quicker. Therefore Paulo Oppermann looks at the ways in which technology is helping to improve injury prevention in soccer as well as other sports. Dan Peterson also looks at how new technologies could have allowed some of the stars not available to be playing, and how those there can monitor themselves to prevent future injuries.

In addition to these, Simon Barton talks to Tom Legg from the Craig Bellamy Foundation to follow up on their analytical approach to coaching young players. We also look at how the CIES Football Observatory report on player valuation uses data to put a price on a player’s head.

We discuss the use of new tech-

If you have any questions or feedback please contact me at ghill@theiegroup.com

George Hill Managing Editor Are you are looking to put your products in front of key decision makers?

For Advertising contact Hannah at hsturgess@theiegroup. com

Managing Editor: George Hill Assistant Editors Simon Barton Art Director: Gavin Bailey Advertising: Hannah Sturgess

hsturgess @sportsperformancetech.com

Contributors: Dan Paterson Dr. Paulo Ottermann Richard Angus Sean Foreman David Barton David White William Boll General Enquiries:

Editor @sportsperformancetech.com

Front Cover Image Credit: Jon Le-Bon / Shutterstock.com

Contents

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Contents

P. 4

P. 14

Simon Barton talks to Tom Legg about his work in analytics with the Craig Bellamy Foundation

Dan Peterson looks at how new analytics and technology could have seen less stars injured before the world cup

We look at how new technologies in American Football can prevent concussions

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P. 19

William Boll looks at the ways that amateur athletes can prevent head trauma

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P. 29

P. 34

As protein supplements become a staple for many, we look at how Maxi Nutrition’s Cyclone breaks the mould

P. 40

David White, CEO of Import.io talks us through the Basis Smart Watch from a technologist’s perspective

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Dr. Paulo Oppermann gives us a rundown of the latest technology innovation in contact sports

Richard Angus, a leader in sports analytics, talks us through the metrics of soccer player valuation We look at the Go Pro Hero 3+ Black to see how it performs compared to other action cams available

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Craig Bellamy Foundation

Analytics At The Craig Bellamy Foundation: Revisited Simon Barton Assistant Editor

Craig Bellamy Foundation

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explore every possible avenue to increase their performance.

For those of us who simply use sport as a way of keeping fit, or as a source of enjoyment, analytics is an expensive, complicated tool that serves little purpose. Even after our data has been collected, making sense of it can be an impossible task. Having said that, there shouldn’t be a fear of exposing data to younger athletes’ who, by themselves, would perhaps fail to see the Nearly a year on and much Much of what we hear about relationship between foothas changed at the acade- sports analytics is focused at ball and numbers. In the right my. They’re welcoming their the elite level, where athletes’ hands data can be used by all second generation of players and have made real strides in streamlining their programme to deliver the right information to the right players. It’s about delivering data to the players post-match as quickly as possible so that matches are fresh in their minds as this is when the real improvements can be made.

Back in August 2013 we spoke with Tom Legg, Head of Performance Analysis at The Craig Bellamy Foundation.

Based in Sierra Leone, the academy was started when recently retired Welsh footballer, Craig Bellamy, visited the West African country. He managed to see through the desperate poverty that effects much of the population and saw a chance to offer hope and a way out for the nation’s talented youth.

There is now a real emphasis on players to self-evaluation so that they have a firm grip on their own development.

There is no pressure from the coaching staff to do this – but as Tom says; “it will strengthen mental development and allow them to refer back to past events when they’re in trouble or in a loss of form”. This player-led focus has been able to flourish due to the advancement in video exporting applications on the Performa plat-

form that allows the players to watch their own performances in their own time on their mobile phones. This removes the constant coach/player relationship which some of them may find suffocating. Tom is clearly delighted with the direction that both his players and academy are heading in; “At the start of the programme it was about finding out about what was important for us, now we’re happy about that”.

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Craig Bellamy Foundation

ages, but as Tom says; ‘You have to be careful about the way you show it to younger players’ and that ‘delivering context is vital to a players understanding’.

Tom described a situation where data demonstrated that an under 18 player had been struggling with his forward passing.

Tom expresses his desire for context by saying; ‘you can’t just say you need to improve forward passing, you need to build a picture in their mind and get them engaged so they can improve that attribute that way’.

It’s a process of discovery that gets the players to answer open ended questions which can lead to far more interesting conclusions like that their first touch isn’t sharp enough when receiving the ball or that their vision on

the ball is lacking. These are the sorts of discoveries that make a real impact on a player’s development.

For the under 14’s data isn’t as important as it is at the under 18 level, especially when looking at specific attributes. At that age, as Tom says; “a lot of it is about self-exploration”. If something is continually going wrong they’ll still refer to data but it’s often a visual process that requires them to look at video footage, and again Tom and his staff lead with open questions that encourage the youngsters to use their intuition to determine how they can improve their game.

I was also really interested to hear Tom’s opinions on what age a player starts to cement himself in a certain position. Tom expresses his fear of cementing a position to early by saying; “At 11 and 12 you can’t be securing a position – certain skills can sway them towards a certain category, but not a specific position”. If a player is particularly skilful then they may guide him towards a more offensive position, but it’s when they reach 14 and 15 that a player’s position starts to take shape.

For Tom this approach pays dividends because his players have become accustomed to a number of different positions.

This means that their all-round game is considerably better than what it would have been if they had stuck with one position throughout their development.

Craig Bellamy Foundation

The academies captain is a shining example of how positional rotation can be beneficial. He entered the academy at right-back, and as Tom explains “this meant he was able to develop his defensive skills, which allows him to play with more freedom now”. This has benefitted him in his new role as a central midfielder.

“An academies philosophy is about creating players, not teams,” remarks Tom. However much the Craig Bellamy Foundation would like to see their academy side be the next Sierra Leone national team, the chances of that happening are relatively slim. However, with analytics becoming increasingly widespread at the top of the game and tactics ever more sophisticated, I was interested to hear Tom’s opinions on whether certain ‘units’ are more catered to analytics than others. In my mind, analytics are a reactive tool suited to professional teams like Chelsea FC, who are more defensive minded by default.

This sentiment wasn’t shared entirely by Tom, who conceded that at the top level defensive players could profit more, but that in reality it’s dependant on the players personality and the way they both understand and react to data. He mentions that one of his central midfielders hasn’t really taken to analytics despite the vast array of KPI’s that could

potentially be of use to him.

Throughout the age groups at the academy the use of analytics is varied. Tom states; “Under 14’s is very much focused on their technical ability” whereas at the Under 18 level KPI’s are utilised to see what they can do off the ball as an individual and how they fit in with the team as a whole. But as always, analytics is used to improve individual performance not that of a team, which is completely understandable and to the benefit of the players, as building a slick, well-drilled team might inhibit some of the players ability to express themselves freely on the pitch.

This is an interesting point because it shows how analytics can be adapted in order to fit in with a player’s development. The methods of the Craig Bellamy foundation

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have proven very successful and show first hand the power of football as a force for social change – since their inception they have had three graduates go to the U.S.A. on scholarships. They recently had 5 players called up to the Under 20 Sierra Leone squad, with two of them, Santigie Koroma and Sulaiman Samura participating in the match, a fantastic achievement considering the relatively tender age of the academy and the age of both players who were only 17 and 16 respectively when they were called up. Other success stories have come from Denmark, where one of their player’s recently had a trial for a Danish team.

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Technology In Football

Technology In Preventing Football Concussions George Hill Managing Editor

Technology In Football

An interesting aspect of sports technologies today is that they go beyond simply improving acceleration or the overall performance of a team. Although important in pushing sport forward, in reality they help with success in competitions but there are several aspects of sport that are more important.

A cliche that has been heard often over the past few years has been ‘When this happens it really puts it in perspective that this is only a game’. It is generally used when there is a bad injury or even a death on a pitch or track. However, technology is being brought out to do more than simply improve times and scores, products are now becoming available to stop these long lasting and serious injuries.

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shown to have caused dementia in several subjects and in some tragic cases, it has even caused former players to commit suicide.

Mouth Guards We have previously discussed mouth guards in the magazine in regards to identification of concussions and most importantly in terms of preventing second-impact syndrome. This is when you receive a second concussion shortly after receiving a first, something that can easily happen in contact sports. Second-impact syndrome can have severe consequences, keeping players away from the playing field for longer or even causing death in extreme circumstances.

We are increasingly seeing concussions and other serious head injuries occurring in contact sports, especially American football. The issues that these cause in both the short and long term have been discussed at length and due to these the NFL is now facing huge bills to pay for healthcare for retired football players and those suffering from complications due to head injuries. With the size of this bill in mind, it is no surprise that 3.8 million sports-related concussions each year occur in the US, each of which could have long term consequences.

This has manifested itself in increasingly disturbing ways, with long term brain damage being Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

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Technology In Football

At the moment this may not be caused through stubbornness or the failure of medical staff, but simply because an athlete may not realise that they have a concussion and therefore be unaware of the danger that they are in when coming into the next game. We previously discussed this with Mark Dillon, the inventor of the Mamori mouthguard. Here, through the use of accelerometers, it was possible to recognise when an impact was hard enough to have caused a concussion and measures that can be taken to assess whether or not this was actually the case.

of concussion injuries amongst NFL players after court rulings in favour of former players have pushed the awareness of these kinds of injuries.

Similar ideas are being discussed in the US, especially at institutions like MIT where new technologies and sports are combined. The increased coverage

In professional football, a player receives as many as 1500 hits to the head during their career, any one of which could cause concussions or worse. It is for

Companies like X2 have married the love of sports with the prevention of injuries, allowing for youngsters to play as competitively as possible without risking serious injury. This, is yet to really transcend into adult games but given that injuries within formative years can have serious long term health effects, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Helmets

Aspen Photo / Shutterstock.com

Technology In Football

this reason that football helmets are undoubtedly one of the most important pieces of equipment used and why companies are starting to look into ways to reduce the amount of trauma caused when hit in the head.

millimetres for instance, of the brain within the skull can cause these strains. Combine this with the standards used for helmet certification, which are largely unchanged since they came into effect in the early 1970s.

The difficulty with helmets (unlike gum shields) is that their primary function is to protect the head and therefore it is important to understand what causes concussions and the forces involed in order to maximise head protection. Up until only a few years ago it was thought to have been bruising in the brain’s grey matter, but it is actually shown to be through the stretching and straining of nerves within the brain. Research has been conducted at Wayne State University that shows even small movements,

There are companies looking to remedy this, with products including padding that is placed on top of existing helmets or additional padding inside the helmet itself. One of the aspects that is yet to be really addressed is the prevention of ‘rotational’ impacts (the rotation of the head) rather than linear impacts (the strike of the head). Both have been cited as causing concussions and other head injuries, but it was only recently that any

Aspen Photo / Shutterstock.com

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Technology In Football

surrounding the effects of concussions and other head injuries, it is only a matter of time Although companies like until these systems become Riddell have looked into new more widely used. technologies to combat this, We are seeing exciting developthere is little on the market ments around the use of techto have really reduced it. nology in the NFL, College footThere have been moves by ball and even in junior variants. companies to remedy this, with The fact is that as science has MIPS (Multidirectional Impact improved and cases where proProtection System) prime tection has clearly been insuffiamongst them. Tests have shown cient the use of technology has that rotational forces can be been picked up. It is now a case decreased by around 50% with of balancing losing face or leavtheir system, but they are yet to ing yourself open to legal issues be taken up by the bigger helmet in the future. For the sake of fumanufacturers. This is for many ture player welfare, we have to reasons, both economic and hope for the former. legal (if it is shown that existing helmets are inadequate then it puts helmet manufacturers in a difficult position), but in the coming years, and with the clamour currently attempts have been made to reduce rotational forces in helmets.

Aspen Photo / Shutterstock.com

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Injury Prevention in The World Cup

World Cup Players Could Benefit From Injury Prediction And Prevention Dan Peterson Director, Metrifit

Mitch Gunn / Shutterstock.com

Injury Prevention in The World Cup

Imagine this dream team kicking off at the 2014 World Cup; Falcao, Ribery, Reus and Walcott up top, Strootman and Gundogan holding down the middle, with Oviedo, Akaminko, Badstuber and Van der wiel as your back four. Put Victor Valdes in goal and you have a potential best XI. Unfortunately, all eleven of these global stars will miss the tournament in Brazil due to injury. Some are out as a result of a broken bone or torn ligaments from contact, but quite a few have muscular pulls and strains or are still recovering from previous medical issues. Could anything have been done to predict and possibly prevent those types of injuries, not only for these elite athletes but for the millions who play for their schools or clubs around the world?

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Previous research has shown that the most likely predictor of future injuries is a history of a similar injury (Olsen et al, 2004).

In fact, in a recent study, across elite adult male soccer players, there were 24.6 to 34.8 injuries per 1000 competitive match hours and 5.8 to 7.6 injuries per 1000 training hours (Walden et al, 2005) Specifically, 92% of soccer-related injuries are to the leg muscles: hamstrings, 37%; adductors, 23%; quadriceps 19% and calf muscles, 13% (Ekstrand et al, 2011).

Teams at all levels need a structured, In the past, injuries were an ac- long-term cepted part of the game, but injury prevention new training and prevention program to have techniques along with technol- any real effect. ogy tools have emerged that Only sustained allow coaches and players to biomechanical and monitor their workload and pro- neuromuscular actively predict risk factors to changes in a avoid downtime. player will make an In the top European football leagues, as well as many elite youth leagues, players can play between an average of 1.5 to 2 games per week for a 10-11 month season. Factor in multiple training sessions, travel and the ongoing stress of competition and the likelihood of injuries and a missed game increases.

Fingerhut / Shutterstock.com

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Injury Prevention in The World Cup

think that a year from now that kind of probability model will One team in the MLS that has in- be in place. That our coaching vested in a prevention program, staff will embrace it, and I think and sports science in general, they will because it’s a lot betis the Seattle Sounders. GM, ter feedback to the coaches to Adrian Hanauer and Head move from saying, ‘Well I think Coach, Sigi Schmid, knew this guy worked hard this week they had to manage but should be OK this weekend,’ their players’ health to ‘Based upon our data, this proactively to be suc- player has X% chance of injury, cessful through an he’s fresh and he should play entire season. Enter well.”

David Tenney, lead fit- The key to developing this type ness coach, to imple- of prediction system is the conment a complete train- sistent daily collection of training ing and injury prevention data, including not only discrete measures such as GPS distance program.

“Being the business person and heart rate but also subjecand leader that he is, and tive measures including sleep being extremely into data, quality, mood and stress. This [Adrian Hanaauer] wants to complete player profile is rebe at the forefront of what quired to begin to understand people are doing with tech- the integrated factors leading nology and analytics,” Tenney up to an injury. impact on their availability for training and games.

Jean-Pierre Meersseman, a Belgian chiropractor, is seen by many as the pioneer for injury prevention and understanding a player from a total mind-body perspective. As founder of the Through the ac- famous Milan Lab at AC Milan, he quisition of giga- prolonged the careers of many bytes of daily train- injury-prone players including ing data, Tenney is Clarence Seedorf, Paolo Maldini building prediction and even David Beckham during algorithms and models to better his short stay at Milan.

“That was one of the reasons why interpret player performance.

“What I’ve tried to stress just I started measuring everything,” in what we’ve done in the last Meersseman told the Guardian. few months is to try and refine “All the top clubs have cardioland create some probability ogists, knee specialists and so models,” said Tenney. “I really on – but sometimes it’s difficult to look at the whole and that’s explained to Forbes. “I think being in the environment we’re in with Seattle, this is an aspect of the club he really wants to drive.”

Fingerhut / Shutterstock.com

Injury Prevention in The World Cup

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what we are trying to do.

He recently moved from Milan to England and has set-up an independent clinic for EPL players. The demand for his approach has been very high. Carly Barnes, a sports lawyer and player agent, understands why teams are so interested. “Players are now enormous assets and, if they get injured, a club risks an enormous plunge in value,” she told the Guardian.

Sources: Ekstrand J, Hagglund M & Walden M. Injury incidence and injury patterns in professional football: the UEFA injury study.

Br J Sports Med 2011, 45: 553558.

Olsen L, Scanlan 1, MacKay M, Babul S, Reid D, Clark M, Raina P. Strategies for prevention of soccer related injuries: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med Does this type of data gather- 2004, 38: 89-94. ing and analysis work? In the first year of the Milan Lab, total Walden M, Hagglund M, & Ekpractice days lost to injury were strand J. UEFA Champions down 43%, use of medicines League study: a prospective were down 70%, and overall study of injuries in professional player injuries dropped by two- football during the 2001-2002 season. Br J Sports Med 2005, thirds.

39: 542-546.

Despite all of the training professionals using the latest technology, there may be one cause of injury that no one can do anything about - angry witch doctors.

“I know what Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury is about,” Ghanaian Nana Kwaku Bonsam said this week. “I’m working on him. This injury can never be cured by any medic, they can never see what is causing the injury because it is spiritual.”

Maybe after Ronaldo’s Portugal team plays Ghana, his health will dramatically improve.

Yiannis Kourtos / Shutterstock.com

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Tech in Contact Sports

How Technology Is Changing Contact Sports Dr. Paulo Oppermann Sports Scientist

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Tech in Contact Sports

Technology in contact sports has evolved in a very particular form in the past couple of decades and especially over the past few years. A significant amount of technology is becoming portable and wireless and data is now often being made available in real time for coaches, trainers and sport scientists. This has supported the transition of technology from laboratory settings to practice fields, courts, and in some cases in official sport competitions.

A very recent example is the case of a partnership between Adidas and the Major League Soccer in the US in which the Adidas MiCoach system has been approved and is currently being utilized by all MLS teams during practice sessions and during official competitions to track athletes’ heart rate, speed, jump height, distance ran, and other data. This has been made possible with the use of miniaturized GPS, gyroscopes and accelerometers that have been embedded into a small system that is lodged in athletes’ jerseys and in some cases in their cleats.

This system has also been utilized by Rugby teams in Europe, North America and Oceania.

Tracking systems like MiCoach and Under Armour39 also assist an athletes’ health maintenance through a number of analyses that can be made in regards to fatigue, overtraining and other important health related information with this infor-

mation then being compared to their unique physical and medical conditions. With the goal to monitor contact sports athletes’ health, another piece of technology has entered our courts, fields and rinks – these technologies have made it possible to track the intensity of head impacts experienced by athletes.

This new device from Reebok, called Checklight, is a very small and flexible system that fits to the athlete’s head – the device is lodged in a beanie; it is also a standalone system that doesn’t need additional software or to be paired with another device, instead, it uses an LED indicator that displays a yellow signal in the event of a moderate impact to the head, or a red signal in the event of a more intense impact. The Reebok Checklight is a game changing device developed by MC10, which is a company that specializes in developing stretchable, flexible, thin, and small sensors that are designed to be wearable and virtually unnoticeable by the user. MC10 is currently developing multiple devices in this new area, including a system that will provide data on athletes’ perspiration rate in real time. Within the same field Gatorade has developed and been working on analysis of sweat composition for each athlete in a team and implementing a personalized formula for rehydration for each team member according to the athletes’ loss of fluids, electrolytes and minerals.

This product can be seen in dif-

Tech in Contact Sports

ferent sport teams and is going to be implemented during the 2014 FIFA World CUP. The use of technology in contact sports has grown a lot within performance enhancement, injury prevention, injury recovery and athletes’ health maintenance. The use of advanced high speed and high definition cameras, along with the development of biomechanical software, has allowed teams to have an in depth view of athletes’ movements. This detailed view may assist coaches to better understand a hockey athlete’s kinetic link (chain of muscular, joints and body events) during a slap-shot, or a rugby player’s penalty kick, or a soccer player’s corner kick; this information is then used to improve speed, accuracy, but also to analyze possible indicators, like the imbalance of movement which may cause injury.

Another field of sport science and technology that has evolved significantly is neuro/physiology and neuro/biofeedback. With technological advances things that were only possible to be measured in the laboratory, like muscle activation, respiratory rhythms, and neurological activity are now available during practice and games, not only as a measure and assessment tool, but also as data that can be sent back to the athletes in real time. Devices like the FlexComp Infiniti from Thought Technology and the Nexus-10 from MindMedia are portable and allow data

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transferring to be made wirelessly through Bluetooth, which could potentially train athletes to have faster reaction times, quicker decision making, more focus and many other performance enhancing possibilities. It is now possible to measure how focused, how ready to react, and how warmed up a football player is in the line of scrimmage, or a soccer goalkeeper during a penalty kick, or a hockey player during a face-off, or a rugby player during a scrum; sport scientists and trainers are able to use this data and train their athletes to be at their peak level of performance for each circumstance.

Moreover, the analysis during game-play or during practice may provide data on an athlete’s ideal ranges of motion, data on the balance between flexor and extensor muscle groups activation. This is crucial information for performance, but more importantly, is paramount to the evaluation and training of ideal conditions to prevent injuries.

Another technological advance is the Hawk-Eye, from Hawk Eye Innovations. It is a precise ball speed and trajectory tracker that uses cameras and advanced software - The International Tennis Federation already approved the software for tournament play in 2005. It was launched in 2012 as a soccer simulator training system that tracks the ball’s trajectory, spin and speed.

Some sport organizations have

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Tech in Contact Sports

made use of geoanalytics to try to have a better understanding of team strategies by analyzing athletes’ and a team’s geographical positioning and movement on the field/court, by using systems like ArcGis, which provides data including team and individual movement and positioning trends.

adjustment to specific levels and can be used by the athlete when away from the club.

Other advances also targeting athletes’ recovery are devices that emit electrical signals to stimulate small muscular contractions that assist on post-activity muscular recovery. These include TecElite from LG, and Marc Pro, which both require specific calibration and positioning from a trained professional, and the FireFly from FirstKind which is a take home device that does not require calibration or

ple is of what benefits advanced sleep and rest data can bring to a team. But if there is no one able to create a program to optimize athletes’ rest, recovery and sleep quality will it be valuable? Another important fact to highlight is that some technologies provide objective data and measures that need processing, analysis of the data according to each athlete’s characteristics, and statistical analysis in or-

More technology has been made available for on and off the field performance enhancement, and for athletes’ health maintenance; some professional teams have followed this phenomenon and have increased investments Besides technologies that can in sport sciences. While some be applied on the field, there are teams have done so in a more options that can be used to im- public way, like AC Milan from prove performance from off the Italy, with the Milan Lab, and field variables, like athletes’ ac- Real Madrid FC from Spain, with tivity and sleep. Monitors that the Real Madrid TEC-Sanitas track athletes’ activity and sleep center; other teams have made patterns (similar to the ones investments in a more discrete available commercially, like the and even secret fashion.

Misfit-shine and Nike’s Fuelband With the fast growing advancSE) provide team profession- es of the technological field in als with information that allows sports comes challenges, like them to understand each ath- finding trained professionals lete better. With this information who know how to implement professionals can provide ath- sport sciences with professional letes with individual guidance, sport organizations in a seamaccording to the team’s travel, less way, or to train members practice and competition sched- of the training/coaching staff to ule so that they can improve be able to take full advantage rest, recovery and readiness for of the benefits that technology performance. is bringing to sports. An exam-

Tech in Contact Sports

der for it to make sense and to produce positive results for the teams. On the other hand, some of the technology that is being made available can already make its own calculations and algorithmic analysis, providing an outcome that also needs to be looked at with caution, as in some instances these technologies provide estimates and approximations, instead of exact measurements.

Even though there are some obstacles, the future of sport and technology is bright – there is potential to see a great deal of improvement in team performance enhancement and health maintenance coming from sport and performance technologies, especially with programs that make the adequate use of, and correct adaptation of the tech-

nology that is currently available. Finally, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for and to be looking forward to the future of sport performance technologies, as new conforming wireless technologies are being created and improved, and more efforts are being made in preparing knowledgeable professionals who will make the best use of them.

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Preventive Injury Technology

Preventive Injury Technology To Help Your Amateur Recognize Body Trauma William Boll Chief Operating Officer Pro Hockey Vision

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Preventive Injury Technology

Sports-related concussions (or brain traumas) are recognized as a major public health concern. Concussions and their residual long-term effects have been, and are currently, the concern of numerous people associated with sports medicine, sports management, and head trauma research, as well as athletes themselves. Many athletes are witnessing serious current and far-reaching debilitating health complications among their peers. Concussions that force the early retirement of high-profile professional athletes have created an increased public awareness of the repercussions of these injuries.

The key to preventing future sports injuries is to identify risk factors and make changes before the athlete suffers an injury or establishes patterns that can cause overuse injuries.

A lack of pre-season conditioning and preparation is a significant risk factor contributing to sports injuries. Amateur athletes usually begin intense, competitive sports participation after being inactive for months, leaving them unprepared for the intense activity that is expected at the beginning of the season.

Risk factors for sports injuries include:

errors • Playing whilst injured or overtired •

Poor nutrition

• Improper technique (e.g. in tennis, improper swing can lead to tennis injury) •

Inadequate supervision

•

Psychological stress

• Coaches not properly trained to identify injuries •

Inflexibility due to growth

Parents and coaches are strong influencers in an athlete’s life.

Coaches have a direct influence on the incidence of injuries through the training and conditioning programs that they provide to the athletes, through their determination of when an athlete can return to competition after an injury, and how effectively they support the communication between the athlete and the sports medicine staff.

Coaches also have an indirect influence through their coaching philosophy, including the ability to affect the extent to which their athletes take risks, play with pain, and train strenuously.

Trust and open communication between parents, coaches, and trainers is a must to increase awareness of injuries and stress levels that could contribute to injuries.

• Lack of pre-participation The profound consequences of physical exams brain trauma are often not al• Hazardous playing fields ways immediately visible. The • Conditioning and training lasting effects of the injury tend

Preventive Injury Technology

to emerge over time. In the hours and days following the initial traumatic event, physiological changes occur that can pose both serious current and far-reaching medical complications. Following the initial contact injury, even when the impact is not from great force, the metabolic distress renders the brain highly vulnerable, thus greatly increasing the probability of further, more permanent brain injury. A study by Guskiewcz et.al. revealed that American football players who had already experienced a concussion were three times more likely to experience a second concussion during the same sports season. A 2003 NCAA study drew a similar conclusion.

Concussions are usually produced when both linear and rotational accelerations impact the brain. These accelerations cause internal straining deep within the brain. This deep stress appears to produce a major effect on both the current and long-term brain health of an athlete. The effects of repeated, but lesser, accelerations on the inside of the brain parallels the effect created by a substantial direct impact.

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centration, memory loss and headaches, which can have devastating effects on both athletic and academic performance.

Subtle cognitive deficits may persist for up to a year in some youths. However, it is not as easy to identify the visual cues of a player who may be near the threshold of head trauma after having received multiple smaller impacts.

Quantum Sports LLC is using its expertise in the sport of ice hockey and in the future other sports to reduce the subjectivity and reliance on visual use by measuring the force on a player’s body (whether it occurs directly or through the ‘whiplash’ that occurs during a severe hit to the body). These consistent measurements provide coaches, trainers, and others who monitor the continuing health of an athlete with a more objective method for determining when treatment is required.

Quantum Sports has developed a system that detects magnitude, frequency, location and direction of impacts made to the body. It records the linear and rotational accelerations that were received as a result of multiple impact exposures during the game. The detection and evaluation of these accelerations can then be used to assess the effects of internal stress on the brain to reveal the causes of concussions occurring deep within the brain.

Amateur athletes under the age of 18 are known to be more vulnerable to concussion and to experience more serious short and long-term symptoms of concussion than adults. Youth athletes with concussion may experience fatigue, inattention, lack of con- The Quantum Sports system

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Preventive Injury Technology

uses a patented technology to measure both the ‘big hit’ and the ‘multiple hits’ that occur, and just like a traffic light, it registers green if the player has not experienced any changes, yellow if the player has received enough g-forces to reach a cautionary state and red if a single hit or the accumulation of hits has put this player in a concussed state and should be removed from the activity.

By embedding Quantum Sports’ patented motion-sensory technology anywhere on the body, Quantum Sports is able to measure the frequency, magnitude of force and direction/ vector of each contact that occurs immediately upon impact.

After recording, tabulating and comparing the accumulated contact data with current medically-known thresholds of injury producing impacts, the sensors create an Injury Reduction Data Base. The technology can then assess the on-going ‘real-time’ impacts being made to the head of each athlete as it occurs during play and evaluating the actual effects of impact vectors on the athlete’s cognitive and motor skills. This information is immediately transmitted by and through the embedded sensory components. It is then instantly relayed to the appropriate medical personnel in ‘real time’ and allows them to render appropriate first aid to the player as needed.

As safety is always the primary

focus of each parent (as well as that of the athletic department), having advanced tools that provide a proactive data-based view of the athlete’s health can reduce the subjective ‘guess work’ of a possible concussion, replace subjective visual cues with up-to-date medical data, assuage parental fears of life altering injury.

These advanced tools reduce the risk and severity of injury and provide the information needed to know if immediate treatment is required, if the athlete should be temporally sidelined, or if he can resume play.

This data eliminates the ‘guess work’ of possible head trauma.

And most importantly, Quantum Sports provides data correlation between injuries and long-term performance of athletes.

CEIS Report

CIES Football Observatory Value Report

Richard Angus Sports Analytics Leader

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CEIS Report

ed. This is perhaps the main reason why FC Barcelona opted to sign Neymar, instead of a much-needed defender.

By having Brazil’s standout player, in a year in which Brazil are hosting the World Cup, it keeps your club fresh in the minds of millions, regardless of how well you’re doing on the pitch. Neymar’s’ former club, Santos, would have known With these enormous sums this and therefore would have being spent, actually valuating held out for as long as possia player is difficult. Increasing- ble knowing his importance to ly, clubs pay what they need Barcelona. to in order to guarantee they The CIES Football Observatoget the player they want. This ry recently conducted a rankoften means paying well over ings table that profiled the Top the odds for a player and this 60 most valuable players plyacceptance of overpayment ing their trade in Europe. It’s has had a considerable ef- an interesting list that on first fect on player valuation in the glance will shock a few peocommon market. If we factor ple as it is anything but a run in inflation, Ronaldo, the Bra- down of the Top 60 players zilian striker, regarded as an in the world, instead, it takes all-time great, transferred for around 4,000,000 euros less than Andy Carroll, a player who at the age of 25 failed to make England’s World Cup squad.

The rise of the Galácticos marked a turning point in player valuation. Since Luis Figo’s transfer to the Real Madrid, the Spanish side have continually upped the ante, breaking the highest transfer fee record a further four times, with their most recent acquisition, Gareth Bale, costing them a reported 100m euros.

Comparing Andy Carroll and Ronaldo isn’t an attempt to shame current football managers or even their financial advisors; players are just worth more than they were 15 years ago. Many would argue that the worlds of football and economics have become synonymous, after all, analysing a player’s value solely on his on-pitch ability is short-sight-

into account an eclectic mix of metrics that allow it to give a truer reflection of a player’s valuation.

Their powerful econometrical model is based on the analysis of 1,500 players that have been transferred from the English, Spanish, French, Italian and German leagues since the 2009/2010 season. In order to determine the individual value of the players that were in the table, a number of metrics are considered, including; age, contract length, stature of current club and player performance.

On first viewing the table isn’t that surprising – the general consensus is that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez are the three best players in the world and they head up the list. It’s not even

CEIS Report

that strange to see Lionel Messi valued at almost the twice of Ronaldo (Messi being 26 and Ronaldo nearly 30).

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vestment, whereas Yaya Toure would be a short-term fix.

The comparison of these two players brings a number of invaluable insights that go a long way to prove the reliability of this model. If we put ourselves It’s not un- in the shoes of a manager at a til you reach top European Club who’s lookthe sixth po- ing to purchase a powerful censition that tral midfielder. The two players things start available on the market, Pogba to become a and Toure, have differing values little harder of over 30 million euros; Pogba to com- valued at 70.4 million euros and prehend Toure 33.3 million euros. If we – Paul take it as fact that both player will retire at the age of 34 (or cease to play a pivotal role in their respective clubs), Toure, aged 31 will play around 3 more Pogba, the 21-year old, France seasons at the top level, putinternational has an upper val- ting his value per season at 11.1 uation of 70.4 million euros, a million euros. Pogba on the othfigure that is surely grossly over er hand, at 21 years of age will exaggerated and a sum more cost around 5.4 million euros per suited to the back pages of tab- season – and with that the club loid newspapers. However, from will get him throughout his late an analytical standpoint the twenties, a period of time when figure is incredibly conceivable. players are considered to be He’s young, played a pivotal role at their prime. When put in this for Juventus, one of Europe’s context, the analytical model of premier clubs, a fully-fledged CIES becomes remarkably acFrench international primed to curate. play a central role in France’s The beauty of this analytical World Cup bid and has a con- model is that it values youth tract to 2016. When put like this over experience in an era when it becomes clear why CIES’ eco- clubs are more than willing to nomic model values him higher invest heavily in young players than say, Yaya Toure, a player rather than take the risk on the who’s widely considered to be academy roll-out. From a Premore accomplished in Pogba’s mier League perspective, it is position at the moment. Pogba, also really interesting to see the quite rightly, is viewed as an in- higher valuation of young Eng-

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CEIS Report

lish players. The model seems to have considered the fact that English players tend to stay within their home league and that big English clubs are happy to pay a premium to attract the best English talent. This is evident in the valuation of Ross Barkley, a player who has burst onto the scene this season as a raw 20-year old talent – his valuation is higher than Thomas Muller who is also young, a Champions League winner and an experienced German international. The CIES table reflects clubs preference to sign younger players and in these situations it is incredibly valuable for home club’s to have statistical knowledge that can paint an accurate picture as to the kind of bid that should be deemed acceptable.

The table is also dominated by so called ‘big clubs’ barring perhaps Southampton, Everton, Fiorentina, Schalke and Monaco (who have 6 players on the list between them). The financial status of clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris SG and Manchester City means that in order to attract one of their players a bid well in excess of their true value would be needed to sway them into letting them go, as bringing in extra money is less important than keeping their top talent.

This sentiment is unlikely to be shared by the smaller clubs who have less financial clout. This represents yet another reason to celebrate the accuracy of the econometrical model deployed

by CIES observatory.

One drawback of the model is that it can’t predict whether there will be multiple bids for a player coming from differing clubs. If this happens, like it did with Neymar, where a whole host of large European teams were courting the player, his valuation, by the very virtue of the bidding process, will increase.

From an analytical standpoint this would be incredibly difficult to incorporate but nevertheless marks a slight flaw in its workings.

It remains to be seen whether any of the players on the list will be sold in the summer transfer window, but you can guarantee that one of themwill be up for grabs. Big name players like; Luis Suarez, Eden Hazard and even Lionel Messi have been rumored to be on the move and it will be really interesting to see whether the CIES Football Observatory econometric model stands up to the unpredictability of the transfer market.

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Maxi Nutrition

Review: Maxi Nutrition - Cyclone Sean Foreman Sports Nutrition Enthusiast

Maxi Nutrition

I am always on the lookout for a product that can support my strength and fitness goals and before we go any further with this review, it’s important to say that this latest Maxi Nutrition instalment, the Cyclone, works incredibly well. I gained half a stone in mass, whilst also seeing my body fat percentage drop by 1.5% - a change that I have never experienced before with another product.

The reason it works so well is because it packs a considerable punch – 5g of Creatine and easily digestible whey proteins that aid the restoration and development of muscle. Having a product that actually helps recovery is really important to me because I go to the gym on average 6 times a week, which means that for muscle development, I have to be taking quality supplements. Over the cycle I was able to train vigorously from Monday to Saturday, with a rest day on Sunday without feeling too fatigued.

including: strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and banana.

Some could complain about the price (it costs £49.99) but you pay for what you get, as I said before, it’s a quality product and I’d much rather spend £10 more on this than on another protein supplement.

Having had a good deal of experience with poor protein products in the past, it was a real surprise to see so much progress in a relatively short period of time. Maxi Nutrition aren’t leaders in this field for nothing and if you’re looking for a good tasting, quality product you won’t go far wrong with this Maxi Nutrition outreach. Having said that, it’s certainly not a product for those of us who are trying to put on substantial muscle mass, as it says on the tin, it’s designed to get you fit and lean.

I often hear newcomers to the gym expressing real fear about using protein, normally because they feel it’s unnecessary calories, but it’s a vital tool that I’ve heard that many people are allows you to reach your fitput off creatine based protein ness goals quicker, and with the shakes by the taste and although added creatine kick, increased it’s never been a problem for me, strength is far easier to reach.

I can understand why it could re- This product will increase your duce your appetite for the prod- capacity to get those last couple uct. My protein cycle lasted for 3 of reps out, reps which are immonths (3 weeks on, 1 week off) perative to your development. I and I can safely say that it was would have no qualms in recomthe best tasting creatine prod- mending Maxi Nutrition, Cyclone, uct I have ever had, and for even 1.32 KG to anyone who’s looking the pickiest of gym-goer it’s un- to get lean and in shape. likely to be unpleasant. It comes in a variety of different flavours,

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Go Pro Hero 3+ Black

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Review: Go Pro Hero 3+ Black David Barton Wearable Technology Leader

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Go Pro Hero 3+ Black

Go Pro has long been seen as the brand synonymous with ‘action cams’. In fact, when videos are posted online from a helmet, the normal reactions are that it is a ‘Go Pro Video’.

Having used similar products in the past I was excited to try out the Go Pro 3+ Black.

When first opening the box one of the most noticeable aspects was that the camera is incredibly durable. There are multiple mounts and hinges that allow the camera to be positioned in a variety of angles and positions when filming. This meant that on a decent cycling helmet (which has multiple vents and therefore thinner areas to place the camera bracket) it is easy to find an area on which to place the bracket and adjust the hinges accordingly to fit the camera.

When wearing the camera, it is certafinly more obvious than others in the same space. Due to its rectangular shape and the fame of the camera itself, it is incredibly obvious when you are wearing it. It is often bizarre seeing people duck out of the way when dismounting due to the camera being on my helmet and I certainly noticed that cars were much ‘better behaved’ when they saw the camera.

The footage and audio produced by the camera is good and certainly measures up to others in the same space. Comparisons between other camera’s in regards to this shows that there are minimal differences, with crisp imaging a clear sound.

It is also relatively light and is comparable to others in this regard. This made wearing it simple without being too cumbersome or awkward. When it is

Go Pro Hero 3+ Black

on your helmet it can be easy to forget that it’s there as it doesn’t hinder your movements and due to the robust nature of the hinges and the bracket it can be fitted to make it as comfortable as possible.

There are a few downsides to the camera and the main one is the battery life. The battery will only stay charged for two hours at the most whilst recording.

This is certainly an issue if you are using the camera for longer journeys or to film across multiple days without a power supply.

For a camera that is designed to be used in action situations this is certainly one of the major downsides.

Another issue with the camera was that the brackets do not allow for the use of cable ties,

which means that specialised brackets need to be bought. I found that the original placement of my first bracket frustrating after the first fortnight, so wanted to change it slightly and as the original sticky mount was no longer strong enough, there was no way of doing this.

Aside from the battery life, the camera is impressive, the film capturing on it is crisp and the audio is impressive for a camera of this size that is encased in plastic during use. Overall, I am impressed by the Go Pro 3+, it continues the impressive line of action cams that precede it and justifies why Go Pro is seen as the market leader in this arena.

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Basis Smart Watch

Basis Smart Watch: Review

David White CEO, Import.io

Basis Smart Watch

When I decided it was finally time to lose the extra 20 kilos I packed on during the early stages of starting my own company, I knew I was going to need some serious motivation. As the CEO of a data company, joining the quantified self movement and measuring my personal data seemed like a good place to start.

I needed a wearable device that I could keep on all day and that would measure things like steps, calories, hours slept, etc.

There are a wealth of products out there, all of which claim to be the ultimate lifestyle monitor, and choosing one wasn’t easy.

I’d previously tried the BodyMedia armband, which was pretty good from a measurement standpoint, but the feedback mechanism wasn’t great (a little extra pendant you clip to yourself). I could have gotten over this except that it didn’t have the one major feature I wanted: a constant heart rate monitor.

This was a deal breaker for me since I was really interested in measuring how my stress levels affected my weight retention.

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in the US but since I travel back and forth regularly this wasn’t a huge issue.

My first impression of the Basis is that it looked better than most of the competition. It’s not exactly a Rolex, but it doesn’t look like it was made by Fisher Price either. It has a decently sleek and unassuming design, it’s reasonably well made and I find it quite comfortable - it’s really not as bulky as it looks. A little side note here, I actually quite like watches as an accessory so I wear the Basis on my right arm and often rock two watches at once - so far no one has commented that this looks weird.

I’ve been using it now for around two months and I have to say the data is amazing. Not only does it give me a constant heart rate, but I can see calories burnt, steps taken, hours slept, sleep quality, skin temperature and perspiration levels. The sheer amount of data it captures is great and based on my, albeit unscientific, tests it appears to be pretty accurate. The steps seem to match my other pedometers pretty well and I actuAfter several days of research, ally think the calories measureI settled on the Basis B1 Band ment might be more accurate (Carbon Steel Edition), mostly because of the constant HR because it is the only product monitor. Not to mention there on the market which gives you are hardly any gaps! a constant HR without requir- The sleep data is a little more ing you to wear a chest strap subjective. It gives you a sleep while at the same time having quality score each night out of all the other features I was 100, which I personally think looking for. Unfortunately, the does align with how I feel about Basis is currently only available that night’s sleep. It’s one of the

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Basis Smart Watch

most interesting things to measure and the one I think I’ve seen the most improvement in. Regardless of how accurate the sleep score is, it is consistent and it gives you a baseline to measure good vs bad sleep. I think this measurement is particularly important because sleep is generally the element of our personal data that we are the least good at quantifying. I thought I was pretty good at going to bed and getting a good night’s sleep, but after only a week of looking at the data from the Basis I realised I wasn’t. The other great thing about it is that it knows automatically when you are sleeping, you don’t have to tell it the way you do with most devices.

One thing the Basis is definitely not good at, is measuring heart rate during exercise. To be honest, I expected that to be the case since the Basis bills it-

self as a lifestyle monitor, not an exercise tool. I actually don’t mind this at all because I use a specialist heart rate monitor for when I’m exercising which provides me with a more accurate heart rate and GPS information.

As a device, the Basis is easy to use. You sync it with the app on your phone using the bluetooth and simply press the button once a day when you want to update your data. The display is large and easy to use and there is plenty of functionality built into the watch which I found easily navigable (there’s only four buttons). The battery life is quite good as well. I charge mine for 20 minutes every day while I’m in the shower (though it is water resistant), which keeps it topped up and gives me a consistent gap in my data.

The app itself is ok, I don’t use it much personally, but the website is great. The visualizations are simple and visually appealing and allow you to view your data in a lot of different ways.

The patterns are my favourite part, you can find some really interesting (and sometimes weird) things by tracking them.

For example, for a completely unknown reason about twice a week my skin temperature spikes at night and my perspiration increases. You can see this reflected in the data, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s causing it. I also really like the activities charts, they’re simple to use and provide you

Basis Smart Watch

with some really great trends.

Basis also offers what it calls “habits”, which are essentially points you can earn by being active. They are supposed to provide you with added motivation.

Personally, I find these a bit gimmicky and unhelpful, since you can’t do much in the way of customisation. The nice thing about the Basis is that it doesn’t bombard you with them, so if you want to ignore them, you can.

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Intel, so maybe this is already in the pipeline.

Overall the Basis has been a major help in my goal to getting fitter. Despite the lack of data export and the fact that it’s not great at exercise monitoring, I still think this is the best lifestyle monitoring tool on the market.

It’s the only one that will give you a constant heart rate, the data monitoring is very accurate and the website’s charts are great The one thing that really annoys for identifying patterns and me about the Basis is that there trends. If I had to put a number is no official API, nor is there any to it - and I will because I’m a way of exporting your data at all. data nerd - I’d give it a solid 8.7 This seems like a massive over- out of 10. sight to me. Basis themselves admit that the B1 isn’t great at monitoring exercise, so presumably they realise that anyone serious about fitness data will want to have multiple devices.

Not having a way to export my data means that I can’t combine it with my other fitness data. I like to do my own data analysis, so it is frustrating that there isn’t a way for me to see anything other than the charts Basis creates for me.

Fortunately, with a little googling you’ll find that a few members of the Basis community have found a way hacking data out of the Basis app and into a CSV. So if you’re a bit technical you can get the data out, but it certainly isn’t ideal; and Basis should support an official API. Though they’ve recently been bought by

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Email dwatts@theiegroup.com for more information

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