Luke Nicholas Woodhouse, Mark Bennett, Jamie Tallent, Stephen David Patterson, Mark Waldron
{"title":"An investigation into the relationships between technical collision behaviours and physical characteristics in world-class, international female rugby players.","authors":"Luke Nicholas Woodhouse, Mark Bennett, Jamie Tallent, Stephen David Patterson, Mark Waldron","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2442848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2442848","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study first investigated how the probability of winning collision events is affected by technical characteristics among world-class, international female rugby union players, and second, whether enhanced performance of these technical characteristics was related to physical attributes. Carry and tackle events from 16 international matches played by a top-two world ranking team were coded according to technical characteristics and performance outcomes. Binary classification tree models revealed that carry performance was successfully predicted (<i>p</i> < 0.01) by combinations of the variables: carrier velocity at the line, change of direction and straightening angle, leg drive, body mass and system mass (carrier combined with assistance from team-mate(s)). Tackle performance was predicted by combinations of the variables: initial line-speed, tackle direction, tackle type, collision zone entry, body mass, system mass, arm use and leg drive. Cumulative link mixed effects models subsequently revealed that performance increases of ~2% in single-leg isometric squat, counter-movement jump, bench press, single-leg drop jump, 10 m acceleration momentum and velocity, and skinfolds and body mass; were associated with increasing and decreasing likelihoods of superior technical performance, depending on the investigated variable. These findings may increase the precision of practices, physical training and assessment methods, among elite-standard female rugby union players.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142854628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stefan Altmann, Ludwig Ruf, Stefan Thiem, Tobias Beckmann, Oliver Wohak, Christian Romeike, Sascha Härtel
{"title":"Prediction of talent selection in elite male youth soccer across 7 seasons: A machine-learning approach.","authors":"Stefan Altmann, Ludwig Ruf, Stefan Thiem, Tobias Beckmann, Oliver Wohak, Christian Romeike, Sascha Härtel","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2442850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2442850","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study aimed to investigate the relative importance of parameters from several domains associated to both selecting or de-selecting players with regards to the next age group within a professional German youth soccer academy across a 7-year period. Following a mixed-longitudinal approach, physical, physiological, psychological, skill-, health-, age-, and position-related parameters were collected from 409 male players (980 datapoints) from the U12 to U19 age groups. Supervised machine learning classifiers were used to predict the selection status regarding the next age group. The XGBoost models (ROC-AUC: 0.69, F1-Score: 0.84) revealed that physical and physiological (linear sprint, change-of-direction sprint, countermovement jump, aerobic speed reserve) as well as skill-related parameters (soccer-specific skill) were most important for being selected or de-selected regarding the next age group across the entire sample and all age groups. The majority of psychological parameters (motive structure, motive attention, motive competition, cognitive flexibility) were of medium importance. No clear pattern was observed for the health-, age-, and position-related parameters. Our study provides insights into key parameters for talent selection thereby contributing to an overall talent management strategy in highly trained youth soccer players. In particular, coaches and key stakeholders might focus on physical, physiological, and skill-related parameters.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142836941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jérémy Vanhelst, Justin J Lang, David Matelot, Laurent Béghin, François Carré, Daniel Mercier, Georges Baquet, Serge Berthoin, Hervé Ovigneur, Thibault Deschamps, Jean-Michel Oppert, Grant R Tomkinson
{"title":"Temporal trends in muscular fitness among French children and adolescents between 1999 and 2023.","authors":"Jérémy Vanhelst, Justin J Lang, David Matelot, Laurent Béghin, François Carré, Daniel Mercier, Georges Baquet, Serge Berthoin, Hervé Ovigneur, Thibault Deschamps, Jean-Michel Oppert, Grant R Tomkinson","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2440676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2440676","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim was to estimate national temporal trends in muscular fitness for French youth between 1999 and 2023. Data were obtained from five cross-sectional studies on 53,314 children and adolescents (age range: 6-16 years). Lower- and upper-body strength were assessed by standing broad jump (SBJ) and handgrip strength (HGS). BMI z-scores (BMIz) were calculated using WHO growth curves. We found a statistically significant negligible decline in SBJ performance (standardised effect size (ES) trend per decade [95%CI]: -0.08 [-0.10, -0.07] or -2.1 cm [95%CI: -2.4, -1.8]) and a statistically significant negligible improvement in HGS (ES trend per decade [95%CI]: 0.11 [0.08, 0.13]) or 0.6 kg [(95%CI: 0.4, 0.8]). We found evidence of significant increases in distributional variability and asymmetry, with poorer trends in the low performers (<25<sup>th</sup> percentile) and better trends in the high performers (>75<sup>th</sup> percentile) compared to the average performers. Our data suggest negligible trends in mean SBJ and HGS, coupled with increased distributional variability and asymmetry. Trends were not uniform across the population distribution with data suggesting an increase over time in the gap between low and high performers. These results reinforce the importance of interventions and programmes aiming at improving muscular fitness specifically in children and adolescents with low muscular strength.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142846912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
João Guilherme Almeida Bergamasco, Diego Bittencourt, Deivid Gomes Silva, Thaís Marina Pires de Campos Biazon, Samuel Domingos Soligon, Ramon Martins Oliveira, Cleiton Augusto Libardi
{"title":"Individual muscle hypertrophy in high-load resistance training with and without blood flow restriction: A near-infrared spectroscopy approach.","authors":"João Guilherme Almeida Bergamasco, Diego Bittencourt, Deivid Gomes Silva, Thaís Marina Pires de Campos Biazon, Samuel Domingos Soligon, Ramon Martins Oliveira, Cleiton Augusto Libardi","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2437588","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2437588","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We aimed to compare individual hypertrophic responses to high-load resistance training (HL-RT) or high-load with blood flow restriction (HL-BFR). Furthermore, we investigated whether greater responsiveness to one of the protocols could be explained by acute changes in blood deoxyhemoglobin concentration (HHb) and total hemoglobin concentration (tHb) (proxy markers of metabolic stress). Ten untrained participants had their legs randomized into both HL-RT and HL-BFR and underwent 10 weeks of training. Muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) was measured at baseline and post training, while HHb and tHb during the final session. Using a threshold of 2 × typical errors (3.24%) to compare protocols, five participants showed greater mCSA increases after HL-RT (16.44 ± 7.90%) compared to HL-BFR (10.74 ± 7.12%, <i>p</i> = 0.0054) and five did not respond better to HL-RT (8.95 ± 10.83%) compared to HL-BFR (13.33 ± 8.59%) (<i>p</i> = 0.3105). Additionally, HL-RT induced lower HHb (5855.78 ± 12905.99; <i>p</i> = 0.0101) and tHb (-43169.70 ± 37793.17; <i>p</i> = 0.0030) AUC values compared to HL-BFR (HHb: 39254.80 ± 27020.15; tHb: 46309.40 ± 31613.97). In conclusion, despite the higher levels of metabolic stress markers, most participants did not present greater muscle hypertrophy by combining blood flow restriction with HL-RT.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142829029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jyotpal Singh, Chase J Ellingson, Cody A Ellingson, M Abdullah Shafiq, Ryan T Dech, Luke W Sirant, Kim D Dorsch, Marcin Gruszecki, Gregory P Kratzig, J Patrick Neary
{"title":"Acute sport-related concussion alters cardiac contribution to cerebral oxygenation during repeated squat stands.","authors":"Jyotpal Singh, Chase J Ellingson, Cody A Ellingson, M Abdullah Shafiq, Ryan T Dech, Luke W Sirant, Kim D Dorsch, Marcin Gruszecki, Gregory P Kratzig, J Patrick Neary","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2442257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2442257","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Assessment of cerebral oxygenation during repeated squat stands following an acute sport-related concussion (SRC) has the potential to identify physiological changes following SRC. All varsity university athletes completed a pre-season assessment and 53 were followed up within 5-days of suffering an SRC. Of the 53 participants, 29 had continuous beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP; sampled at 200 hz) collected by finger photoplethysmography, and 53 had right prefrontal cortex oxygenation collected by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS; sampled at 10 hz). Participants completed a 5-min repeated squat (10 s) stand (10 s) manoeuvre (0.05 hz). Wavelet transformation was applied to the signals, separating them into smooth muscle cell (0.05 to 0.145 hz), respiratory (0.145 to 0.6 hz) and cardiac (0.6 to 2 hz) frequency intervals, with the 5-min squat stand manoeuvre compared from pre-season to post-concussion. A significant amplitude increase (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in oxyhaemoglobin, total haemoglobin and haemoglobin difference following SRC was found at the cardiac interval. During the squat stand dynamic cerebral autoregulation challenge, this exploratory study found an elevated contribution from the heart to the oxygenation response at the right prefrontal cortex, suggestive of a cardiac compensatory response during concussion. Future research with cerebral blood flow alongside NIRS can provide greater insight to dynamic cerebral autoregulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142828979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
José Miguel Contreras-García, Javier Courel-Ibáñez, Maria Isabel Piñar-López, Sergio J Ibáñez
{"title":"Early specialization in formative basketball: A machine learning analysis of shooting patterns in U14 and professional players.","authors":"José Miguel Contreras-García, Javier Courel-Ibáñez, Maria Isabel Piñar-López, Sergio J Ibáñez","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2436809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2436809","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Growing evidence supports that early sport specialization in children and adolescents may compromise long-term athlete development and high-performance acquisition. This study aimed to determine the presence of specialised shooting roles in formative men's basketball players compared to professionals. Data from shot charts of U14 and professional basketball players during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons were retrieved. Shooting zones were classified by machine learning and clustering analyses. Shooting patterns were defined as extreme field goal attempts (FGA%) from a particular shooting zone. Players who exhibited an outlier shooting pattern were considered specialists. U14 basketball players described singular shooting patterns that largely differed from professionals' requirements (<i>p</i> < 0.001, ES = 0.51). U14 players lacked shooting versatility (2.3% <i>vs</i>. 36.3%) and 3-point shooting ability (1.8 <i>vs</i>. 17.2%). In contrast, the professional competition was characterised by having either versatile players without specialisation (62.7%) or one-zone specialist shooters accumulating most of their %FGA in one court zone (38%). These findings suggested that increasing shooting versatility or becoming a one-zone specialist shooter could significantly impact the development and progression of young basketball players in the long term. Current formative basketball training approaches should be revised accordingly to enhance shooting skills and promote the development of polyvalent players.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142818113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Billy Lozowski, Anthony Fava, Jason Zaremski, Gretchen Oliver
{"title":"Optimising a baseball's dimensions for improved throwing patterns in youth players.","authors":"Billy Lozowski, Anthony Fava, Jason Zaremski, Gretchen Oliver","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2436821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2436821","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The baseball remains unchanged across age groups. This study investigated how ball size impacts throwing patterns to establish if youth players might benefit from using more appropriately sized balls. Throwing patterns for 79 participants (11 ± 2 years; 1.48 ± 0.18 m; 44.1 ± 16.2 kg) were video recorded for three different ball conditions: standard (ST), scaled (SC), and preferred (PR). Each ball was thrown three times into a target net set at 3 m, and a composite score for each was determined. 82.3% of participants preferred a ball smaller than ST, however, their preferred ball choice was not influenced by hand size (-2 Log likelihood = 233.676, χ<sup>2</sup><sub>(1)</sub> = 2.44, <i>p</i> = .118). Total score was significantly higher for the PR compared to the ST ball (<i>p</i> = .015), and there was a notable main effect of ball size on the throw's stride component (<i>p</i> = .026). Ball size influenced throwing pattern, with the PR ball scoring highest amongst all three conditions. Since 82.3% of participants preferred a ball smaller than ST, there appears to be a strong case for using smaller balls for youth baseball. Doing so could prove advantageous to performance, and reduce the incidence of overuse injuries.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142786010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tina P Engseth, John O Osborne, Guro S Solli, Bente Morseth, Erik P Andersson, Virginia De Martin Topranin, Madison Taylor, Dionne A Noordhof, Øyvind Sandbakk, Boye Welde
{"title":"Influence of menstrual- and hormonal contraceptive cycle on self-reported symptom severity and recovery measures across an annual season in female endurance athletes: The FENDURA project.","authors":"Tina P Engseth, John O Osborne, Guro S Solli, Bente Morseth, Erik P Andersson, Virginia De Martin Topranin, Madison Taylor, Dionne A Noordhof, Øyvind Sandbakk, Boye Welde","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2434347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2434347","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This longitudinal study investigated 1) differences in self-reported cycle-related symptom severity and recovery measures (sleep quality, readiness to train, resting heart rate) between pre-bleeding, bleeding, and non-bleeding days in athletes using/not using hormonal contraception (HC); 2) associations between symptom severity and recovery measures. Fifty-eight female endurance athletes recorded recovery measures, perceived symptom severity, and menstruation/withdrawal (bleeding) days for one year. Athletes were grouped as: intrauterine system (IUS)-, implant-, progestin-only oral contraceptive (POC)-, combined oral contraceptive (COC)- and non-HC users. All groups reported higher symptom severity during bleeding compared to pre-bleeding and non-bleeding days (both <i>p</i> < .001), while implant users reported less severe symptoms than IUS (<i>p</i> < .001) and non-HC users (<i>p</i> = .008). Perceived sleep quality was lower during pre-bleeding compared to bleeding days (<i>p</i> < .001) for all groups. However, IUS users reported higher sleep quality (<i>p</i> = .039) and physical readiness-to-train (<i>p</i> = .010) than non-HC users. Symptom severity was negatively associated with sleep quality and physical readiness-to-train (both <i>p</i> < .050). Pre-bleeding days and cycle-related symptom severity were found to negatively influence self-reported recovery measures in both HC- and non-HC users. Therefore, athletes and their support staff are advised to prioritize symptom management and the adjustment of recovery strategies on an individual basis throughout the athletes' cycles.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142786007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julie A Hides, Daniel A Brown, Luke N Anning, Peter D Blanch, Felix T Leung
{"title":"Decreased isometric neck strength is a risk factor for head, neck and face injuries in professional rugby league players.","authors":"Julie A Hides, Daniel A Brown, Luke N Anning, Peter D Blanch, Felix T Leung","doi":"10.1080/02640414.2024.2432793","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2432793","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Head, neck and face injuries are a concern in contact sports. This exploratory study aimed to establish 1) injury risk factors for head, neck and face injuries and 2) clinical cut-off values related to strength, endurance and proprioception of the cervical spine in a team of professional rugby league players. Pre-season assessments of isometric strength of the flexor, extensor and lateral flexor muscles, endurance of the flexor muscles and joint position error were conducted. Injuries resulting in games missed were recorded. Cross-tabulations were used to determine the unadjusted odds ratios for the measures as risk factors for playing season injuries. The unadjusted odds ratio (OR) values indicated that if a player had weaker extensors of the neck (<36.4 kg, <i>p</i> = 0.014; <3.4N/kg, <i>p</i> = 0.014) or asymmetry of isometric strength of their lateral flexor muscles (left-to-right ratio <0.91, <i>p</i> = 0.005), their odds of games missed due to season head, neck and face injuries was increased (OR extensors = 8; 95% CI = 1.5-42.5 OR asymmetry of lateral flexor muscles OR = 12.6; 95% CI = 2.0-79.4). As muscle strength is modifiable, the clinical application of this study would involve targeting players in the team beneath the clinical cut-off value.</p>","PeriodicalId":17066,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Sciences","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142779999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}