Growth and maturation represent a fundamental challenge in youth sports. During adolescence, players experience rapid biological changes, and this period is associated with an increased incidence and burden of injuries.[1, 2] This can be difficult to manage. Not all adolescents grow and mature at the same rates, so players of the same chronological age can…
Maturation is a natural biological process through which children and adolescents progress towards adulthood. This process encompasses a range of physiological and cognitive developments.[1] One of the most notable landmarks within this process is peak height velocity (PHV), the maximum rate of growth in stature during the adolescent growth spurt.[1] In girls, PHV typically occurs…
Locomotion in team sports is rarely linear: players repeatedly perform accelerations, sprints, changes of direction (COD), and decelerations to create or close space, adjust positioning, and respond to unpredictable game situations [1]. These actions involve rapid transitions in speed and movement direction, placing substantial neuromuscular and mechanical demands on the athlete. Changes of direction and…
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries remain a major focus in team sports because of their severity, the substantial time lost from training and competition, the notable risk of re-injury to either the same or the contralateral limb, and their long-term consequences for knee health and function [1]. When we think about ACL injuries, we often…
A recent systematic review found that 25.5% of athletes do not return to previous levels of competition after ACL reconstruction (ACLR) due to fear of re-injury, pain, or poor knee function. [1] Similarly, athletes who do not meet at least six discharge criteria after ACL reconstruction have a four-fold greater risk of ACL graft rupture…
Across the different formats of crickets, fast bowlers (FB) face the most intense physical demands. [1,2] A successful delivery entails a sequence of movements within four phases: the run-up, pre-delivery stride, delivery stride, and follow-through. Each phase places unique horizontal and vertical forces on the FB, with ground reaction forces (GRF) up to 9.5 times …
1. What is missing from basketball’s testing batteries? Most force plate and motion capture assessments at the highest level of team sport place a heavy emphasis on sagittal plane movements, particularly vertical force outputs and their derivatives, which have been widely studied in biomechanics research [1]. There are several reasons behind this, but in recent…
Regular insights into cardiorespiratory fitness are critical to inform the scheduling and manipulation of training variables in team sports. However, most assessments of cardiorespiratory capacity are maximal tests. These are not ideal and are barely practical for frequent monitoring in elite sport, restricting our confidence in the observed changes. Embedded monitoring is the integration of…
Quadriceps function is vital for knee health. Quadriceps weakness is associated with an increased risk of reinjury, higher rates of knee osteoarthritis, persistent pain, progressive joint damage, and a greater likelihood of requiring joint-replacement surgery [2, 3, 4, 5]. Adding to the already steep challenges of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) rehabilitation is the difficulty…
Even with the widespread advancement in and adoption of sport technology, the full training potential of isokinetics continues to fly under the radar. This may leave athletes with immature structural adaptations and incomplete force generating capacities, ultimately blunting their sport specific action capabilities. In elite rehab and return to play, athletes often regain strength outputs…
Swimming presents some unique challenges to the strength & conditioning coach. Swim programmes regularly cater to athletes who compete in events that range from 21 seconds (50m freestyle) to 15 minutes (1500m freestyle). Athletes in high performing programmes will typically train in the pool for 12-24 hours a week, depending on the stage of the…
Success in high performance sports hinges on many factors, with athlete availability being a crucial one. Effective injury management directly impacts the team’s performance, as having your best players fit to play gives the team the best opportunity to succeed. Injuries will always happen and will affect key players within the squad. This is why…
External load monitoring in football (soccer) is a critical aspect of optimizing player performance while minimizing the risk of injury. The increased physical intensity in football over the last decade, combined with a rising number of games in both domestic and international competitions, has made external load monitoring even more vital [1]. The schedule of…
Reflective practice is a cornerstone of professional development across sport science, providing a platform for practitioners to evolve their work and push the boundaries of high performance support. At its core, it promotes a systematic and critical examination of one’s thoughts, actions, and experiences. But this self-exploratory process should transcend a simple, tick-the-box self-assessment. It…
Speed is one of the most scrutinised physical qualities in football. Questions about a player’s speed frequently arise in multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussions or conversations with parents: How fast is a player? Are they quick enough to compete at the highest level? Can we improve their speed? Although there is growing recognition that physical qualities…