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…
Ask any player or coach who has experience at the highest level of rugby, and they will undoubtedly discuss collisions. You will often hear things like “fronting up,” “winning the gain-line,” “gaining momentum,” “dominance,” “physicality,” and so on. There are obviously many factors—physical and psychological—that go into performing and succeeding at the highest level of…
Acceleration gets the spotlight in performance discussions, leaving deceleration as one of the most overlooked aspects of athletic movement speed [1]. Searching PubMed yields over 10,980 results for “acceleration AND sport” compared to just 1,633 for “deceleration AND sport.” That’s more than a sixfold difference. This imbalance doesn’t just exist in the literature, it trickles…
The integration of advanced technology has allowed for detailed analysis of vertical jump performance in athletes, with much of the focus on the standing countermovement jump (CMJ/SVJ). This overlooks the value and importance of the approach vertical jump (AVJ), a movement that is more commonly performed in sports. Vertical jump performance is strongly associated with—and…
Time-loss groin injuries are common in football players, but are only the tip of the iceberg. Non-time loss groin pain accounts for 60-90% of all groin problems in football and is associated with decreased sporting function and performance deficits. Most severe time-loss groin injuries occur from gradual overuse onset, suggesting that early detection and appropriate…
Imagine you play football (maybe you actually do). What’s your most important tool? It’s so obvious you might not think about it: your feet. They propel you forward, pass the ball, and most importantly, score goals. Yet, remarkably, feet are often overlooked in Dutch youth academies. That may be a bit harsh. Context is king,…
Presentation description In this presentation, Roula Kotsifaki breaks down how jump testing can go far beyond hop distance to deliver meaningful insights into athlete readiness. Blending clinical expertise with applied sports science, she explores which jump tests matter, what metrics to track, and how to interpret them to guide rehabilitation and return-to-performance decisions. From vertical and horizontal hop profiles…
“The key to meaningful biomechanical analysis isn’t just in data collection—it’s in applying those insights to training that truly impacts performance” Introduction In episode #402 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is joined by Eric Leidersdorf of P3. Eric shares his expertise in assessing and training elite athletes using cutting-edge biomechanics and data-driven approaches. This…
What are some of the limitations of using a solely percentage based approach to resistance training prescription? Traditionally, resistance training has been prescribed as a percentage of an individual’s 1RM, allowing practitioners to prescribe a selected training intensity for their athletes to target specific adaptations. However, percentage based prescription is typically informed through data collected…
Presentation description Weight lifting and speed progressions and numerous, yet proven agility progressions are hard to discover. Simply training deceleration is not enough. This presentation from Tony Villani will focus on progressions for turning track speed into game speed, what speeds are optimal to change direction, great deceleration drills, foot placement progressions and agility prescription.…
Daniel Cohen My three favorite force plate countermovement jump (CMJ) metrics not only tell us something about neuromuscular performance, but they also drive at why we do this assessment, how it is performed, and why we get some of the numbers we see. Flight time:Contraction time (FT:CT) My main reason for assessing most athletes using…
Definition and mechanisms of proprioception Since the term proprioception was introduced, there have been various interpretations and ongoing debates in defining exactly what proprioception is. This has likely contributed to the misunderstanding and misuse of the term “proprioception” by sports performance practitioners. So what is proprioception? The contemporary definition describes proprioception as the perception of…
Just about any sports practitioner with force plates is doing countermovement jump (CMJ) assessments. The CMJ is a staple of athletic performance programs around the globe because it is a simple and practical way to assess slow stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) efficacy and the strategy someone chooses to express lower body power. Letting athletes self select…
We shouldn’t need any references or in game stats to convince coaches that athletes change direction a lot, and they need to be good at it. And because training change of direction speed (CODS) is a fundamental practice, testing it should be, too. My academic side craves validity and reliability, leading me to be overly…