Games and sports are as old as human society and have achieved an universal following in the modern times. These have become integral part of educational process. Millions of people take part in sports activities for either recreational purposes or for health, strength and fitness and for displaying superiority over others in competition sports. Some competitive games and sports are taking shape of a profession with high skills, and with ample financial benefits linked with high degree of popularity.
This text contains an in-depth discussion of physiological adaptation to exercise with a goal of providing practical applications to facilitate exercise prescriptions for a variety of athletes.
This handbook provides professionals and academics working in football with a better understanding of match analysis systems, and combines cutting edge football analysis theory with practical guidance.
Team sports like football, basketball, soccer, and rugby are hugely popular the world over, on both college and professional levels, and such popularity means that they are big business. Very big. Broadcasting rights alone bring in billions: ESPN paid $5.6 billion to broadcast college football playoffs for twelve years; Turner Sports/CBS shelled out $10.4 billion to show the national college basketball tournament through 2024; and the most recent NBA TV deal came in at a cool $26.4 billion. As the rewards for winning have increased, it’s no surprise that sports team budgets have followed suit. Sure, the athletic program at the University of Texas brought in $161 million last year, but the Longhorns also spent $154 million over the same period. Fifteen other college athletics program also racked up over $100 million in annual expenses. But that’s child’s play compared to the outgoings at the world’s most valuable soccer team, Manchester United, which spent more than $500 million in 2015. The trouble is that all this spending often fails to yield better results. Teams in all sports have tried just about every gimmick to “hack” their way to better performance. But as they’ve gotten stuck in stats, mired in backroom politics, and diverted by the facilities arms race, many have lost sight of what should’ve been their primary focus all along: the game itself. In Game Changer, Fergus Connolly shows how to improve performance with evidence-based analysis and athlete-focused training. Through his unprecedented experiences with teams in professional football, basketball, rugby, soccer, Aussie Rules, and Gaelic football, as well as with elite military units, Connolly has discovered how to break down the common elements in all sports to their basic components so that each moment of any game can be better analyzed, whether you’re a player or a coach. The lessons of game day then can be used to create valuable learning experiences in training, evaluate the quality of your team’s performance, and home in on what’s working and what isn’t. Game Changer also shows you how to expand training focus from players' physical qualities to advance athletes technically, tactically, and psychologically. Connolly's TTPP Model not only helps players continually progress but also stops treating them like a disposable commodity and instead prioritizes athlete health. Bringing together the latest evidence-based practices and lessons from business, psychology, biology, and many other fields, Game Changer is the first book of its kind that helps coaches, athletes, and casual fans: • Create a cohesive game plan that improves performance through defined objectives, strategies, and tactics • Put statistical analysis and technology into context so teams can bypass the hype and get meaningful results • Identify dominant qualities to maximize during training and limiting factors to improve • Create realistic, immersive learning experiences for individual players and the entire team that deliver defined outcomes • Structure player development with a new, holistic model that puts athlete health first and helps reduce the chance of injury and burnout • Balance training load so that all players are fresh and ready to play at their best in competition • Rethink coaching and organizational leadership and enhance communication, group dynamics, and player interaction • Create a winning team culture
The sport of soccer has evolved immensely since its beginning around 2000 years ago and is now considered the most popular sport in the world. The research related to the physical, psychological, and tactical aspects of the game has risen in conjunction with its fame. Maximizing Performance and Safety in Elite Soccer Players seeks to inform the reader with the most current research connected to optimizing physical performance and reducing the risk of injury of the elite soccer athlete in a variety of leagues. After providing an initial brief overview of applying physical and psychological scientific concepts in soccer (Laying the Foundation), this book then takes the reader through a series of important yet novel sections including; Athlete Monitoring and Data Analysis, Optimizing Physical Performance, Injury Epidemiology and Risk Reduction, Achieving Peak Performance and Safety in Various Environmental Conditions, and Unique Aspects of the Game. The goal of Maximizing Performance and Safety in Elite Soccer Players is to conceptualize and expand upon the current research associated with these topics and provide an applicable point of view to the coaches, sport scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, and sports medicine professionals who work with these athletes every day.
High-Performance Training for Sports changes the landscape of athletic conditioning and sports performance. This groundbreaking work presents the latest and most effective philosophies, protocols and programmes for developing today’s athletes. High-Performance Training for Sports features contributions from global leaders in athletic performance training, coaching and rehabilitation. Experts share the cutting-edge knowledge and techniques they’ve used with Olympians as well as top athletes and teams from the NBA, NFL, MLB, English Premier League, Tour de France and International Rugby. Combining the latest science and research with proven training protocols, High-Performance Training for Sports will guide you in these areas: • Optimise the effectiveness of cross-training. • Translate strength into speed. • Increase aerobic capacity and generate anaerobic power. • Maintain peak conditioning throughout the season. • Minimise the interference effect. • Design energy-specific performance programmes. Whether you are working with high-performance athletes of all ages or with those recovering from injury, High-Performance Training for Sports is the definitive guide for developing all aspects of athletic performance. It is a must-own guide for any serious strength and conditioning coach, trainer, rehabilitator or athlete.
This text introduces the core science underpinning strength and conditioning regimes and explores innovative new approaches combining the best of applied physiology, biomechanics, sports medicine and coaching science.
