Sporting heroes, people to be marked and remembered. Sometimes the athletes and sports people who are revered seem almost super human. It is likely that they are. The individuals who achieve the highest levels in sport clearly require certain characteristics, often extreme ones. One such essential characteristic is likely an intense inward focus, which may at times approach self-absorption. Two recent interviews provide a good example of the necessity of this characteristic. The England and Surrey cricketer Zafar Ansari recently retired from all cricket aged 25. Chris Froome just won his his 4th Tour De France. Their interviews give insight...
The illusion of meritocracy is all around, “work hard and you will achieve”, ”it doesn’t matter your background you can reach your goals”. This of course is partially true, but within most business, governments, and organisations there remains a dominance of white males. If the aim is the best results and meritocracy, surely the aim is to have the best people regardless of background. Sport may be ahead of the rest of society here. In sport the result really does count the most, for all of those involved. The sports club is orientated towards the result and its failure and...
It is a classic commentary line; they kept a cool head under pressure. Remaining cool headed is revered and lorded by many people in sport, but is it just an illusion seen from the outside. Is it actually helpful to keep a cool head. The impression is given that the person involved has completely calm, rational thoughts and a relaxed response. However, could it be more that the individual in question has learnt how to react appropriately by repeated exposure? Watching Virat Kohli’s intense fielding reactions and the wired look in his eyes when he is batting indicates that the...
As the clock ticks over, one extra second too this year, into 2017 and the festivities cease and minds begin to turn to the New Year and new aims. Many people might be considering something new or getting back into something old after a gap, short or long. Particularly when it comes to exercise the New Year is a prime time for us to “get back into it”. Combining the excesses of Christmas eating and drinking, the time off to refresh the body and mind and the return to routine often prompts an increase in physical activity. This is a...
It is a complicated subject why we get injured, but we will try a quick summary! Sporting and domestic injuries can be extremely frustrating and debilitating to normal life. The gap between what we want to be able to achieve and what we can do leads to distress. Sometimes these injuries can disrupt our lives for many months. But why do we get injured? This is not as simple as just “pulling a muscle” or “spraining a wrist” where some external force exceeds the capacity of the tissue- although this is a significant factor in many cases. The body does...
The image of professional athletes being massaged is common. Many will have massage done daily in a bid to aid recovery and boost performance. So why has it become a key component of sporting life? Professional athletes utilise many methods in an attempt to gain performance boosts and help them make the most of training. This makes it difficult to measure which aspect is giving them improvements- training, nutrition, massage, hydration, sleep to name a few. These things contribute to percentage gains. The theory behind massage makes it a perfect fit for sports performance and for improving freedom of movement...
Now there has been some time for reflection, some space for analysis. The over the top disbelief can be dispelled with and the usual “inquisition” into what went wrong, again, can begin. Sack the coach, the players, cut their pay and give them a break in the premier league season. All of these are trotted out every time England is struggling in international football. Yet the coach keeps changing, a lot of the players too, it is too simplistic to look for immediate changes to solve the problem. First we should look at the key question, how badly did England...
I am sure many people have watched in raptures at the sight of Usain Bolt sweeping all before him to win World and Olympic sprint titles. But what makes him so fast and so good when it matters? It is commonly suggested that he doesn’t train very hard. His eating of chicken nuggets during the Olympic games is well documented- quite different to what many nutritionists would advise, I am sure. He races people previously banned for steroid use. There have been arguments made that some of the benefits of steroid use may continue for many years after their cessation....
Why are predictions so hard in sport? The capture of the Premier League title by Leicester City has been cited by many pundits as the greatest shock in sporting history. Is this grand claim little more than evidence of a cognitive bias? ‘Who could have known?’ Certainly not the same pundits who had almost unanimously predicted Leicester’s relegation. Exaggerating the scale of the surprise doubles as a kind of cognitive – and reputational – protection: ‘We were so wrong, yes, but we were right to be.’ I am not trying to argue that the result is not a statistical anomaly,...
What can sports medicine really achieve and just as importantly what should it be aiming to achieve? This may seem like a simple question, but the answer has a myriad of competing influences. Should sports medicine be aimed at merely optimising the sports person’s health? Should it try to improve their performance? Perhaps prevent them from getting problems? How much to intervene and what to leave to nature is a common dilemma in physiotherapy and medicine. The shades of grey are no less opaque in sports. The history of sport includes many unsavoury events where clinicians have intervened too greatly...
