Sport Science Department (part 2) - How to do it in a club

If you are interested in an internal Sport Science Department  in your club, we reccomend the following  process.

monitoring process within the Sports Science Department

  1. ATHLETE PROFILING

     

    Key features

    • Medical History (previous injuries, surgeries, missed games due to injury)
    • Complete haematological/biochemical /hormonal profile
    • Fitness profile (aerobic endurance, speed, strength/power, body composition)
    • Complete supplement record  

     

  2. ATHLETE-TRAINING LOAD MONITORING CYCLE   

 

Key features

  • External training and game load (GPS during training sessions and matches)
  • Internal training load (RPE, heart rate monitoring, player-load™)
  • Adjustments of external load according to internal response

3. INTEGRATION OF THE PROFILEING/MONITORING PROCESS WITHIN THE SEASON 

Fitness testing within the season

 % body fat

VO2max or  YO-YO test

 

V2 & V4 (velocity at 2 and 4mM of blood lactate

Squat jump+Countermovement jump

Isokinetic profile quadriceps-hmastrings 60-180°/sec

10m/20m/30m time

 

  • 4 testing occasions within the season (before and after preparation, mid-season, end-season)  

Haematological/biochemical/hormonal monitoring within the season

CBC (complete blood cell count)

GLC

UREA/ CRE/ UA

CPK/AST/ALT/γ-GT/LDH

Fe/FER/TIBC/TRANSFERRIN

K, Na, Ca, Mg, P

B12/follic acid+Vit D

Total Testosterone/ALB

Free Testosterone

Cortisol

  • 4 testing occasions within the season (before and after preparation, mid-season, end-season)   

 ▶️ Meaningful interpretation of test results requires sequential measurements made at key points during the entire season (and across seasons). Before every measurement 3 simple rules may reduced pre-analytical within-athlete variation:

1) Complete rest 24h before sampling; of course this is almost not possible, thus our recommendation is that every sampling occasion should be preceded (previous 24h) by a light (and standardized if possible) training session,

2) sequential sampling should be done at approximately the same time of day to (±2-3h) to reduce circadian variation,

3) if possible testing should be done in the same laboratory to reduce variation due to different methodologies or analyzers.   

 

4. INTEGRATION OF THE PROFILING/MONITORING PROCESS WITHIN THE MICROCYCLE

  • External load variables (total distance, very high-speed distance, sprinting distance, accelerations, player-load)
  • Internal load (time at HR>85%HRmax, RPE)
  • Fatigue (morning wellness ratings)
  • Hydration (body mass, urine specific gravity, osmollality, urine color)
  • Central (low-frequency) fatigue (CMJ on individual basis)
  • Injury prevention (hamstring iso strength, adductor squeeze test)

 

 

 

If you can envision it, then we can plan it.
Tell us more about your training!