Athletic Ability

This second edition of Genetics and Sports expands on topics previously discussed in an attempt to create an integrated and holistic understanding of the field of sports genomics. It is an update on technologies and on the role of genetics in training, performance, injury, and other exercise-related phenotypes. Ethical concerns and the importance of counselling before and after genetic testing are also addressed. It is increasingly important to understand the field of genetics and sports because of the potential to use and misuse information. All exercise scientists, sport and exercise clinicians, athletes, and coaches need to be adequately informed to ensure that genetic information is accurately and properly used. Genetics and Sports is, therefore, highly recommended to all of these groups.

The New York Times bestseller – with a new afterword about early specialization in youth sports – by the author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training? In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success and the so-called 10,000-hour rule, David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving it. Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.

Before athletes can become strong and powerful, they need to master the movement skills required in sport. Athletic Movement Skills covers the underlying science and offers prescriptive advice on bridging the gap between scientist and practitioner so coaches and athletes can work together to achieve dominance.

Through a detailed economic assessment of the current business of professional sports and prospects for the future in the United States, Scully examines the factors that determine players' salaries; management practices and franchise values; and long-term, short-term, and corporate ownership. Scully shows, for example, that while the economic growth of the last two decades was fueled primarily by sales of television rights, the broadcast market has become saturated and teams will have to look elsewhere for income in the 1990s. This book offers technical insights that will interest business economists and professionals in sports management.

"There is a new revolution happening in sports as more and more athletes are basing their success on this game-changing combination: health, nutrition, training, recovery, and mindset. Unfortunately, the evidence-based techniques that the expert PhDs, academic institutions, and professional performance staffs follow can be in stark contrast to what many athletes actually practice. When combined with the noise of social media, old-school traditions, and bro-science, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Peak is a groundbreaking book exploring the fundamentals of high performance (not the fads), the importance of consistency (not extreme effort), and the value of patience (not rapid transformation). Dr. Marc Bubbs makes deep science easy to understand, and with information from leading experts who are influencing the top performers in sports on how to achieve world-class success, he lays out the record-breaking feats of athleticism and strategies that are rooted in this personalized approach.Dr. Bubbs expertly brings together the worlds of health, nutrition, and exercise and synthesizes the salient science into actionable guidance.

Many scientific sport assessment resources are difficult to understand, can be time consuming to implement, and provide data that are difficult to analyze. Assessments for Sport and Athletic Performance effectively solves those problems in this practical, user-friendly guide to performance-based evaluation. A perfect resource for coaches and fitness professionals, Assessments for Sport and Athletic Performance is a streamlined guide through the process of identifying appropriate tests for individuals or teams, making use of common low-cost equipment to administer the tests, interpreting data, adjusting training programs based on the results, and continually monitoring the training.

This study of anatomy explains how exercise works on the body and how the athlete can get the most out of each muscle through exercises to improve performance in every sport.

The Athletic Skills Model offers an alternative to dominant talent development theories in the form of holistic broad-based movement education, focusing on health and wellbeing. It places the emphasis on ‘physical intelligence’ – including attributes such as agility, flexibility and stability – through adaptable and varied training programmes, creating a skilled athlete before introducing sport specialization. The book sets out the scientific underpinnings of the ASM before going on to offer practical guidance on the content of the programme, how to adapt and vary the programme, and how to apply the approach to different age groups and sports. The ASM’s application in the youth development programme at AFC Ajax is explored in depth, before a future of talent development with an emphasis on athletic, rather than sport-specific, expertise is imagined. The Athletic Skills Model introduces an important and timely challenge to conventional wisdom in talent development and is a fascinating read for any upper-level student or researcher interested in youth development, skill acquisition, motor learning or sports coaching, and any coaches wanting to refresh their approach to talent development.