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This paper introduces the Composite Rating Method (CRM), a novel approach for the integrated evaluation of basketball player and team performances across multiple leagues. Utilizing data from Euroleague, EuroCup, and Basketball Champions League, the presented method provides comprehensive and accurate rankings, including accounting for actions not included in personal statistics. Drawing inspiration from established methodologies such as ELO, PER, Offensive and Defensive ratings, CRM offers a balanced assessment of player and team capabilities. The paper delineates the data collection and preprocessing procedures, details the algorithmic framework of CRM, and showcases its predictive capacity. By presenting a well-rounded approach to ranking, this paper aims to contribute to the advancement of performance evaluation methods in basketball and sports in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, the concept Playful Sport Design (PSD) is introduced, based on play and proactivity theories. PSD is defined as a proactive cognitive-behavioral orientation that makes athletes incorporate fun and self-oriented challenges into training sessions. Second, we develop and test an instrument to assess PSD. In phase 1 (N = 562), the PSD instrument is tested on its reliability, factorial validity, and construct validity. In phase 2 (N = 131), the test-retest reliability and predictive validity of the PSD instrument is considered. Additionally, the nomological network of PSD is expanded. In phase 3 (N = 212), the predictive validity of PSD is further assessed. As hypothesized, the results of factor analyses show that PSD is best represented by two dimensions: designing fun and designing competition. The psychometric properties of the scale were shown to be satisfactory. Providing evidence for convergent validity, PSD was positively related to playfulness, competitiveness, fantasy proneness, personal initiative, openness to experience, achievement striving, and fun seeking. Specifically, designing fun showed more robust relations with fun-focused personality traits, while designing competition showed stronger relations with competition-focused traits. Providing evidence for divergent validity, PSD did not share variance with negative affect, procrastination, and perfectionism. Finally, in support of predictive validity, athletes who playfully designed their training sessions reported better subjective and objective sports performance. Lay summary: We introduce the concept Playful Sport Design (PSD), which refers to athletes' proactive addition of play elements to their sports training. We present a scale that reliably and validly measures PSD. Further, we show that PSD is positively associated with immersion in sports training and sports performance. Results of this paper could result in more awareness among adult athletes that play during sports training has beneficial sports outcomes. Athletes can use PSD to increase flow experiences during training sessions and enhance sports performance. The results of this paper open the door for practitioners to develop PSD interventions, through which athletes are taught how they can approach their training sessions in a more playful manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the intensity characteristics of specific soccer drills (matches, small-side game, and match-based exercises) could help practitioners to plan training sessions by providing the optimal stimulus for every player. In this paper, we propose a data analytics framework to assess the neuromuscular or metabolic characteristics of a soccer-specific exercise in relation with the expected match intensity. GPS data describing the physical tasks' external intensity during an entire season of twenty-eight semi-professional soccer players competing at the fourth Italian division were used in this study. A supervised machine-learning approach was tested in order to detect difference in playing positions in different sport-specific drills. Moreover, a non-supervised machine-learning model was used to profile the match neuromuscular and metabolic characteristics. Players' playing positions during matches and match-based exercises are characterised by specific metabolic and neuromuscular characteristics related to tactical demands, while in the small-side game these differences are not detected. Additionally, our framework permits to evaluate if the match performance request is mirrored during training drills. Practitioners could evaluate the type of stimulus performed by a player in a specific training drill in order to assess if they reflect the matches characteristics of their specific playing position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirulina species are photosynthetic and filamentous bacteria, commonly called 'blue-green microalgae'. Spirulina has a high nutrient content. It contains 60–70% protein with all essential amino acids present, and is rich in several vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds. Spirulina is also rich in essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. This rich nutritional content provides to Spirulina several health benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulation, and insulin-sensitizing properties as well as positive effects in various diseases which could be also interesting for athletes. This paper mainly aims to review the interest and effects of Spirulina supplementation in athletes at rest, and in relation to exercise/training. Spirulina's biochemical composition, health properties/effects in humans, and effects in athletes including nutritional status, body composition, physical performance and intense exercise-related disorders were discussed in this review. Literature data showed that Spirulina seems to have positive effects on body composition especially in overweight and obese subjects which could not be the case in other pathologies and athletes. Spirulina appears to be also effective in improving aerobic fitness especially in untrained and moderately trained subjects. Results reported in the literature suggest that Spirulina may improve strength and power performance despite the minor or no significant effects in highly trained subjects. Most studies have shown that Spirulina improves antioxidant status, prevents and accelerates the recovery of exercise-induced lipid peroxidation, muscle damage and inflammation in trained and untrained subjects. Taken together, the results from these studies are encouraging and may demonstrate the potential benefits of Spirulina supplementation in athletes despite methodological differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a method for analysing badminton matches based on the concept of perturbations. We transfer this principle to a badminton rally and describe the decisive shot, which turns a balanced situation into an advantage for one team or one player. Our paper proposes an observational system, which models the decisive shots by using four consecutive actions: impulse (the perturbation), follow-up, survival, and convert. To test the objectivity of the operationalization, independent raters analysed six matches in the singles disciplines of the 2022 World Championships. To evaluate rater agreement, Jaccard coefficient and Cohen's kappa were used. Results show an agreement in identifying impulses of J(R1, R2) =.80, while the agreement in classifying the impulse type (positive/negative) reached κ =.70. A comparison of this perturbation-based analysis and last shot analyses shows significantly different results. Direct errors usually occur in the midcourt (56.4%), whereas most negative perturbations originate from the backcourt (40.0%). In contrast to direct winners, mostly originating from a smash (45.5%), most positive perturbations are created by net shots (30.1%). We argue that our method can be complementary to common last shot analyses and provides a possibility to describe players' strengths and weaknesses in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]