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The objective of the present paper is to put a milestone on the roadmap toward a global economic system of professional sport, at least as regards its financial dimension, i.e., its model of finance, its ownership, and some new trends in global sport finance. Professional sport went through a radical change during the 1990s when switching from gate receipts to TV rights revenues as its major source of finance and from local/domestic to internationalised/globalised sources of revenue. This change was more marked in European soccer (football) before spreading throughout other professional sport disciplines. In fact, the whole distribution of sport financing was restructured as shown in this paper. Starting from this evidence of the first stage of sport finance globalisation, it appears that new transformations have been at work in sport finance more recently. In particular, soccer moved from globalisation of flows (revenues, finance) to asset globalisation in terms of club ownership. At last, this paper discusses the emergence of new trends in global sport finance such as treating professional (soccer) players as financial assets and crypto-assets penetrating the sports business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper examines Sports Analytics, focusing on injury patterns in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and their impact on players' performance. It employs a unique dataset to identify common NBA injuries, determine the most affected anatomical areas, and analyze how these injuries influence players' post-recovery performance. This study's novelty lies in its integrative approach that combines injury data with performance metrics and salary data, providing new insights into the relationship between injuries and economic and on-court performance. It investigates the periodicity and seasonality of injuries, seeking patterns related to time and external factors. Additionally, it examines the effect of specific injuries on players' per-match analytics and performance, offering perspectives on the implications of injury rehabilitation for player performance. This paper contributes significantly to sports analytics, assisting coaches, sports medicine professionals, and team management in developing injury prevention strategies, optimizing player rotations, and creating targeted rehabilitation plans. Its findings illuminate the interplay between injuries, salaries, and performance in the NBA, aiming to enhance player welfare and the league's overall competitiveness. With a comprehensive and sophisticated analysis, this research offers unprecedented insights into the dynamics of injuries and their long-term effects on athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publications on elbow pain (EP) in overhead sports are increasing. The results of previous studies mostly focus on the influence of EP in the ball game and throwing sports. Thus, a bibliometric analysis of these publications may show the direction of hot topics and future research trends. The purpose of this study is to identify the research trends on EP in overhead sports. For the methods, the first step is to use the main keywords of 'Elbow pain' and 'Overhead sport' merging auxiliary vocabulary to reach the relevant global publications between 1970 and 2022 in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The literature data set is imported into EndNote literature manager software to remove duplication. Secondly, the duplication-reduced articles are imported to an Excel sheet according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study. In the third step, VOSviewer software is applied as the main analysis tool in extracting data for analysis from the articles. Then, the main research results for three aspects are obtained by VOSviewer software which extracted and analyzed the parameters of author name, article title, publication journal, keywords, organization, publication country/region, and the sum of times cited from 455 qualified papers. The study found that the United States of America made the most outstanding contribution to this theme study. The research on EP in overhead sports in China requires more attention from scholars. EP in swimming is a new research direction worthy of attention. In conclusion, the research results prove the growth trend of EP in overhead sports. The EP problem not only exists in the ball game and throwing sports but also swimming. Sport commercialization and the involvement of related professional sports organizations determine the degree of EP's attention in a specific sport and the development of solutions. The development of a region or country also affects the depth and scope of EP study. Clinical research development and in-depth exploration are one of the bases to solve EP problems. Non-clinical action is beneficial to EP patients, but it still needs to be explored and studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate assessment of physical fatigue is crucial to preventing physical injury caused by excessive exercise, overtraining during daily exercise and professional sports training. However, as a subjective feeling of an individual, physical fatigue is difficult for others to objectively evaluate. Heart rate variability (HRV), which is derived from electrocardiograms (ECG) and controlled by the autonomic nervous system, has been demonstrated to be a promising indicator for physical fatigue estimation. In this paper, we propose a novel method for the automatic and objective classification of physical fatigue based on HRV. First, a total of 24 HRV features were calculated. Then, a feature selection method was proposed to remove useless features that have a low correlation with physical fatigue and redundant features that have a high correlation with the selected features. After feature selection, the best 11 features were selected and were finally used for physical fatigue classifying. Four machine learning algorithms were trained to classify fatigue using the selected features. The experimental results indicate that the model trained using the selected 11 features could classify physical fatigue with high accuracy. More importantly, these selected features could provide important information regarding the identification of physical fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Athletic performance, technique assessment, and injury prevention are all important aspects in sports for both professional and amateur athletes. Wearable technology is attracting the research community's interest because of its capability to provide real-time biofeedback to coaches and athletes when on the field and outside of more restrictive laboratory conditions. In this paper, a novel wearable motion sensor-based system has been designed and developed for athletic performance assessment during running and jumping tasks. The system consists of a number of components involving embedded systems (hardware and software), back-end analytics, information and communications technology (ICT) platforms, and a graphical user interface for data visualization by the coach. The system is able to provide automatic activity recognition, estimation of running and jumping metrics, as well as vertical ground reaction force (GRF) predictions, with sufficient accuracy to provide valuable information as regards training outcomes. The developed system is low-power, sufficiently small for real-world scenarios, easy to use, and achieves the specified communication range. The system's high sampling rate, levels of accuracy and performance enables it as a performance evaluation tool able to support coaches and athletes in their real-world practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Fatigue detection. Practical determination of physical recovery after intense exercise is a challenging topic that must include mechanical aspects as well as cognitive ones because most of physical sport activities, as well as professional activities (including brain–computer interface-operated systems), require good shape in both of them. This paper presents a new online handwritten database of 20 healthy subjects. The main goal was to study the influence of several physical exercise stimuli in different handwritten tasks and to evaluate the recovery after strenuous exercise. To this aim, they performed different handwritten tasks before and after physical exercise as well as other measurements such as metabolic and mechanical fatigue assessment. Experimental results showed that although a fast mechanical recovery happens and can be measured by lactate concentrations and mechanical fatigue, this is not the case when cognitive effort is required. Handwriting analysis revealed that statistical differences exist on handwriting performance even after lactate concentration and mechanical assessment recovery. This points out a necessity of more recovering time in sport and professional activities than those measured in classic ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rating systems play an important part in professional sports, for example, as a source of entertainment for fans, by influencing decisions regarding tournament seedings, by acting as qualification criteria, or as decision support for bookmakers and gamblers. Creating good ratings at a team level is challenging, but even more so is the task of creating ratings for individual players of a team. This paper considers a plus–minus rating for individual players in soccer, where a mathematical model is used to distribute credit for the performance of a team as a whole onto the individual players appearing for the team. The main aim of the work is to examine whether the individual ratings obtained can be split into offensive and defensive contributions, thereby addressing the lack of defensive metrics for soccer players. As a result, insights are gained into how elements such as the effect of player age, the effect of player dismissals, and the home field advantage can be broken down into offensive and defensive consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the multifaceted field of injuries and their impacts on performance in the National Basketball Association (NBA), leveraging a blend of Data Science, Data Mining, and Sports Analytics. Our research is driven by three pivotal questions: Firstly, we explore how Association Rule Mining can elucidate the complex interplay between players' salaries, physical attributes, and health conditions and their influence on team performance, including team losses and recovery times. Secondly, we investigate the relationship between players' recovery times and their teams' financial performance, probing interdependencies with players' salaries and career trajectories. Lastly, we examine how insights gleaned from Data Mining and Sports Analytics on player recovery times and financial influence can inform strategic financial management and salary negotiations in basketball. Harnessing extensive datasets detailing player demographics, injuries, and contracts, we employ advanced analytic techniques to categorize injuries and transform contract data into a format conducive to deep analytical scrutiny. Our anomaly detection methodologies, an ensemble combination of DBSCAN, isolation forest, and Z-score algorithms, spotlight patterns and outliers in recovery times, unveiling the intricate dance between player health, performance, and financial outcomes. This nuanced understanding emphasizes the economic stakes of sports injuries. The findings of this study provide a rich, data-driven foundation for teams and stakeholders, advocating for more effective injury management and strategic planning. By addressing these research questions, our work not only contributes to the academic discourse in Sports Analytics but also offers practical frameworks for enhancing player welfare and team financial health, thereby shaping the future of strategic decisions in professional sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating body poses and animations is a critical task for digital content creators, movement artists, and sports professionals. Traditional desktop-based tools for generating 3D poses and animations often lack intuitiveness and are challenging to master. Virtual reality (VR) offers a solution through more intuitive direct-manipulation capabilities. We designed and implemented a VR tool that enables direct manipulation of virtual body parts with inverse kinematics. This tool allows users to pose and animate virtual bodies with one- or two-handed manipulations, while also moving, including bending, jumping, or walking. Our user study demonstrated that participants could produce creative poses and animations using this tool, which we evaluated for creativity support across six factors. Additionally, we discuss further opportunities to enhance creativity support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of professional careers in playing sports has been seen in the recent generation. Ranging from traditional sports to recent e-games, it can be seen that student athletes are not only considering these as motivational factors for education, but also as future career paths. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap about the factors influencing college athletes' aspirations to play professionally. The study examines the complex web of athlete decision-making by utilizing the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and analyzing the roles of motivational factors, self-efficacy, affective behavior, and behavioral domains. With the use of structural equation modeling, the study deciphers the intricate links, emphasizing the critical role that attitude plays in affective behavior. It emphasizes how much optimism and self-efficacy shape an athlete's behavior and subsequent pursuit of professional careers. The current research provides a benchmark for future studies exploring student athletes' career goals. This research adds understanding to the knowledge gap regarding the complex decision-making procedures of aspiring professional athletes. Both theoretical and practical implications are provided based on the results of the study, which stakeholders and institutions may consider for student athletes wanting to pursue a professional sports career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient training is a must in professional sports. Presently, this means doing exercises in high number and quality with some sort of data logging. In American football many things are logged, but there is no wearable sensor that logs a catch or a drop. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to develop and verify a sensor that is able to do exactly that. In a first step a sensor platform was used to gather nine degrees of freedom motion and audio data of both hands in 759 attempts to catch a pass. After preprocessing, the gathered data was used to train a neural network to classify all attempts, resulting in a classification accuracy of 93%. Additionally, the significance of each sensor signal was analysed. It turned out that the network relies most on acceleration and magnetometer data, neglecting most of the audio and gyroscope data. Besides the results, the paper introduces a new type of dataset and the possibility of autonomous training in American football to the research community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of Big Data and the analysis of this data in recent years is indisputable, and this boom has spread to all areas of life, including professional sports and, within this, soccer. The significant amounts of money involved in this sport have led to the need for the top clubs to employ these techniques to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Despite this, there is very little information on how these tools are used or what parameters they consider. Similarly, there are a multitude of amateur analyses that offer very few conclusions. They simply focus on collecting and presenting the data in the form of a comparison without any analysis or pre-processing. This work describes the implementation of an expert system based on fuzzy logic used to evaluate the talent of a soccer player at all levels, his/her aptitude and attitude, to face his/her individual and collective professional development. For this purpose, the above aspects will be evaluated specifically in the different aspects of the game, which will allow us to evaluate the performance of a soccer team and thus determine the probability of victory, draw, and defeat in a confrontation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels of state and trait anxiety are relevant for performing artists and professional athletes to obtain optimal performance outcomes. However, evidence-based knowledge regarding the effectiveness of psychological interventions on performance anxiety is currently minimal. Thus, the objective of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to characterize, aggregate, and quantify intervention effects on measures of state and trait performance anxiety in performing artists and professional athletes. A systematic search of the literature according to the PRISMA guidelines was conducted on the databases PubMed, Medline, SPORTDiscus, PsycInfo, Embase, and Web of Science from 1 January 1960 to 9 November 2022. The search only included controlled studies employing pre–post measures and excluded performing arts fields that do not depend on fine motor skills. Initially, 1022 articles were identified; after removing duplicates and assessing abstracts and full texts, 20 articles were used to calculate weighted standardized mean differences (SMDs). In terms of state performance anxiety, our results revealed a large overall effect (SMD = 0.88), a medium effect (SMD = 0.62) for studies using scales with total scores (i.e., MPAI-A, STAI), and large effects (cognitive anxiety: SMD = 0.93, somatic anxiety: SMD = 0.92, self-confidence: SMD = 0.97) for studies applying scales with sub-scores (i.e., CSAI-2R)—all in favour of the intervention groups. Regarding trait performance anxiety (e.g., SCAT), we detected a small effect (SMD = 0.32), also favouring the intervention groups. Interventions to reduce performance anxiety in performing artists and professional athletes revealed varying levels of effectiveness ranging from small (trait) to large (state). Therefore, future studies should investigate modalities to increase intervention efficacy, especially for the small-sized changes in trait performance anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the training of professional sports athletes and the factors determining sports success are based on well-established scientific research, esports training and markers of esports performance are not yet fully recognized or explored. Knowledge of the psychophysiological responses of the athlete's body to esports competition is the necessary foundation for rational training management. The aim of the present study was to evaluate physiological stress while playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Selected cardiovascular, hormonal, and biochemical indices were monitored to assess differences in stress responses between winners and losers. Twenty-two male players participated in the study (age 22.0 ± 2.0 years, CS:GO training experience 7.0 ± 2.2 years, training load 24.6 ± 11.5 h per week). Each player played two games during the CS:GO competition. The CS:GO tournament induced an increase in heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure, and blood cortisol levels (C), and a decrease in the nonlinear heart rate variability (HRV) index based on the fractal correlation properties, called alpha1, of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA-alpha1). In contrast, no changes were observed in blood levels of testosterone (T) and lactate (BLa). It was found that changes in physiological indices in players while playing CS:GO did not differentiate between winners and losers. The changes in the physiological parameters recorded during play indicate that CS:GO tournaments induce significant physiological arousal and can be considered a stressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ankle injuries are amongst the most common musculoskeletal injuries. The necessity of prevention measurements before or an early rehabilitation start after an injury, is essential for (semi-) professional sports like soccer to decrease healing duration. Sensor-supported serious games could complement a therapeutic program to support resilience and motivation during the prevention or rehabilitation process. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a user-centered prototype of a serious game using a commercial Off-The-Shelf MetaMotion IMU sensor. A semi-structured interview with a soccer club therapist, followed by an online questionnaire containing 48 questions (n = 91), was performed to ensure a user-centered approach. Based on this, a prototype, including five identified functional requirements and seven exercises (comprising: horizontal/vertical in- and eversion, dorsi- and plantarflexion, knee bend and squat, and toe and heel rise), was developed in an iterative process and evaluated by two participants with an acute ankle injury. The questionnaire outcomes showed averages of 3.3 ankle injuries per participant and 40 absence days per incident. Additionally, 85% of the participants reported needing more prevention time for such injuries. The evaluation phase (total training duration: 2 h 52 min) consisted of playing two different game types (1 and 2 degrees of freedom) and three different levels, where an avatar needs to be controlled while running and avoiding obstacles or collecting trophies. Both range of motion (ROM) and scores, which are directly measured by the game, showed significant improvements (ROM: t = 5.71; p < 0.01; Score: t = 3.98; p < 0.01) between the first and last session in both participants (P1: ROM +3.56°; Score +7.00%, P2: ROM +6.59°; Score +9.53%), indicating high effectiveness, despite a short training period (1 and 2 weeks). ROM improvement results and athlete feedback coincide in that the sensor-assisted serious game might be beneficial for ankle prevention and rehabilitation. At the same time, the increased scores indicate substantial motivation over several training sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goals of this paper are first to identify why professional football clubs replace their head coach and, second, to investigate the effect of coach dismissal on team performance. To do that, we propose a new method for assessing the performance expectations of professional sport teams using Monte Carlo simulation. We apply our method to the English Premier league and the French Ligue 1 football teams over the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 seasons. We find that coach dismissal is the result of a drop in the average expected performance compared with the performance expectations at the beginning of the season. We also show that dismissing a coach may enhance performance only if the team under-performed before the dismissal. There is no obstacle to using the same method for professional teams in other sports. The method is easily reproducible and does not require much information in order to be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through restrictions and people's behavioral changes with regard to public events, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive financial impact on professional team sports clubs. Particularly, many smaller clubs that are more dependent on match-day revenues were facing an existential struggle. In this study, we examined the willingness of fans to contribute financially to help their favorite teams to overcome financial difficulties caused by this unforeseen operational risk. Moreover, we investigated the significance of the level of team identification among fans as an antecedent for willingness to pay. Analyzing the data from an online survey with 178 respondents, we found that fans would be willing to participate in fundraising campaigns to support their favorite teams. Among the fans of small clubs, the level of identification drives the willingness to support. On the one hand, the findings are encouraging for clubs as they underscore the potential role fans could play in overcoming the current crisis while showing that including fans in future risk management strategies is a promising approach. On the other hand, for this to be successful, clubs need to unravel and invest in measures for nurturing the fans' identification with the team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison with European and American countries, the CSR of professional sports in Asian countries is affected by many factors due to differences in management system, social environment, etc. At present, the research on CSR of professional sports in Asian countries is very limited, and the practice form of CSR under this special management system has great research space and value. For booming professional sports of China, neighboring Japanese professional sports system is similar to it, and has a more advanced level of professional sports CSR development, which is worthy of further learning and reference for Chinese Super League clubs. Therefore, this study combs the historical background, core content and governance experience of CSR of J League in Japan, and puts forward valuable enlightenment for Chinese Super League clubs. The results show that the CSR of J League in Japan has distinctive characteristics and times, and the Chinese Super League clubs need to combine their own development stages, Chinese national conditions and other factors for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that an inclusive way of thinking helps to promote social interactions on and off the sports field. The most important process of accepting differences is sensitization, which is to achieve the positive change of an understanding and accepting environment through purposeful effort and involvement. The role of teachers of people with disabilities is significant in this process. The KézenFogva Foundation has applied this to develop an inclusive pedagogical, theoretical, and practical pilot project, the "SHAPE Complex Sensitisation Programme", an innovative special pedagogy infrastructure which highlighted all practices promoting the realization of inclusion. After their training, teachers (majority educators) participating in the project (N = 26) applied the acquired knowledge in theme weeks among their students (N = 191), extending sensitization by further dissemination. Besides showing the direction and extent of changes in the sensitivities of teachers and their students (emotional, intellectual, and behavioral) with the help of the attitude scale, CATCH, the research was designed to introduce an innovative way of inducement of non-disabled athletes as well as special sport professionals. Although only a limited number of teachers could participate in the training, the success and effectiveness of the program was illustrated that even with this small sample, changes in the attitudes of the participants could be detected and that the training held by the foundation and its partners was effective, along with a noticeable change in the attitude of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper discusses the trends and projections for wearable technology in the consumer sports sector (excluding professional sport). Analyzing the role of wearable technology for different users and why there is such a need for these devices in everyday lives. It shows how different sensors are influential in delivering a variety of readings that are useful in many ways regarding sport attributes. Wearables are increasing in function, and through integrating technology, users are gathering more data about themselves. The amount of wearable technology available is broad, each having its own role to play in different industries. Inertial measuring unit (IMU) and Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors are predominantly present in sport wearables but can be programmed for different needs. In this review, the differences are displayed to show which sensors are compatible and which ones can evolve sensor technology for sport applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ticket sales remain a significant source of revenue in professional team sports. However, season ticket revenue, as an effective risk-reducing instrument, is rarely analyzed in the literature. This study aims to determine, from a price and product perspective, the extent to which different factors affect season ticket prices. Using three different professional German sports leagues, a ticket-pricing model was developed as the empirical model. Consistent with other pricing studies, an ordinary least-squares (OLS) model and a Tobit model were fit. The results indicate that different season ticket rights, type of season ticket, club league membership, fan club membership, club stadium utilization rate, club sporting performance, and club market size have significant negative or positive impacts on season ticket price. Whereas, for example, a reserved seat in the stadium has a positive impact, the population of the club's city has a negative impact. Based on the results, club managers should consider all traditional season ticket rights and season ticket discounts when calculating season ticket pricing. These and further implications are discussed with respect to the risk management issues of season ticket pricing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in local market constellations of professional team sports clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wealth of literature examines the role of challenge from an individual psychological perspective, but research investigating how a talent development system can proactively support athletes to successfully meet the ever-increasing demands of top-level professional sport is less prevalent. This study takes advantage of a naturally occurring but highly atypical developmental challenge as a result of COVID-19 to examine factors influencing the efficacy and effectiveness of the talent development pathway at Munster Rugby. Players and staff (n = 12) took part in semi-structured interviews exploring their experiences of the build-up to the event, the game itself, and the impact post-event. The data were subsequently analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Players and coaches highlight the groundwork undertaken to establish alignment and coherence, both horizontally and vertically across the talent development environment, and how this contributed to navigating the challenge successfully. The findings support the necessity of both the player and the talent development system being prepared to enable players to perform at the highest level. The findings point to an overlap between the development and performance phases of a player's journey and the need to integrate short- and long-term objectives within a talent development system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a well-known fact that physical activity benefits people of all age groups. However, highly intensive training, maladaptation, improper equipment, and lack of sufficient rest lead to contusions and sports-related injuries. From the perspectives of sports professionals and those performing regular–amateur sports activities, it is important to maintain proper levels of training, without encountering frequent injuries. The bodily responses to physical stress and intensive physical activity are detected on many levels. Epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone protein methylation, acetylation, and miRNA expression occur in response to environmental changes and play fundamental roles in the regulation of cellular activities. In the current review, we summarise the available knowledge on epigenetic alterations present in tissues and organs (e.g., muscles, the brain, tendons, and bones) as a consequence of sports-related injuries. Epigenetic mechanism observations have the potential to become useful tools in sports medicine, as predictors of approaching pathophysiological alterations and injury biomarkers that have already taken place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of sensor technology in sports facilitates the data-driven evaluation of human movement not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. This scoping review presents an overview of sensor technologies and human movement quality assessments in ecologically-similar environments. We searched four online databases to identify 16 eligible articles with either recreational and/or professional athletes. A total of 50% of the studies used inertial sensor technology, 31% vision-based sensor technology. Most of the studies (69%) assessed human movement quality using either the comparison to an expert's performance, to an exercise definition or to the athletes' individual baseline performance. A total of 31% of the studies used expert-based labeling of the movements to label data. None of the included studies used a control group-based study design to investigate impact on training progress, injury prevention or behavior change. Although studies have used sensor technology for movement quality assessment, the transfer from the lab to the field in recreational and professional sports is still emerging. Hence, research would benefit from impact studies of technology-assisted training interventions including control groups as well as investigating features of human movement quality in addition to kinematic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of biomarkers continues to emerge as a developing academic field which is attracting substantial interest. The study of biomarkers proves to be useful in developing and implementing new screening methods for a wide variety of diseases including in the sports area, whether for leisure activities or professional sports. Novel research has brought into question the immune system and the limitations it may impose on sports practicing. As the well-being of athletes is a priority, the state of their immune function offers valuable information regarding their health status and their ability to continue training. The assessment of various biomarkers may contribute to a more accurate risk stratification and subsequent prevention of some invalidating or even fatal pathologies such as the sudden cardiac death. Therefore, we have reviewed several studies that included sports-related pathology or specific morphofunctional alterations for which some immune biomarkers may represent an expression of the underlying mechanism. These include the defensins, immunoglobulin A (IgA), interleukin-6 (IL-6), the tumoral necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and the white blood cells (WBC) count. Similarly, also of significant interest are various endocrine biomarkers, such as cortisol and testosterone, as well as anabolic or catabolic markers, respectively. Literature data highlight that these values are greatly influenced not only by the duration, but also by the intensity of the physical exercise; moderate training sessions actually enhance the immune function of the body, while a significant increase in both duration and intensity of sports activity acts as a deleterious factor. Therefore, in this paper we aim to highlight the importance of biomarkers' evaluation in connection with sports activities and a subsequent more adequate approach towards personalized training regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Agility dog is one of the most popular canine sports among pet owners, and agility-related soft tissue injuries are becoming frequent in dogs. The need to check the progression of shoulder tendon healing in order to permit a safe return to sport is now urgent. The aim of the present study was to help veterinary sports medicine professionals check the progression of shoulder tendon healing in lesions that have been treated with a standardised physiotherapeutic program. The results showed that ultrasonographic examination could be considered a reliable method of following the progression of healing of shoulder tendon lesions when carried out every two months within the six months after injury, together with the administration of a standardised physiotherapeutic program. The ultrasonographic protocol should be associated with a clinical evaluation in order to give the correct return to play time to the owners. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of shoulder ultrasound as a method of predicting the likelihood of returning to competition in agility dogs with shoulder teno-muscular injuries after a standardised rehabilitation protocol. Thirty-two agility dogs with a clinical and ultrasonographic diagnosis of shoulder teno-muscular injury were included in a prospective study with physical and ultrasound examinations at the time of diagnosis (T0) and at two (T2), four (T4) and six (T6) months; during this period, the dogs received rehabilitation treatments. The endpoint of the study was to obtain information regarding participation in agility competitions 12 months after diagnosis, based on telephone interviews with the owners. The clinical lameness score (CLS) and the ultrasound lesion score (ULS) were used as outcome measurements. The CLS indicated partial recovery from a shoulder injury at T2 (78%), while the ULS indicated no satisfactory recovery at T2 in any patient. At 4 months, the CLS alone was not a valuable predictor of full recovery from a shoulder injury in agility dogs. Relative Risk indicated that, at T2, ultrasound was 23.8 times more valuable in identifying a shoulder lesion as compared to clinical lameness score (CLS), and it was 2.53 times more valuable at T4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point entails the declarations of the International Olympic Committee, as well as UNESCO and the Council of Europe on sport as a human right. This article adopts a philosophical and historical perspective on the question of which duties, obligations, and constraints stand in the way of realising this utopian perspective of fair and humane sport as a general human right. The work is based on central historical documents and writings. Two strands of argumentation are pursued. Firstly, the introduction of compulsory physical education, particularly in Germany and on the European continent, in the context of nation-building since the 19th century. Secondly, the idea of a world of sport of its own, which emerged from Olympism and was intended to assert itself against political and economic appropriations. Compulsory physical education is not a human right but a duty. The idea of a world of sports of its own has produced further regulations and obligations in certain fields of sports like professional and commercial sports. Doing sport for health and fitness may become a social obligation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, Sports Illustrated (SI) made headlines when their remarkable prediction from 2014 that the Houston Astros (a team in one of the lowest Major League Baseball divisional rankings) would win the World Series, came true. The less-publicised story was that in 2017, SI predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) title. Assessing the forecasting accuracy of experts is critical as it explores the difficulty and limitations of forecasts and can help illuminate how predictions may shape sociocultural notions of sport in society. To thoroughly investigate SI's forecasting record, predictions were collected from the four major North American sporting leagues (the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League) over the last 30 years (1988–2018). Kruskal–Wallis H Tests and Mann–Whitney U Tests were used to evaluate the absolute and relative accuracy of predictions. Results indicated that SI had the greatest predictive accuracy in the National Basketball Association and was significantly more likely to predict divisional winners compared to conference and league champions. Future work in this area may seek to examine multiple media outlets to gain a more comprehensive perspective on forecasting accuracy in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifestyle sports can contribute to national sport and physical activity agendas. However, schools in the United Kingdom (UK) have generally resisted the implementation of such activities within the physical education (PE) curriculum. This may stem from PE teachers' limited knowledge and restricted engagement with lifestyle sports continuing professional development (CPD), coupled with the dominance of traditional team sports within the PE curriculum. Consequently, the aim of this research was to explore the opportunities and challenges PE teachers in the UK encounter when delivering lifestyle sports, in addition to understanding their current professional development needs to enhance their practice. Data were collected via an online qualitative survey involving 53 UK-based PE teachers. Following a reflexive thematic analysis process, three themes were developed: (1) PE teachers' understanding, conceptualisation, and delivery of lifestyle sports; (2) challenges to delivering lifestyle sports within the PE curriculum; and (3) the learning needs and CPD preferences of PE teachers. Findings indicated that the participants possessed diverse conceptualisations of lifestyle sports, while faced with logistical, contextual, and personal factors which impacted their practice. Furthermore, the participants outlined their preferences towards lifestyle sports CPD and the challenges restricting their engagement with learning opportunities. Recommendations for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims to identify the main peculiar economics of professional team sports, reflect on whether they apply to esports, and derive some implications. To achieve this aim, two sequential snowballing literature reviews were conducted. First, the literature on the peculiar economics of professional team sports was reviewed and assessed by the authors, based on their degree of distinctiveness and how core they are for the sector. Second, based on the main peculiar economics identified, a similar process considering economic aspects in the esports literature was conducted. The first review enabled the identification of 50 peculiar economics of professional team sports, of which 12 were assessed as the most distinctive and core to the sector. These 12 main peculiar economics were then considered in relation to the esports literature. This second review enabled the identification of some economic similarities and differences between sports and esports, before deriving some implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Autologous blood doping (ABD) refers to sampling, storage, and re-infusion of one's own blood to improve circulating red blood cell (RBC) mass and thus the oxygen transport and finally the performance capacity. This illegal technique employed by some athletes is still difficult to detect. Hence knowledge of the main effects of ABD is needed to develop valid detection methods. Performance enhancement related to ABD seems to be well documented in the literature, but applied study designs might affect the outcome that was analyzed herein. The majority of recent studies investigated the effect of cold blood storage at 4 °C, and only few studies focused on cryopreservation, although it might be suspected that cryopreservation is above all applied in sport. The storage duration—the time between blood sampling and re-infusion—varied in the reported literature. In most studies, storage duration might be too short to fully restore the RBC mass. It is thus concluded that most reported studies did not display common practice and that the reported performance outcome might be affected by these two variables. Thus, knowledge of the real effects of ABD, as applied in sport, on performance and associated parameters are needed to develop reliable detection techniques. Professional athletes are expected to continuously improve their performance, and some might also use illegal methods—e.g., autologous blood doping (ABD)—to achieve improvements. This article applies a systematic literature review to investigate differences in the ABD methods and the related performance and blood parameters owing to different storage conditions—cryopreservation (CP) and cold storage (CS)—and different storage durations. The literature research resulted in 34 original articles. The majority of currently published studies employed CS during ABD. This contrasts to the applied storage technique in professional sports, which was mainly reported to be CP. The second outcome of the literature research revealed large differences in the storage durations applied, which were in the range of one day to 17 weeks between blood sampling and re-infusion, which might affect recovery of the red blood cell mass and thus performance outcome related to ABD. Data revealed that performance parameters were positively affected by ABD when a minimal storage duration of four weeks was adhered. This article identified a need for further research that reflect common ABD practice and its real effects on performance parameters, but also on related blood parameters in order to develop valid and reliable ABD detection methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing global pandemic brought about by Coronavirus II (SARS-Cov-2 or COVID-19) has caused an ongoing cessation of sporting competitions and training facility closures. This is a fundamental challenge for amateur and elite sporting professionals. Although recommendations have been provided for team-sport athletes to maintain general and sport-specific conditioning, these methods are often not optimal for strength athletes (i.e., powerlifting (PL) and weightlifting (WL)) due to the unique and narrow set of performance requirements posed by these sports. The purpose of this review is to provide evidence-based information and recommendations and highlight potential strategies and approaches that may be used by strength (PL and WL) athletes during the current global crisis. Collectively, we provide evidence from resistance training literature regarding the loss of muscle strength, power and mass, minimum training frequencies required to attenuate such losses and training re-adaptation. Additionally, we suggest that time off training and competition caused by ongoing restrictions may be used for other purposes, such as overcoming injury and improving movement quality and/or mobility, goal setting, psychological development and emphasizing strength sports for health. These suggestions are intended to be useful for coaches, strength athletes and organizations where existing training strategies and recommendations are not suitable or no longer feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporting organizations such as professional clubs and national sport institutions are constantly seeking novel training methodologies in an attempt to give their athletes a cutting edge. The advent of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has facilitated the integration of small, unobtrusive wearable inertial sensors into many coaches' training regimes. There is an emerging trend to use inertial sensors for performance monitoring in rowing; however, the use and selection of the sensor used has not been appropriately reviewed. Previous literature assessed the sampling frequency, position, and fixing of the sensor; however, properties such as the sensor operating ranges, data processing algorithms, and validation technology are left unevaluated. To address this gap, a systematic literature review on rowing performance monitoring using inertial-magnetic sensors was conducted. A total of 36 records were included for review, demonstrating that inertial measurements were predominantly used for measuring stroke quality and the sensors were used to instrument equipment rather than the athlete. The methodology for both selecting and implementing technology appeared ad hoc, with no guidelines for appropriate analysis of the results. This review summarizes a framework of best practice for selecting and implementing inertial sensor technology for monitoring rowing performance. It is envisaged that this review will act as a guide for future research into applying technology to rowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to combat growing demands on players, athlete monitoring has become a central component of professional sport. Despite the introduction of new technologies for athlete monitoring, little is understood about the practices employed in professional rugby clubs. A questionnaire was circulated amongst conditioning staff across the 12 Premiership rugby clubs to capture the methods used, relative importance, perceived effectiveness and barriers to the use of multiple different athlete monitoring measurements. Previous injury, Global Positioning System (GPS) metrics, collision counts and age were deemed the most important risk factors for managing future injury risk. A wide range of GPS metrics are collected across clubs with high-speed running (12/12 clubs), distance in speed zones (12/12 clubs) and total distance (11/12 clubs) the most commonly used. Of the metrics collected, high-speed running was deemed the most important for managing future injury risk (5/12 clubs); however, there was considerable variation between clubs as to the exact definition of high-speed running, with both absolute and relative measures utilised. While the use of such monitoring tools is undertaken to improve athlete welfare by minimising injury risk, this study demonstrates the significant heterogeneity of systems and methods used by clubs for GPS capture. This study therefore questions whether more needs to be done to align practices within the sport to improve athlete welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]