Monitoring the training process in team sports From description to prescription: Part 7 The American Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon formulated three major goals for scientists: Basic science: Knowing what happened (descriptive analysis) and understanding why this happened (diagnostic analysis) Applied science: Inferring or predicting what will happen (predictive analysis) Science as art: Converting complex…
Monitoring the training process in team sportFrom description to prescription: Part 6 In our previous two blog posts, we described the relation between load and performance. In addition, several tools were discussed to monitor this relationship in practice (link to blog, link to blog 2). It is important to emphasize that the first step to…
Monitoring the training process in team sportFrom description to prescription: Part 5 After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, (inter)national football associations will strive to complete the 2019-2020 season in the next few months. Because the 2020-2021 season is already on its way, a high number of matches over a short period of time can…
Monitoring the training process in team sportFrom description to prescription: Part 4 In the previous blog post (link to blog), the relationship between load and performance was explained using the fitness-fatigue model of Banister et al. (1975). We discussed the benefits of performance modelling based on the balance between fitness and fatigue responses to training.…
Monitoring the training process in team sports From description to prescription: Part 3 Athletes train to improve their performance, thereby exposing themselves to physiological, biomechanical and psychological loads. These loads need to be periodised carefully to achieve the desired performance at the right time. While individual athletes often peak to a short(er) competition period, team…