Intuition and science: A powerful combination
Issue: Volume 28 Number 3
David Martin lists the various specialisations that have developed in sports science and medicine in recent years. ‘You have biomechanics, skill acquisition, nutrition, sports psychology, sports physiology, recovery, sports doctors, physiotherapy, soft tissue therapy, alternative medicines, the list goes on,’ he says.
‘It’s an amazing group of experts, but the question that sports scientists and coaches must always ask is, “What does our program need now to move itself to the next level?”.’
Martin, a sports scientist in the Physiology department at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), is a firm believer in strong ties between coaching and the sports science and medicine disciplines at all levels and ages.
‘If you ask when a program should use a sports scientist, I say whenever there is a sports scientist available who has shared beliefs and philosophies with the coach,’ he says. ‘I used to think you had to be at a certain level or calibre of competition, but now I believe sports science can be helpful at all stages of sporting development for many different types of sport, from little league baseball and developmental rugby all the way up to Olympic programs.
‘Whenever you have a sports scientist who is there as a comrade to the coach and is fully committed to making things better, sports science can be productive.’
Just as the range of specialties has expanded dramatically over recent years, so have the activities that can be labelled under the heading of sports science or sports medicine. The Australian Weightlifting Federation’s manager of coaching development, Mike Keelan, says that one test for potential lifters is to see whether they can squat with their feet flat on the floor holding a broomstick above their heads.
‘Is that sports science? It is a basic, but quite essential, screening technique we use right from the start,’ Keelan says. ‘From there we certainly do use the experts with muscular and skeletal training from day one.
‘We need that because although a lot of kids are quite powerful, we are finding that there is not nearly as much flexibility about as there used to be, and weightlifters need that when it comes to getting down into the low positions our sport demands.’
Nutrition is introduced early — with advice on food being given to parents where necessary — as is biomechanics. Keelan says video analysis is used almost from the first day in the gymnasium. ‘It’s good for the kids to see themselves actually perform, so they can develop a mental blueprint of what they have to do to improve.’
Recovery from competition or heavy training is also an area where science helps. ‘If they have had a hard session and there has been a bit of lactic acid build up, then we finish off with some cardiovascular exercise such as the rowing machine or bike followed by the hot and cold treatments,’ he said.
‘They go into the sauna followed by a bath of the coldest water we can get — with elite athletes we even do plunges into ice baths. It’s simple stuff but it speeds up the metabolic processes and gets rid of the waste substances in the blood that build up through any normal kind of training session.
‘We don’t see any difference between the beginner and the elite athlete in this. In our sport they train side by side.’
Lactic acid removal is not such a problem in gymnastics, a non-aerobic sport involving strong bursts of energy. Even so, national coach Peggy Liddick, who overseas all the institute and academy of sport programs throughout the nation, has seen significant increases in the use of sports science and medicine in recent times, especially at the AIS.
‘It’s very useful in identifying raw talent — sorting out the potential gymnasts from the marathon runners,’ she said. ‘We have to be careful because in our sport we are dealing with very young athletes whose bone structures may not be fully developed.
‘We do skin-fold tests regularly and that is mainly to help the coach determine how intensely we have to train the kids. If they are dropping weight too fast and maybe losing strength, that’s not good.
‘At the same time if they are gaining too much weight, that’s a warning sign we may be faced with shin splints or ankle problems.’
Mental as well as physical health has to be monitored. ‘With a technical, multi-skilled sport like gymnastics it has been proved time and again that if the skills are not learnt between the ages of 8 and 12 years it is too late,’ Liddick said. ‘The brain simply cannot accept it at a later age.
‘Gymnastics requires a lot of other qualities, but for those who have the right stuff, we do have to get those brain pathways built at the right age.’
She believes Australia employs sports science more efficiently than in her native United States. ‘I have always used it because I have a PhD in exercise physiology and that is my thing, but I have found that as far as national team programs go, Australia is a little more serious about it and runs it more professionally than in the US.’
As the South Australian National Training Centre’s men’s football (soccer) coach, Martin Crook works with players between the ages of 13 and 17. ‘Sports science and medicine are major parts of the program in terms of the preparation of players, recovery and as a tool for experimentation,’ he said.
‘We use vertical jumps to test muscle power, 20-metre sprints with breaks on 5, 10 and 20 metres from a standing start to show across-the-board continuity, and 20-metre shuttle tests as a measure of oxygen intake.
‘All these give you some key indicators, a profile that tells you, for instance, someone who has already been identified as well off in terms of speed, has a very high vertical jump which indicates he will get even quicker, so can be trained along those lines.
‘Having said that, we don’t do a lot of physical testing unless we have already identified the individuals as talented players. In general terms we would not go out, identify someone as a great athlete, bring them in and try and make them into a football player.
‘It’s all about monitoring the individual, tracking how he progresses, and picking potential problems in his development so we can prepare to surmount them.’
While Crook works with young players, he believes that sports science and medicine have a part to play throughout a career. ‘Speaking from my own experience as a former Australian international, I know that if I had had the same sort of support and preparation, I would have been playing for longer and would be feeling a lot better today,’ he says.
Even so, there remain areas where sports science cannot provide all the answers. David Martin, who works closely with the AIS Women’s Cycling team, calls it the ‘mongrel factor … the sheer determination to win.
‘We can measure how much power an athlete produces, how fast the bike goes, but we can’t measure some important nuances: the subtle grace displayed by individuals who for some reason have a knack for riding a bike and are fighters,’ he says.
‘Football is another example. There are kids who run all day in the midfield, but never make the critical plays, and then there are the guys who are not spectacularly fit but have that uncanny game sense and know how to manipulate the play tactically without having to run about a lot.
‘I suspect we will never be able to devise a genetic screening or physiological profile that picks the athlete who will become the ultimate competitor — but that is part of the fun of working in sport.’
David Martin says the relationship between coach and sports scientist is becoming ever more important, and will often boil down to how well two individuals know and like each other. He has developed a matrix that shows how the two can work at many different levels, providing each person recognises their limitations.
Experienced coach and inexperienced sports scientist : The sports scientist acts as a fact gatherer, amassing statistics which they pass on to the coach who then takes full responsibility for interpretation and action.
Inexperienced coach and experienced sports scientist: The coach will receive the facts and then discuss them with the sports scientist and ask for opinions and advice.
Inexperienced coach and inexperienced sports scientist: A voyage of discovery in which the two young enthusiasts will make mistakes, but may actually succeed in completing many ambitious and innovative projects — projects that more experienced practitioners can learn from, although would be unlikely to instigate.
Experienced coach and experienced sports scientist: A sophisticated dialogue in which both trust each other’s judgements and use their combined knowledge to guide their program into the future.
