Strength in Numbers -90

From: Jan-31-2022 09:47:am

Spring Training Memoirs: Critical Coaching Science Needs

Around this time of Spring Training, systems, processes, and people are all established. So adding a new approach to athlete monitoring, especially involving technology, would be a challenge as everything is all set.

Although, when I was the Director of Performance Integration for the Angles, my work for implementing new tools ramped up at this time of year.

I became immersed in the latest technology and forecasted my educational push throughout the year so that when acquired, our staff could move fast, as we all had familiarity with the WHAT-WHY-HOW-WHAT aspects of the tech integration.

WHAT refers to what the product is and what it does,
WHY indicates the importance or purpose of the integration,
HOW is communicated by how the technology operates, and
WHAT provides the everlasting message of the value to the organization, coach, and athlete.

With those items communicated, the adoption could be faster and more clear.

Then there were additional procedures for navigating the assessment and storing data for devices such as a wearable performance-tracking devices. In that case, it would require lengthy communication about how the data is utilized and who sees the information. Not only was this for players and staff, but the MLB has stringent policies in place for 40-man players regarding data protection, opting in, and opting out.

And, of course, athletes and staff would also need the training to use the equipment, which could be extensive depending on the technology.

(Yet again, another slam dunk for the ArmCare platform is that it's player-led with video instruction that has taught players as young as eight how to use the platform).

From this, you can see that adopting new tools can be lengthy, sometimes taking an entire season which can all get flipped on its head with changing players, staff, and management.

ATHLETIC DURABILITY

For most of my directorship, I focused on athletic durability first and performance second. I know that is strange, but I didn't worry much about finding ways for athletes to throw harder.

The word we rallied around in the human performance department was DURABILITY, as the apex ability affects all things in a winning culture and team.

No games played, no innings pitched, no development made, and a team reduces its chances of winning with injury-prone athletes. Therefore, we needed to have resilient athletes who could handle high-capacity loading – that came hand in hand with arm strength.

On the biomechanics side, we made simple sensor-based models using IMU sensors strapped to the bodies of pitchers and hitters to remove the stick figure models on 2D video that did not make a dent in injuries.

This allowed us to assess the difference in body segments. For pitchers, we compared the pelvis, trunk, and throwing arm; for hitters, it was the pelvis, trunk, and lead arm.

Conceptually, the outcomes for performance were similar. Groove a rotational pattern that elicits the highest arm speed, either the lead arm or the throwing arm, and indicate that the athlete can do it repeatedly, as the combination of high speed and consistency increases the opportunity for greater throwing and exit velocity at a greater frequency.

Although, looking back, one of the aspects we missed at the time was evaluating full-body mechanics and, even further, identifying which drills are best for each batter or pitcher.

I was able to add this as part of the Certified Pitching Biomechanics Course, where I talk about assessing and optimizing strategies through our strength and coordination decision-making tree.

The Strength and Coordination Decision Tree provides an algorithmic way of attacking pain and poor performance through arm strength testing and 3D motion capture. The approach to making a delivery improvement needs to undertake with principles revealed in the Strength and Coordination Training (SCT) correction algorithm blending motor preferences and traditional and non-traditional strength training approaches.

THIS PAST WEDNESDAY

After what is known as a "camp" day in professional baseball, I met with a very advanced MLB team who is up and coming in the sports science space. They are advanced, not because they have significant technology or even personnel; they are led by people with intellectual curiosity and strong collaborators.

These individuals are great integrators of the ArmCare platform. I am learning from their insights on how they are profiling relievers for back-to-back appearances, workload management for everyone, and individualized training.

It was awesome that they are approaching sports science growth the same as I do in researching other technologies to align player development more with SCT, and of course, DURABILITY.

Like anything, we sat together after their early day and hashed out the pros and cons of what they are already facing as it relates to acquiring new technology. For many teams, finances, time, lack of personnel, and lack of application or education can be barriers, but this particular team is getting ahead of these issues.

I helped them find a way to adopt consistent technology in the same manner as how they are using our ArmCare platform. Most importantly, it had to be portable and affordable so they could spend more money on people than technology. This ensures that they do not experience role strain, where coaches are forced to collect data due to a lack of sports science support.

Additionally, they need the tech integration for practice settings, not just in-game. This meant the technology had to travel, be accurate and reliable, and it couldn't just diagnose problems or archetype deliveries but had to apply to individualizing athlete training directly.

CASE IN POINT

For a while, I have thoroughly evaluated players with pain or poor performance. I overturn every stone I can, and it's a 6-7 hour one-on-one session with me.

I am primarily working with MLB or former professional pitchers that have one thing in common:

they are not optimizing warm-up strategies and coordination, or
they are not using coaching science to the fullest.

My goal is to fill that gap.

For one player, I have shared below just one drill in his routine, but an important one. I noticed some things with the heavy ball in a reverse pick drill.

(This is also called the Marshall Drill or M1, named after Mike Marshall, who pioneered many of the drills we use today. I believe he also set a record for innings as a reliever in a single season the same year Tommy John had Tommy John Surgery).

Below is the actual video of the 3D animation of this player's reverse throw. You can also view and download this video to move it forward and back to see how joints interact in the drill.

One of the things I noticed was that the heavy ball caused significant guarding in external rotation (reduced layback) for an athlete but is not different from others.

Combined with restricted layback in the drill in assessment, by adding strength dynamometry, I found that the internal rotators are weaker than the external rotators.

From this, I determined ball weight may not be appropriate as the shoulder capsule is not relaxing and that the ball weight continues to reduce IR strength after warm-up, indicating the potential of early velocity loss.

It seems intuitive, but people are more focused on the delivery than drill selection, and in my opinion, that is wrong. You could do exactly as I am doing with our technology and the right 3D system.

I'm curious to hear what else you see.

Have fun this weekend and consider coaching science, as just describing the delivery and making normalized ranges is not really the way to go when it comes to individualized player development and promoting durability amongst your athletes and organizations.

It always baffles me why one would want to compare an elite pitcher to a bunch of others, especially when they are of Major League caliber and have unique mechanical differences that make them special.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this newsletter, and if you value normalized ranges, please educate me on why they are important to you and what criteria you consider as "optimal."

Enjoy!

Ryan

[email protected]

No longer want to receive these emails? Unsubscribe.
ArmCare.com 225 Fifth Ave. Suite 2 Indialantic, FL 32903

Strength in Numbers -90

Spring Training Memoirs: Critical Coaching Science Needs

ATHLETIC DURABILITY

THIS PAST WEDNESDAY

CASE IN POINT

Email Offers

armcare.com Promo Codes

Popular Stores