Get in the game, stay in the game, win the game.

We must remember the three P's to get into the game and stay in the game - positions, patterns & power.

Yet, in many sports, these may not matter as much as what happens once in the game – the application of sports-specific skill.

​As such, we must remember that our role, as performance and support staff, is to give athletes back to their technical and tactical coaches. Our role is not to detract from their ability to spend time practicing the game or sport they are in. That is why adaptability to forces, energy and load, ie durability, matters

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An athlete who has to miss or modify training is less likely to achieve performance success. This is supported by long term prospective research in elite athletes [1]. It is clear from this research at the Australian Institute of Sport that the inability to be robust enough to complete more than 80% of planned training program negatively affects the likelihood of performance success. It is also clear from data from UEFA, “from an unnamed club which – over a ten-year period in which it employed four coaches – only won silverware with the bosses who had a lower-than-average number of injuries within their squads. "Is this a coincidence? We don't believe it is.", says Jan Ekstrand, vice-chairman of the UEFA Medical Committee. [2]
 
In light of these clear, long-term, links between durability and performance success, we revisit the earlier statement – “Our role is not to detract from their ability to spend time practicing the game or sport they are in.” Thus we have a fine balance between pushing athlete development and catching those elements that indicate an increased likelihood of future injury – that which limits durability and performance success. This is a key premise behind mobility and stability for performance, that:

1. There IS a link between higher injury profiles and NOT succeeding;
   1. Within the top three modifiable risk factors for injury are limited and asymmetrical motion & movement;
      1. The top three modifiable risk factors for injury are:
         1. Significant changes in training load [3-6];
         2. Pain alters motor control and capacity [7-32], which in turn can increase the risk of injury;
         3. Motor range, control and capacity limitations and asymmetry [33-55];
      2. Note that previous history of injury is the top risk factor, but it is not modifiable.
   2. Increased injury rate affects completion % of training program [1];
   3. Lower completion % of training program linked to less sporting success [1];
   4. Increased injury rate linked to less sporting success [2];
2. There is a known link between movement and performance [17, 56-71]
   

​"Our intent to push athlete development is to be balanced by intent to not be part of the problem that limits them."

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References

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