Hi,
The sport of Rugby League has grown significantly over time, developing into a highly successful and professional sporting code; thus placing greater demands and expectations on players to become bigger, faster, stronger, and more agile; whilst providing an onus of responsibility on fitness coaches to deliver these athletic outcomes without injury, and with concurrent skill improvement.
In recent times, the introduction and evolution of sport science has greatly influenced the manner in which athletes are managed; in particular at the elite level, whereby players are required to train 5 days per week, play 1 competitive game per week, and include recovery amongst other non-sporting daily activities through-out the full competitive season (and pre-season).
This volatile relationship between the workload of each individual athlete, their psychological well-being, and their physiological improvements becomes a complex issue, highlighting the multidimensional nature of sport science, and it's need to segregate into sub-disciplines which operate in a collaborative and specialised manner.
The three main sub-disciplines within sport science research, consultation, and application include:-
Physiology involves the study of the human body's physiological functioning - and adaptations - during various acute (short-term), and chronic (long-term) exercise bouts; at varying intensities; within a breadth of environmental conditions. This field reviews all physiological functions of the human body within the exercise context; from the obvious muscular and cardiovascular systems, through to the endocrine (hormonal) and renal systems. This discipline has great influence towards training practices and program goals in order to improve performance characteristics of an athlete (such as aerobic endurance, or anaerobic regeneration as examples); whilst also enabling increased resistance to fatigue, and improved recovery practices.
Motor Learning & Control is the study of movement acquisition and development; providing an understanding towards the manner in which athletes are able to learn new motor skills and improve current motor skills. This sub-discipline is useful for understanding best practice for teaching athletes how to best 'read play', improve reaction times, improve skill speed and accuracy, and understand various modes of feedback (through internal and external sensory mechanisms). This field strongly underpins athlete development.
In addition to these three main areas; there are two other disciplines which work cooperatively with athletes to achieve greater performance enhancement, and reduce the incidence of injury:-
Dietetics is the study of nutritional behaviour, with a specialised branch dedicated to athletes, known as sport dietitians. In this field of study and application, dietitians rely on their biochemical, and nutritional knowledge to compile individualised meal plans for each athlete within a club to suit their desired outcome(s); as eating habits differ between a 'forward' or 'back'; between training and competition; and between home and away games. As nutrition is fundamental to all activity performed by an athlete (as well as their effective recovery processes); this field is viewed as a necessary component in any high performance sporting environment.
The science behind human performance and behaviour in the sporting environment is a great passion of mine; (as is evident through-out this post). In writing this, hopefully it has provided you with a greater appreciation of the validity and merit for the sport science (and allied) professions and their influence within Rugby League, and the wider sporting community.
Cheers.
The sport of Rugby League has grown significantly over time, developing into a highly successful and professional sporting code; thus placing greater demands and expectations on players to become bigger, faster, stronger, and more agile; whilst providing an onus of responsibility on fitness coaches to deliver these athletic outcomes without injury, and with concurrent skill improvement.
In recent times, the introduction and evolution of sport science has greatly influenced the manner in which athletes are managed; in particular at the elite level, whereby players are required to train 5 days per week, play 1 competitive game per week, and include recovery amongst other non-sporting daily activities through-out the full competitive season (and pre-season).
This volatile relationship between the workload of each individual athlete, their psychological well-being, and their physiological improvements becomes a complex issue, highlighting the multidimensional nature of sport science, and it's need to segregate into sub-disciplines which operate in a collaborative and specialised manner.
The three main sub-disciplines within sport science research, consultation, and application include:-
- Biomechanics
- Physiology
- Motor Control
Physiology involves the study of the human body's physiological functioning - and adaptations - during various acute (short-term), and chronic (long-term) exercise bouts; at varying intensities; within a breadth of environmental conditions. This field reviews all physiological functions of the human body within the exercise context; from the obvious muscular and cardiovascular systems, through to the endocrine (hormonal) and renal systems. This discipline has great influence towards training practices and program goals in order to improve performance characteristics of an athlete (such as aerobic endurance, or anaerobic regeneration as examples); whilst also enabling increased resistance to fatigue, and improved recovery practices.
Motor Learning & Control is the study of movement acquisition and development; providing an understanding towards the manner in which athletes are able to learn new motor skills and improve current motor skills. This sub-discipline is useful for understanding best practice for teaching athletes how to best 'read play', improve reaction times, improve skill speed and accuracy, and understand various modes of feedback (through internal and external sensory mechanisms). This field strongly underpins athlete development.
In addition to these three main areas; there are two other disciplines which work cooperatively with athletes to achieve greater performance enhancement, and reduce the incidence of injury:-
- Psychology
- Dietetics
Dietetics is the study of nutritional behaviour, with a specialised branch dedicated to athletes, known as sport dietitians. In this field of study and application, dietitians rely on their biochemical, and nutritional knowledge to compile individualised meal plans for each athlete within a club to suit their desired outcome(s); as eating habits differ between a 'forward' or 'back'; between training and competition; and between home and away games. As nutrition is fundamental to all activity performed by an athlete (as well as their effective recovery processes); this field is viewed as a necessary component in any high performance sporting environment.
The science behind human performance and behaviour in the sporting environment is a great passion of mine; (as is evident through-out this post). In writing this, hopefully it has provided you with a greater appreciation of the validity and merit for the sport science (and allied) professions and their influence within Rugby League, and the wider sporting community.
Cheers.
