David vs Goliath: On the complexity of talent identification

Thanks to Ziyaad Parker, one of the authors of the full text reference, for this article. Follow Ziyaad on twitter: @ZiyaadParker7 ImageThese two players (left and right) are opposing captains of their respective under-14 (i.e. 13 year old) rugby teams in Cape Town, South Africa. For reference, the referee (middle) is of average height ( about 6 ft.).

Attempting to identify a future Goliath is hampered by this stat: only 31% of players selected at U13 Craven Week appear at the U18 Craven Week a few years later 1.

That’s correct, talented young players do not necessarily become talented older players – in fact, more often than not, they don’t: the majority of players selected for the U13 Craven Week do not go on to be selected at subsequent U16 Grant Khomo and U18 Craven Week. There are two theories which try to explain these findings i.e. the attributes that determine success at U13 level are different to those that determine success at U16 and U18 level; or the player has characteristics associated with success in rugby but those characteristics change over time. Growth and maturation occur between the age groups in question (13-18 years). As each individual is not the same as the next, this process occurs at different rates resulting in some 13 year olds being taller and heavier than other 13 year olds (See picture).  However, by the time both players reach 17 years old the advantage that an early-maturer had over a late-maturer, in terms of size, may have diminished thus resulting in an even playing field for both players in that regard.

Talent identification is a complex process especially in a sport like rugby in which size is related to performance. Therefore, predicting future success from participation in junior tournaments such as U13 Craven Week may not be accurate as so few players convert U13 success to success at U18 level.

Reference (full text freely available)

1. Durandt, J., Parker, Z., Masimla, H., and Lambert, M. Rugby-playing history at the national U13 level and subsequent participation at the national U16 and U18 rugby tournaments. South African Journal of Sports Medicine 2011;23(4)

Sports Physician Advises Parents Not To Allow Children To Play Football

See on Scoop.it – To play collision sports or not to play?

Sports Medicine physician Dr. Pietro Tonino of Loyola University Medical Center advises parents of high school athletes not to allow their children to play football because of the high risk of injuries they may sustain.

JamesBrown‘s insight:

Not allowing children to play contact/collision sports due to concussion is alarmist and unwarranted – rather focus on the correct management of the injury once it happens. 

 

While collision/contact sports such as American Football and rugby are associated with a risk of concussion, there is presently insufficient evidence to deny anyone access to these sports.

 

Yes, there are thousands of Football-related concussions per year, but how many hundreds of thousands of children participate in Football every year? And is Football more dangerous than driving your children in your car? These are questions that need to be considered for perspective. 

 

This being said, once a child has incurred a sport-related concussion. he/she should be removed from the game immediately. Thereafter, the parents need to be actively involved in process of managing the child to full recovery before returning to play.

 

The child who is not being provided this optimal managment should not be allowed to play Football or rugby – let the majority, who are managed adequately, continue having fun!

See on www.hngn.com

A comprehensive analysis of senior men’s professional injury studies in Rugby Union

Poster was presented by Sean Williams at ECSS 2013 held in Barcelona

Poster was presented by Sean Williams at ECSS 2013 held in Barcelona

 

The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarise existing literature relating to injuries in professional Rugby Union, and to determine the effect of factors such as playing level, playing position and match quarter.

The results confirm that incidence rates in professional Rugby Union can be considered high in comparison to some team sports (e.g. soccer), but are similar to other collision sports (e.g. rugby league and ice hockey).

The incidence rate in the first quarter of matches was substantially lower than other match periods, suggesting that fatigue may have an important role to play in match injury risk.

Around 12% of injuries were recurrences, and these were typically more severe than new injuries.However, it should be noted that no studies have directly compared the severity of recurrent injuries to their index injuries; it may be that some types of injury are more likely to reoccur, and if these tend to result in substantial time-loss then the recurrent injury severity figure may be skewed. This warrants investigation in future studies.

Injuries most commonly occur during the tackle, and the lower limb is the body region with the highest injury incidence; both of these areas may be targets for future injury prevention strategies.

This summary was written by the first author of the paper, Sean Williams.

You can find the full article http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-013-0078-1

Sean Williams is a rugby science postgraduate student at the University of Bath, in the Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science for Health.

You can contact Sean at S.Williams@bath.ac.uk or follow him on twitter @sw356.