Sponsorship

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SSA Blog: Performance trends of 2024

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SSA Blog: Performance trends of 2024

An Olympic and Paralympic year always brings elite sporting performance into sharp focus. In the dynamic landscape of sports science, the 2024 Paris Games are poised to highlight performance trends such as cutting-edge technology, personalised analytics, and holistic athlete well-being. The wide-scale adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning might have come too late to substantially influence outcomes in Paris, but its use will continue to revolutionise performance analysis, offering coaches and athletes unprecedented insights into strategic decision-making. 

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SSA Blog: World Cup concussion

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SSA Blog: World Cup concussion

Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the impact that traumatic head injuries have, discussions about safety and the long term health of players will only get louder. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football. In the UK, ongoing research that identifies a link between heading and dementia in football has drawn major attention.

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SSA Blog: Research cycle

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SSA Blog: Research cycle

British Athlete Dina Asher-Smith has called for more research into the effect of periods on female athletes. The 2019 World 200m champion made the statement following pulling up in the European Athletics Championship final because of cramping calves. She attributed the cramps to “girls stuff” linking the incident to her menstrual cycle.

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SSA Blog: Ahead of the game

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In just under a month, England will host the 2022 UEFA Women’s European Championships. The event will draw the best players from across the continent and is set to break records in terms of both live attendance and TV viewership. Reigning Champions Netherlands, currently ranked 5th in the world, will seek to defend their title against the historic powerhouse of European football, Germany (ranked 4th) and the number 2 and 3 ranked nations Sweden and France respectively.

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SSA Blog: Get yourself connected…

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SSA Blog: Get yourself connected…

This week saw a major step forward with Vodafone, as part of its partnership with the British & Irish Lions, unveiled its new PLAYER.Connect system. PLAYER.Connect takes advantage of Vodafone’s connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to allow the integration of multiple wearable data sources into one performance dashboard.

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SSA Blog: Always Coca-Cola?

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A new blog from guest writer and sports communications expert Aaron Gales.

Another game and another series of records broken by Cristiano Ronaldo. Two goals for Portugal in their 3-0 victory in their opening Euro 2020 game against Hungary saw Ronaldo become the first player to play in five consecutive European Championships and break the competition’s all-time scoring record, one he had previously shared with Michel Platini.

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SSA Blog: The fitness of Formula 1

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It is pre-season for Formula 1 right now, so if you are a fan, your social media will be awash with images of the 2021 cars and the drivers getting in condition for the year ahead. Over the years the fitness demands of racing a Formula 1 car have changed considerably. While drivers are still able to enjoy a glamorous lifestyle, their focus has had to shift somewhat to ensure they are physically and mentally able to maximise the capabilities of the cars. Driving talent is no longer enough to ensure a seat at the pinnacle of motorsport.

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SSA Blog: Solitary confinement

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SSA Blog: Solitary confinement

The 2020 Australian Open was the last tennis grand slam to be played without the major impact of Covid-19. The subsequent slams that year were either cancelled (Wimbledon), postponed (French Open) or suffered from major player withdrawals (US Open). As the top-flight tennis returns to Melbourne and the pandemic remains, it is not surprising that the movement of over 1,000 people associated with the Open into Australia has come with serious complications.

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SSA Blog: Tokyo drift

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In March 2020, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, held a press conference call announcing that the Tokyo 2020 Games would be postponed until no later than the summer of 2021. As we enter 2021 and the end of the Covid-19 pandemic comes into sight, all parties are still insistent that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad will go ahead.

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Performance Stories: Performance and marketing

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Sport Science Agency’s John Mulcahy, Alex Skelton and Sport Scientist Tom Brownlee discuss the value and opportunities that performance programmes offer sports marketers.

Ensuring credible and insightful content by working with performance experts is the key to success…

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SSA Blog: Increasing use of CBD in Elite Rugby: A New Sponsorship Category?

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SSA Blog: Increasing use of CBD in Elite Rugby: A New Sponsorship Category?

Rugby Restart has seen Gallagher Premiership and Guinness Pro 14 sides return to competition following their enforced stoppage due to Covid-19. The intense schedule implemented in order to finish the season has seen squads increase player rotation more frequently as they manage player loads recovery and injury. While player welfare measures have been put in place by World Rugby to reduce the risk associated with collisions, there is little to suggest that collision-induced muscle damage or injury is set to decrease. Players and clubs will therefore continue to seek optimised recovery strategies following matches and training.

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Performance Stories: Marketing and sponsorship during lockdown

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Sport Science Agency's vlog examining topical sporting events through its marketing and sport science lens.

Director John Mulcahy is joined by Sport Scientist Dr Tom Brownlee and marketer Alex Skelton to discuss how football clubs and brands could have used Project Restart to highlight a credible brand message.

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SSA Blog: Andy's apparel appeal

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SSA Blog: Andy's apparel appeal

Following what he described as “the hardest match of my career” Andy Murray was unable to repeat the heroics of his 2020 US Open first-round victory. After an absence of over a year from the Grand Slam scene, a grinding five-set battle lasting over four hours was not what he or his performance team would have wanted. His second-round tie proved too much at this stage of his comeback as he lost in straight sets.

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SSA Blog: Training partners

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SSA Blog: Training partners

Project restart created an unprecedented interest from football media and fans into training, performance and the potential for injury that the return from lockdown has created. As we have mentioned in a number of previous blogs (It’s back, Recovery position, Project restart), Covid-19 presented staff with a number of unique challenges. There was no playbook for lockdown and the extended break it caused. There was no fixed return date to build conditioning towards, and there was no clear understanding of the fixture demands if/when competition was to return.