THE ATHLETIC BRAIN – how neuroscience can transform performance.

Euro 2020, why vision in sport is the most fundamental skill for any elite player, what sleep deprives does to performance and more..

Jun 09, 2021

Neuro Athletes!

Welcome to a ✨ once-a-week-free-edition ✨ of the Neuro Athletics newsletter. Each week I write to educate you on the intersection of neuroscience and athletic performance.

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This week, in the Neuro Athletics newsletter:

Euro 2020- who to look out for
Vision in sport
Roles announced on the Job Board

EURO 2020 ⚽

11 cities, 24 teams and hundreds of headaches, we have been forced to wait an extra 12 months, but the Euro 2020 (in 2021) is finally here after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And unless something else changes, 11 European cities will host games: Amsterdam, Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow, London, Munich, Rome, Seville, St. Petersburg.

The first game, Italy vs. Turkey, is June 11 in Rome. The knockout stages begin on June 26, and the semifinals and final all will take place at Wembley Stadium in London. The final is July 11.

With that in mind, all the best players will be there including Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Kylian Mbappé of France. What makes these two players different compared to other players?

VISION IN SPORT 👀

Football is a game of anticipation, high-speed decision making and great visual acuity. The best players in the world stand out because they are able to read the game faster and make better decisions under pressure.

CR7 gets a lot of attention for their physical attributes: speed, strength, coordination, grace. But excelling in soccer requires more than the being able to dribble and pass. Cristiano, a man who built his success on tirelessly being the best in every aspect of the game understands that taking in important visual cues, tuning out extraneous ones, being able to spot patterns and make plans—all happens in the blink of an eye (pun intended).

It is estimated that the brain has 100 billion nerve cells. There are also trillions of supportive cells in the brain called glia. Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up to 40,000 individual connections (synapses) between cells. Over time, we see a decline in speed amongst the synapses, which results in slower thinking and decreased vision.

Vision is the most underrated skill that is being trained in elite athletes. In most sport (probably all sport), vision is the dominant sense. One would usually think that seeing clearly is all that is needed to make vision dominant. However, the vision skills that are needed to perform optimally in soccer are much more involved than only being able to see clearly.

Think about it…

Your eyes, and only your eyes, tell you where the ball is in space. Making use of visual information only, you have to judge the speed of the ball and its flight path, you then have to make some kind of projection or estimation of where the ball is going to be when it gets within catching distance of your hands. This all has to happen within a matter of milliseconds. You then have to get your feet to where the ball is estimated to be in space and get them around the ball so that the ball stays there.

Elite athletic performers must therefore have an elite ability to process visual data quickly and make accurate predictions about what is about to happen. Pioneering coaches and Neuro Athletic certified coaches have opened their eyes to the brain’s untapped potential and are starting to implement strategies to help players increase their visual acuity.

These two elements are the most important in sports vision for a football player 👇🏾

#1 Gather relevant visual data🧠

To do this, your brain must be operating at its peak. It is not just about having 20/20 vision, it’s also about having a well defined network of neurons that can act faster and more intelligently then the others.
The visual system has two parts.
1. There’s the optical system (your eyes)
2. The perceptual system (your brain)

The eye is like a camera. Light passes through the cornea and the pupil at the front of the eye and is focused by the lens onto the retina at the back of the eye. The cornea and lens bend light so it passes through the vitreous gel in the back chamber of the eye and is projected onto the retina.
The retina converts light to electrical impulses.
The optic nerve carries these electrical impulses to the brain, which converts them into the visual images that you see.

#2 Interpret that data to predict what is likely to happen next

The brain takes visual “data” and organises the body and movement around it. More accurate visual “data” leads to increased fluidity and performance of movement tasks, specifically those that involve a target, such as a free-kick or hitting a reverse pass across the pitch.

For a prime example, in 2013 Cristiano Ronaldo’s eye movements were studied when attacking a defender off the dribble, which revealed very quick and stable eye movements on the defender’s feet and hips prior to the Portuguese forward initiating his next dribble. That quick, yet reliable, information helps guide Ronaldo on what move to make and beat the defender.

In 2006, when Germany finished third in the World Cup, their players spent an average of 2.9 seconds on the ball each time they had it. By 2014, when they won, that had fallen to just 0.9 seconds. Quick decision making is important and in a sport where fine margins can make all the difference, that’s potentially huge decrease!

Thoughts?

What team are you backing in the Euro 2020?

100’s people have applied to roles this week 🤯

Have you heard the news?

Neuro Athletics has released a job board to help sports specific organisations find the best talent. Below is the #1 job that people have applied for this week:

Associate Counsel: NY Knicks (link)

Are you looking at hiring new staff? Check the Neuro Athletics job board to secure a spot and find your best talent!

That’s it for this week! Hit me up if you have any stories, feedback, or insights to share. Otherwise, see you next week!