Tim Roberts

We don't frequently talk about the trade-offs between health, performance and player availability. Here, we discuss these challenges in an editorial led by the amazing Lionel Chia

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I’m excited to share a new research study advancing how we evaluate base running performance in baseball. Historically, base running has been assessed using stopwatches or timing gates. While useful, those tools only provide one outcome variable: time. This study examined whether inertial measurement unit (IMU) foot pod technology can reliably quantify the mechanical determinants of base running. Working with athletes from the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy, we analyzed performance across: • A 60-yard linear sprint • A home-to-second curvilinear sprint Using wearable sensors sampling at 416 Hz, we quantified eight kinematic variables including: • Maximum and average speed • Stride length • Ground contact time • Push-off acceleration • Impact forces Key findings: • 91% of variables changed less than 2% between testing sessions • 94% of reliability coefficients were below 10%, and 63% were below 5% • Linear sprint variables demonstrated excellent reliability (ICC up to 0.99) • Curvilinear sprint measures showed good-to-excellent reliability in most comparisons Practical Applications This technology allows practitioners to move beyond simple sprint times and instead analyze how base runners produce speed around the bases. For coaches and sport scientists, this means the ability to: • Identify mechanical inefficiencies during curved sprinting • Detect asymmetries between the inside and outside leg • Design more targeted sprint and base running drills • Monitor fatigue and workload during repeated sprint training • Track improvements in base running mechanics over time The collaboration with the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy made this research possible and reflects a growing commitment to integrating sports science into player development. Ultimately, this work represents a step toward establishing Base Running Science as a specialized area of baseball performance analysis.

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GI distress ruins more training blocks for high performing athletes. We hear it all the time from athletes: the bloating, the gas, the unpredictable gut days that show up right when training volume ramps. Everyone blames nerves or a bad pre-race meal, but training load, fueling choices, and how well your gut is actually absorbing what you eat all play a role. That's exactly why we formulated GoodPhyte IB Defense. It pairs the phytase enzyme with a targeted probiotic blend to work on both sides of the problem at once: Phytase breaks down phytic acid — the compound in grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds that binds iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium and carries them out of your body before you can use them, freeing those minerals up for real absorption. The probiotic blend supports a more balanced gut day to day, so digestion runs smoother through the grind of a training block. This isn't a one-and-done fix you reach for when things go sideways, it's a daily formula built for the athletes dealing with the same recurring discomfort, week after week. One capsule. Two mechanisms. Fewer surprises on training days that matter. Now available at The Feed 👇 #SportsNutrition #GutHealth #AthletePerformance #GoodPhyte #IronAbsorption #EnduranceSports Link to the product on The Feed: https://lnkd.in/gVv6-JTa

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The next evolution in human performance is national. We’ve built technology that tracks, analyses, and learns from athletes across every level — but the real transformation begins when we connect coaches, scientists, and systems under one national standard. In my latest GM Blog, I share how AccelerWare’s synthetic intelligence journey is paving the way for unified coaching frameworks — empowering every coach and creating new pathways for exercise scientists to work, innovate, and lead. This is how nations will develop the next generation of performance. Not through chance — but through connected intelligence. Read the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gn_nxBqz #AccelerWare #HumanPerformance #SyntheticIntelligence #SportsScience #Coaching #Innovation #FutureOfSport

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In sport tech, strengths tend to cluster, and so do blind spots. In our new white paper, we mapped how Academic, Elite Sport, and Commercial ecosystems distribute capability across six dimensions: problem understanding, domain expertise, STEM expertise, velocity, market readiness, and commercial execution. 1️⃣ Academia Strong in scientific depth, applied STEM, and rigor. Often slower to translate and less equipped for productization or commercialization. Academia advances the technical frontier and safeguards credibility. 2️⃣ Elite Sport Strong in precise problem definition and real-world validation under performance pressure. Typically limited in engineering depth and scalable commercialization. Elite environments clarify what truly matters and expose weak assumptions quickly. 3️⃣ Commercial Strong in speed, product development, engineering infrastructure, and go-to-market execution. Domain nuance and validation standards vary. Commercial ventures convert innovation into scalable, deployable products. These aren't hard-and-fast rules, but looking at the graphic, the imbalance is typically a distribution of capability. - Scientific depth is concentrated in academia. - Contextual performance insight is concentrated in elite sport. - Speed, packaging, and scale are concentrated in commercial ventures. The friction in sport tech often reflects these different incentive structures, success metrics, and timelines. The opportunity is in designing clearer interfaces between them. I’ll be sharing more insights from our newly released paper over the next couple of weeks. The full paper link is in the comments. Kristof De Mey - Patrick Scott Welsh - Pedro Tiago Esteves - Torstein Dalen-Lorentsen - Warren Gregson - Kieran Collins

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