☕️ S&C Daily — Instinct Is Just Preparation

Good morning. Harvard Business Review breaks down what really drives elite coaches' calls under pressure, a performance coach argues most sprint rehab is just conditioning in disguise, and FIFA launches a health project built for female athletes. Let's get into it.

^News
📖 What Looks Like Instinct Is Really Preparation

What separates elite coaches under pressure isn't instinct - it's preparation. A new Harvard Business Review study of 11 coaches across the NFL, NBA, MLB, and European football breaks their decision-making into three phases.

Before the moment: they anticipate the calls they'll face, rehearse scenarios, and limit their inputs - one NBA coach asks for "focused and valuable data," nothing more. In the moment: they regulate emotion ("fear doesn't align with good decision-making") and read body language for anything off, often checking their read with another coach. After: they own the calls they get wrong - "I may have got that wrong, but I always learn for next time" - then fix the process that led there.

What looks like gut, they found, is really pattern recognition built through reps. Read More

🏃 Sprint Rehab Isn't Just Running Harder

In a recent SCN article, Performance coach Carmen Bott took aim at a popular criteria-based return-to-sprinting progression, arguing its work:rest ratios are far too short for true sprint rehab.

The stages run 1:3, 1:5, and 1:7. A 40-yard sprint takes roughly 5-6 seconds, so a 1:7 ratio leaves only 35-42 seconds of rest - nowhere near enough for max-velocity work. Bott says that under-recovery turns sprinting into fatigued running, and in ACL rehab specifically, fatigue alters movement strategies when tissues are least tolerant. Her fix for true max velocity: 1:20 to 1:40 ratios, like a 5-second sprint paired with 2-4 minutes of recovery. Read More

⚽️ FIFA Launches Female Health and Performance Project

FIFA launched its Female Health and Performance Project, an initiative to advance research, education, and support for women's soccer players at every level. It targets a long-standing gap: female athletes have often been trained and evaluated through frameworks designed around male athletes.

The project spans physiology, menstrual health, pregnancy and postpartum, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and strength and conditioning. FIFA says the goal is more individualized support, with the 2027 Women's World Cup on the horizon. Read More

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