In the sporting landscape, there are at least two current paradoxes that are of interest to athletes, coaches, and key stakeholders. First, particularly in the United States, there has been great diversity in the degree to which sport has been affected by the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic. Some sports and states have endured seasons cancelled and venues closed while others have moved forward with more modest adjustments. A second noteworthy paradox is that while more people have been homebound during 2020 and 2021, they have been clamoring for information on how best to proceed whenever sport does return, yet finding quality information can be elusive. This presents a confound in that researchers simply haven’t had the time yet to produce high-quality scholarly work on the effects of SARS-COVID-19 on the sporting landscape though that in no way lessens the need. Therefore traditional academic outlets of books, textbooks, and peer-reviewed journal articles are not yet caught up to the realities athletes and coaches are currently facing. Many academic conferences, typically a quicker route to quality information dissemination, have been cancelled or reduced due to the pandemic, too.
Ultimately, parents of athletes, coaches, and the athletes themselves are collectively in a similar situation: Where to find quality information on how to return to sport after a season was canceled or how to cope with significant modifications to their sport experience. There is no shortage of questions that could be addressed and due to the breadth of the Internet, no shortage of possible sources for information. This all culminates into the community need for quality information to be available, free of charge, and for that information to be from true experts in the sport field. PHE America serves as a conduit for quality information dissemination and one organization that has created a breadth of quality information throughout the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic is Sanford Health based in Sioux Falls, SD. Within Sanford Health is the Sanford Sports Science Institute and Sanford POWER Performance Lab both of which focus on improving athlete performance.
Between the Sanford Sports Science Institute and the Sanford POWER Performance Lab, there is a full complement of experts across physical therapy, athletic training, sports coaching, exercise physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, sports biomechanics, and sport and exercise psychology. Free videos from experts in all of these disciplines within sport can be found on Sanford Health’s YouTube page. A selected few videos are highlighted below.
End of Season Tournament Play
This time of the year many teams are getting ready for basketball tournaments. This presents a different context for athletes and coaches alike. Seasons have been different this year and attendee and fan restrictions may create an even more unique culmination to the season. Dr. Andy Gillham discusses the mental side of basketball tournament performance: Mental Performance for Athletes During Postseason. Additionally, the different schedules of a tournament may complicate eating patterns already disrupted by the pandemic. Some tips for nutrition during the later stages of a season are included here: How Athletes can Maintain Strong Nutrition Postseason.
Getting Ready for a New Season
Springtime also brings back a new season of sports. Unfortunately for many spring sport athletes and coaches, their seasons were most dramatically impacted by the pandemic with many seasons being outright canceled in 2020. That may present the especially unique circumstance of athletes having not actively practiced and competed for almost a year. To that end, here is a video highlighting the need for athletes to not be too hard on themselves as their minds wander during practice: How to Handle New Distractions for Athletes and one for coaches to be mindful of some practice changes they may need to make: How Coaches Can Utilize Practice Time for Their Teams. In youth sports, there is also the key group of parents. This is a video targeting youth sport parents and coaches: Advice to Parents & Coaches for Their Young Athletes.
Returning to Sports After COVID
Whatever the season, sport, or time of year is, athletes may need just a little more help with their return to training and competition in 2021 than years past. That may include reaching out to a sport psychology expert and here is an example of some key questions that athletes are experiencing with a return to sport: What Sessions May Look Like with a Returning Athlete. Nutrition also plays an important role across all sporting contexts and with a greater focus on eating at home due to the pandemic, having a little more nutrition education may prove to be quite useful: At-Home Advice with Sanford Sports Registered Dietitian. With the increase in physical activity will come an increase in soreness and fatigue. A few tips on reducing those impacts can be found here: Tips on Reducing Injuries & Soreness.
The questions surrounding returning to sport are numerous. The impacts of SARS-COVID-19 will not be fully known or described for years to come. Equally as true is that sport is coming back. Week by week, season by season, all of us that root for sport and the positives it can bring to our lives and communities are looking toward the day we find our new normal; and it cannot be normal without sport!
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