Short Sided Round Robin Format for Basketball and Soccer

The computer age has bestowed some unforeseen blessings on the sports world. Math whizzes are now using the personal computer to track game results to a level never before possible, and sports are the better for it. The book "Moneyball" chronicled the way Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics used obscure statistical analyses to scout and deal for talent. Now, a variation of this method has spilt over into basketball with a number of NBA teams using statistics in a similar manner. These methods were described in a recent Sports Illustratedarticle titled Measure of Success. Described as simply as possible, these statisticianstrack how well a team does when a player is on the floor, versus how well they do when theyarent.

These measures disregard a players contribution as represented by their scoring, rebounding and assists totals,and simply asks, "Does the team do better or worse when this player is on the floor?" They also in many casescontradict the conventional wisdom concerning the relative worth of certain players. Jason Collins, a fifth-year center for the Nets of little renown gets ranked as the fourth best defensive center in the league. Conversely, high-scoring Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks issuch a disaster on defense that his teams tend to lose with him on the floor, and win while he is on the bench.

While amateur coaches are sure to find these analyses interesting, is there any way in which theycan employ these metrics for their own use? Amateur coaches might be able to get team assistantsto gather the data needed to maintain these stats, but there is a much better way these conceptscan be applied.

Virtually all teams rely heavily on scrimmage play as part of their practice routine. By adoptingwhat I call a Roster Round Robin format during scrimmage play, coaches can get a much clearerpicture of how and when individual players perform better than others. The format simply requiresthat sides be set to 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5, depending on available players. Players are issuedreversible jerseys, and score is kept for each side. Stages are set to 3 or 4 minutes, and atthe end of each stage, a team score is recorded, with each player earning points for themselves on the basis of their team result. Two players are then directed to exchange sides by flipping their reversible jersey, and a new stage is played. This pattern is continued until all possibleroster combinations have been used.

For a 3v3 contest, this would equate to 10 possible combinations, thus requiring a 30 to 40 minutegame. Each player earns a plus/minus score across all stages. As everyone plays under all rostercombinations and points can only be earned on the basis of team results, an individuals resultreflects their team contribution across all stages. In order to maintain game continuity andensure rapid roster rotations, the roster rotations are predetermined and printed on a grid usedfor scoring.

Some may notice that the one thing seemingly not taken into account in this format is positionplay. A roster rotation schedule that disregards position play will likely result in some oddlybalanced sides think 5 guards versus 5 forwards and centers that wouldnt reflect anythingresembling a real-game matchup. This difficulty can, however, be overcome by taking positionsinto account when devising the roster rotations. For a 4v4 game, with players restricted toeither a center/forward or guard position, there would be 9 different roster combinations required.For a full-sided game, a center position could be added, but 18 stages would be required. With three minute stages, this would be a 54 minute scrimmage game. Coaches may wish to splitthis size of scrimmage across multiple practices.

Would the results from any particular scrimmage mean much? For one game, probably not, as we allknow the ball can bounce funny for a time. But if this format were used on a regular basis, theresults should reveal which players are contributing the most to their team. These results willeither confirm or deny a coachs sense of who his best players are, but there are two even biggerbenefits that can come from the use of this format. First, as players come to understand thisas the new measure of their play, they will be more receptive to a coachs instruction on teamplay. As well, players will intuitively respond to the demands of the game, and adjust their playaccordingly. Simply put, the ability to measure team play translates to a better ability to teachand learn it.

The second benefit may be even more important. A system that clearly and demonstrably measuresa player on the basis of their team contribution fosters team chemistry better than any other.The talented offensive player who lets down on defense can be brought to the table when the impactof his lackluster defense can be shown. Players who are frustrated because they think theyshould be playing more can either makes their case in the round robin practice, or be showntheyre not there yet. Regardless of the case, team chemistry is advanced.

The only real barriers to this practice format are logistical. Running this practice formatrequires pre-numbered reversible jerseys, and scoring/rotation grid sheets.

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Young Wrestlers Fast, Sweat to Make Weight

Weight Loss Their Greatest Opponent
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Before high school and college wrestlers can face their opponents in the ring, they must first vanquish one in the locker room, the scales that determine whether they're eligible to compete in a given weight class. In order to make the weight they want, many of these young athletes are using fasting, dehydration, diet pills, and laxatives as ways to lose weight quickly.

How widespread is this potentially deadly practice? A recent study of wrestlers in Michigan high schools found 7 out of 10 used at least one possibly harmful weight loss method each week of the wrestling session -- and just over half of them used at least two methods each week. About a quarter of the young wrestlers lost 10 pounds or more during the season, and 11% fasted longer than 24 hours before a match.

The study was published in the May issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

"This study reinforces what we've known for years," lead author Robert Kiningham, MD, tells WebMD. "While previous studies have looked at elite, highly committed wrestlers, we looked at everyone. Disturbingly, we found the same percentage of harmful behaviors as previous studies of elite wrestlers, suggesting these behaviors are widespread."

Kiningham is an assistant clinical professor and director of the sports medicine fellowship program at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor.

Many wrestlers try to compete in an unrealistically low weight class because they believe this gives them a competitive advantage, says Doug Andersen, DC, nutrition consultant for West Coast Sports Performance and Sports Medicine Consultants in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and a nutritionist for the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

"First, wrestlers should qualify for a sensible weight class," he says. "If you skip one meal the day beforehand in order to drop two or three pounds, that's one thing. But when someone tries to drop tremendous amounts of weight, 10 pounds or more, we're concerned. While they may not have an eating disorder in the strict sense, they certainly have disordered eating."

"In 1997 three healthy college-age men all died because they were trying to make weight for the wrestling team, using similar rapid-weight-loss regimens based on dehydration. Wrestlers put on nonpermeable clothing and exercise hard, and then don't rehydrate themselves. This is dangerous," says Samantha Heller, MS, RD, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Medical Center and an exercise physiologist.

Short-term studies have found rapid weight loss can lead to a decline in the ability to think clearly, loss of athletic strength and power, and mood changes, Heller says. No one knows if there are long-term effects, because long-term studies haven't been done.

The authors of the Michigan study conclude by saying, "Altering these entrenched behaviors will require a unified effort by coaches, administrators, parents, and wrestlers throughout the sport."

However, some coaches don't see any need for change.

"Wrestlers have a short-term goal, to make their weight," says Dick Bellock. "They may not eat for a day but we all skip meals once in awhile. Teenage kids get hungry. They make weight, they eat right afterward; that isn't necessarily binge eating."

Bellock wrestled in high school and college and is now the athletic director of McKay High School in Salem, Ore.

Bob Ferraro agrees.

"We already have safety measures in place," says Ferraro, executive director of the National High School Coaches Association, based in Easton, Pa. "Every wrestler must be examined by a physician, and the physician determines the weight class that wrestler will compete at. These issues have already been addressed."

Andersen, however, believes changes are needed.

"Today, wrestlers weigh-in hours before or the day before the match. They should have to weigh-in just beforehand. If someone had to wrestle in a dehydrated state, weak as a kitten, they wouldn't like it."

Since the data was collected for the Michigan study, the state has instituted a new program using mandatory weight standards based on a measured percentage of body fat. Kiningham hopes the new program will be effective in limiting pressures on young wrestlers to engage in unhealthy weight-loss behaviors in order to compete.

Source: WebMD

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