Sport Innovation/Recovery Techniques in Team Sports/Background

Introduction

Background

Project Feasibility

Through research, the authors could identify a gap in the scientific literature in regards to the effective recovery methods and periods in team sports. This could affect an athlete’s performance, and their ultimate success. Therefore it was necessary to investigate this gap in the scientific literature, to better improve the performance capabilities during competition of team sports athletes.

Project Specification

By researching what other authors have done in the area of recovery modalities and recovery time periods following exhaustive exercise, the authors could distinguish their aim for the project. The aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of both COLD and CWI as recovery methods in the 48-hour period following simulated team sport exercise.

They then had to determine the objectives of the project. These were:

• To determine the effects of COLD and/or CWI as part of post exhaustive exercise recovery modality.
• To determine if these effects are different after participating in simulated team sports compared with basic exercise (as reported in the literature).
• To identify if 48 hours is sufficient for COLD and/or CWI recovery techniques to return to optimal performance capability.

The authors would be able to successfully evaluate the success of their project based on these objectives. The authors hypothesized that COLD & CWI would be better than the control group at returning athletes to their pre exhaustive exercise performance capabilities, but not better than each other.

Stakeholders

The key stakeholders that stand to benefit from this project are essentially team sport athletes. If this research paper can successfully prove a better way to recover in terms of muscle damage and return to optimal performance capability, then this will assist athletes to perform better than they could previous to this project. Another key stakeholder in this project is the University of Western Australia, as they are the financiers. They are providing all the resources for the project, with the exception of the Department of Biochemistry at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, who are providing the testing of markers of muscle damage and inflammation. Therefore, they would desire the successful completion of the project. The authors also needed to find a suitable sample for the project. They decided on males aged 27.5±6.0 years that have team sport experience and agreed to voluntarily participate in the study. This is cost effective.
Priorities
Performance is the preferred priority for this project, with time being fixed. The testing of the athletes needs to be completed within a certain time frame. The cost of this project is flexible, as the scientific controls of the study need to be of the highest standard to ensure the validity of the project. However, the cost of this project would mostly be based around the payment of the project staff as well as payment for the biochemical testing, since the university is providing the equipment and venues.
Phases of Methodology