The Recovery Umbrella in the World of Elite Sport: Do Not Forget the Coaching and Performance Staff

Abstract

In the field of sports science, the recovery umbrella is a trending topic, and even more so in the world of elite sports. This is evidenced by the significant increase in scientific publications during the last 10 years as teams look to find a competitive edge. Recovery is recognized to be an integral component to assist athlete preparation in the restoration of physical and psychological function, and subsequently, performance in elite team sports athletes. However, the importance of recovery in team staff members (sports coaches and performance staff) in elite sports appears to be a forgotten element. Given the unrelenting intense nature of daily tasks and responsibilities of team staff members, the elite sports environment can predispose coaches to increased susceptibility to psycho-socio physiological fatigue burden, and negatively affect health, wellbeing, and performance. Therefore, the aim of this opinion was to (1) develop an educational recovery resource for team staff members, (2) identify organizational task-specific fatigue indicators and barriers to recovery and self-care in team staff members, and (3) present recovery implementation strategies to assist team staff members in meeting their organizational functions. It is essential that we do not forget the coaching and performance staff in the recovery process.

How Sleep Affects Recovery and Performance in Basketball: A Systematic Review

“…The main conclusion of this systematic review is that sleep does have a clear impact on performance in the sport of basketball [ 34 ], affecting not only the statistics of the players [ 48 , 54 , 56 , 58 ] but also to the chances of injury [ 52 ]. Therefore, it seems undeniable that sleep should be a fundamental control variable by the coaching staff of any team [ 66 ].…”

“…All the information collected in this work should be taken into account by both the players and the coaches of the teams (staff members are also affected by these conditions, as Calleja-González et al pointed out in 2021 [ 66 ]), the managers of the clubs and by the organizations of the professional leagues themselves, in order to facilitate a safer and more coherent environment with the circadian rhythms and recovery times of the human being.…”

Perceptions and use of recovery strategies in water polo players and coaches: a worldwide survey

“…For data collection, a freely accessible online questionnaire was developed using Microsoft Forms with descriptive design ( https://forms.office.com/r/BQCkk1NCv3 ) and different question options: combination of multiple choice, Likert scales, checkboxes and open-ended free-text responses. Subsequently, the survey was sent by email, telephone and social networks, in the same way as used by other authors ( Calleja-González et al, 2021 ; Pernigoni et al, 2022 ; Perazzetti et al, 2023b ) ( Fig. 1 ).…”

“…A total of 307 WP players (n=231; male: n=112, female: n= 119) and technical staff members (strength and conditioning coach, , n=36; sport scientist, n=4; data scientist, n=1; other, n=5; total, n=76), representing all continents worldwide (Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania) and all levels of competition, completed a freely accessible online questionnaire, related to the perception of the importance and actual use of different recovery strategies. The sample size was adequate compared to previous similar studies (Altarriba-Bartes et al, 2021;Calleja-González et al, 2021;Field et al, 2021;Pernigoni et al, 2022). All participants were adequately informed, participated voluntarily and anonymously.…”

Selection of Key Performance Indicators for Your Sport and Program: Proposing a Complementary Process-Driven Approach

“…Thus, it follows that sport staff will seek indicators that underpin performance on an organizational, departmental, and individual level. Indeed, a recent organizational staff structure for team sports proposed that performance staff, including practitioners across sports science, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and psychology, and team sport staff, made up of coaching and scouting staff among others, each provide expertise related to specific KPIs (11). Although the use of KPIs is relevant for team sport staff, in this article, we focus our discussion predominantly as it relates to performance staff.…”