Koen A.P.M. Lemmink

University Medical Center Groningen/University of Groningen · Human Movement Sciences

Purpose : This study explored endurance athletes’ and coaches’ views on recovery strategies, focusing on their use across competition levels, perceived importance and effectiveness, and common barriers. Methods : Endurance athletes (26.6% international, 35.7% national, 28.7% regional, and 9.1% other levels; mean experience 10.04 [7.84] y, n = 143)...

In elite football, injury risk is considerable. Consequently, optimal rehabilitation and an adequate time point of return-to-play (RTP) are crucial. The elevated injury risk in the weeks after RTP (e.g. Orchard & Best, 2002; Wangensteen et al., 2016) and the time course of biological healing processes (Orchard & Best, 2002) nourished the speculatio...

Background Injury risk in professional football (soccer) is increased in the weeks following return-to-play (RTP). However, the time course of injury risk after RTP (the hazard curve) as well as its influencing factors are largely unknown. This knowledge gap, which is arguably due to the volatility of instantaneous risk when calculated for short ti...

This scoping review aimed to systematically explore the breadth and extent of the literature regarding the relationship between contextual factors (CFs) and training load (TL) in adolescent soccer players. Further aims included comprehending potential underlying mechanisms and identifying knowledge gaps. CFs were defined as factors not part of the...

Background Recovery strategies are used to enhance performance and reduce injury risk in athletes. In previous systematic reviews, individual recovery strategies were investigated to clarify their effectiveness for mixed groups of athletes. However, the current evidence is ambiguous, and a clear overview of (training) recovery for endurance athlete...

Background There has been an increasing interest in the development and prevention of sports injuries from a complex dynamic systems perspective. From this perspective, injuries may occur following critical fluctuations in the psychophysiological state of an athlete. Our objective was to quantify these so-called Early Warning Signals (EWS) to deter...

Previous research on sports performance has mostly been conducted: (a) at a single point, or at most, a few points in time, (b) at the group level, and (c) as a causal chain of monodisciplinary predictor and outcome variables. In the present research, we argue and demonstrate that the next important step should be to monitor, analyze, and visualise...

Training load quantification methods may help optimize soccer performance. However, whole-body indicators potentially underestimate biomechanical load. A new inertial sensor setup allows joint-specific biomechanical load quantification. Good discriminative validity further supports the use of this method, and therefore the purpose of this study is...

Background The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) established a panel of experts to determine methodological recommendations for the conduct of studies which explore the acute effects of heading (defined as a single session of heading). This process was deemed necessary to improve the quality of studies which use heading trials to bette...

There is increasing concern regarding the effects of heading in football on brain health including cognitive, behavioural and neuromotor function, with research suggesting an association between repeated ball-head impacts and neurodegenerative disease. While longitudinal studies to determine the long-term consequences of heading are challenging, th...

Background Injury risk in professional football is increased in the weeks following return-to-play (RTP). However, the time course of injury risk after RTP (the hazard curve) as well as its influencing factors are largely unknown. This knowledge gap, which is arguably due to the volatility of instantaneous risk when calculated for short time interv...

Background Recovery strategies are used to enhance performance and reduce injury risk in athletes. In previous systematic reviews, individual recovery strategies were investigated to clarify their effectiveness for mixed groups of athletes. However, the current evidence is ambiguous, and a clear overview of (training) recovery for endurance athlete...

Previous research on sports performance has mostly been conducted: (a) at a single point, or at most, a few points in time, (b) on the group level, and (c) as a causal chain of monodisciplinary predictor and outcome variables. In the present research, we argue and demonstrate that the next important step should be to monitor, analyze, and visualize...

Decision-making processes for return to play after injuries require forecasting the potential outcome (e.g., re-injury risk). In football, (re-)injury risk is influenced by a combination of physical, mental, and contextual factors. To predict (re-)injury risk, highly complex and flexible data-driven methods are a natural preference. For a data-driv...

Purpose: To determine the test-retest reliability of the recently developed Hip Load metric, evaluate its construct validity, and assess the differences with Playerload during football-specific short-distance shuttle runs. Methods: Eleven amateur football players participated in 2 identical experimental sessions. Each session included 3 differen...

The present study examined the kinematics of maximal effort sprint running, mapping the relations among a person’s maximal running speed, maximum running acceleration and the distance coverable in a certain amount of time by this person. Thirty-three participants were recruited to perform a simple sprint task. Both forward and backward running were...

Background: Limited information is available on the experiences of patients during rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Aim: The current study aimed to identify factors that differentiated positive and negative patient experiences during rehabilitation after ACLR. Method and design: A survey-based study with a...

Movements are often modulated by the meaning of cue words. We explore the interaction between verbal and visual constraints during a movement by investigating if spoken words during movement execution bias late movement control of swiping actions on a tablet when vision of the target is removed during the movement. Verbalization trials required par...

Training load monitoring systems in football do not focus on lower extremities and therefore potentially neglect important information to optimise performance or reduce injury risk. The current study aims to present joint and segment angular accelerations as novel indicators to quantify lower extremity biomechanical load measured by a new inertial...

Athletes are exposed to various psychological and physiological stressors, such as losing matches and high training loads. Understanding and improving the resilience of athletes is therefore crucial to prevent performance decrements and psychological or physical problems. In this review, resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic process of bouncing...

Purpose: The study of load and recovery gained significant interest in the last decades, given its important value in decreasing the likelihood of injuries and improving performance. So far, findings are typically reported on the group level, whereas practitioners are most often interested in applications at the individual level. Hence, the aim of...

Background It is crucial to balance load and recovery during short-term match congestion in basketball. Currently, it is unknown if higher total load during short-term match congestion lead to higher injury and illness rates. Objective Aim of this study was to compare injuries and illnesses and total weekly load during 1-match weeks compared to ≥2...

Substitution is an essential tool for a coach to influence the match. Factors like the injury of a player, required tactical changes, or underperformance of a player initiates substitutions. This study aims to predict the physical performance of individual players in an early phase of the match to provide additional information to the coach for his...

Introduction: Performance assessment in professional soccer often focusses on notational assessment like assists or pass accuracy. However, rather than statistics, performance is more about making the best possible tactical decision, in the context of aplayer’s positional role and the available options at the time. With the current paper, we aim to...

Decision-makers in soccer routinely assess the tactical behaviour of a team and its opponents both during and after the game to optimize performance. Currently, this assessment is typically driven by notational analysis and observation. Therefore, potential high-impact decisions are often made based on limited or even biased information. With the c...

It has been claimed that increased reliance on context, or allocentric information, develops when aiming movements are more consciously monitored and/or controlled. Since verbalizing target features requires strong conscious monitoring, we expected an increased reliance on allocentric information when verbalizing a target label (i.e. target number)...

ABSTRACT Association football teams can be considered complex dynamical systems of individuals grouped in subgroups (defenders, midfielders and attackers), coordinating their behaviour to achieve a shared goal. As research often focusses on collective behaviour, or on static subgroups, the current study aims to analyse spatiotemporal behaviour of d...

In elite basketball, players are exposed to intensified competition periods when participating in both national and international competitions. How coaches manage training between matches and in reference to match scheduling for a full season is not yet known. Purpose: First, to compare load during short-term match congestion (ie, ≥2-match weeks)...

Strategies such as self-talk and verbalization have recently received considerable attention in the field of sport psychology (e.g., Montero, 2016). These strategies are suggested to enhance movement accuracy and learning in varying environments. With the richness of visual information available at any given time, it is pertinent to attend to the m...

By assessing the precision of gestural interactions with touchscreen targets, the authors investigate how the type of gesture, target location, and scene visibility impact movement endpoints. Participants made visually and memory-guided pointing and swiping gestures with a stylus to targets located in a semicircle. Specific differences in aiming er...

Injuries of runners reduce the ability to train and hinder competing. Literature shows that the relation between potential risk factors and injuries are not definitive, limited, and inconsistent. In team sports, workload derivatives were identified as risk factors. However, there is an absence of literature in running on workload derivatives. This...

Current athlete monitoring practice in team sports is mainly based on positional data measured by global positioning or local positioning systems. The disadvantage of these measurement systems is that they do not register lower extremity kinematics, which could be a useful measure for identifying injury-risk factors. Rapid development in sensor tec...

To assess the real‐life magnitude of the heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football in eight European countries with different “football cultures” a cross‐sectional observational design, in which one match per team in 480 different teams from eight European countries (2017/18–2018/19) was recorded by video. One training session was recorde...

Inertial sensor-based measurements of lower body kinematics in football players may improve physical load estimates during training sessions and matches. However, the validity of inertial-based motion analysis systems is specific to both the type of movement and the intensity at which movements are executed. Importantly, such a system should be rel...

In professional soccer, increasing amounts of data are collected that harness great potential when it comes to analysing tactical behaviour. Unlocking this potential is difficult as big data challenges the data management and analytics methods commonly employed in sports. By joining forces with computer science, solutions to these challenges could...

Background A limited number of patients return to sport (RTS) after an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and patients who RTS have a relatively high risk for second ACL injury. The purpose of the current study was to compare the results of a test battery between patients who returned to the pre-injury level of sport (RTS group) and p...

There was an error in the calculation of the standard deviation of the continuous relative phase measure (SDϕ). The standard deviation was calculated on the absoluted continuous relative phase values. Therefore, the reported SDϕ‐values were underestimated. As such, in the present erratum we based the relation between crew coordination consistency a...

Objectives:The purpose of the current study was to compare the results of a progressive strength training protocol for soccer players after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with healthy controls, and to investigate the effects of the strength training protocol on peak quadriceps and hamstring muscle strength.Design:Between subjects...

Crew rowing is often quoted as a natural example of perfect unity. A crew of rowers aims to optimize performance by perfectly moving in synchrony, while they apply all their power at maximum stroke rate. But do they necessarily need to move in in-phase synchrony? It has been suggested that crew members may complement each other’s movements by rowin...

Crew rowing is often quoted as a natural example of perfect unity. A crew of rowers aims to optimize performance by perfectly moving in synchrony, while they apply all their power at maximum stroke rate. But do they necessarily need to move in in-phase synchrony? It has been suggested that crew members may complement each other’s movements by rowin...

Quality as well as quantity of tracking data have rapidly increased over the recent years, and multiple leagues have programs for league-wide collection of tracking data. Tracking data enables in-depth performance analysis, especially with regard to tactics. This already resulted in the development of several Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) rela...

RTS after ACLR

Small-sided games (SSGs) are a promising training format in soccer to replicate (situations of) the official match across all age groups. Typically, SSGs are played on a smaller relative pitch area (RPA; i.e., ,150 m2) than the match (320 m2 RPA), which results in different tactical demands. To create a more precise replication of tactical match de...

During rugby sevens tournaments, it is crucial to balance match load and recovery to strive for optimal performance. Purpose: To determine changes in well-being, recovery, and neuromuscular performance during and after an elite women's rugby sevens tournament and assess the influence of match-load indicators. Methods: Twelve elite women rugby s...

11 vs. 11 training games are used to mimic the official match, but differ in playing duration and a consequence of winning or losing. Anxiety levels, crowd pressure, and the intention to win are examples of constraints present in the match, but absent or less prevalent in training. The aim is, therefore, to compare soccer performance in official ma...

In professional soccer, nowadays almost every team employs tracking technology to monitor performance during trainings and matches. Over the recent years, there has been a rapid increase in both the quality and quantity of data collected in soccer resulting in large amounts of data collected by teams every single day. The sheer amount of available...

Objective: Intervening on barrier beliefs (BBs) may inhibit the role of barriers as mediating factors in lifestyle behavior. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of a barrier-belief counseling intervention (BBCI) on physical activity (PA) and healthy food intake. Methods: An RCT was conducted in a primary care setting among adults (a...

In crew rowing, agents need to coordinate their movements to achieve optimal performance. Although, traditionally, rowers aim to move perfectly in sync, it has been suggested that rowing in antiphase may actually be mechanically more efficient. From coordination dynamics, the antiphase pattern is expected to be less stable, especially with an incre...

How do outfielders control their locomotor behavior in running to catch fly balls? This question has been the topic of many empirical studies. It is interesting that a little addressed but highly relevant issue in this regard is that of the influence of perceived catchability on locomotor control. We examined what factors determine catchability and...

Traditionally, rowers aim to row perfectly in sync (in-phase coordination) to achieve optimal performance. However, it has been suggested that when rowers perfectly alternate their strokes (i.e., antiphase coordination), velocity fluctuations of the boat are minimized, which reduces power losses to 5% [1,2] and hence might theoretically result in a...

Purpose: The purpose of the current prospective study was to assess the changes over time in patients tested at 6 months and 9 months after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with a return to sport (RTS) test battery. It was hypothesized that more patients passed RTS criteria at 9 months compared to 6 months. Methods: Sixty-two ACL...

PurposeThere is a lack of objective factors which can be used in guiding the return to sport (RTS) decision after an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). The purpose of the current study was to conduct qualitative analysis of the single leg hop (SLH) in patients after ACLR with a simple and clinical friendly method and to compare the p...

Background Insufficient postmatch recovery in elite players may cause an increased risk of injuries, illnesses and non-functional over-reaching. Objective To evaluate postmatch recovery time courses of physical performance and biochemical markers in team ball sport players. Study design Systematic review. Data sources PubMed and Web of Science....

De academie voor lichamelijke opvoeding bestaat 80 jaar. Ter gelegenheid daarvan wordt op 24 april het symposium 'Veelzijdig bewegen veraangenaamt het leven' georganiseerd.

Small-sided games (SSGs) are used in training sessions to prepare for full-sized matches. For the same number of players, smaller pitch sizes result in decreased physical performance and shorter interpersonal distances. A relative pitch area derived from the full-sized match results in larger pitch sizes and this may increase the fit between SSGs a...

Introduction: Cutting is an important skill in team-sports, but unfortunately is also related to non-contact ACL injuries. The purpose was to examine knee kinetics and kinematics at different cutting angles. Material and methods: 13 males and 16 females performed cuts at different angles (45°, 90°, 135° and 180°) at maximum speed. 3D kinematics...

Applying an established theory of cognitive development―Skill Theory―the current study compares the game-reading skills of youth players selected for a soccer school of a professional soccer club (n = 49) and their non-selected peers (n = 38). Participants described the actions taking place in videos of soccer game plays, and their verbalisations w...

Background: Hop tests are frequently used to determine return to sports (RTS) after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Given that bilateral deficits are present after ACLR, this may result in a falsely high limb symmetry index (LSI), since LSI is calculated as a ratio between the values of the limbs. Hypothesis: Athletes after ACL...

Aim: To explore (1) general practitioners' (GPs') motivations to refer to lifestyle interventions and to investigate the association between GPs' own lifestyle behaviors and their referral behavior and (2) patient indicators in the decision-making process of the GPs' referral to lifestyle interventions. Method: A cross-sectional study was conduc...

Purpose: The aims of this study are to determine match exertion, subsequent recovery and to investigate to what extent the coach is able to estimate players' match exertion and recovery. Methods: Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and Total quality of recovery (TQR) of 14 professional basketball players (age 26.7±3.8 y, height 197.2±9.1 cm, weight...

Tactical match performance depends on the quality of actions of individual players or teams in space and time during match-play in order to be successful. Technological innovations have led to new possibilities to capture accurate spatio-temporal information of all players and unravel the dynamics and complexity of soccer matches. The main aim of t...

In crew rowing, crew members need to mutually synchronize their movements to achieve optimal crew performance. Intuitively, poor crew coordination is often deemed to involve additional boat movements such as surge velocity fluctuations, heave, pitch, and roll, which would imply lower efficiency (eg, due to increased hydrodynamic drag). The aim of t...

Video feedback may be a powerful tool to change biomechanical landing patterns associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk. This study investigated the effect of video feedback on drop vertical jump (DVJ) landing strategies in team sport athletes. 59 athletes were assigned to a video feedback (VI) or control (CTRL) group. A pretest...