'Supporting the Support Staff': A Narrative Review of Nutritional Opportunities to Enhance Recovery and Wellbeing in Multi-Disciplinary Soccer Performance Staff.

Background: With ever-increasing training, match-play and travel demands in professional soccer, recovery is vital for athletic performance, a statement amplified in tournament and in-season scenarios. However, alongside supporting the tasks associated with these increased demands, the recovery and wellbeing strategies recommended for playing staff are often unavailable to their support staff counterparts, who routinely experience extended working hours over and above scheduled player attendance.

Methods: Focusing on the contributions of nutrition to this undoubtedly multifactorial issue, this narrative review aimed to (1) identify potential strategies to enhance recovery and wellbeing in multi-disciplinary soccer support staff and (2) highlight future research opportunities exploring the benefits of nutrition for those staff in soccer performance-related support roles.

Influence of postactivation potentiation on sprinting performance in professional rugby players.

After a bout of high-intensity exercise of short duration (preload stimulus), the muscle is in both a fatigued and potentiated (referred to as postactivation potentiation [PAP]) state. Consequently, subsequent muscle performance depends on the balance of these 2 factors. Although research has shown PAP to be an effective method of increasing power during both the squat jumps, little data exist on its effect on more functional activities such as sprinting.