Month: January 2020

Wimbledon

by knystrom

Strawberries and creme, champagne, white uniforms, and tennis. These four words all point to one sporting event. As our wonderful British tour guide stated, “There is no sports event in the world more recognizable than Wimbledon”. Every July, people from all around the world come to the Wimbledon tennis tournament to watch stars like Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray compete for glory. On January 29th, we paid a visit to the world renowned Wimbledon.

We first participated in an interactive talk featuring our engaging tour guide. During this talk, we learned all about the Wimbledon brand and marketing strategy. People come to Wimbledon to experience the elite stars play tennis, eat strawberries and creme, drink champagne, and most importantly the culture of the United Kingdom. They come to see the gardens, flowers, tennis competition, and enjoy the overall scenery. Ticket prices for Wimbledon are surprisingly cheap (26 pounds to get into the ground), and you can even get into the championship match for only 240 pounds, provided you are selected in the random ballot draw. The reasoning behind the low pricing is to make sure that the normal person can attend and grow the game of tennis. Hopefully one day a child that goes to Wimbledon will pursue tennis and become the next great star. Meanwhile for guaranteed seats on center court, you will have to pay 80,000 pounds for a 5 year membership. Over the course of 5 years of Wimbledon matches, each match would be around 1100 pounds.

After the talk, we then began the tour. Our first stop was a visit to a few of the 18 tennis courts used in the Wimbledon championship. The finest of them all was center court where the final round to determine the winner of 2.4 million pounds. Center court as well as court #2 has a retractable roof installed allowing play to continue during rain as well as at night.

  • Our guide explains the ins and outs of Wimbledon before the tour
  • Centre Court, home of the championship matches
  • No. 1 Court, where some of the best matches are played

Our next stop was a visit to BBC broadcasting. Where the tennis matches are streamed live. Our tour guide mentioned something very important. People are now tuning into tennis matches on social media now more than ever to watch Wimbledon matches. We then moved on to the player’s quarters, where the players could relax, grab a bite, make travel arrangements, and even get a haircut to look sharp on the court. We also checked out the press conference room, where players are mandated to answer questions for 20 minutes after a match if they are chosen to do so.

  • The BBC Studio at Wimbledon
  • The group sits at the press conference table at Wimbledon

Our final destination was the Wimbledon Museum, where the trophies are housed. Overall Wimbledon was a great experience and embodiment of British culture. Definitely worth a visit back when Serena Williams is actually playing in a match.

  • The Ladies’ Singles Trophy
  • The Gentleman’s Singles Trophy

Southampton FC Academy Tour

by knystrom

Today, we traveled by bus about two and a half hours southwest to to the Southampton FC Training Complex in Southampton, where we met up with the Academic Director of their youth academy. After convening in a classroom for a brief introduction to the club, its academy, and the values and skills that they try to impart on their young players, we were brought outside to walk around the complex. We saw training sessions taking place with some of the Under-18 and Under-16 players, and we were able to take in the sheer vastness of the training campus. It seemed as if there was a training pitch in every direction! Unfortunately, we were discouraged from taking pictures around the grounds, but Bob did get the okay to snap a few. After some time spent watching the impressive technical ability of the players, and learning which of those players had the best shots at going pro (keep your eyes out for Kegs Chauke and Ramello Mitchell in the coming years!), we moved on to the main building of the complex.

  • Ryan (Flanagan) talks with the Academic Director of Southampton FC
  • The gang watches the U-18s run a counter-attack drill

Once inside, we were given a tour of the facilities available to the Southampton first team and youth squads. We saw the conference room, workout facility, first team dressing room (where we met Yan Valery), boot (cleat) room, and first team dining area, which was incredibly nice and had a great view of the whole grounds. Unfortunately, we were relegated to eating lunch in the youth team dining area, but there were still loads of delicious options, even though the setting was not quite as fancy. After stuffing ourselves, we journeyed back toward the training areas, and along the way we managed to get a glance of Danny Ings–Southampton’s key forward, in the midst of the best season of his life–lacing up his boots for a session! We made our way into the massive dome that houses yet another training pitch, and inside we got to watch the Under-10s practice. Quite honestly, those kids were probably better than any one of us. It is amazing to see how quickly these academy players develop the skills of the game.

Finally, we returned to the classroom where we began the day to get more explanation on the goals and programs touted by the academy from a few more staffers, including the coach of the Under-18 team. We learned about the life of an academy player, from the way they balance football and school, to the international trips they make, to the structure of a professional contract and where they might go once they have proven their worth as a footballer (or failed to do so). Southampton strives to eventually have a first team that features 50% players who came up through their own academy, an ambitious goal that clearly shows how serious the program is. We ultimately left the complex having had a fantastic time seeing firsthand what a unique and incredible academy Southampton has.

  • The whole team in Southampton’s massive indoor dome
  • The current U-18 coach speaks with the group about his team

Harlequins Rugby Clinic and Game

by knystrom

Today’s exciting experience took place in Twickenham, the home of Harlequins Rugby. After many of us experienced some struggle with a train diversion, the whole crew finally arrived outside of Twickenham Stoop Stadium a bit before 11:00, at which point we were promptly taken to some open practice fields nearby. There we met some coaches on the Harlequins staff, who would lead us in a clinic to give us some basic knowledge of both rugby itself and the skills and tactics used in the sport. Due to some rain the previous evening, the grass was fairly wet and gave way to mud very quickly—perfect conditions for rugby. We started off with some simple games that really focused on passing and finding space, but every so often a new rule or two would be added, and before we knew it, we were playing rugby! We were not allowed to tackle, but even so, most people found themselves on the ground at least once. As a result, once we concluded what was a fantastic session of rugby, we were all caked in a layer of mud.

            Afterward, we walked back to the stadium, where we had the pleasure of meeting Mike Brown, a fantastic player for both Harlequins and England’s international team, who is currently nursing a knee injury. He answered any questions we had about his rugby experience and gave us some solid thoughts on his career. Next, we were allowed into the home changing room, which was “fully dressed” meaning all of the players’ uniforms and gear were set up in their locker. It may not have been quite the size and scale of the Arsenal changing room that we saw two weeks ago, but it was certainly a nice space. We then changed out of our muddy clothes (not in the player changing room, unfortunately) and got lunch in the stadium food area, which had a surprisingly large selection of different food stands. Finally, after resting a bit for about an hour, the game ceremonies began—actually, we began the game ceremonies! We had the amazing opportunity to carry the massive team flag out to the center of the pitch as the players came out and fireworks shot off behind us. This game, Harlequins vs. Saracens, was one of the most important of the year as the teams have a historic rivalry; it was truly a fantastic experience to be right at the center of it. We hurried off the pitch and moved to our seats as the game began, and what a game it turned out to be! Harlequins ran away with it, winning 41-14 in an action-packed match. The game capped off an awesome day in Twickenham, where we truly lived out the full rugby experience for a day.

  • Twickenham Stoop Stadium
  • Harlequins Changing Room
  • In-game Harlequins Action

Marylebone Cricket Club

by knystrom

Today, the Sports and Globalization group traveled to the nearby Marylebone Cricket Club-Lord’s Cricket Ground to learn how to play cricket and better understand the sport’s history. This location is just a 30 minute walk from our apartments in Camden and offers some pleasant sights of London on the way. To start off our learning experience, our gracious coaches led us in some basic calisthenic drills to warm up our legs and arms. During this warm up, we performed several reaction time competitions in pairs. Next, with our partners, we played catch with a smaller version of a cricket ball in order to further warm up our throwing muscles and get to know the feel of the ball. Finally, we were able to begin bowling the ball like the professionals, incorporating a small running start as well. This eventually started a competition within each pairing to see who could hit a small cone near the middle of each person the most times in 5 minutes.

After learning the mechanics of bowling the cricket ball, we were then taught by our coaches how to hit the ball. After covering the most basic rules of cricket, our coaches broke us up into two teams and we started a match. In the match, one of the coaches pitched to all of us in order to ensure everybody had a fair chance of getting a hit. Each person on the team batted once before we switched which team was batting. During the match, several students connected on ‘sixes,’ the cricket term synonymous with a ‘home run’ in baseball. Also, there were some impressive defensive plays in the field that resulted in the batter being out. In the one of the images below, Sean lunges for an out as the second team to bat attempted to comeback from a large deficit. The game ended very close, with the first team to bat eventually winning by 5 runs.

  • One of our coaches instructs us in batting and defending the wicket
  • Sean lays out as our two teams battle in an exhibition cricket match

Upon the conclusion of the match, the group regathered itself to go on a fascinating tour of the Lord’s Cricket Grounds. On this tour, our guide sat us down on the lower level of the stands and described to us the lengthy and prestigious path to becoming a member at Marylebone, which requires several people to endorse a candidate along with a waiting period of over a decade. Next, we saw the opposing team’s changing room, which was remarkable not only for its small size, but also its very aged, historic look. Along its walls were plaques to commemorate great accomplishments achieved by players at those grounds, with many of the plaques dating back to the 1800s. Our tour then concluded at the indoor museum, which happened to be the second oldest sports museum in the entire world. This room was filled with trophies from all throughout cricket’s history, including several world cup trophies.

The trip to Marylebone Cricket Club-Lord’s Cricket Ground was an enriching experience for the group due to cricket being a rather unfamiliar sport to most. Learning about England’s long history of cricket was important for understanding more about how sports have shaped the country’s history. The engaging, energetic, and kind coaches and tour guides at Marylebone made this day all the more special and one we will not soon forget.

  • The gang stands for a picture in the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground

The London Olympics with Martin Polley

by knystrom

Today we visited The Olympic Park in London and had an Olympic historian, Martin Polley, come to our classroom to teach us some history about the Olympics. We met him in our classroom, where he talked to us about some of the first ever Olympic games including the 1908 games in London. As of right now, London is the only city to have hosted the games three times. The games have evolved from the primitive, poorly-regulated set of competitions that took place alongside a trade expo in 1908, to the futuristic 2012 games which we all remember fondly. Martin also gave us the history behind the 1948 “make do and mend” Olympics which was an important point in European history, where countries from both sides of World War II came together and competed alongside each other in sport (except Germany and Japan). He did not spend much time covering the 2012 games because that was going to be the focus of the rest of our day, where we would go and tour the facilities that made the 2012 Olympics possible.

Martin discussed similarities and themes that connect the three London Olympics. One central theme that connects all three of the games is an idea of bringing people together. The 1908 Olympics accompanied an Expo that was meant to show the growing bond between former geopolitical rivals Britain and France. In the 1948 Olympics the idea of bringing people together was emphasized massively because WWII had just ended, and it was seen as a good way to ease tensions and bring people together. Finally, the 2012 Olympics sought to revamp a destitute part of the city and rally all of Great Britain around a common history. Another similarity is how during all of the games they tried their best to be able to reuse their stadiums and arenas. After the 1908 Olympics the White City stadium was used for a number of other boxing, swimming and track and field competitions. During the 1948 Olympics because of all the bombings that had occurred in Great Britain, they had scarce resources and no drive to build new stadiums. They used the military barracks to house Olympic athletes instead of building their own complex to stay in. They also used stadiums that were already well established, such as Wembley. In the 2012 games London built the stadiums with the sole purpose of re-using them today all stadiums, and arenas like the Olympic Swimming Pool that were built in 2012 are still in use by the public and very popular. 

  • Martin lectures us about the London Olympics
  • Martin chats with Carl on the way to the tube
  • Some of the crew talking with Martin on the tube

After our talk in the classroom we took the tube down to the Olympic park. It was a fairly short ride from where we were and took less than 30 minutes to get there. Once we got there, Martin gave us some history about the site and how the main Olympic Stadium is now West Ham United’s home ground, despite it not being designed for football. We then had lunch at a small restaurant which also serves as a community center in the middle of the former Olympic park. Next, we got to go inside the Olympic Velodrome where they staged bike races, which was sustainably constructed with wood from replanted trees. We got to see the Olympic Rings statue that was made for the games, which is now the only remaining Olympic symbol in the entire park due to logo rights. We also got to go inside one of the other sports arenas, the Copper Box, where they play basketball, net ball and a variety of other sports.

  • Martin talks to us outside the Olympic Stadium
  • We eat lunch in the Olympic Park
  • The inside of the velodrome, one of the most iconic structures of the games
  • Martin points out various landmarks from our perch next to the Olympic Rings

Before the 2012 games the area that is now the Olympic park was an Industrial wasteland. It was pretty much just a very large junkyard with a few rundown buildings. Once they decided to host the games in London in 2012 they leveled everything and built massive complexes on the area. The re-development of the area took a long time but it was worth it. After the 2012 games the area around the Olympic park continued to grow. There is a very large shopping center and lots of business centers. This is a great example of the 2012 games’ legacy and proof that the Olympics don’t have to be a burden on countries if they find a legitimate way to keep reusing the infrastructure. The legacy the 2012 games left behind was that of continuous use.

We finished the tour at the pool complex, where we got the opportunity to swim laps in the same pool as legends such as Michael Phelps. It was a great finish to a great day, and big thanks to Martin for sharing all his knowledge with us.

Trip to Manchester

by knystrom

Yesterday we had the opportunity to see a top-tier premier league match in Manchester when Manchester City took on Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium.  The day started with an early wake up followed by a stressful run through the unfamiliar national rail section of Euston station in downtown London.  Luckily, everyone in the group got through the turnstiles with enough time to get comfortable for the two hour high-speed train journey ahead of us.  When we arrived in Manchester, we had some time to explore the area.  Most of the group used this time to see the National Football Museum. Connor Kelly said the museum “…was helpful for someone who is new to the sport.  It had all sorts of cool artifacts from some of the first ever jerseys to a replica of the original World Cup.”

  • Jerseys from the 80s at the National Football Museum, including one from the Chicago team of the NASL
  • Iconic Jerseys in the National Football Museum
  • Some revolutionary jersey designs hanging in the National Football Museum
  • A wall showing some of the most iconic jerseys in different colors
  • The 1992 USA World Cup jersey

After the group was finished at the museum, everybody met to be a part of the fan march.  This was where a huge group of Man City supporters, led by a marching band,  walked from a park in central Manchester, all the way to Etihad stadium.  The atmosphere was exciting and it felt like we were part of the locals supporting their team. Etihad Stadium had a more futuristic atmosphere than Villa Park or even Tottenham Hotspur stadium.  The huge spires around the stadium dominated the skyline for miles.  The difference was night and day compared to the old school structure of Villa Park, and despite the  Tottenham Hotspur stadium being newer than the Etihad, the ultra modern design of Manchester City’s home ground was more physically impressive than Tottenham’s, in my opinion.  One commonality between the three was the loud and involved fans cheering for both of the competing teams.  At every game we have been to so far, all of the fans have all provided a high-energy environment to the match, and Etihad was no exception. 

Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium before the game against Crystal Palace

The game kicked off at 15:00 and right away, the underdog Crystal Palace club overwhelmed Manchester City with impressive defense and Palace found themselves with a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half.  Towards the end of the second half, we saw one of the most exciting 10-minute stretches of the whole season.  Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero scored back-to-back goals at the 82nd and 87th minutes, to give City a 2-1 lead.  Then just three minutes later Palace deflected a shot off of a Man City player and tied the game for a final score of 2-2.  It was an incredibly entertaining game and a final score that very few people would have predicted.  After the game ended, city fans were distraught and rushed out of the stadium while the Palace fans stayed around to chant and send off their team.  We then left the stadium and walked back to our station and caught our train back to London.

Introduction to Stats Perform

by knystrom

With only a short ride on the tube, we arrived today at the offices of Opta/Stats Perform. We were all well-dressed and looking smart, ready to be introduced to a team of hyper intelligent men and women whose careers are centered around the analysis of sports. No, we’re not talking about the crew that you see on ESPN or Pam Oliver on the sidelines of NFL games, rather a group of computer nerds (meant with the utmost respect) in a tiny office. Though it’s not the most glamorous of sports analysis-related careers, they do a lot of behind the scenes work that make the experience that much better for viewers, betters, and sports organizations as a whole.

What do they do?

Using refined data collected from a complex system of military grade data tracking systems they create data that is applicable to sport analysis. From this, a user of their data is able to understand in-depth stats that optimize and help one understand the game better.

Where are people scoring and missing shots?
Build a roster of superstars with the stats that best fit the team.
Discover the best method of attack and the opposition’s weak points.
Watch film broken down by every single event that happens in a match.

Most football clubs have realized the effectiveness of this product and have adopted stats analysts into their programs. Arsenal, for example, has hired in-house stats analysts to operate solely within the club. This poses a few questions regarding the use of this data technology and its implications for the game:

  1. Will this give Arsenal a long-term advantage?
  2. Is there a possibility that Arsenal may manipulate statistical data for economic gain?
  3. Will this be the trend for other football clubs in the near future?
  4. Given the expensive nature of this project, will there be a disparity between more wealthy teams and less wealthy teams?

What a wonderful opportunity it was to listen to our speaker Peter. He proved that nerds don’t get as much credit as they should for being so cool and for making sports even more entertaining than what they already are.

  • Peter gives us an overview of Stats Perform
  • The new logo of Stats Perform, formerly Opta
  • The group with our two speakers from Stats Perform

A Visit to NFL Europe

by knystrom

Today the group here in London set off for the NFL London headquarters to meet with David Tossell, who is currently the NFL Director of Public Affairs for Europe. The question that many of us had on our minds was whether an NFL team could ever be based in London. For various reasons we did not think that the UK would ever be able to support a competitive NFL team. We were very interested to hear from someone like David and see whether he thought it would ever be possible to bring a team here.

Dressed in shirts and ties or dresses, we boarded the tube and were at the NFL London headquarters in under ten minutes, which was much shorter than our journey to Kingston University the day before. We met in the lobby and then took the lift (elevator) up to the NFL offices, which to an NFL fan, as most of us are, was absolutely amazing. There were team helmets, jerseys, and pictures everywhere in the offices. It felt like we were in an NFL museum. Our meeting was in a big conference room where we all sat around a big table and listened to David talk about the history of the NFL in London. He began by talking about the timeline of football in Europe and how over time fans in the UK have become more and more interested in the NFL. For example, he talked about the first game that came to London in 2007 when the Giants played the Dolphins, and how horrible the field and game were. However he said that it sparked an interest from fans here that has grown so much since then that at Tottenham Spurs’ new Stadium they actually built a football field under the soccer pitch for NFL teams to play on. In addition to the field, the NFL now plays at least four games a year in London, all of which have had huge turnouts from fans. David estimated that there are around four million loyal NFL supporters in the UK right now! However, he did not seem incredibly optimistic that a team would ever be coming to London. With too many unknowns such as the time difference and  whether players would want to play in London, it would be hard to guarantee the success of a new team coming.

We found all of this information very interesting. Before the talk with David we assumed that there was little to no fan support in the UK at all. On the other hand our concerns about the player interest and time difference were also some of the major concerns that David had. Therefore after the talk while we realize that there is a large enough fan base here to support a team, we are still not convinced that an NFL franchise will be based in London in the near future. 

The trip was one of the best we have been on yet. Seeing a major sport league’s international office was an experience that we will never forget. 

The team in the conference room at NFL Europe!

Hands-on at Kingston University

by knystrom

Today, we made the journey from Camden to Kingston University. There, we took part in several mini-labs that dealt with Sport Science, particularly the physiology concentration of the subject. Kingston University’s Sport Science program is ranked 2nd in the United Kingdom, so we were very fortunate to be exposed to some of the best equipment and study techniques in the world.There were two labs, each dealing with a different aspect of the major. Both of the labs were hands on, and we got to take part in some exercises.

One lab was centered around endurance and how it affected different types of athletes in different ways. This was run by Hannah Moir, whose research specializes in the effects of exercise on immune function, and by Chris Howe, who runs ultra marathons. One group had Kenyon, a long-distance runner, run to max exhaustion. He wore a mask that measured oxygen-intake and carbon dioxide-output. It was interesting to see how as Kenyon became more fatigued, the levels of these two things had changed. The other group had Dae’Kevion, an athlete who runs more short-distance events, do the same thing. We then compared and contrasted the data collected in these exercises. After this part of the lab, we moved on to an exercise oriented around power rather than endurance. In this, our group picked Sean to test his power on an exercise bike. However, this exercise bike was not ordinary. It contained monitors which measured things such as power and how fast it took Sean to reach his peak power. Sean plays running back for the Carleton football team, so he was a very fitting candidate for the activity. Also, because of this, it was surprising to everyone when the other group’s contestant actually out-performed him. Oliver, the selected student in the other group, happened to reach a higher amount of power on the bike than Sean had. It was awesome to be able to have the freedom to ask Chris and Hannah any question we wanted as they were obviously very knowledgeable. I think everyone learned something new from not only the lab but also from side conversations with them.

Between labs, our group was able to look at some interesting technology Kingston University has such as a heat chamber and an altitude chamber. These are used for research to see the effects of heat and altitude on the body during workouts. In addition, athletes come in to Kingston University to use the chambers in preparation for sporting events. Obviously, the United Kingdom is not as hot as the Sahara Desert. So, if someone were to have an upcoming race in such an environment, they can use the heat chamber to prepare. After we finished the first lab, we went to work with Ivan Vatolik, who specializes in biomechanics. As the name suggests, this lab dealt with movements of the body and muscle use. Volunteers attached reflective sensors to their joints. Then, using a special camera, we were able to see the outline of our body as we performed various tasks, such as kicking a soccer ball. This would be used to help with form in sports. Average athletes are able to compare their own way of striking a ball to that of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. After that, other volunteers attached sensors to their biceps, and they performed curls. The sensors measured muscle activation, and it was very clear when someone was lifting a weight compared to when they were not.

  • Daniel lines up for to kick a football while wearing reflective monitors
  • Daniel and John pose with their reflective tech
  • Ivan lectures to us about some of the equipment found in the Kingston lab

The labs were very interesting, and it showed our whole group how advanced sport science is. For us, we follow some training rules because we are told to and don’t ask questions. For example, rest days are important, and one should not over-exert their body. Someone ran tests to find that out. It was intriguing to see those kinds of tests being performed. I think all students who attended the sport science lab at Kingston would agree that a big thank you is in order for Hannah, Chris, and Ivan. Because they were willing to share their time and expertise with us, we were all able to learn a lot about various research techniques used in sports science. We all had a great time, and it is a memory that will not soon be forgotten.

A Trip to Villa Park

by knystrom

On Sunday we boarded the train from London to Birmingham, where our destination was Villa Park. Aston Villa (ranked 18th in the Premier League) played host to Manchester City (ranked 2nd) on what was a perfect evening for us to enjoy our first English Premier League fixture together. After reading soccernomics, visiting Arsenal’s stadium with football historian Simon Inglis, and having some discussions about football in the classroom, we were all very excited to view some live action.

A handful of us on the trip are avid fans of American football, so wewere keen to notice any differences between our experiences attending American football games and our experiences at what was for many of us our first European football match. As we made our way towards Villa Park from the station, we noticed that there were no vast swaths of parking lots filled with jersey draped, tailgating fans as there typically are at many NFL stadiums. Most fans filed off the trains just like us, or flocked to the game on foot from local neighborhoods, dressed in street clothes. Similar to Emirates Stadium, Villa Park rises out of the local neighborhoods which surround it, creating a sense of community around the site.

  • The outer facade of Villa park, clearly in the style of the neighborhoods around it
  • Villa Park from the exterior

One thing we were familiar with were the hamburger stands which surrounded the stadium, catering to hungry fans chowing down before entering the stadium.   The match itself was a rout, with Manchester City out-scoring Aston Villa 6 goals to 1. It was very clear that Manchester City the superior club in all facets of the game. They always seemed to be on the attack while Aston Villa was constantly on the defense. Although the game was not very close, it was a treat to watch the fluidity with which Manchester City advanced the ball downfield. Unfortunately for us, we did not have the opportunity to hear much chanting amongst the fans of the home team. However, there was an entire portion of the stadium set aside for Manchester City fans that erupted in song after each and every goal they managed to score throughout the contest.We have learned that since there is no salary cap enforced in the English Premier League, wealthier clubs such as Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool tend to have a major advantage over clubs that are not as rich and therefore can’t afford to spend as much on their players. After viewing such a lopsided game, some of us began to question whether the league would be more entertaining if this advantage was somehow limited, and lower budget teams could compete more evenly with richer clubs. Over the remainder of the trip, we will be interested in finding some ways this could perhaps be achieved.

  • Our view of the pitch inside Villa Park