Sport Science Department?

[hondo in seattle]

At his presser, McDermott mentioned flying out the day before the game when I guess someone asked if it might be better to spend more time in Denver to acclimate to the altitude.  

 

McD's reply was, "We do our research and I really rely on our sports science department - Joe Collins, Jo Clubb - that we have."

 

So I'm wondering: What does the sports science department do, precisely?  

 

Incidentally, I once visited Bogota, Colombia (elevation 8675 feet) and really didn't notice the difference in elevation until I went for a run.  Then it knocked me on my butt.   Denver's elevation, at 5280 feet, is somewhat less challenging but you definitely still feel it when exerting yourself if you've been living at a lower elevation.   

 

Five takeaways from Monday's Bills press conferences | Buffalo Bills News | NFL | buffalonews.com

 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by hondo in seattle

[El Guapo]

I live at 750 feet in Alabama. My son lives at 6800 feet in New Mexico. Hanging out, no problem. Any exertion and I’m out of breath in five minutes. Also, I tend to be tired up there all the time. Of course, I’m an old f*cker, but elevation does make a difference. 

[Big Turk]

I am sure they will have plenty of Oxygen tanks ready to go on the sidelines.

[The Wiz]

8 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

At his presser, McDermott mentioned flying out the day before the game when I guess someone asked if it might be better to spend more time in Denver to acclimate to the altitude.  

 

McD's reply was, "We do our research and I really rely on our sports science department - Joe Collins, Jo Clubb - that we have."

 

So I'm wondering: What does the sports science department do, precisely?  

 

Incidentally, I once visited Bogota, Colombia (elevation 8675 feet) and really didn't notice the difference in elevation until I went for a run.  Then it knocked me on my butt.   Denver's elevation, at 5280 feet, is somewhat less challenging but you definitely still feel it when exerting yourself if you've been living at a lower elevation.   

 

Five takeaways from Monday's Bills press conferences | Buffalo Bills News | NFL | buffalonews.com

 

 

From what I understand.  A sport science (performance science is another name for it) dept basically takes a persons training, athletic ability and general overall health and applies it to determining how a person should train in a given situation.

 

So basically since they are playing Denver, they are going to factor in the altitude of the location and apply that to how they should be training/preparing for that situation.  

 

At least that's how I read it from a quick google search.

Edited December 15, 2020 by The Wiz

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Skiing Breckinridge caused a bunch of altitude sickness for some of our family. 9000ft base and 13000ft peak or do... 

 

But I thought for most people 8000ft is where they start to get impacted? 

Edited December 15, 2020 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[Mango]

He is absolutely right. In general you want to either give enough to time travel and recover or you want to travel and hit the ground running. Getting stuck in a grey area is not good. It takes a couple of weeks to adapt to elevation change. And it isn’t just actual work. It will effect sleep and recovery. Even an extra walk through will be more taxing than normal So do everything you can to maximize rest and recovery at home. Show up as fresh as you can be. 

 

They probably have a hand full of physiologists who worst with their S&C coaches to work on scheduling, periodization, movement training, traveling, etc. 

[buffalostu2]

Living in Denver we know it is the biggest advantage in sports.   Last time I looked Denver had the second best home winning percentage in the Super Bowl era to the Steelers.

 

 

[Don Otreply]

The Bills have 53 hyperbaric chambers up there at OBD, at least that’s my take...

 

Go Bills!!!!

[ColoradoBills]

The Springs is higher than Denver.  I've lived here for decades and the altitude is weird.  It affects different people in different ways.

Young people (kids) it can hit real bad.  Some older people (my parents visiting) it didn't effect at all.  Bad headaches are common.

 

As for athletes, what we hear is even a drop of a few percent of competitiveness can give a team like Denver an overall advantage.

All sports teams are aware of this and I'm sure the Bills have a plan in place.  I wish I could go to the game.........that hurts!

 

One of the funniest things is alcohol consumption!  Come up here from sea level and you get hammered real quick.

When I go back to sea level for the first few days I can hardly get a buzz!

[Mr. WEO]

Joe Collins is also "High Performance Manager" of the Sabres, so......

[ColoradoBills]

1 minute ago, Mr. WEO said:

Joe Collins is also "High Performance Manager" of the Sabres, so......

 

.........they must not be listening to him over there!

[Mr. WEO]

Just now, ColoradoBills said:

 

.........they must not be listening to him over there!

 

 

....or they are.

 

He's from London, where "football" is kicking a ball and falling down on the ground a lot during games.

[JGMcD2]

1 hour ago, The Wiz said:

From what I understand.  A sport science (performance science is another name for it) dept basically takes a persons training, athletic ability and general overall health and applies it to determining how a person should train in a given situation.

 

So basically since they are playing Denver, they are going to factor in the altitude of the location and apply that to how they should be training/preparing for that situation.  

 

At least that's how I read it from a quick google search.

You’re 100% spot on. This is fairly new, at least in the scale it’s being used. 
 

The Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the earliest movers in this field. A quick funny story, we acquired a few former Dodgers players and when they first came over in the trade, they asked staff “hey, where is your guys nap room?” That type of thing did not exist outside of LA haha. 

 

Some organizations take it to certain extremes and some do not. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by JGMcD2

[The Wiz]

2 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

You’re 100% spot on. This is fairly new, at least in the scale it’s being used. 
 

The Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the earliest movers in this field. A quick funny story, we acquired a few former Dodgers players and when they first came over in the trade, they asked staff “hey, where is your guys nap room?” That type of thing did not exist haha. 

 

Some organizations take it to certain extremes and some do not. 

 

[TroutDog]

All I can tell you is from experience: went to Denver for business and the first thing that hit me was that their airport was gorgeous. Next was that I was exhausted almost immediately.

 

At the bar on my second night it hit me: I can’t stay awake. I went to my room and slept for twelve hours. Totally crazy. Until I had cancer I was a six to seven hour a night guy. 
 

I trust the current Bills organization has this factored in to their equation. 
 

PS: Still doesn’t hold a candle to Nevada where my lips cracked wide open when I got off the aircraft. 😃 Not a desert guy evidently. 

[The Jokeman]

I wonder how far Bass can kick a FG in the Denver altitude. You think we let him show off his leg?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, TroutDog said:

All I can tell you is from experience: went to Denver for business and the first thing that hit me was that their airport was gorgeous. Next was that I was exhausted almost immediately.

 

At the bar on my second night it hit me: I can’t stay awake. I went to my room and slept for twelve hours. Totally crazy. Until I had cancer I was a six to seven hour a night guy. 
 

I trust the current Bills organization has this factored in to their equation.

 

Hope so too.  I think this is part of the work their sports science guys do - advise the coaches on setting a schedule that allows the players extra sleep, advise the players on what to eat and drink (or avoid), maybe how to help get that extra sleep with extra melatonin and and so forth.

[QLBillsFan]

1 hour ago, TroutDog said:

All I can tell you is from experience: went to Denver for business and the first thing that hit me was that their airport was gorgeous. Next was that I was exhausted almost immediately.

 

At the bar on my second night it hit me: I can’t stay awake. I went to my room and slept for twelve hours. Totally crazy. Until I had cancer I was a six to seven hour a night guy. 
 

I trust the current Bills organization has this factored in to their equation. 
 

PS: Still doesn’t hold a candle to Nevada where my lips cracked wide open when I got off the aircraft. 😃 Not a desert guy evidently. 

Great airport I agree. It’s just 45 mins from civilization 😂 

[LeviF]

1 hour ago, TroutDog said:

All I can tell you is from experience: went to Denver for business and the first thing that hit me was that their airport was gorgeous. 

Except for demon horse

[Augie]

4 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Skiing Breckinridge caused a bunch of altitude sickness for some of our family. 9000ft base and 13000ft peak or do... 

 

But I thought for most people 8000ft is where they start to get impacted? 

 

AMEN!

 

Flew in from Florida and about 14’ elevation. Breckinridge was like 9,300 feet where we were near the base. Our son was doing traveling soccer then, running HARD all weekend, game after game. He bent over to grab snow for his first ever snowball.....and passed out as he stood up. I grabbed his hood to avoid a full face plant on the side walk! 

 

We spent the first couple days in the condo, and later got a $400 bill from Main Street Oxygen which we were all hooked up to. Yay! Great vacation!

 

We later learned if you spend one night in Denver at one mile high, you will probably be fine if you go the rest of the way up the next day.  We went to Park City on the next trip. Not as high, no problems.