Sports News

December 24, 2024

Top Headlines

World Cup Soccer Is Getting Faster for Men and Women Alike

Dec. 17, 2024 — If the experience of watching a FIFA World Cup soccer final is intense, spare a thought for the players, who are competing at an ever increasing intensity, according to a new ...

Largest Study of CTE in Male Ice Hockey Players Finds Odds Increased 34% With Each Year Played

Dec. 4, 2024 — A large study, of 77 deceased male ice hockey players, has found that the odds of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increased by 34% each year played, and 18 of 19 National Hockey League ...

Here's Something Americans Agree On: Sports Build Character

Nov. 21, 2024 — In a polarized nation, there is one thing that nearly all Americans agree on, according to a recent study: sports are good for us. Researchers found that more than 9 out of 10 Americans agreed that sports build character and improved one's health, ...

Athletes Have Significantly Better Working Memory Than Sedentary People

Nov. 20, 2024 — A recently published meta-analysis reveals an advantage in sports-related information processing compared to non-athletes. The data consisted of 21 studies involving a total of 1455 participants. Athletes had better working memory than non-athletes ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:57pm EST

'Shallow' Sports and 'Deep' Social Hierarchies: Not All Pecking Orders Are Created Equal

Nov. 6, 2024 — Researchers have added a new dimension to the mathematics used to predict the outcomes of all manner of competitions, including sports, games and ...

Good Physical Fitness from Childhood Protects Mental Health

Oct. 15, 2024 — A recent study found that good physical fitness from childhood to adolescence is linked to better mental health in adolescence. These results are significant and timely, as mental health problems are ...

Sep. 17, 2024 — Sport-related stress may contribute to some NCAA Division One swimmers and runners failing to consume enough calories to fuel their ...

Study Shows That 'Super Spikes' Can Increase Track Running Speed by 2%

Sep. 4, 2024 — Research shows that super spikes, scientifically described as advanced footwear technology (AFT) spikes, can give runners about a 2% edge in middle-distance track races, like the 800- and ...

At What Age Do Olympic Athletes Peak?

July 24, 2024 — There's a lot that goes into an Olympic athlete's quest for gold -- years of training and rigor -- but also, an athlete's age. A team used statistics to figure out when an Olympic track-and-field ...

Playing Youth Sports Linked to Better Mental Health in Adults

June 26, 2024 — Adults who continuously played organized sports through their youth have fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who never played or those who dropped out, a new study finds. And those ...

Just 4% of Teen Academy Prospects Play Elite Soccer (Football)

June 27, 2024 — Just four per cent of talented teen academy prospects make it to the top tier of professional football, a new study has shown. A sample of nearly 200 players, aged between 13-18, also revealed only ...

Changing the Game for Sports Emergency Action Plans

June 26, 2024 — A national position statement on emergency action plan development and implementation in sports from an athletic training researcher sets in motion new priorities for responding to catastrophic ...

The Joy of Sports: How Watching Sports Can Boost Well-Being

Apr. 15, 2024 — Sports, beyond entertainment, foster community and belonging, benefiting both individuals and society. Despite its recognized positive effects, limited evidence exists on the link between watching ...

Going Top Shelf With AI to Better Track Hockey Data

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers got a valuable assist from artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help capture and analyze data from professional hockey games faster and more accurately than ever before, with big ...

Racial Disparities in Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Death Among Athletes

Dec. 2, 2024 — A recent major review of data shows that Black athletes are approximately five times more likely to experience sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) compared to White athletes, ...

Eliminating Physical Activity Disparities Between Male and Female Youth Could Save Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, New Study Says

Nov. 26, 2024 — Eliminating current physical activity disparities between male and female youth in the United States could save around $780 million for each new cohort of six-to-17-year-olds, according to a new ...

Elite Coaches See Compassion as a Path to Better Performance

Nov. 7, 2024 — The potential of using compassion as a tool in elite sport is high, both for the individual athlete and in terms of sporting results, a study involving high-performance coaches ...

Defining Chronic Pain for High-Performance Athletes With Disabilities

Aug. 27, 2024 — The extensive training and the sacrifices athletes make to compete at the Olympic games take center stage. For Paralympians and high-performance athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI), assessing ...

Metal Baseball Bats Still Help Little Leaguers Hit a Little Better

Aug. 27, 2024 — While meant to simulate wood bats, regulation USA Baseball metal bats are more forgiving than wood for young players who might not connect with the ball on a bat's optimal 'sweet ...

Organized Youth Sports Are Increasingly for the Privileged

Aug. 20, 2024 — A sweeping study of U.S. youth sports participation over the past 60 years found that there has been a significant increase over time in kids playing organized sports -- but particularly among more ...

Research Suggests Controversial Super Spikes Do Make Runners Faster

July 30, 2024 — Since athletes in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics smashed multiple records in track and field, running enthusiasts and exercise physiologists have speculated on what role new-generation high-tech running ...

Time Zones and Tiredness Strongly Influence NBA Results, Study of 25,000 Matches Shows

May 1, 2024 — The body clock has a significant impact on the performance of NBA players. Data shows vastly better win ratio for home teams from the Western Time Zone Area (PDT) when playing an EDT team, compared ...

Sprinting 'Like a Jet' Will Produce Premier League Strikers of Tomorrow, Study Shows

Mar. 5, 2024 — Sprinting 'like a jet plane taking off' will help produce Premier League star strikers of tomorrow, new research has revealed. A new study of Tottenham Hotspur's academy has shown that ...

Parents, Wealth, Race Drive Girls' Chances to Play Sports

Feb. 29, 2024 — The likelihood that a girl will participate in high school sports in the United States is driven not so much by individual choice, new research suggests. Instead, decisions made by parents, the ...

School Uniform Policies Linked to Students Getting Less Exercise, Study Finds

Feb. 14, 2024 — School uniforms could be restricting young people from being active, particularly primary school-aged girls, according to a new study. The study used data about the physical activity of more than a ...

How a Drought Led to the Rise of Skateboarding in 1970s California

Dec. 12, 2023 — Why did professional skateboarding arise in southern California in the 1970s? Was it a coincidence, or was it a perfect storm of multiple factors? It's fairly well-known that a drought in ...

Pedal Power Pays Off: Mountain Biking Benefits Outweigh Risks, Research Finds

Aug. 31, 2023 — New research into injuries sustained by trail users has found mountain biking is not the dangerous, injury-plagued sport reserved for thrill-seekers that it is often perceived to be and that the ...

Attending Live Sport Improves Wellbeing: Study

Mar. 17, 2023 — New research has found that attending live sporting events as a spectator improves levels of wellbeing and reduces feelings of loneliness. This large-scale scientific study included data from 7,209 ...

Warning Signs of Poor Mental Health in Athletes

Feb. 8, 2023 — 'Put down' language is a key indicator of poor mental health in athletes, recent research shows. More than 400 athletes across a variety of sports, ages and levels of experience were ...

Basketball Study Automates Patterns of Play to Compare Teams' Performance

Nov. 30, 2022 — A study into elite women's basketball automates clusters of play to better scrutinize a team's style and performance on the ...

Women Footballers Not on Level Playing Field for Sports Technology, Study Finds

Nov. 16, 2022 — Women football players require specifically tailored products such as kit, boots, and balls in order to optimize their performance and safety on the pitch, according to a new ...

Periods and Pregnancy Still Taboo in Women's Football, Research Finds

Nov. 3, 2022 — Sport and exercise experts are calling for better education around periods and pregnancy in women's football. New research carried out at women's football clubs across six European ...

COVID-19 Pandemic Cancellations Took Harsh Toll on Teen Athletes, Whose Mental and Physical Health Improved Significantly After Sports Resumed, Study Finds

Oct. 7, 2022 — High rates of depression and anxiety reported by adolescent athletes whose sports were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic improved significantly a year later when they were able to resume playing ...

Algorithms Predict Sports Teams' Moves With 80% Accuracy

Oct. 6, 2022 — Algorithms can predict the in-game actions of volleyball players with more than 80% accuracy, and now the lab is collaborating with the Big Red hockey team to expand the research project's ...