Liva

Combating Sickness and Thwarting Outbreaks

As fall turned to winter, the nutrition and performance staff used three metrics suggested by OWN IT coaches to proactively identify illnesses before symptoms presented themselves.

• 3 day decrease in HRV (in a row)
• 15% increase in respiration rate
• 100% sleep score paired with a drop in HRV or recovery score below 40%

These three metrics were chosen because they often reflect the body’s strain and stress prior to symptoms of illness. If an athlete was flagged under this protocol, coaches were able to isolate and treat the athlete before symptoms of illness presented themselves.

Before using OWN IT, Miami Football relied on athletes reporting how they felt in order to treat them before symptoms appeared. This reactive approach is ineffective against widespread outbreaks that can affect multiple players on the team. With data at their fingertips (24-48 hours before symptoms), the staff was able to increase supplementation, decrease workload, and have conversations about focusing on self-care and the ‘8 Controllables’ they used to ensure elite performance and recovery.

The result? Over 30 players were flagged with this protocol throughout the season and given proactive intervention that prevented further individual sickness AND a teamwide outbreak. Without the advisory from OWN IT coaches, Miami Football would’ve continued using a reactive approach to strain and stress on athletes’ bodies, which would leave their program susceptible to outbreaks.

70% Increase in Habit Adherence

Since athletes had access to their own real-time data, they made changes and built new habits on their own accord.

“As an athlete, it was really useful having my recovery metrics data. I can see how small changes in my habits, like putting my phone away an hour before bed, made a huge change in my recovery. I could even feel it on the field. I used to have heavy legs from time to time, but now I feel much more fresh every day”, junior cornerback DJ Ivey mentioned when asked about OWN IT’s impact.

In addition to athletes using the data for themselves, the coaches’ dashboard provides easy to interpret recovery and sleep metrics. It’s a coaching staff’s nightmare to invest thousands of dollars into resources that collect data, only to realize it’s too complicated to spend time interpreting it and applying it to individual athletes. For Miami Football, OWN IT’s specialized coaches do the work for them.

Custom Plans For Each Athlete

Additionally, OWN IT coaches built custom protocols on everything from how to recover while traveling, to individualized night-time routines, to custom supplement plans. Under their unique protocols, athletes stuck to their personal routines and increased habit adherence by over 70% by the end of the season.

During the season, there was a turning point for athletes that helped them to recognize and take their recovery seriously. There was a starting freshman athlete that was displaying signs of increased strain and stress on his body. Coaches recognized that he wasn’t accustomed to the workload and level of performance that Miami Football was asking of him and his teammates.

Because coaches kept a special eye on him, they quickly identified early signs of illness before he displayed symptoms. After instructing him on some different ways to better recover, he made changes accordingly. Later, his roommate was also instructed to take the same precautions, but his roommate neglected to take those precautions. As a result, his roommate fell sick while he made a quick recovery.

Kamren Kinchens Makes The Game-Winning Play

Kamren Kinchens, a true freshman safety, is an incredible example of how custom plans for athletes affected on-field performance for Miami Football in 2021. Kinchens was assigned to the 5:45 AM workout group during the season. OWN IT coaches recognized during the season that his HRV continued to trend downward, which suggests that his sleep and recovery were being negatively affected. Kinchens even noticed that his lack of sleep and recovery was decreasing his memory, attention, and focus.

Kyle Bellamy, Director of Football Performance Nutrition at the University of Miami, moved Kinchens to a later workout group to allow for improved sleep and recovery. After two weeks of adjusted workout times, Miami found itself up by one point against NC State on 4th down with less than three minutes remaining. Kinchens came up with the game-winning stop two yards short of the first down.

During the post-game interview, Kinchens mentioned that he recognized the formation from his film sessions with the coaching staff and was able to predict the play and make the stop. Bellamy insists that “there was no doubt that changing his workout times directly affected [Kinchens] having the best average sleep time, HRV, and recovery score on the team. That is what gave him the focus and attention in film to recognize that formation and recall it that quickly in a high-stakes situation.”