A Field Guide to Athlete Performance: The 24 Hour Athlete

By Ralph Reiff

The life of an athlete has evolved into a 24 hour continuum.  The advancement of technology and social media communities, the development of the successful athlete has evolved.  This Field Guide has been developed by the experienced author to provide insights and guidance to stimulate new practices and thought among coaches and athletes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RVReiff
• Release date: Sep 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393182054

Ralph Reiff

Ralph Reiff has spent four decades in the industry of athlete support.  Building a plan for each athlete from a medical perspective, Ralph has pioneered collaboration across multiple disciplines of providers to build an athlete centric solution to performance.  Ralph visualized and was founder of the multidisciplinary sports performance program for St Vincent | Ascension in Indianapolis, IN.  Innovative in his approach, Ralph has a U.S. Patent Pending on a sweat rate process which has been activated as the IOS App MySweatRate® and was a co-author of the National Athletic Trainers Association’s Position Statement on Hydration for the Athlete in 2000. Ralph is familiar with the athlete, team and sports organization process as he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Assistant Professor at Butler University for eighteen years and in 1995-96 was the Manager of Athlete Care for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. Recognized for his passion and expertise in the process of athlete support Ralph has been awarded the highest citizen honor in Indiana, the Sagamore of the Wabash; 2013 inductee into the National Athletic Trainers Association’s Hall of Fame and the 2015 Harmon Brown Award in Sports Science by USA Track & Field.

Book preview

A Field Guide to Athlete Performance: The 24-Hour Athlete

CHAPTER ONE    HISTORY of Athlete Support

The history of the transition of sport from a one-dimensional, few hours activity to a fully integrated process of athlete development with multiple stakeholders.

CHAPTER TWO  LIMITATIONS to Optimal Performance

Explore the limitations to optimal performance, discuss assessment of the individual to identify potential, barriers and how to manage interventions to reach best outcomes.

CHAPTER THREE  MANAGING the Day 

Designing the interventions and managing the day.  An important process to this book is to allow the reader to develop a reality of the process of athlete performance management.

CHAPTER FOUR  MEANINGFUL Metrics

Explore the metrics of athlete activity.  Meaningful and measurable activity and a process to design a priority of metrics for the individual.

CHAPTER FIVE  THE PERFORMANCE Team

Building the team to collaborate in an athlete-centric culture.  Identification of the outcomes desired, rallying the expertise within the industry and acquisition of the talent to deliver the best outcomes.

CHAPTER SIX  ATHLETE Mobility - Movement

Movement, high quality movement, of the athlete is fundamental to success and sustainability in sport.  This chapter discusses the optimization of movement patterns, identification of compensations, developing corrective interventions and provides insights to the daily routine of nurturing high-quality movement.

CHAPTER SEVEN ATHLETE Psychology: Supporting Mental Health

Mental Health is reviewed as a wholistic bundle of resource identification.  Explorations of clinical psychology, building the mental tool kit, brain health nutrition, mood management and individual responses.  This chapter will be co-authored by a leading clinical sports psychologist.

CHAPTER EIGHT  LIFESTYLE: Influencers of Commitment

Lifestyle is the category of athlete compliance to the process of personal optimization.  A discussion on how to view compliance and to seek a commitment.  You cannot out train a poor diet...you cannot stack sustainable fitness on top of disfunction.  I will examine the culture of the athlete, background, social influencers and the importance of success to each athlete.

CHAPTER NINE  HYDRATION

Hydration is well documented as a resource to prevent poor performance and illness in sport.  This chapter will focus upon resources to assess the athlete sweat rate and sweat content.  These two (2) findings are fundamental to developing an individualized hydration plan for optimal and sustainable performance.

CHAPTER TEN  SLEEP

Sleep as a pivot point in optimization of the overall process of athlete performance.  Review of assessment tools, interventions across time zone, routine, melatonin, circadian rhythm and sleep hygiene.

CHAPTER ELEVEN RECOVERY

Recovery as an intentional aspect of the athlete day as skill development and game planning.  I will reveal aspects of my Athlete Recovery Center (ARC) and share details of the ARC at the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio.  This chapter will offer insights into how to develop an athlete recovery program, equipment, prioritization of outcomes and designing for optimal utilization by the athlete.

CHAPTER TWELVE SPORTS Healthcare

The greatest ability of an athlete is their availability.  This statement is oft utilized in sport to demonstrate the value of health.  Each sport presents a unique definition of health.  A tennis player would define a dorsal hand contusion differently than a soccer athlete, a rugby player discusses a quad strain differently than a sprinter in track & field.  The healthcare team, the philosophy, empathy and expertise are an important piece to the performance puzzle.

THE JOURNEY

Inserted in the book will be entries which document my life journey.  These entries will be narratives of formative, memorable and impactful experiences which shaped my multi-decade professional journey.

Chapter One

History of Athlete Development

The realization that athletics had transformed the process of athlete development into a twenty-four-hour process rolled into my conscious during a discovery discussion.  It was during a 2013 lunch conversation with Athletics Director Barry Collier, on the eve of Butler University Athletics becoming a member of the newly re-organized Big East Conference, that I described the current state of sports performance.

You see, Barry Collier was inquisitive about the resources availed to his athletes in support of being competitive in this League.  We discussed the current state and explored the opportunities.  During the pencil and napkin analysis I guided the discussion to focus upon the full 24-hour day of the student-athlete.  Mr. Collier leaned forward with interest.

Forty-five days later that summer I was in a Los Angeles café speaking with Extreme Sport skateboarder Sean Malto.  In a pitch to Sean on the contribution a suite of services could add to his career I found him to lean forward when I spoke of the 24-hour continuum of support.  A seemingly waste of time discussion with a very polite burgeoning superstar in Extreme Skateboarding turned into a relational dialogue of personalized interest.

It is fascinating to be engaged in the industry of athlete support in a transformative