Sporting success might be in the mind … at least partially.
An elite group of rugby players are helping investigate the effect of brain-training games on sports performance. Players from Northampton Saints, the professional U.K. rugby club that won 2014’s Aviva Premiership and the European Challenge Cup, are using the Peak mobile app as part of their training sessions this season. They’re helping to establish whether there’s a link between brain training and elite sports performance as part of a University of Cambridge study.
Brain-training games are used by various groups of people — including elderly prisoners and young children — to help boost cognitive performance. The research team is hoping to see whether these types of games can also boost athletic performance in a measurable way.
“Sports performance, especially at the elite level, depends both on outstanding physical and mental ability,” said Northampton Saints’ physiotherapist Lee Daggett. “This is certainly true in rugby union, when coaches need players to be able to maintain their focus and make correct decisions even after playing 80 minutes of intense action.”
Daggett also explained that brain-training games could potentially impact assessment of and recovery from head injuries, which are a significant problem in rugby and other full-contact sports.
Elias Mouchlianitis, a research scientist at Peak, said that the results of the study could be valuable to people engaging in sport at every level. “Investigating the impact of brain training in these elite players can help us understand important aspects of cognitive function that can potentially benefit men and women at all levels of sport as well as the everyday brain-training user,” he said.