In the study, researchers compared brain MRIs of 352 male and female amateur soccer players, ranging in age from 18 to 53, to brain MRIs of 77 non-collision sport athletes, such as runners.

Soccer players who headed the ball at high levels showed abnormality of the brain’s white matter adjacent to sulci, which are deep grooves in the brain’s surface. Abnormalities in this region of the brain are known to occur in very severe traumatic brain injuries.

The abnormalities were most prominent in the frontal lobe of the brain, an area most susceptible to damage from trauma and frequently impacted during soccer heading. More repetitive head impacts were also associated with poorer verbal learning.

In recent years, research has suggested a link between repeated head impacts and neurodegenerative diseases, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

“The potential effects of repeated head impacts in sport are much more extensive than previously known and affect locations similar to where we’ve seen CTE pathology,” says study senior author Dr Michael L. Lipton, professor of radiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. “This raises concern for delayed adverse effects of head impacts. Our analysis showed that the white matter abnormalities represent a mechanism by which heading leads to worse cognitive performance.”

Of significance was the fact that most of the participants in the study had never sustained a concussion or been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, suggesting repeated head impacts that don’t result in serious injury may still adversely affect the brain.

“The study identifies structural brain abnormalities from repeated head impacts among healthy athletes,” Dr. Lipton said. “The abnormalities occur in the locations most characteristic of CTE, are associated with worse ability to learn a cognitive task and could affect function in the future.”

Soccer has been regarded as less of a CTE risk than the collision codes of football, such as rugby league, rugby union, AFL and grid-iron. But this study shows that the game is not without risk and governing bodies may need to address the CTE issue, potentially through rule changes, in future.

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The post Soccer heading is more dangerous than previously thought appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Fricker shared his disappointment on TikTok in a video where he gazes wistfully across an airplane aisle with his head in his hands. He captioned it “POV: Flying home from the Olympic trials when you didn’t make the team”. Sounds fairly simple, right? Well, that video has 4.6 million views and has received almost 2,000 comments of consolation.

@samfricker I’ll never give up, I love the sport and will continue to fight for my dream to win an Olympic Medal 🙌 #olympics ♬ Pink Skies – Zach Bryan

This is the norm for Fricker. The 22-year-old’s most viral TikTok has almost 60 million views and his videos regularly cross the ten million view mark. If social media followings were the only metric on which sports stardom was measured, you might assume that Fricker is Australia’s greatest athlete. His two million TikTok followers far outnumber those of basketball stars Josh Giddey (908,000), Patty Mills (335,000) and Ben Simmons (243,000), F1 driver Oscar Piastri (784,000), Olympic gold medallist Jess Fox (195,000) and tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios (207,000).

“It [TikTok] has changed my life. I never thought that my social media content could go that far and reach that many people. I posted videos on YouTube for years and I got like ten views a day,” Fricker tells Men’s Health. “I think every athlete should do it because then you have the freedom to do what you want and share what you want and build a brand without being limited by things like the timing of big events.”

Fricker’s TikTok journey started when he was 17. His first video on the platform – posted in 2019 – is a simple clip of the diver showing off a new haircut with the song ‘Solo’ by Clean Bandit playing. It has less than 10,000 views and typifies most people’s initial TikTok experience, but it was only the start for Fricker. “My sister got me onto TikTok and I just started making a few funny videos, I didn’t think much of it,” he says. “It’s been an incredible rollercoaster since then that has grown into something that is bigger than I ever could have imagined.”

Fricker is now up for a TikTok award in the ‘Sport & Fitness Creator of the Year’ category, and he doesn’t understate how much the award would mean to him. “TikTok has changed my life and I love the platform so much, so winning a TikTok award would be something I’d be really proud of,” he says.

Having a supportive community that numbers in the millions has helped Fricker in some harder moments, like his recent Olympics near miss. “When I’m outside of comp, I feel extremely grateful to have these people that follow along who I can create content for and it does motivate me.”

These moments come part and parcel with being an elite athlete, according to Fricker. “To become an Olympian, there were so many failures I had to deal with along the way,” he says. “So many times you look in the mirror and you think can I do this?”

Fricker had that question answered earlier in his career, when he won a 2017 international youth diving meet in Dresden, Germany. He picks that victory out as the best moment in his career. “At my first international event, I didn’t do very well. I made the final but came last in it and I came away thinking it was impossible to get a medal at those events. I thought that everyone else was just that much better than me,” he explains.

“I came back years later and won a gold medal in Dresden and it was like a perspective shift,” Fricker continues. “That was one of the first times that I’d been completely smashed in the face and knocked down, so to come back and achieve something I thought was impossible showed me what I was capable of doing.”

Fricker still thinks back on his Dresden experience when coping with failure and has devised a system for overcoming setbacks. “I’ve learned to deal with those barriers by having a little system where I write things down, set new goals and sometimes go back to the drawing board when something doesn’t work out,” he says. “No matter how hard it is, you ride your plan and you start chipping away at it nearly immediately. After the Olympics that’s exactly what I did.”

Moving forward, Fricker’s goal isn’t simply to get back to the Olympics. He’s aiming higher. “My dream is to win an Olympic medal,” he says. “That’d be my last goal in diving that I haven’t achieved yet, having made the Olympics, won a Commonwealth medal and been an Australian champion.”

Fricker understands that to be an Olympic medallist, he’s going to need to work for it. While he’s battling through an injury at the moment – an issue with his lower back that he describes in his personal diagnosis as “either a disc or maybe a stress fracture” – he did give us an insight into his intense training routine.

“Training keeps my whole life centred. Everything else works around it,” Fricker says. “Typically I’ll train for two hours in the morning and three hours in the night for a total of 24 hours per week. In the mornings we’re always doing a lot of core work, a lot of body work, a lot of strength work. You’ve got to be strong in your legs and core because they’re what you use to control everything when you’re in the air. Then you need your upper body to take the impact.”

“We dive for nearly three hours of the night and I would do between 60 and 90 dives a day.” Fricker continues. “It’s not like running, but because you’re going up stairs for hours and hours, it’s like a really long period of cardio, which also helps me stay in shape.”

@samfricker #diving #olympics ♬ original sound – rapidsongs

Maintaining such an arduous regime is crucial for Fricker, as major events are dwindling for divers and performing well during what few opportunities remain is a necessity. Diving events will not be held at the 2026 Commonwealth Games as organisers have announced a shortened program due to Victoria pulling out from hosting duties. This leaves divers like Fricker with even less time in the spotlight and means that every major event counts that much more. But here again, he finds a benefit in social media.

“A lot of divers train in the quiet. They don’t get a lot of publicity unless there’s a big event like the Commonwealth Games, which can be a big payoff,” Fricker says. “Having those events taken away makes it tough for the younger athletes. I’m very grateful to have social media because it allows me to capitalise on every single day and reach an audience and stay in the spotlight without having to wait for those major events.”

The TikTok awards will take place on November 27th and will be streamed live on the @tiktok_australia TikTok account. A win would mean a lot to Fricker, but as he says, he doesn’t do it for the accolades. “I just like making videos,” he says. “It’s really humbling that so many people enjoy watching them.”

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The post Sam Fricker on overcoming setbacks, his training routine and the power of TikTok appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Despite his strong start, Lawson was ultimately overlooked by AlphaTauri – which has since rebranded as RB – for a permanent seat in the 2024 season. Instead, the team went with the more experienced Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. Then, after a half-season of inconsistency from Ricciardo, Lawson was again called upon and was more than up for the challenge, with two points finishes in his three races so far.

Now there’s three races remaining in the 2024 season and Lawson’s seat is anything but safe. His is the only place on the grid that hasn’t been officially decided for 2025, as his position beyond this season isn’t guaranteed. The pressure to perform has never been higher for the 22-year-old. Nevertheless, he remains even-keeled.

“Even if I had a contract locked in for next year, it wouldn’t change how I approach each race,” he tells Men’s Health from Los Angeles during a video call, one week out from the Las Vegas Grand Prix. “Everything is race by race. You don’t get guaranteed a full year and if you’re not consistently performing, you won’t be in the sport for long.”

Credit: Red Bull

With two point-scoring finishes in his first three races of 2024, Lawson’s second F1 stint could hardly have gotten off to a better start. Still, the New Zealander isn’t one to rest on his laurels. “It was obviously a very good start in Austin [at the United States Grand Prix] and since then we’ve been figuring out things with the car and making little improvements, but we can always go better,” he says. “You can always improve. It’s very rare that you’ll have a perfect race.”

He attributes his fast start on the track to the work he’s been putting in off it. “When you’re not driving you can train all you like – and this year has been the hardest I’ve ever trained – but it’s still hard to get into the car for a race when you haven’t been driving,” he says. “They say you have to be ‘race fit’, which comes as you just naturally get comfortable in a car. I felt like that from the first race, to be honest.”

Race fitness is a necessity in F1, where drivers can feel G force equivalent to six times their bodyweight. “Austin was a super high G [force] track. You’re under a lot of load, it’s very hard on the neck and when you’re pulling that kind of G, it’s hard to breathe,” explains Lawson.

Credit: Red Bull

Lawson’s place in F1 has been a long time coming. He’s been in the Red Bull system for six years, but his journey to racing’s pinnacle began early in his childhood. “I started racing when I was very young. I first did go-karts at six years old and when I was 12 I started testing for scholarships to race in entry level cars,” he says. “I actually started racing a circuit car on a full-size circuit at 13 years old.”

Riding his potential into a third-place finish in the 2022 F2 championship, Lawson was quickly elevated into the conversation as a future F1 driver, and he soon became Red Bull’s go-to reserve ahead of Ricciardo. Lawson believed that during his 2023 cameo he had shown enough to earn a permanent seat for 2024, having outperformed teammate Yuki Tsunoda in four of their five races together. But with five drivers on the Red Bull roster – Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Lawson – but only four seats available, Lawson was the odd man out.

An episode of Drive to Survive captured the moment Lawson was told he wasn’t being given a full-time role for 2024, with the visibly upset New Zealander saying “It’s tough knowing that I don’t get the seat even though I’ve beaten a guy that’s getting a seat.”

This level of candour has become a trademark of Lawson’s. He’s still adjusting to life as part of the F1 circus, and after a number of confrontations with other drivers last month, he was quoted as saying “I’m not here to make friends”. When we bring this up, he makes a clarification. “Well, I’m not here to make enemies either,” he says. “I’m learning that stuff can get taken out of context. We have to be careful about what we say and how we say it and that’s part of being a racing driver.”

It is true that Lawson probably isn’t the most popular guy in the locker room right now, with the driver drawing the ire of veterans Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez in separate incidents in October. That unfriendliness doesn’t extend to Lawson’s Australian neighbours from across the ditch, however – with the exception of Ricciardo perhaps, who lost his seat to Lawson.

Rather than building the standard Kiwi/Aussie rivalry, Lawson has become good friends with Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan, the latter of whom has already nabbed a full-time seat at Alpine for 2025. “I’m close mates with both of them,” Lawson says. “Honestly, the rivalry between New Zealand and Australia is only a rivalry when you’re in New Zealand or Australia. When you escape that in an international sport like F1 and you’re on the other side of the world, I think we actually link together because we’re so far away from home.”

Credit: Red Bull

With three races left in the 2024 F1 season, Lawson’s career hangs in the balance. If he disappoints, he may not race at this level ever again. If he continues to impress, he’ll likely earn his first full season on the grid – or, if the rumours are to be believed, a promotion.

Midway through his six-race quarter season, Lawson is already close to surpassing Ricciardo’s total of points finishes in 2024. Ricciardo could only manage three top ten results across his 18 races this year, a strike rate of roughly 17 per cent. Lawson has already finished in the top ten twice and, albeit with a smaller sample size, has a points strike rate of 66 per cent.

Lawson’s run of form hasn’t gone unnoticed by the higher-ups at Red Bull who control his future. “There is always feedback from both Christian [Horner] and from [Helmut] Marko,” Lawson says. “They both play a big role in my future, so they always give feedback after each weekend. The expectation from them is high. That’s why they put me in the car.”

Getting in the bosses’ good books would be wise for Lawson if he is to secure a place at RB next season, but his ambition isn’t limited to the sister team, especially when an opportunity at Red Bull could soon open up.

Max Verstappen’s seat is unimpeachable. His teammate Sergio Pérez’s is not. Over the last 15 races, Pérez hasn’t finished higher than sixth. He is yet to win a race this season while his teammate has won eight. Pérez’s top ten strike rate sits at 71 per cent, only moderately better than Lawson’s 66 per cent. And let’s not forget that Lawson is driving a car that currently sits eighth out of ten in the constructor standings, while Verstappen is cruising to another championship in the same car as Pérez.

Pérez’s underperformance has long been a topic of discussion among F1 fans and pundits. Despite the Mexican driver being given a two-year contract extension earlier this year, rumours have been swirling that Pérez could retire at the end of the season or face retrenchment to RB. Red Bull have done little to quell these rumours, with the team still not announcing who will get the second seat at RB next year.

If a seat were to become available at Red Bull, either Lawson or Tsunoda would presumably fill it. Lawson knows the perils of assuming anything is a given too well to outright declare that the seat will be his, but he does concede that he’s aiming to get to Red Bull eventually. “My goal is to be a Red Bull racing driver in the future. That’s what my dream has been since I was a kid,” he says.

Does he have the talent to partner with a four-time champion? Lawson thinks so. “That decision comes from the team with Christian [Horner] and Helmut [Marko], but I would feel ready for that,” he says. He has three races left to prove it.

Credit: Red Bull

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The post Liam Lawson is ready to take the next step appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

On October 27th, it will be three years to the day since Cavallo publicly announced his sexuality. While he was initially inundated by messages of support, even today, the act is earning him a steady stream of vitriolic comments on social media. “I’ve had to build thick skin since coming out,” Cavallo tells Men’s Health in a chat during Adelaide United’s preseason training.

While LGBTQ+ players make up a significant portion of the Australian women’s national team – and women’s professional leagues at large – the same cannot be said about the men’s game. In addition to Cavallo, Czech international Jakub Jankto and Ivorian striker Richard Kone are the only other openly gay men’s footballers currently playing at the professional level.

It’s an exclusive club, and new admissions are infrequent at best, as the footballing world struggles to become more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. By now, Cavallo has come to accept that progress will be slow, but he admits that he expected the trickle started by his announcement to be closer to a deluge by now. “It’s not really expanding at the speed I thought it would, and it’s definitely still struggling in some strategic areas,” he says. “As a professional footballer, I’m still very alone when it comes to having gay representation.”

In the post Cavallo made to Instagram announcing his sexuality back in 2021, he wrote that he previously “had to mask my feelings to fit the mould of a professional footballer” and that “growing up, being gay and playing football were two paths that hadn’t crossed before”. Three years on, he believes the landscape is changing, but still has a long way to go. He points to the mixed reception of his coming out post, and many posts since, as evidence of this.

“It’s quite disappointing to still see backlash and hatred online. Football is the most popular sport in the world, and a lot of football fans come from countries where being gay isn’t socially or legally acceptable, so it’s to be expected,” Cavallo says. “But as a result, I now have a world of people who do support me and are wishing me well and we’re fighting in this together.”

To continue building inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ community in football, Cavallo accepts that he needs to continue to inhabit the spotlight, as one of the few openly gay players in men’s professional football. While he’s downbeat about the likelihood of enacting swift change, Cavallo is taking this role in his stride. “I can’t tell you that I’m going to be the person to change everything, but I’ll put my best foot forward and give it all I’ve got,” he says.

INSTAGRAM | @joshua.cavallo

Improving LGBTQ+ acceptance in football begins with visibility, according to Cavallo. In this space, brand ambassadorships, campaigns and magazine covers (like our very own from 2022) are useful. These opportunities haven’t been hard to come by for Cavallo, who boasts a social media following that numbers over one million and a smouldering gaze that naturally befits a man that frequently appears on billboards.

Most recently, Cavallo appeared in a campaign for Ralph Lauren’s new Polo 67, a bold and bright fragrance with a heart of pineapple accord that has since become his go-to scent. “I really enjoyed being a part of this campaign, and the fragrance itself is incredible,” he says. “I usually have a steady fragrance rotation, but Polo 67 just shocked me and it’s now my regular scent.”

Of course, as well as his many endorsements, it’s important for Cavallo to have ‘boots on the ground’, so to speak and be able to turn out regularly for his club. Unfortunately, that’s an area Cavallo has struggled with over the past few years. When he came out, Cavallo was a regular member of Adelaide United’s first team lineup, making 19 appearances across the 2021/22 A-League season. But midway through the 2022/23 season, Cavallo ruptured his Achilles tendon, putting him out of action for 11 months. “I basically spent the whole year off, training to come back,” he says. “It’s like going to work every day and not being able to do your job.”

Returning to the Adelaide squad in January of 2024, Cavallo only managed to appear in four games before the injury plague struck again. This time, it was a rupture in his quad muscle, putting him back on the sidelines for another six months. “It can be very disheartening,” he says. “Football’s fantastic when you’re playing, but when you have setbacks like what I’ve had, it does test you.”

Cavallo spent the majority of his time off rehabbing and consulting with his club’s medical team on the best way to get back on the field. This process, he says, was made easier by his experience in the professional system and ultimately made him stronger. “I was 16 when I got my first professional contract, so I’ve been in this environment for a long time. I’ve got the right foundation and tools to look after myself, but it is very difficult to stay motivated and you just have to have a strong mindset. Coming into this new season, I’m feeling really strong, healthy and confident. I’m ready to go.”

This season is make or break for Cavallo’s team. Adelaide is in the second year of a major rebuild after their talismanic captain and Socceroos star Craig Goodwin departed before the start of last season, causing a skid down the A-League ladder from third to eighth in the space of a single season. Now, promising youngster Nestory Irankunda has left for Bayern Munich, while the previous season’s leading goalscorer, Hiroshi Ibusuki, was not retained after a breakout year.

Put simply, the squad has been gutted. Cavallo is one of the few holdouts left to pick up the pieces. Despite this, the 24-year-old is confident that Adelaide will be playing finals football sooner rather than later. “Walking into this preseason, we have had a makeover and a shift of talent and it’s looking really good,” he says. “In our Australia Cup games, we’ve gone out and shown how we want to play this year and I think that playstyle can carry us back into the finals.”

One benefit of Adelaide’s now depleted roster is that it could result in a larger – or at least more varied – role for Cavallo. In the past, the midfielder has been praised for his versatility, able to be deployed as a fullback in defence, as a playmaker in midfield, or as a pacey winger. Moving forward, however, he makes it clear that he does have a preferred position. “Naturally I’m an attacking midfielder who plays the role of a 10. I do understand that I’ll be used wherever needed, but that’s where I prefer to play,” he says. “It doesn’t really bother me what position I’m in though. I’m a midfielder, sure, but you’ll probably see me at left back, left wing and in defensive and attacking midfield.”

Regardless of where he sits on the pitch, Cavallo looks well positioned to move into a larger role after an impressive preseason showing where, at one stage, he scored a goal in three consecutive games. But, if he wants to maintain his position as the North star for the LGBTQ+ community in football, he will have to work for it.

This year is the last in the four-year contract Cavallo signed with Adelaide United in 2021. Like any player on an expiring contract, his future with the team isn’t guaranteed. “We’ll be working closely with Adelaide and seeing what is on the table,” he says. “But yeah, Adelaide is my home away from home. When I moved here, I was just a boy and in the time since I feel like I’ve become a man.”

Assuredly, Cavallo has been putting in the work. After spending the majority of the past two seasons on the sideline, he’s has been pushing himself to improve his skillset, hoping it will translate to more time on the field and ultimately, more of that all-important visibility. And while he understands that a club switch could be on the cards, if it were up to him, Cavallo wouldn’t be going anywhere. “I’ve enjoyed every bit of these past four seasons,” he says. “I will be looking to stay here.”

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Cummins has earnt a break. Lucky for him, he was left out of the Australian squad for last month’s tour of England, allowing him to spend some time at home. But even in this so-called ‘rest’ period, Cummins isn’t exactly kicking his feet up on the couch for a binge-watch session. When he catches up with Men’s Health, Cummins is doing the rounds promoting his signature Carrera eyewear collection.

“Carrera is a brand that I’d worn even before I signed on with them,” Cummins tells us. “I was able to work with the design team to help this collection come together. They make a statement and nowadays people want their sunglasses to stand out from the pack. That’s what these do.”

INSTAGRAM | @patcummins30

In addition showing off some fashionable eyewear, Cummins has been keeping busy in other ways during his recent rest period – although, when we call it that, he immediately corrects us. “It’s more like preseason,” he says. “It’s been great to be honest. Sleeping in my own bed has probably been the best part, but outside of that it’s been lots of time in the gym for strength work. It’s about trying to place myself in the best position I can for the summer ahead.”

Cummins simply doesn’t have time to rest. In November he’ll return to captaincy duties for an ODI series against Pakistan, his first in the 50-over format since lifting the World Cup trophy in 2023. Then, India will arrive on Australia shores to contest the Border-Gavaskar trophy in the blockbuster series of the summer. Australia haven’t held the trophy since 2015, suffering four consecutive series defeats since then, but Cummins is confident the silverware will soon be back in Australian hands. “They’re a great side and we haven’t beaten them for four series now, but I feel like we’re in a really good position to break the drought,” he says.

To ensure his desired outcome, Cummins isn’t taking his preseason easy. “I’m in the gym every second day at the moment,” he says. “I’ll do a heavy day and then have a day to recover, but on those recovery days I’ll go for a run or do some rehab work, so I’m not just sitting around.”

Cummins hasn’t bowled a ball in eight weeks in an attempt to rest his overworked overarm motion, but in its stead, he’s been able to focus on some areas that are left on the backburner during the busy playing season. “When you’re playing – which we are for pretty much 12 months of the year – it’s hard to get in the gym to strengthen yourself. Most of our time is spent fixing the niggles that pop up or resting,” he says.

INSTAGRAM | @patcummins30

Heading into the summer, Cummins says there are two areas he’s been focusing on in training. “Pretty much all of the training I do is an attempt to strike a balance between injury prevention and maximising performance,” he says. “Sometimes they go hand in hand. A lot of my exercise is now about getting stronger, because over the course of the summer, I’m going to lose some of that strength, so I need to build up a big enough base while I can.”

“Recently I’ve been working with heavier loads and building my hamstring strength. That’s stuff that I can’t do when I’ve got a game in the next couple days,” Cummins continues. “Then there are some areas that fast bowlers in particular need to take care of, like ankles, hips and hamstrings. I always pay extra attention to those in training to prevent injury.”

With a packed training routine that balances injury prevention with strength work to optimise performance, you can expect another stellar summer from Cummins, the kind that has typified his tenure as Australia’s captain. At the very least, he’ll be doing what he normally does, daring to stand out from the pack, thanks in no small part to those Carrera sunglasses he can’t stop talking about.

INSTAGRAM | @patcummins30

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Conscious the camera is rolling, I dribble behind my back, drive hard to the basket, and fake to put up a shot with my left hand. Astonishingly Daniels bites, launching into the air to swat the shot, as I pivot back on to my right and score with a little jump hook. I’m ecstatic, imagining burgeoning viral fame for managing to school one of the best young defenders in the NBA. Daniels plays a long. “Oh no, he’s got it, he’s got it,” he laughs, before accepting my high-five.

It’s only later, when I watch the clip back, that I see how little effort Daniels was putting in. And I feel silly. Did I really think Daniels was going to go full tilt on me? This is a man who’s locked up some of the best perimeter players in the NBA, for crissakes. He’s even made life tough for the great Devin Booker, though the Phoenix Suns superstar would get his revenge in what would become Daniels’ ‘welcome to the NBA’ moment.

“The first time I played Booker, I held him to maybe 13 points,” says Daniels, who’s talking to MH today at the Sydney Kings’ practice facility in Moore Park. “Then we played him a week later and obviously he didn’t take that lightly. And came back and got 52 on my head. Next game was 58, next game was 54. He definitely has something against New Orleans, so I’m glad I’m not on that team anymore so I can get a fresh start at him. We’ll see how that goes.”

Instagram – @dysondaniels

Daniels is relishing a new shot at a lot of things. In his time in New Orleans, he established himself as a lockdown defender, as he learned how to be a pro from vets like Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and Garrett Temple. “These guys just taught me what I need to do to get on the floor, prepare for games, take care of my body,” Daniels says. “I think coming in at such a young age, you learn a lot really quick. I’ve built my foundation now. It’s just about building it up.”

After being traded to Atlanta this off-season, Daniels is looking forward to playing with one of the NBA’s premier playmakers in Trae Young. “Hopefully we can catch a few lobs, a few highlight plays,” he laughs. “A guy like that, who has such gravity, playing off him you get some open looks. It’s going to be fun.”

With the Hawks in something of a rebuild, Daniels is likely to see more playing time and is ready to seize his moment. “I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for me,” he says. “We’ve got a younger team over there, a lot of opportunity. I loved my time in New Orleans, but I don’t think I necessarily fit in that team with some of the guys and was playing behind some guys. Hopefully I can go into Atlanta and stamp my spot in their team.”

Daniels is keen to dig further into his defensive presence, targeting All-defensive team honours and Defensive Player of the Year contention as career goals – he’s going to have to learn not to bite on fakes from middle-aged pick-up hoopers – while taking the opportunities he’s given to unlock his offensive game.

“I mean defence is something I’ve always prided myself on, so that’s always going to be my staple piece and what I build around,” Daniels says. “But I have so much more offensively to give. I have so much more offensively to learn. And I think I have the body, I have the skill set, it’s just about trusting my work, believing in myself and going out there and doing it. I feel like people haven’t seen that side of me yet.”

Instagram – @dysondaniels

The NBA may not have seen it, but the Aussie public was given a taste of Daniels’ offensive potential at Paris 2024, where he shot 38 per cent from behind the arc in the tournament, including three from four in the Boomers’ win over Spain.

“I mean it’s no surprise that I shot well in the Olympics,” he says. “I think that’s the work that I’ve done with my trainer, Tony, over the past few months. I was able to go out there and just trust my work, trust my shot. And that’s the biggest thing; if I miss a shot, the next shot, having the same mentality going into it. My teammates trust me and my coaches trust me. I put in the work. It’s just about trusting myself.”

Looking back on his first Olympic campaign now, Daniels can’t help wondering at what might have been. The Boomers were up 46-22 midway through the second quarter against Serbia, a team that pushed the mighty US to the limit in the semis.

“There wasn’t much said after that,” says Daniels of the loss to Serbia. “Everyone was down. We had such high expectations coming in and when you fall short in a game we gave ourselves a good chance to win, it hurts. There was a lot of what ifs and still is. What if we got through that game, got a chance at USA. Everyone brings everything they’ve got against them. We had a good crack in the warm-up game. It would’ve been nice to have another crack.”

Daniels is keen to build on the Boomers’ legacy, having been inculcated with the team’s gritty, flag-first, no dickheads approach at last year’s FIBA World Cup. “We started that campaign in Cairns with Patty putting on a dinner, a Kup-Murri out in the bush, where they cook it on hot rocks” he says. “I learned a lot from Patty and guys like Joe [Ingles] and Delly [Matthew Dellavedova]. Just getting into the Australian culture and really digging deep down to find where Australia’s from and building that culture from the ground up. That was my first taste. Then coming into this campaign, we had our flags everywhere we go. We had Australian music only. It really is a culture thing. We’ve got to carry through what guys like Patty and Joe have built with the younger guys coming through.”

Being back in Australia this offseason allowed Daniels to reconnect with his other sporting passion: AFL. Growing up in Bendigo in central Victoria, Daniels, like many many Aussie hoopers including Mills and Ben Simmons, had to make a choice between the two sports as a teenager.  Funnily enough, in AFL, Daniels, who’s a Richmond supporter, was offensive minded with eyes only for the sticks. “I didn’t like the backline,” he laughs, adding he mostly played centre-half forward. “Liked kicking goals and playing in the midfield, getting touches. I was an attacker in AFL, defender in basketball. Wasn’t the best kick, but I was good in the air and always won the ball. Hopefully one day we can go back and play, we’ll see.” You can bet there would be a few clubs who’d give him a go.

Image: Vouseti

While he’s been home, Daniels has been working hard on another passion play: the launch of his new clothing line, Vouseti. The project, which he founded with a childhood mate from Bendigo, has allowed Daniels to explore his love of fashion at a granular level, while honouring the strength of the pair’s bond. “I’m really into fashion. I like dressing up,” says the 21-year-old, who has the height, cheekbones and green eyes that make him a natural for the runway or catalogue work. “To finally be able to have the opportunity to launch my brand and do it with a friend has been amazing. We have two arrows facing back-to-back on every piece and it symbolises friendship and having each other’s back. That’s what me and my friend have always talked about, we’ve always had each other’s back.”

Daniels is conscious that a pivotal year lies ahead. A player’s third year in the league is often the time when they either make a leap or become ‘who they are’. With a new team, a new coach and a determination to shoot his shot, you get the feeling Daniels is ready to level up. “I hope I shoot up and show people who I really am and what I can really do.”

Instagram – @dysondaniels

Dyson Daniels’ workout

During the off-season, Daniels does 4–6-week blocks dedicated to a specific physical goal, like building muscle mass. “Right now, my block is power and speed. After a couple of weeks off, getting that speed, that take-off speed back. Four weeks ago, I was really focused on putting on size and getting in a lot of heavy lifting.” Here’s Daniels’ routine for building rim-shattering power

• Split squat: 4 x 6 – 3 seconds down, 3 seconds up
• Dumbbell bench press: 4 x 6 – 3 seconds up, 3 down
• Med ball swirls: 4 x 6
• Calf raises with bar: x 10
• Dumbbell catches: x 6 – “I drop and catch a dumbbell at the lowest point so that my knees can get used to that resistance at the bottom.”

Related:

How to achieve NBA-level mental fitness

5 Things You Didn’t Know About NBA Rising Star Dyson Daniels

The post Dyson Daniels is ready to step up appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

What is slap fighting?

For the uninitiated, slap fighting includes contenders standing face to face, in some rules, a coin toss determines who will deliver the first slap, the striker is then given a certain amount of time to deliver as many heavy slaps as they want. There can be three rounds and bouts may go to decision by judges if no one is knocked out in that time.

 

 

 

 

 

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In a Power Slap fight, there tends to be 10 rounds in a match with one slap each per round and opponents are scored on how much damage they inflict. If the defender doesn’t recover from the slap within one minute, they lose. Contenders will lose points for flinching or ducking. Rules stipulate that the striker must have both feet on the ground when they deliver the slap with the heel of their hand at the same time as the fingers.

Viewing is not for the faint of heart, but the brutal sport has lead to viral clips on social media showing contenders suffering heavy blows, causing medical experts to raise concerns and study video footage to determine the risks.

The slap fighting study

The study published in Jama Surgery aimed to identify signs of concussion among slap fighters by performing a video analysis. It is the first academic study to provide an assessment of the possible dangers associated with slap fighting and could lead the way to opening conversations on better regulations in the sport to protect contenders safety and wellbeing.

Trained reviewers took part in the study, watching 333 slap fighting competitions and noted visible signs of concussions and how often they occurred. These ranged from a diminished awareness of the environment to a complete loss of responsiveness.

The analysis found that:

• More than 50% of the slap sequences resulted in contenders showing signs of concussion.
• Nearly 40% of sequences resulted in signs of poor motor coordination.
• About a third of the slaps resulted in contenders having a blank and vacant look
• About a quarter of the slaps showed contenders were slow to get up after being slapped to the floor.
• Nearly 80% of the contenders showed visible signs of concussion at least once in their matches.

According to lead author Raj Swaroop Lavadi at the University of Pittsburg, ‘Slap fighting may be entertaining to watch as a lay viewer, but as medical professionals, we found some aspects of the competitions to be quite concerning. Our end goal is to make all professional sports safer for the neurologic health of the athletes. It is really difficult to ban any sport, but it is possible to raise awareness about the associated harms. We were intrigued with the prospect of applying video analysis to identify signs of concussion in a competition that hasn’t previously been studied.’

Echoing his sentiments of concern due to the results, senior author Nitin Agarwal, MD shared: ‘Clinically, concussion can show up in different ways, but each can result in short or long-term disability and socioeconomic distress. As a physician who has a background in martial arts and is passionate about combat sports, I remain concerned regarding the frequency of overt signs of concussion among slap fighters.’

These results may not be surprising to viewers of the sport, who have long known that the fighting comes with its risks, however the study could pave the way for tighter regulations and help inform participants in order to improve safety measures.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

Related:

Neurologists Are Concerned About Dana White’s Power Slap League

The AFL has been asked to implement safety measures to mitigate risk of concussion

The post Study says almost 80% of slap fighting contenders at risk of brain damage appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Clearly, there are lessons to be learnt from Barrett’s success. Like precisely what gym exercise gets him fired up? What’s his go-to cheat meal? Who has the aux chord in the All Blacks’ dressing room? And what is his personal motto?

Lucky for you, when we met Barrett for a surf at the URBNSURF wave pool in Homebush, we were asking all the right questions. See Barrett take on the latest edition of Men’s Health’s Rapid Fire series below.

Related:

Dual rugby international Timana Tahu on ‘Over the Black Dot’, the 2024 NRL season, and the importance of spotlighting Indigenous athletes

Jordan Mailata’s journey from rugby league outsider to the Super Bowl

The post Men’s Health Rapid Fire: Beauden Barrett appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.