Yet it is true that training backed by comprehensive sport medicine and science amenities, resources and services can yield significant mid-term and even short-term results.
Look no further than the Vancouver Canucks on their recent record-breaking 14-game road trip in the National Hockey League for an example.
The Canucks went 8-5-1, earning 17 of a possible 28 points, holding on to first place in the Northwest Divison despite being away from home for six weeks, including two weeks on either side of the NHL break for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Most impressive, they came from behind five times to overcome third-period deficits; a sign of team fitness and an upside attributed at least in large part to the player development priorities established by sophomore general manager Mike Gillis upon his arrival at Canucks Sports & Entertainment in 2008.
If Gillis has defined himself in less than two years on the job, it is through his commitment to player development in general and sport science in particular. He spearheaded expensive upgrades to the Canucks locker room and training amenities at General Motors Place. He and head coach Alain Vigneault have empowered strength and conditioning coach Roger Takahashi big time. He has ordered sleep management protocols and ordered sport nutrition counselling and even food preparation and delivery for certain players.
As a result, the Canucks are quickly earning a reputation as an athlete-centered organization and a progressive franchise -- arguably one of the league's leaders -- in the areas of sport medicine, sport science and sport training.
A former player agent, Gillis was a keen student on the various ways in which teams build equity in their rosters through free agent acquisitions, trades and the increasingly-important baseline of the NHL entry draft.
He was a quick study on the constraints of the salary cap era in the NHL and did not waste much time before moving on to the opportunities which existed to improve his on-ice product while living within the new spending limits. The rules say he can only spend so much on player contracts. But there is no limit to what a franchise can invest in training facilities, travel conditions, player development personnel and sport medicine and science expertise and programs; both at the level of the NHL roster and the Canucks' farm system.
Over time, the provision of top-drawer athlete services to players on the big club should continue to pay dividends for Gillis, Vigneault and the Canucks; on long road trips and -- they hope -- in gruelling playoff series. But the biggest rewards could come only years down the road, from the commitment to player development on the farm.
Gillis will be measured on both counts: how he balances the low beam pressure of scoring short-term results with the high beam vision of sustainable, long-term success. He is clearly betting on sport medicine and science as tools to help deliver both.
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