The Orreco podcast, Optimized, is our opportunity to bring you news from the frontline of elite sports performance, where biomarkers and analytics meets the possibilities of A.I. and machine learning. It’s also our chance to bring you the latest on what we are up to.
In this episode of our ‘Optimized’ podcast called ‘‘Presidential Performance”, Marc Cleary and Dr Georgie Bruinvels are joined by WNBA Star and the President of the WNBPA Nneka Ogwumike.
They start out by discussing Nneka’s upbringing in a high performing family, where all four sisters played basketball at college level, and three of the four sisters progressing to reach acclaimed WNBA status. Nneka and her sister Chiney currently play together at the LA Sparks.
Nneka describes some of the traits that supported her success and longevity in the sport, notably her openness to learning, experimenting and observing her peers. The importance of understanding her body and the area’s in which she can support it, which leads to continued progress and stand out performances. However, ‘the glory that you see is nowhere near the process’. Nneka outlines the importance of relentless work ethic and the mental capacity to smooth the learning curve in order to enter new levels of play.
Georgie highlights how the game is changing from a scientific perspective and is curious if the demands are similar from the court level. Nneka describes the changes that have occurred in her 10 year career so far, and the increasing roll of science to dispel myths and achieve results with more efficiency, with the clarity of menstrual cycle tracking providing much needed information for female performance.
The conversation then moves to the business of the WNBA and Nneka’s role as ‘Madam President’ of the WNBA Players Association and her challenge of being the voice of the players, negotiating to progress the sport for the better, while simultaneously playing within the system they are fighting to improve.
Finally, the discussion moves to Nneka's debut to the big screen, and her role in Space Jam: A New Legacy alongside Lebron James, and how the film itself signifies the progession of female basketball in the mainstream.
To discover more about Orreco and our cutting-edge work at the frontline of elite sports performance, listen to ‘Optimized', you can listen to it on our podcast page or you can download it from wherever you get your podcasts.
