19th annual Congress of the ECSS

Amsterdam – Netherlands, July 9, 2014: 19th annual Congress, The 19th annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, ECSS Amsterdam 2014, was the second largest congress in the history of the ECSS. Amsterdam provided a unique setting for this spectacular scientific event “sport science around the canals”. When looking back at this most successful event, exciting science was presented in the form of plenary sessions, invited sessions, oral sessions, mini-oral sessions and e-posters.

In addition, in parallel to the congress program, there were interesting symposia and workshops as well as special interest group meetings provided for a specific audience. Once again, the ECSS Young Investigators Award was the highlight of the congress and excellent research work was presented by young upcoming scientists from multidisciplinary fields of sport science.

The top 10 were awarded in oral as well as in mini-oral presentations.

The outstanding social events: opening ceremony (“juggling sport science”), YIA cocktail and closing ceremony were well received by all participants. The cherry on the cake was the amazing closing party at Nemo. The party really took off after the win of the Dutch team in the World Cup Quarterfinals against Costa Rica.

The ECSS society enjoyed its stay in the Netherlands and left the city of Amsterdam with loads of new experiences.

The ECSS would like to thank each and every one of you who helped to make ECSS Amsterdam 2014 such a great scientific event. Without your contribution this fantastic congress could not have been such a success.

Congress facts
Total number of congress participants: 2.760
Total number of participating countries: 75
Total number of abstracts: 1.908
Plenary sessions: 4 – 8 key note lectures
Invited presentations: 114
Oral presentations: 896
Poster presentations:
Mini-oral: 410
E-poster: 488
Total number of exhibitors: 57
Total number of volunteers: 120
Social media reach out during the time of the congress on #ECSS2014:
Contributors: 865
Tweets posted: 2.604
Global reach: 1.109.434
(Source: HashtrackingTM)
ECSS Young Investigator Award 2014
Total number of YIA applicants: 345
Total number of YIA finalists:125

ECSS Young Investigator Award Winners 2014
Oral presentation
1st Mike Stembridge, (UK)
Mini-Oral (Poster) presentation
1st Xinyan Zheng (Japan)

Congress venue
The RAI Convention Centre was a great venue for the 19th ECSS Congress. It provided functional facilities for all of the activities during the congress, from exhibition and various scientific sessions to social events and networking. It was located near to a metro station and it was easily accessible by car, plane, train and bike. Also the canal close by connected the venue to the rest of the city by water.

Scientific highlights – plenary sessions, memorial lecture and symposiums
Wednesday, 3rd July 2014
• Women versus men in sport and exercise
• Chairs: Mireille Van Poppel (VU University Medical Center and Jo de Ruiter (Research Institute MOVE, VU University)
• Speakers:
o Gender differences in physical activity and sedentary time: do they translate to gender differences in health outcomes?, Brown, W. (Australia)
o Sex differences in neuromuscular fatigue and performance: why does it matter?, Hunter, S.K. (USA)
Thursday, 4th July 2014
• Interaction between thermal environment, mental and physical status of the athlete and power output
• Chairs: George Havenith (Loughborough University) and Hein Daanen (TNO)
• Speakers:
o Behavioural adaptations during exercise in extreme ambient temperatures, Flouris, A.D. (Greece)
o Performance in thermal extremes – adaptation to heat and cold, Daanen, H. (Netherlands)
Friday, 5th July 2014
• Challenges for the Paralympic Games: fairness and identity
• Chairs: Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey (Loughborough University) and Thomas Janssen (VU University)
• Speakers:
o Paralympic sport performance: how can diversity in training, equipment, ergonomics and impairment result in fair competition? Vanlandewijck, Y. (Belgium)
o Brave new world: ability, technology and ethics, McNamee, M. (United Kingdom)
Saturday, 6th July 2014
• Who has the future in public health – young or old?
• Chairs: Willem Van Mechelen (VU University Medical Center) and Allard Van Der Beek (EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center)
• Speakers:
o Bend the twig and bend the tree, Chin A Paw, M. (Netherlands)
o The case for exercise promotion in the elderly, Boreham, C. (Ireland)
Saturday, 6th July 2014
• Tom Reilly Memorial Lecture: “The effect of intensified training on performance and
muscle adaptations in well-trained people”
• Speaker:
o Jens Bangsbo (Denmark)
Satellite Symposia
Wednesday, 2nd July 2014
• Sports Nutrition then and now – hosted by GSSI
• Chair: Clyde Williams
• Speakers:
o Introduction, Asker Jeukendrup (GSSI and Loughborough University)
o Gastro-intestinal problems during exercise, Kim van Wijck (Maastricht University)
o GSSI satellite labs: early learning from a multi-center trial, John Stofan (GSSI)
o Protein: from general recommendations to individual advice, Luc van Loon (Maastricht University)
o Sports nutrition in football, Ronald Maughan (Loughborough University)
• Performance Assesment with Force Plates – Bringing Science to Practice – hosted by KISTLER
• How to win the match: the science behind football – hosted by Aspetar
• Chairs: Sebastien Racinais (QAT) and George Nassis (QAT)
• Speakers:
o Physical demands and training of the top-class player, Jens Bangsbo (Copenhagen University)
o Training load, fitness and injury risk: should we be training smarter and harder?, Tim Gabbett (Australian Catholic University)
o Players’ monitoring, performance enhancement and injury prevention: future challenges, George Nassis (Aspetar)
o Carbohydrates for performance – time to rethink sports nutrition paradigms?, Tim Noakes (University of Cape Town)
Technical Sessions
Thursday, 3rd July 2014
• Qualisys: How motocap systems and eyetracking systems can practically be integrated for sports research
• COSMED: COSMED introduces K5, the wearable metabolic technology

These sessions can be watched on ECSS.tv and/or ECSS Youtube Channel. ECSS.tv is a free of charge service for all ECSS members.
Follow Up

We very much appreciate your support and hope to welcome you as an ECSS member and congress participant to ECSS Malmö 2015. —- ECSS