• Are football clubs missing out on the potential to train the most important organ of all — the brain? Mind over matter: Soccer’s bid to train the brain (CNN)

• Talent evaluators take note. Variables that are difficult to quantify and see — work habits, competitiveness, ambition, determination — often times end up being more important than physical talent in the long run. Stop Judging Talent; Start Nurturing Character (Daniel Coyle)

• New measures are being taken by NBA teams to improve performance and player health. More advancements forthcoming. Next big thing in NBA analytics might be moving from the external to the internal (Ball Don’t Lie)

• For professional sports organizations and sports scientists there is value in identifying measures that predict success. Know the Difference Between Your Data and Your Metrics (Harvard Business Review)

• A recent study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise describes rates of knee injury by sport, patterns of knee injury specific injured structures and risk factors and outcomes associated with specific knee injuries in U.S. high school athletes. Knee Injury Rates Across High School Sports and Genders (SportsInjuryClinic.net)

• The NBA appears to be nearing an agreement to test players for HGH. Henry Abbott, of TrueHoop has been investigating PEDs in the NBA all season. He “will be shocked if a lot many NBA players fail it.” What HGH tests mean for NBA drug cheats (TrueHoop)

• According to SyncStrength, a Boston startup, team chemistry is something that can be calculated from physiological measures. This demo, shown at the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics conference, shows the sync-up that exists between soccer teammates’ heartrate and their (literally and figuratively) goal-seeking behavior. SyncStrength Demo (SyncStrength.com)

• University of Illinois nanotechnologist John Rogers has invented flexible health sensors 0.8 micrometers thick, sensors that can be applied to the skin like a band-aid. This Electronic Temporary Tattoo Will Soon Be Tracking Your Health (Wired.com)

• A recent paper in Nature Scientific Reports shows that professional athletes learn at faster rates compared to regular college students when the problem-solving involves complex visual data. Athletes ‘smarter’ than students (Sydney Morning Herald)

• The Cleveland Browns plan to make more use of analytics under new team president Alex Scheiner and analyst Ken Kovash, both formerly with the Dallas Cowboys. Browns beat writer Tom Reed looks at how the Browns and how pro football have come to use statistical analysis to make decisions. Cleveland Browns play numbers game, delving deep into advance statistics in hopes wins add up (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

• A new sensor-equipped basketball invented by InfoMotion Sports, a Dublin Ohio startup, measures and reports the force a player applies to the ball during dribbling and shooting. Individual basketballs cost $295 and team systems are priced at $5000 and up. InfoMotion Sports unveils first consumer-ready sensor basketball (press release)