When Clemson opened their multi-million dollar football facility this summer, a lot of the attention was paid to the new digs having a slide and mini-golf course for the players.
If you asked the coaching staff what they thought was the biggest addition to the program with the facility though, you might get a few yawns and hear about the brand new nap rooms for players to enjoy and catch up on sleep. Not content to just put up a few bunk beds and couches to sleep on though, the Tigers are taking things to the next level by reportedly hiring a specialized sleep coaching program -- Rise Science out of Chicago -- to improve the zzzz’s even more in hopes it will eventually help out on the X’s and O’s front.
“We’ve already seen our student-athletes improve their sleep, and they feel the benefits,” Joey Batson, Clemson’s director of strength and conditioning, told Sports Techie. “We know how hard it is for student-athletes to prioritize sleep, but Rise provides individualized sleep plans and feedback and the program is really easy for our players and staff. Rise isn’t just showing our athletes how they are sleeping; the program helps them improve sleep discipline and increase overall sleep time, which we know will translate to better performance on and off the field.”
Clemson is far from the only organization to put an emphasis on getting proper rest, as Rise Science has already worked with teams such as the Chicago Bulls, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Volunteers. The Tigers may be the defending national champions this season but it’s pretty clear that Dabo Swinney and company want to give the team every edge they can to stay on top of the mountain going forward.
Even when the lights are out apparently.
