Sport Science in Brazil: considerations regarding research development, current scenario, and new perspectives

Abstract

Brazil has recently hosted one of the most important sports events in the world, the 2014 Soccer World Cup, and in a near future will host the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. These events may be considered as a great opportunity to develop Sport Science in Brazil. Sport Science can be defined by a scientific process used to guide the practice of sport with the ultimate aim of improving sporting performance. However, despite this goal, the general consensus is that Sport Science research is not currently informing/guiding sport practice. This essay revisits the model for developing Sports Science proposed earlier by Bishop1, discusses the Sport Science scenario in Brazil, and also pointed out the future perspectives. The directions from the revisited model in conjunction with the discussions undertaken in this essay may aid a sport scientist to develop applied studies which results might be adopted to guide sport practice and maximize performance.