Free Online Zoom Workshop -- Screens, Sleep, and the Athlete: Winning the Hours Between Practices

Recovery doesn't stop when practice ends. It starts in the hours before the alarm goes off. Sleep restores muscle, consolidates skill memory, and regulates the mood and focus athletes rely on under pressure (Fullagar et al., 2015,  Walker, 2017). Yet phones, gaming, and late-night screen usage are quietly eroding that recovery window. This session, for coaches, parents, and athletes together, unpacks the research on sleep and athletic performance and offers a realistic look at technology's dual role: as both the biggest disruptor of sleep and, when used well, a tool that can support it. Participants leave with a shared vocabulary and concrete strategies to protect the hours that make the training count. Participants will learn about the Sleep-Performance Cycle: Poor sleep → Slower reaction time & impaired decision-making → Increased injury risk & irritability → Poor practice/competition performance → Anxiety about performance → Screen use as escape/distraction at night → Poor sleep. This workshop aims to break that cycle. Attendees will be able to explain sleep's physiological role in athletic performance and injury risk and be able to distinguish technology uses that impair sleep from technology uses that can support it. Athletes will be able to design a personalized 30-minute wind-down routine adaptable for travel/competition nights.

See the attached flyer and registration link for more details.