MLS Club Seattle Sounders FC and Quest Diagnostics Team up to Launch New Sports Performance Lab Testing Collaboration

MADISON, N.J. and SEATTLE, WA., August 3, 2016 –  Seattle Sounders FC, a member of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that Sounders FC are integrating biomarker testing with Blueprint for Athletes™ into the team’s training to help provide a competitive edge.

Earlier this season, Sounders FC began a pilot with select players of Quest’s Blueprint for Athletes service, customized test panels that evaluate blood-based markers and provide personalized insights athletes can use to help improve their performance. With today’s announcement, Seattle Sounders FC is the first MLS team to formally integrate Blueprint for Athletes into their training program with a broad group of players.

“As a professional team, we always seek to understand what modifications we can make to support players’ performance. Blueprint provides the context for us to track specific biomarkers for individual players and adjust for factors such as nutrition, diet, recovery time and allergens,” said Sounders FC Sports Science and Performance Manager David Tenney. “Quest Diagnostics offers proven, science-based and data-driven insights to player biology, and we’re excited to expand this ‘gold standard’ testing throughout our organization.”

Through its Sports and Human Performance Diagnostics clinical franchise business, Quest Diagnostics spearheads services based on medical-grade lab testing to help professional and amateur athletes improve their performance through diagnostics insights. Based on the latest sports science and technology, Blueprint for Athletes evaluates levels of blood-based markers such as vitamin D, creatine kinase, and glucose that influence protein synthesis, energy levels, and other factors, and provides personalized reports about how the results relate to performance, and what actions can be taken for improvement, from training and recovery to diet and nutrition.

The Blueprint for Athletes testing service is a result of a sports-science collaboration formed between the NFL New York Football Giants and Quest in 2013 to develop new ways to use laboratory diagnostic information to improve the performance of professional and amateur athletes. In addition to Seattle Sounders FC, Blueprint for Athletes is being used by the New York Giants, New York Liberty and many other professional and collegiate sports teams as well as competitive athletes across the country.

“Through our relationship with Seattle Sounders FC we’re able to arm the coaching and training staff and players with a unique understanding of how players adapt to training and competition,” says Richard Schwabacher, MPH, executive director, Quest Diagnostics Sports and Human Performance. “We’re very proud to partner with a team that shares our values of community commitment and involvement and dedication to improving public health.”

Along with Blueprint for Athletes testing of Seattle Sounders FC, the relationship will feature a “Quest Diagnostics Scouting Report,” a season-long video series featuring current team and player performance, key player matchups, and the ‘X’s & O’s’ for the upcoming match. The show is hosted by Nick Firchau, Sounders FC Director of Digital Media, and Steve Zakuani, former Sounders FC player & current broadcast personality. Quest Diagnostics will be the presenting sponsor of the”‘Scouting Report” feature and the content will be distributed through Sounders FC digital & social media channels, TV broadcast, Radio Broadcast, and In-Stadium.

Blueprint for Athletes Now Available to Amateur Athletes in Seven States

The same Blueprint for Athletes service to be used by Seattle Sounders FC and other professional sports teams is now available to amateur athletes in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Texas through Quest Diagnostics. Individuals can order the service online and provide a specimen for testing at a Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center in those states. They will receive a detailed report that explains their test results and actions they can take that may potentially improve their athletic performance. Over time, athletes can track results to monitor progress towards improved performance. Quest Diagnostics expects to launch the service in additional states throughout 2016.

For more information or to place an order, go to http://ift.tt/1YWPBTo. Become part of the Blueprint for Athletes movement on Facebook and Twitter using #DesignVictory.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world’s largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our 44,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. QuestDiagnostics.com.

About MLS Seattle Sounders FC

Winner of the 2014 MLS Supporters’ Shield and four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championships (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014), Sounders FC is Seattle’s Major League Soccer franchise. With an ownership group led by Seattle-based entrepreneur Adrian Hanauer, Hollywood executive Joe Roth, Seattle Seahawks Chairman Paul G. Allen and entertainer Drew Carey, the club received an MLS charter on November 13, 2007 and has reached the MLS Cup Playoffs in every year of its existence. Since the club’s debut MLS season in 2009, Sounders FC has set the standard for soccer support in North America by leading the league in attendance each year, culminating in the top six single-season attendance totals in league history and an active streak of 135 consecutive MLS sellouts. Prior to joining MLS, the Seattle Sounders organization has been a part of the greater Seattle community and U.S. Soccer professional scene since 1974.

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