Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Paddle grip : handgrip size ratio and associated factors contributing to the development of lateral elbow tendinosis and DeQuervains tenosynovitis in K1 marathon paddlers during the 2006 Berg River Canoe Marathon

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-105).Aim: To determine the relationship between the paddle grip: handgrip size ratio and associated factors contributing to the development of lateral elbow tendinosis and DeQuervains tenosynovitis in K1 marathon paddlers

Classification of athletes with intellectual disabilities : towards the re-inclusion of athletes with intellectual disabilities in the Paralympics

Classification of athletes with intellectual disabilities : towards the re-inclusion of athletes with intellectual disabilities in the Paralympic

Balancing stress and recovery in sports

To reach elite level in sports, athletes have to start their intensive and time-consuming training at an early stage. The road to the top is a stressful one, not only due to the physiological stress of training, but also caused by psychological and social stress. In order to improve performance athletes continuously challenge their personal boundaries. This may lead to a local or general overload of the human body that results into injuries, illnesses and overtraining. Overtraining is characterized by an unexplained decrement in sport-specific performance and is often coupled with symptoms such as increased fatigue, poor concentration, disturbed mood, and altered eating and sleeping patterns. Full recovery may take months to years. Monitoring stress and recovery may help to optimize performance and prevent a local or general overload. Clinical measurements showed that mood state and hormonal responses to a double maximal exercise protocol provided valuable information to confirm the diagnosis of overtraining.

Unravelling tennis performance:creating monitoring tools to measure and understand technical and tactical skills

The key in elite tennis performance is suggested to be the combination of outstanding technical and tactical skills. However, little is known about which specific skills are important to progress towards elite tennis performance. Moreover, there are no reliable, valid and feasible tools to assess technical and tactical skills in youth tennis players. Therefore, in this thesis, tools with sufficient psychometric properties were developed to measure technical and tactical skills in a tennis-specific context - contributing to both scientific and practical purposes. An on-court tennis test was developed to assess technical skills based on accuracy (target areas), ball speed (radar system) and percentage errors. A new instrument with closed-ended questions was designed to examine tactical skills, in particular ‘Anticipation and positioning’, ‘Game intelligence and adaptability’, ‘Decision-making’, and ‘Recognizing game situations’. Our studies showed that outstanding technical skills, especially accuracy under increased task complexity (i.e. high temporal and cognitive pressure), were considered essential to progress towards elite tennis performance. Findings of this thesis also suggest that these technical skills continue to develop in adolescence in a group of youth talented tennis players. From a practical perspective, the tools created in this thesis are valuable for coaches and players to enhance tennis performance. In addition to monitoring the progress of players, tools can assist in identifying relative strengths and weaknesses of players as well as provide essential information about underlying skills that require most attention to progress towards elite performance

Development of a classification model in disability sport

The principal aim of this study was to develop a classification model in disability sports. Using disability swimming as an example, methods of participant observation, interview, survey and document analysis were undertaken in three empirical studies to develop and clarify the classification model and three elements in swimming classification- (a) the classification process, (b) classifiers and (c) the classification system. First, the swimming classification process was identified as a social process. Members in the classification process socially interacted. The detailed classification process was described, interpreted and discussed. Several features in the classification process were identified. They included interaction among social actors, routinization, rules in the process, resources used by classifiers, power relations among social actors, allocation of rewards and sanctions in the classification process, and conflicts among social actors. Second, the role of classifiers as an agent of social control in disability swimming was examined. Resources used by medical and technical classifiers in the classification process to maintain their role and social order, and the socialization of classifiers in swimming were specifically explored. In addition, the important characteristics of swimming classifiers were identified in the study. Third, classification outcomes in disability swimming were monitored to evaluate the effectiveness of the classification system. Performance and impairment approaches were used in the study. Data of performances and types of impairment of Paralympic swimmers were analysed. The results revealed that the swimming classification system was generally fair but some classes needed to be fine-tuned. In this study elements of the classification model were clarified by integration of the results of the three empirical studies and the classification literature. It is suggested that researchers may use the concepts of the classification model for further investigationin disability sportc lassificationa nd disability sport committees may apply the model to systematicallye valuatet heir own classification systems, processes and classifiers

Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Kinanthropology

The 11th International Conference on Kinantropology was held on the Nov 29 – Dec 1, 2017 in Brno and was organized by the Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University and the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. This year was divided into several themes: sports medicine, sport and social science, sport training, healthy lifestyle and healthy ageing, sports management, analysis of human movement. Part of the conference was also a symposium Atletika and Ortoreha that gathered specialists in physiotherapy

Cognition in orienteering

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