Enriching the Experience : Content Analysis on the Twitter Usage of Professional Esports Athletes

The thesis studied the Twitter usage of 50 professional esports athletes by means of a content analysis of the 19-21 tweets on the athletes' Twitter frontpages, 1014 tweets in total. The athletes’ tweets were categorised into a primary category as well as a secondary and tertiary category, when applicable. The research questions were: 1. How do the most followed esports athletes employ Twitter in terms of the main properties in their tweets? 2. In addition to the main property, what additional features do the athletes’ tweets contain? 3. What are the differences and similarities in the emphases of the athletes’ tweets’ main properties and additional features, when examined by game of the athlete? The results showed that the category that the tweets were annotated most frequently into in the primary categorisation was INFORMATION SHARING, indicating that the athletes’ tweets’ main property was most often to share information on topics related to esports. The second most frequent primary category was ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT, signalling that the athletes did at times post tweets with esports-related photos, videos or humorous language as the most prominent property in the tweet. The third most frequently occurring category was DIVERSION, demonstrating that the athletes did post tweets that were unlinked to their status as professional athletes. PROMOTIONAL category was the fourth most frequent. Thus, the athletes employed Twitter also in promoting for their own and their teams’ financial gain by tweeting sponsored material. The two categories with the least tweets were INTERACTIVITY and FANSHIP, indicating that the athletes relatively rarely asked direct esports-related questions or commented on competing athletes and teams as the main property in their tweet. The three most frequent categories in the secondary and tertiary categorisations were ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT, PROMOTIONAL and INFORMATION SHARING. The result showed that that the athletes were prone to include photos, videos and humorous language as a feature in their tweets. The athletes relatively often used promotional aspects in the form of mentioning and tagging esports professionals, events as well as their own teammates in their tweets. Information was a common feature even when it was not the main property of the tweet or when the information was unrelated to esports. There were statistically significant differences in the categorisation results, when compared in groups based on the game played professionally by the athlete (Call of Duty, Fortnite, League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Dota 2 as the games in the study). The only category where there were no statistically significant differences across categorisations was PROMOTIONAL, in terms of which the tweets did not differ enough across games for the differences to be statistically significant

An automatic visual analysis system for tennis

This article presents a novel video analysis system for coaching tennis players of all levels, which uses computer vision algorithms to automatically edit and index tennis videos into meaningful annotations. Existing tennis coaching software lacks the ability to automatically index a tennis match into key events, and therefore, a coach who uses existing software is burdened with time-consuming manual video editing. This work aims to explore the effectiveness of a system to automatically detect tennis events. A secondary aim of this work is to explore the bene- fits coaches experience in using an event retrieval system to retrieve the automatically indexed events. It was found that automatic event detection can significantly improve the experience of using video feedback as part of an instructional coaching session. In addition to the automatic detection of key tennis events, player and ball movements are automati- cally tracked throughout an entire match and this wealth of data allows users to find interesting patterns in play. Player and ball movement information are integrated with the automatically detected tennis events, and coaches can query the data to retrieve relevant key points during a match or analyse player patterns that need attention. This coaching software system allows coaches to build advanced queries, which cannot be facilitated with existing video coaching solutions, without tedious manual indexing. This article proves that the event detection algorithms in this work can detect the main events in tennis with an average precision and recall of 0.84 and 0.86, respectively, and can typically eliminate man- ual indexing of key tennis events

A KD framework in football data analytics: a value co-creation framework for the use of knowledge discovery technologies in the football industry

Investment in sport technologies are expected to grow by 40.1% during 2016-2022 reaching approximately $3.97 billion by 2022. As well the recent changes in technology regulations by The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since the 2018 World Cup created promising football technologies. This research questions addressing the issue of what is the value of such technologies for professional football teams? and what are the benefits of these technologies? This is achieved by developing a framework for understanding the value co-creation process from the knowledge discovery systems in the football industry. The framework aids in mapping the resources, pinpointing the outputs, identifying the competencies leading into capabilities, and finally in realisation of the value of the final outcomes in that journey. On another words, different teams have different resources that allow them to achieve certain outputs. These outputs enable the coaching team to achieve and maintain certain abilities. By changes in practice the will improve the team ability and enhance their analytical capabilities. Therefore, that will allow and aid the coaching team to gain new outcomes such as improving training strategies, transferring players, and informative match strategies. Additionally, improved understanding of the value co-creation process from the knowledge discovery systems in the football industry answering, why are some teams better able to gain value from investment in knowledge discovery technologies than other teams in the football industry. The framework has been developed in three phases in which semi-structured interviews where used in the first and second phases for developing and validating the framework respectively. The third and final phases is verifying the framework by developing a knowledge discovery maturity model as an online assessment s tool in operationalising the research findings. The main contributions of this research are the adaptation and customisation of Melville et al. (2004) to develop a value co-creation process form knowledge discovery resources. Moreover, applying Agile (APM, 2015) artefacts and techniques and tools in improving the value co-creation process between coaches and data analysts. That s aided in developing the value co-creation knowledge discovery framework in football analytics. Additionally, the development of a key performance indicators balanced scorecard and its adaptation as a in understanding the relationships between the key performance indicators (i.e. physical, psychological, technical and tactical performance indicators). Finally, the development of the knowledge discovery maturity model in football analytics which was used in understanding and pinpointing areas of strength and weakness in the utilisation of the various football resources used in football analytics (human resources, technological resources, value co-creation resources and analytical models used)

Local Positioning Systems in (Game) Sports

Position data of players and athletes are widely used in sports performance analysis for measuring the amounts of physical activities as well as for tactical assessments in game sports. However, positioning sensing systems are applied in sports as tools to gain objective information of sports behavior rather than as components of intelligent spaces (IS). The paper outlines the idea of IS for the sports context with special focus to game sports and how intelligent sports feedback systems can benefit from IS. Henceforth, the most common location sensing techniques used in sports and their practical application are reviewed, as location is among the most important enabling techniques for IS. Furthermore, the article exemplifies the idea of IS in sports on two applications

Tehnika i taktika odbojke na pijesku: usporedba karakteristika igre muškaraca i žena

The aim of the study was to compare the playing characteristics of male and female athletes in professional beach volleyball. Video material, including 15 matches from the women’s and 14 matches from the men’s Grand Slam in Klagenfurt 2005, was analysed with the game analysis software “Statshot”. Applied technique, position, quality, direction and movement behaviour of athletes were evaluated. By analysing every action of the six basic beach volleyball elements - serve, reception, setting, attack, block and defence - it was possible to gain complete game statistics. The comparison indicated that male and female top players apply different techniques for success. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate significant differences between genders. The differences in distributions of applied techniques were significant for all six elements: service (p<.01), reception (p<.05), setting (p<.01), attack (p<.01), block (p<.01) and defence (p<.01). Concerning quality distribution, statistical significance was found only within the elements serve and attack. Tactical considerations and gender-specific differences in anthropometry and physiology may be reasons for the different approaches.Uvod Dosadašnja istraživanja u odbojci na pijesku orijentirala su se na utvrđivanje razlika između pobjedničkih i poraženih ekipa, na učinke promjena pravila igre i opće karakteristike igre (vremensku strukturu, tehniku, taktiku i fizičke zahtjeve). Razlike u igri između muškaraca i žena mogle su se vidjeti u tim istraživanjima, ali nisu bile identificirane. Cilj je ovog istraživanja fokusirati se upravo na spolne razlike u igri profesionalnih igrača i igračica odbojke na pijesku. Pretpostavka za istraživanje bila je da će se razlike u antropometrijskim karakteristikama i fizičkim sposobnostima između dva spola, kao i visina mreže (2.24 za žene i 2.43 m za muškarce) na igralištu istih dimenzija (8 x 16 m) odraziti i na samu igru. Metode Video materijal, koji je uključivao 15 susreta sa ženskog i 14 susreta s muškog turnira Grand Slam u Klagenfurtu, održanom 2005. godine, analiziran je programom za analizu igre pod nazivom "Statshot". Kamera je bila postavljena oko 9 m iza osnovne linije i 7 m iznad terena. Vrednovale su se korištene tehnike, pozicije, kvaliteta izvedbe te smjer i način kretanja sportaša i sportašica. Analizom akcija svakog od šest osnovnih elemenata odbojke na pijesku: servisa, prijema, dizanja, napada, blokiranja i obrane bilo je moguće dobiti kompletnu statistiku igre. Ukupno su kod muškaraca analizirane 7393 akcije, dok je kod žena analizirano ukupno 7776 akcija. Kvaliteta izvedbe svakog elementa bila je procijenjena skalom od 4 ocjene. Kvalitetni igrači odbojke na pijesku, osposobljeni za rad s programom, vrednovali su kvalitetu izvedbe. Pouzdanost i objektivnost mjernog instrumenta procijenjeni su na uzorku od 100 akcija putem Scottova p-koeficijenta, a iznosili su .93, odnosno .90. Detaljan opis testova može se vidjeti u Tilp i sur., 2006. Rezultati Usporedba je pokazala kako se muški i ženski vrhunski igrači odbojke na pijesku razlikuju po primjeni tehničkih elementa u igri. Za utvrđivanje značajnosti razlika između spolova u primjeni tehničkih elemenata koristio se hi-kvadrat test. Razlike u distribucijama primijenjenih tehničkih elemenata bile su značajne za 6 elemenata: servis (p<.01), primanje (p<.05), dizanje (p<.01), napad (p<.01), blok (p<.01) i obrana (p<.01). Statistička značajnost razlika u kvaliteti izvedbe pojedinih elemenata utvrđena je samo u varijablama servis i napad. Rezultati su pokazali da muškarci i žene preferiraju različite tehničke elemente za početak poena. Približno polovina (47%) svih analiziranih servisa u muškoj konkurenciji bili su skok servisi. Naprotiv, u ženskoj konkurenciji zabilježeno je 48% ravnih servisa bez skoka, iako je skok servis zabilježen kao najuspješniji servis i u muškaraca i u žena u smislu izravnog poena (muškarci 5% i žene 9%). Rezultati ovog istraživanja pokazuju da su tehnike prijema podjednako kvantitativno raspoređene i u muškaraca i u žena. I jedni i drugi uspješno su izveli više od 50% prijema lopte (žene 55% i muškarci 60%). Velika razlika zabilježena je u tehničkim elementima koji pripadaju pripremi poena. Muškarci se koriste tehnikom dizanja čekićem i vršnom tehnikom u jednakom omjeru (46% svaki), dok je žene ipak preferiraju tehnike dizanja čekićem (84%) u odnosu na vršnu tehniku (9%). Analizom faze napada potvrđeni su očekivani rezultati da muškarci vole završavati napade smečiranjem (59%). Dok je u muškoj konkurenciji odigrano 41% plasiranih udaraca, u ženskoj je konkurenciji zabilježeno 50% plasiranih udaraca i 50% smečeva. Distribucija kvalitete za fazu napada pokazala je statistički značajnu razliku između muškaraca i žena (p<.01). Strategiju bloka u muškaraca karakterizira 88% dinamičnih akcija na mreži, dok se žene odmiču od mreže u 27% zabilježenih situacija u bloku te zauzimaju obrambenu poziciju duboko u samom terenu. Zabilježeno je i da su odbojkašice uspješno obranile više napada koji su izvedeni plasiranjem (46%) dok su se manje morale braniti od napada smečiranjem (35%). Takva razlika u uspješnosti u fazi obrane nije vidljiva i u odbojkaša koji su podjednako uspješno branili napade plasiranjem (38%) i napade smečiranjem (40%). Diskusija i zaključci Rezultati ovog istraživanja pokazuju da žene koriste drugačiju strategiju igre nego muškarci, profesionalne igračice i igrači u međunarodnoj odbojci na pijesku. Razlike su osobito naglašene u kvantitativnoj distribuciji korištenih tehničkih elemenata. Najveća razlike između spolova zabilježena je u omjeru dizanja izvedenih vršnom tehniko, koji su muškarci koristili 46%, a žene 9% u fazi postavljanja napada. Ovaj rezultat je vrlo zanimljiv i zapanjujući budući da su odbojkaški stručnjaci uvjereni da je ova tehnika odigravanja najpreciznija. Zanimljiv je i podatak da odbojkašice kad izvode početni udarac, izvode tek 20% skok-servisa iako njime postižu više izravnih bodova, u čemu su identične s odbojkašima. Razlozi različitih pristupa igri vjerojatno leže u taktičkim zamislima te spolnim razlikama koje se očituju u antropometriji i fiziologiji odbojkašica i odbojkaša. Budućim istraživanjima potrebno je utvrditi razloge i motiviranost za takav način ponašanja u igri

A new method for assessing squash tactics using 15 court areas for ball locations

Tactics in squash have typically been assessed using the frequency of different shot types played at different locations on the court either without reference to other relevant information or on the basis of the preceding shot. This paper presents a new squash specific method for categorising court locations in which the ball was played, a novel techniques for assessing the reliability of this method and presents typical shots responses in these new areas controlled for preceding shot as well as the time between shots and the handedness of the players. Twelve games were viewed using the SAGIT/Squash software and 2907 shots viewed a second time from a video image taken from behind the court with an overall agreement of 88.90% for the court location data and 99.52% for shot type. 3,192 shots from 9 matches from the 2003 World Team Championships were analysed in SAGIT/Squash. In the court areas analysed between 2 and 7 shot responses were predominant suggesting tactical patterns were evident. This was supported by differences evident between shot responses played from the two back corners where the backhand side was characterised by a predominance of straight drives whereas straight and crosscourt drives were played on the forehand side. These results tended to confirm that tactics i.e. consistent shot types, are played although these are only apparent when factors that determine shot selection are accounted for. This paper has controlled for some of these factors but others need to be considered e.g. if individual player profiles are to be ascertaine

Evaluation or Analysis of a Live or a Recorded Video Sequence: An Example in the Analysis of Sports Videos

International audienceBackground. Since 2006, at the Faculty of Sport Sciences of Montpellier, to train students in the use of sportive video analysis with general and specific software, students must build 4 specific applications. These ICT skills are part of those defined by the Ministry of Higher Education, and the feature of these applications is the use of "delayed videos" analysis. Their learning journey is supported by on line tutorials. To consider the ever-increasing efficiency of new technologies and go further in video analysis, we have added a step (a fifth application): the use of "live videos" analysis excluding the backtracking of video. The benefits of this type of work can help decision-making in everyday life and therefore concern the world of sport.Problem. The purpose of this work was to observe students analyzing a recorded video sequence excluding video backtracking, as if they were live, as a coach. The feasibility conditions of such an experiment led us to study a judo combat by appreciating or estimating the interactions between different criteria as a coach.Method. After training, Masters students (n=12), who specialized in the video analysis and in judo performance, analyzed (they studied three times the same combat) the balance of power (subjective criterion) between two judokas. The process required the student observers to identify whether a judoka was "dominant, i.e.: in a favorable organization to win" or "dominated" whilst managing his/her actions in "programmed/conscious" or "automatic, i.e.: reflex organization" modes. Nonparametric Kolmogorov Smirnov and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze the data collected by the students.Conclusions. These tests indicated that the analyses were identical and stable at the intra-observer (p=[0.095: 0.999], p=[0.219: 1.0]) and group levels (p=0.224; p=0.406). We propose to include this methodology of analyze in Masters' students training programs and develop these live analyses for coachs, teachers or referees