<title>Application of high-speed videography in sports analysis</title>

Abstract

The goal of sport biomechanists is to provide information to coaches and athletes about sport skill technique that will assist them in obtaining the highest levels of athletic performance. Within this technique evaluation process, two methodological approaches can be taken to study human movement. One method describes the motion being performed; the second approach focuses on understanding the forces causing the motion. It is with the movement description method that video image recordings offer a means for athletes, coaches, and sport biomechanists to analyze sport performance. Staff members of the Technique Evaluation Program provide video recordings of sport performance to athletes and coaches during training sessions held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. These video records are taken to provide a means for the qualitative evaluation or the quantitative analysis of sport skills as performed by elite athletes. High-speed video equipment (NAC HVRB-200 and NAC HSV-400 Video Systems) is used to capture various sport movement sequences that will permit coaches, athletes, and sport biomechanists to evaluate and/or analyze sport performance. The PEAK Performance Motion Measurement System allows sport biomechanists to measure selected mechanical variables appropriate to the sport being analyzed. Use of two high-speed cameras allows for three-dimensional analysis of the sport skill or the ability to capture images of an athlete's motion from two different perspectives. The simultaneous collection and synchronization of force data provides for a more comprehensive analysis and understanding of a particular sport skill. This process of combining force data with motion sequences has been done extensively with cycling. The decision to use high-speed videography rather than normal speed video is based upon the same criteria that are used in other settings. The rapidness of the sport movement sequence and the need to see the location of body parts of the athlete, particularly at critical positions during the motion, serve as guidelines for choosing high-speed videography. Certain requirements for high-speed videography need to be considered in selecting appropriate equipment. These include portability, genlock capability, weight, sturdiness, and costs.