Half-pipe Snowboarding Research Articles

A social identity analysis of technological innovation in an action sport: judging elite half-pipe snowboarding

ABSTRACTResearch question: We explore how facets of the group identity shared by elite half-pipe snowboarding (EHPS) constituents (i.e. judges, athletes, and coaches) shape attitudes towards a proposed technological innovation to the existing judging process.Research methods: Forty-nine EHPS constituents (coaches, athletes, and judges) completed an open-ended questionnaire and email protocol. The sample included participants from 19 countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America; all of which participated, coached, or judged in Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) or Olympic EHPS competitions.Results and discussion: Participants valued the freedom, individuality, and performance progression the current subjective judging protocol endorses. However, performance progression and changes to the half-pipe have created an increasingly difficult judging task. Participant attitudes towards the proposed innovation varied based on whether it was used to compute athlete final scores or to assist judges with their decision-making. Positive attitudes stemmed from the technological innovation providing support to judges, while retaining the flexibility of the existing performance assessment process. Negative attitudes emerged due to perceptions the innovation would inhibit athlete freedom, creativity, and individuality.Implications: Sport managers need to pay close attention to the identity shared by constituents prior to implementing innovation processes. Doing so provides a basis to apply new technological innovations in alignment with the values and beliefs of importance to constituents.

Variability of competitive performance of elite athletes: a systematic review.

Estimates of the variability that athletes show from competition to competition provide information about the relative contributions of environmental and other factors affecting competitive performance. Smallest and other important thresholds for assessing changes in performance in competitions and field or laboratory tests can also be derived from estimates of variability. To systematically review estimates of within-athlete variability of competitive performance in various sports. We searched SPORTDiscus and Google Scholar for studies providing estimates of within-athlete variability between competitions. Estimates are reported here as coefficients of variation (CV) only for the best athletes. Some studies also combined within-athlete variability with between-athlete differences into a measure of predictability expressed as an intraclass correlation coefficient, reported here for the full field of competition. Skeleton and 1,000-m speed-skating times have the lowest within-athlete variability (CV of 0.15% and 0.4%, respectively), apparently because of the effect of the initial phase of the race on race dynamics. Times in sprint and endurance sports also have relatively low variability (0.6-1.4%), reflecting the predominant contribution of mean power output to performance. The power-velocity relationship tends to make CV for time smaller in sports performed against water or wind resistance, but this effect is offset by variability in the effects of wind and water on individual athletes. Sports requiring explosive power in a single effort, such as field events and weightlifting, have larger CVs for their performance measures (1.4-3.3%), likely reflecting substantial contributions of skill. Sports with the greatest within-athlete variability (~50%) were those with subjective scores (e.g. surfing). Predictability correlations ranged from 0.17 (half-pipe snowboarding) to 0.93 (cross-country skiing). There was little difference in variability or predictability between men and women. Application of power-velocity and power-duration relationships allows transformation of the estimates of within-athlete variability of competitive performance into thresholds for smallest and other important changes in performance in laboratory and field tests of power output. Understanding the contributions of race dynamics, power output, environment, skill, and subjective scoring to the variability of athletic performance should help identify and evaluate strategies for performance enhancement.

Optimum Design of a Snowboard Course

This paper studies the problem of designing a snowboard course, and presents an optimum design scheme. Firstly, we divide the snowboarding process into 5 stages: preparation snowboarding, snowboarding inside the halfpipe, jumping, falling, and slow snowboarding. Using Kinetic Energy Theorem and Newton’s Second Movement Theorem, as well as differential idea, we can get the data necessary for us. Secondly, the maximum twist produced by snowboarders in the air is also discussed. Finally, with consideration of other design requirements such as temperature, humidity, pressure, we give a function equation based on the principle of biomechanics of sports and aerodynamics. The above models not only meet the time and safety requirements for skilled snowboarders to complete stunt motions, but also satisfy the design standard set by FIS.

Performance assessment innovations for elite snowboarding

This paper provides a review of objective performance assessment in elite half-pipe snowboarding. Half-pipe snowboarding is currently coached and judged in competition using subjective measures. Like other sports that rely on subjectivity however, the methodology underpinning how coaches assess athletic progression and judges score performance is open for debate. This paper focuses on technology assisted, objective performance assessment. Key considerations are the specificity of the information, the accuracy and reliability of results, the processing time required and the current accessibility.

Automated scoring for elite half-pipe snowboard competition: important sporting development or techno distraction?

We previously reported a strong relationship between video‐based objective data (air time and degree of rotation) and subjectively‐judged scores awarded during elite half‐pipe snowboard competitions. Advancements in sport‐monitoring technologies now provide the capacity to accurately and automatically quantify this objective information. This may assist current subjective coaching and competition judging protocols provided the integration process imparts a large element of control to key players within the sport. We therefore recently hosted an invitational half‐pipe snowboard competition (2007 Australian Institute of Sport Micro‐Tech Pipe Challenge) designed to evaluate whether the snowboarding community would embrace a competition where results were in part determined by automated objectivity. We explored the practical, logistical, and technical challenges associated with conducting such an event and evaluated the relationship between subjective judging and results predicted from objective information t...

Field dependence-independence in complex motor skills.

This study analyzed the relationship between field dependence-independence and complex motor skills. According to the requirements of each sporting activity, subjects' motor system can be mainly controlled through exteroceptive or proprioceptive information. Sport performances require the athlete to disembed himself, other players, or the ball from the background, and decision-making appears to require cognitive restructuring. 26 athletes (13 men and 13 women) involved in acrobatic sports (gymnastics, trampoline, half-pipe snowboard, synchronized 3-m springboard, acrobatic rock, skateboard, and free skating) and 26 athletes (13 men and 13 women) involved in individual racket sports (tennis and table-tennis) completed the Group Embedded Figures Test. Participants (at least 10 years of practice) were from 16 to 35 years of age (M=22.0, SD=3.1). No significant difference among athletes on scores for field dependence-independence was evidenced given this expertise, sex, or age. Significantly higher scores were obtained by athletes in acrobatic sports, indicating that they tended to be predominately more field-independent whereas the lower scores were obtained by tennis and table-tennis players.