High-ranking Players Research Articles

Cognitive expertise in esport experts: a three-level model meta-analysis.

The cognitive expertise of experts has been an intriguing theme; there has been rapid growth in cognitive research related to esports. Given the close association between esports activities and cognition, esports holds promise in offering new perspectives for understanding cognitive expertise. This meta-analysis aims at quantitatively delineating the cognitive disparities between esports experts and amateurs. The expert group comprised professional video game players and high-ranking players (top 1%), while amateurs were assigned to the control group. Research studies published between January 2000 and December 2023 were systematically searched in databases. A three-level model with cluster-robust variance estimation was used to calculate the overall effect size. The moderating variables included professional level, cognitive abilities, dependent variable type, game genre, gender and age. A total of 15 studies containing 142 effect sizes and 1085 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that, compared to amateurs, video game experts demonstrated superior cognitive abilities with a small effect size (Hedges' g = 0.373, 95% CI [0.055-0.691], p=.012). The differences between experts and amateur players mainly manifest in spatial cognition and attention. Sensitivity analysis, risk of bias, and publication bias results indicated the reliability of these findings. This meta-analysis confirms that esports experts possess superior cognitive abilities compared to amateurs, particularly in aspects of spatial cognition and attention. These can provide an effective reference for future selection and training in esports.

Scoring probability model based on service landing location and ranking points in men’s professional tennis matches

Service is regarded as the most crucial shot in tennis matches, and hence affects the outcome. This study aims to construct a mathematical model that expresses the scoring probability of service shots. Here, “scoring” means that the server wins points in subsequent rallies after a service. The explanatory variables are the service landing location and the ranking points of the players (logarithms of ranking points for the two players). The model construction method is a stepwise regression of the generalized linear model. The model is constructed using more than 110,000 service shots from Association of Tennis Professionals Tour tournaments of 2019. The model comprises four service situations: first/second and ad/deuce sides. The developed model reveals the following facts: in the first service, advantageous locations for the servers are not symmetric between the advantage and deuce sides. Higher-ranked players can win more points than lower-ranked players even if their shots land in easy locations, that is, in the middle of the service court.

Position and ranking influence in padel: somatic anxiety and self-confidence increase in competition for left-side and higher-ranked players when compared to pressure training.

This study aimed to analyze the differences in the precompetitive anxiety and self-confidence according to the side of play, the ranking and the match outcome, under different competitive scenarios, in high level men's padel players from Finland who trained under pressure prior to the competition. 10 men's padel players (28.60 (4.17) years old) from the highest category participated in the research. The CSAI-2R (Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised) and STAI-S (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - State) questionnaires were used and descriptive and inferential analyzes were performed, including Mann-Whitney's U tests. The findings illuminate that, across the player spectrum, somatic anxiety and self-confidence levels are higher before competition compared to training matches. This trend holds true for left-side, higher-ranked and match winning players. Even lower-ranked players exhibit heightened self-confidence preceding competitions. These insights offer valuable considerations for players, coaches, and sports psychologists, fostering a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between pressure training, competition, and the athlete's psychological landscape.

Opponent choice in tournaments: winning and shirking

Abstract We propose an alternative design for tournaments that use a preliminary stage, followed by several rounds of single elimination play. The conventional “bracket” design of these tournaments suffers from several deficiencies. Specifically, various reasonable performance criteria for the tournament are not satisfied, there is an unnecessary element of luck in the matchups of players, and there are situations where players have an incentive to shirk. To address all these issues, we allow higher ranked players at the single elimination stage to choose their next opponent sequentially at each round. We allow each player’s ranking either to remain static, or to improve by beating a higher ranked player (Guyon, J. 2022. “Choose your opponent”: a new knockout design for hybrid tournaments. J. Sports Anal. 8: 9–29). Using data from 2215 men’s professional tennis tournaments from 1991 to 2017, we demonstrate the reasonableness of the results obtained. We also perform sensitivity analysis for the effect of increasing irregularity in the pairwise win probability matrix on three traditional performance measures. Finally, we consider strategic shirking behavior at both the individual and group levels, and show how our opponent choice design can mitigate such behavior. Overall, the opponent choice design provides higher probabilities that the best player wins and also that the two best players meet, and reduces shirking, compared to the conventional bracket design.

A new similarity function for Pythagorean fuzzy sets with application in football analysis

<abstract><p>The idea of Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFSs) has been extensively applied in various decision-making scenarios. Many of the applications of PFSs were carried out based on similarity functions. Some methods of similarity functions for PFSs (SFPFSs) cannot be trusted for a reliable interpretations in practical cases due to some of their setbacks. In this work, a new method of SFPFSs is developed with the capacity to outsmart the efficiency of the extant SFPFSs in terms of precise results and appropriately satisfying the rules of SFs. The new method is described with some results to validate the properties of SFs. In terms of practical application, we use the newly developed method of SFPFSs to discuss the relationship between the players of the Liverpool Football Club (FC) in the 2022/2023 English Premier League (EPL) season to assess their performances in their resurgent moments within the season. Using data from BBC Sport analysis (BBCSA) on the players' rating per match in a Pythagorean fuzzy setting, we establish the players' interactions, communications, passing, contributions, and performances to ascertain the high ranking players based on performances. Similarly, a comparative analyses are presented in tables to undoubtedly express the superiority of the newly developed method of SFPFSs. Due to the flexibility of the newly developed method of SFPFSs, it can be used for clustering analysis. In addition, the new method of SFPFSs can be extended to other uncertain environments other than PFSs.</p></abstract>

An Exploratory Investigation of Personality in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Personality traits can provide insightful predictions relating to thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The aim of the present study was to examine differences in personality traits across in-game rank in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). A total of 95 CS:GO players from the United Kingdom and North America were classified using CS:GO in-game rank and grouped into high, moderate, and low in-game rank. The NEO-Five-Factor Inventory questionnaire was utilized to measure the Big Five Personality traits. Using one-way multivariate analysis of variance with follow-up tests of discriminant analysis, our main finding was that high in-game rank players reported significantly lower levels of neuroticism and significantly higher levels of conscientiousness than both moderate and low in-game rank players. The present study offers preliminary evidence elucidating personality differences across in-game rank in CS:GO players.

Physiological and Performance Correlates of Squash Physical Performance.

The physiological and performance attributes of elite squash players were investigated. Thirty-one players (21 males, world ranking [WR] 42-594; 10 females, WR 7-182) completed a battery of fitness tests which included an aerobic squash-specific physical performance test (SPPT), repeated-sprint ability (RSA), change-of-direction speed (COD), acceleration (5-m sprint), body composition and force development (countermovement jump) assessments. The SPPT provided a finishing lap score, V̇O2max, average movement economy and the lap corresponding to a blood lactate concentration of 4 mM.L-1. Players were ranked and assigned to HIGH or LOW performance tiers. Two-way ANOVA (performance level*sex) revealed higher ranked players performed better (p < 0.05) for SPPT final lap (d = 0.35), 4 mM.L-1 lap (d = 0.52) and COD (d = 0.60). SPPT displayed a 'very-large' correlation with 4 mM.L-1 lap (r = 0.86), 'large' correlations with COD (r = 0.79), RSA (r = 0.79), sum-of-7 skinfolds (r = 0.71) and V̇O2max (r = 0.69), and a 'trivial' correlation with average movement economy (r = 0.02). Assessments of cardiovascular fitness (i.e. 4 mM.L-1 lap), RSA, COD and body composition appear highly pertinent for performance profiling of squash players. Regular, submaximal assessment of the 4 mM.L-1 lap during the SPPT may offer a practical athlete monitoring approach for elite squash players.

How do visual skills relate to action video game performance?

It has been claimed that video gamers possess increased perceptual and cognitive skills compared to non-video gamers. Here, we examined to which extent gaming performance in CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) correlates with visual performance. We tested 94 players ranging from beginners to experts with a battery of visual paradigms, such as visual acuity and contrast detection. In addition, we assessed performance in specific gaming skills, such as shooting and tracking, and administered personality traits. All measures together explained about 70% of the variance of the players’ rank. In particular, regression models showed that a few visual abilities, such as visual acuity in the periphery and the susceptibility to the Honeycomb illusion, were strongly associated with the players’ rank. Although the causality of the effect remains unknown, our results show that high-rank players perform better in certain visual skills compared to low-rank players.

Social hierarchy promotes the cooperation prevalence

Social hierarchy is important that cannot be ignored in human socioeconomic activities and in the animal world. Here we incorporate this factor into the evolutionary game to see what impact it could have on the cooperation outcome. The probabilistic strategy adoption between two players is then not only determined by their payoffs, but also by their hierarchy difference — players in the high rank are more likely to reproduce their strategies than the peers in the low rank. Through simulating the evolution of Prisoners’ dilemma game with three hierarchical distributions, we find that the levels of cooperation are enhanced in all cases, and the enhancement is optimal in the uniform case. The enhancement is due to the fact that the presence of hierarchy facilitates the formation of cooperation clusters with high-rank players acting as the nucleation cores. This mechanism remains valid on Barabási–Albert scale-free networks, in particular the cooperation enhancement is maximal when the hubs are of higher social ranks. We also study a two-hierarchy model, where similar cooperation promotion is revealed and some theoretical analyses are provided. Our finding may partially explain why the social hierarchy is so ubiquitous on this planet.

Technical match actions and plasma stress markers in elite female football players during an official FIFA Tournament.

This study analyzed the impact of performing four consecutive football matches separated by 48-72hours during a FIFA tournament on physical load, technical performance and plasma markers of redox state, muscle damage and inflammation in elite female players. Forty-eight players from three national teams were evaluated at seven time points: before (baseline) and throughout the tournament (after each match and before two training sessions). Only data from players who played all matches were included in the analyses (N=13). The players were divided into high-rank (N=6) and low-rank (N=7) team players according to FIFA standards. Plasma creatine kinase (CK), C-reactive protein (CRP), total antioxidant status (TAS), and uric acid (UA) were analyzed at the selected time points. Technical performance and physical load were also quantified according to team rank. Players from low-rank teams played significantly more time than high-rank players (85±10 vs 67±15minutes; P=.02; d=1.51). Low-rank team players presented higher values in technical performance actions than the high-rank team players, but most of the differences were explained by the longer match time played. UA content differed across the matches, increasing from baseline (F(4,40) =3.90; P=.01) and more in the high-rank team players (F(1,10) =20.46; P=.001), while CRP only differed across the matches (F(4,36) =2.66; P=.05), also increasing from baseline. A large time effect was shown for UA only in the high-rank players (η2 p =0.50; P=.02). Four consecutive matches did not result in considerable alterations in plasma stress markers, physical load, and technical performance in elite female football players from distinct rank levels.

A Review of the Use of GPEs in Zinc-Based Batteries. A Step Closer to Wearable Electronic Gadgets and Smart Textiles.

With the flourish of flexible and wearable electronics gadgets, the need for flexible power sources has become essential. The growth of this increasingly diverse range of devices boosted the necessity to develop materials for such flexible power sources such as secondary batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, sensors, dye-sensitized solar cells, etc. In that context, comprehensives studies on flexible conversion and energy storage devices have been released for other technologies such Li-ion standing out the importance of the research done lately in GPEs (gel polymer electrolytes) for energy conversion and storage. However, flexible zinc batteries have not received the attention they deserve within the flexible batteries field, which are destined to be one of the high rank players in the wearable devices future market. This review presents an extensive overview of the most notable or prominent gel polymeric materials, including biobased polymers, and zinc chemistries as well as its practical or functional implementation in flexible wearable devices. The ultimate aim is to highlight zinc-based batteries as power sources to fill a segment of the world flexible batteries future market.

Body Height of Elite Basketball Players: Do Taller Basketball Teams Rank Better at the FIBA World Cup?

Body height is among the most important attributes of basketball players. Whether it differs among the basketball players who compete at the world basketball championship (FIBA-WC) is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between the basketball players from the teams ranked 1–16 and those ranked below 16th place. The body heights of all players from the last three FIBA-WCs were collected and allocated according to the ranking at the FIBA-WC and analyzed by position in team. An independent sample t-test was conducted to analyze the difference in body height of players ranked 1–16 and players who ranked below 16th place. The players from the first 16 teams were significantly taller at three positions: point guards (Difference = 2.92 cm, p < 0.05), shooting guards (Difference = 2.16 cm, p < 0.05), and small forwards (Difference = 2.49 cm, p < 0.01). Body height seems to be an important factor for the performance of the basketball team at the FIBA-WC. Considering that all players at the FIBA-WC went through rigorous selection process to be in their national teams, body height of the higher-ranked players could be used as a reference value.

Collaborative hierarchy maintains cooperation in asymmetric games

The interplay of social structure and cooperative behavior is under much scrutiny lately as behavior in social contexts becomes increasingly relevant for everyday life. Earlier experimental work showed that the existence of a social hierarchy, earned through competition, was detrimental for the evolution of cooperative behaviors. Here, we study the case in which individuals are ranked in a hierarchical structure based on their performance in a collective effort by having them play a Public Goods Game. In the first treatment, participants are ranked according to group earnings while, in the second treatment, their rankings are based on individual earnings. Subsequently, participants play asymmetric Prisoner’s Dilemma games where higher-ranked players gain more than lower ones. Our experiments show that there are no detrimental effects of the hierarchy formed based on group performance, yet when ranking is assigned individually we observe a decrease in cooperation. Our results show that different levels of cooperation arise from the fact that subjects are interpreting rankings as a reputation which carries information about which subjects were cooperators in the previous phase. Our results demonstrate that noting the manner in which a hierarchy is established is essential for understanding its effects on cooperation.

Strategic manipulation in tournament games

I consider the strategic manipulation problem in multistage tournaments. In each stage, players are sorted into groups in which they play pairwise matches against each other. The match results induce a ranking over players in each group, and higher ranked players qualify to the next stage. Players prefer qualifying to higher stages. In this setting, a player may potentially profit by exerting zero effort in some matches even when effort exertion is costless. Since such behavior manipulates the tournament, it is desired that full effort exertion is an equilibrium and any equilibrium ranking of qualifying players is immune to manipulation. To this end, I show that it is both necessary and sufficient to allow only the top-ranked player to qualify from each group. Otherwise, rankings can become a noisy indicator of players' strengths, while effort cost and heterogeneous prize spread can be of little relevance to players' effort choices.

Study of Physical Activity and Heart Rate In National Badminton Players

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate each set to elite badminton players in match playing time, moving distance, energy consumption, average heart rate (HRaver) and maximum heart rate (HRmax) during 3 sets in male (n=16) and female (n=16) national badminton players. METHODS Subjects are divided into two groups. High ranking players and middle ranking players 3 (2 min rest time between sets) sets of the match were repeated on same day, this time to conduct playing time, moving distance, energy consumption, HRaver and HRmax (%) were observed during badminton match each set. Playing time, moving distance, HRaver and HRmax (%) were measured by stopwatch, passometer and polar watch. A repeated measure ANOVA was used to evaluate differences between sets. RESULTS As a result, male’s and women’s player have significantly higher difference in moving distance per minute, on energy consumption, HRaver and HRmax (%) in high ranking players than middle ranking players. Especially, we found that the data of moving distance per minute, on energy consumption, HRaver and HRmax (%) by male and women high ranking players were the highest in third set. In conclusion, there seemed to be a trend toward an increased playing intensity (i.e., moving distance, playing time, energy consumption, HRaver, HRmax) from high ranking players than middle ranking players in both gender. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that high ranking players performed the game at a higher intensity than compared to middle ranking players. High ranking players need to have high active performance and fatigue recovery. 색인어: 배드민턴, 에너지소비, 심박수, 이동거리, ì‹ ì²´í™œë™ Keywords: Badminton, Energy consumption, Heart rate, Moving distance, Physical activity

Searching for the GOAT of tennis win prediction

AbstractSports forecasting models – beyond their interest to bettors – are important resources for sports analysts and coaches. Like the best athletes, the best forecasting models should be rigorously tested and judged by how well their performance holds up against top competitors. Although a number of models have been proposed for predicting match outcomes in professional tennis, their comparative performance is largely unknown. The present paper tests the predictive performance of 11 published forecasting models for predicting the outcomes of 2395 singles matches during the 2014 season of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour. The evaluated models fall into three categories: regression-based, point-based, and paired comparison models. Bookmaker predictions were used as a performance benchmark. Using only 1 year of prior performance data, regression models based on player ranking and an Elo approach developed by FiveThirtyEight were the most accurate approaches. The FiveThirtyEight model predictions had an accuracy of 75% for matches of the most highly-ranked players, which was competitive with the bookmakers. The inclusion of career-to-date improved the FiveThirtyEight model predictions for lower-ranked players (from 59% to 64%) but did not change the performance for higher-ranked players. All models were 10–20 percentage points less accurate at predicting match outcomes among lower-ranked players than matches with the top players in the sport. The gap in performance according to player ranking and the simplicity of the information used in Elo ratings highlight directions for further model development that could improve the practical utility and generalizability of forecasting in tennis.

Importance of the ITF Junior Girls' Circuit in the development of women professional tennis players

In this study, we examined the extent to which ranking in professional women's tennis can be predicted by that in the top 20 International Tennis Federation's Junior Circuit. The names, nationalities, and birth dates of all players who achieved a top-20 girls' year-end ranking from 1995 to 2002 were recorded, with their progress through the professional ranks tracked to March 2008. Ninety-nine percent of top-20 ranked girls achieved a professional women's ranking. Stepwise regression analysis revealed peak junior ranking and the age at which that rank was achieved to be predictors of future professional ranking (r 2 = 0.133, P < 0.05). The following regression equation showed the achievement of a top-20 junior rank as a reasonable benchmark in the development of professional women players: log-transformed predicted professional rank = −0.552 + (0.032 × junior rank + 0.116 × age at junior rank). The predominant court surface on which junior players honed their skills was also implicated in professional ranking success, with clay-court play linked to the development of higher-ranked players (P ≤ 0.01).

Labour Supply Decisions of Professional Tennis Players: Determinants of Tournament Entry

In this paper we study the labour supply of professional tennis players. We examine the entry decisions of the top ten players of the 2007 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) ranking for the three most recent seasons. Next to some tournament characteristics, such as having a gold label or not, prize money and the date of the tournament as measured by the number of weeks before a Grand Slam, some player characteristics seem to be determinant in the decision on whether or not to play a tournament. The results indicate that players are more likely to enter a tournament if the tournament is held in their home country and if they had played in the tournament before. The ranking of the player on the ATP list has a negative impact on our entry variable, i.e. the probability of entering a tournament is smaller for higher-ranked players.

Optimal seedings in elimination tournaments

We study an elimination tournament with heterogenous contestants whose ability is common-knowledge. Each pair-wise match is modeled as an all-pay auction. Equilibrium efforts are in mixed strategies, yielding complex dynamics: endogenous win probabilities in each match depend on other matches’ outcome through the identity of the expected opponent in the next round. The designer seeds competitors according to their ranks. For tournaments with four players we find optimal seedings for three different criteria: (1) maximization of total tournament effort; (2) maximization of the probability of a final among the two top ranked teams; (3) maximization of the win probability for the top player. We also find the seedings ensuring that higher ranked players have a higher winning probability. We compare our predictions with data from NCAA basketball tournaments.

Social diversity and promotion of cooperation in the spatial prisoner’s dilemma game

The diversity in wealth and social status is present not only among humans, but throughout the animal world. We account for this observation by generating random variables that determine the social diversity of players engaging in the prisoner's dilemma game. Here the term social diversity is used to address extrinsic factors that determine the mapping of game payoffs to individual fitness. These factors may increase or decrease the fitness of a player depending on its location on the spatial grid. We consider different distributions of extrinsic factors that determine the social diversity of players, and find that the power-law distribution enables the best promotion of cooperation. The facilitation of the cooperative strategy relies mostly on the inhomogeneous social state of players, resulting in the formation of cooperative clusters which are ruled by socially high-ranking players that are able to prevail against the defectors even when there is a large temptation to defect. To confirm this, we also study the impact of spatially correlated social diversity and find that cooperation deteriorates as the spatial correlation length increases. Our results suggest that the distribution of wealth and social status might have played a crucial role by the evolution of cooperation amongst egoistic individuals.