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🎾 Tennis Serve Mechanics with Advanced Wearable Technology
PLUS: Uncovering Alpine Skiing Performance
Haresh Suppiah
March 03, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Welcome, science enthusiasts.
In today’s edition:
Predicting competitive alpine skiing performance
• Uncovering mechanics of tennis serves with sensors
• A Dynamic Warm-Up improves golf performance scores
• Co-developing gamified physical education strategies
• Effects of leg immobilization and recovery training
and several more…
FEATURED ARTICLES 🌭
Key finding:
First serves in tennis show higher peak angular velocities and better ball speed compared to second serves, emphasizing arm movement’s role.
How they did it:
Methodology: Eight professional tennis players (6 male, 2 female) performed a total of 48 serves, with ball speed and accuracy measured using a PlaySight system and kinematics captured through a custom-made inertial measurement unit (IMU) system at 1,000 Hz.
Results: The first serve resulted in significantly higher ball speeds (175.1 kph) compared to the second serve (145.7 kph), with the trunk and upper arm peak angular velocities positively associated with ball speed across both serves.
Statistical Analysis: The independent variables of trunk and upper arm peak angular velocities were significantly linked to ball speed, with increases of ~181 deg/s and 1,000 deg/s translating to approximately 10 kph faster serves, respectively.
Innovations: The use of a specialized IMU system allowed for precise measurement of angular velocities during serves, enabling real-time performance feedback to coaches and players in natural settings.
Insight: Unlike the expected proximal-to-distal action sequence in traditional kinetic chain models, the study found that peak angular velocities were higher for the first serve without significant differences in intersegmental timing, suggesting a complex interaction in serve mechanics.
Why it matters:
Understanding the mechanics of upper body rotations during tennis serves is essential for players and coaches aiming to enhance performance and prevent injuries. This study found that peak angular velocities of the pelvis, trunk, and upper arm were significantly higher in the first serve compared to the second, with ball speed positively correlated to these velocities. Such insights provide concrete targets for training regimens, allowing practitioners to adjust technique based on specific biomechanical data, ultimately aiding athletes in achieving both speed and accuracy in their serves.
Key finding:
Individual profiling significantly enhances the prediction of alpine skiing performance compared to group-level assessments.
How they did it:
Methodology: The study involved 12 elite female alpine skiers (ages 18-31) from the National Swedish Alpine Skiing Team, evaluated using a battery of physiological tests including handgrip strength, countermovement jump, and rowing for peak oxygen consumption across multiple seasons from 2013 to 2017.
Results: The Orthogonal Projection to Latent Structures (OPLS) models showed low predictive power for competition performance at the group level (R²=0.39-0.40, Q²=0.21-0.15), while individual-level models demonstrated high predictive capacity (R²=0.88-0.99, Q²=0.64-0.96).
Performance Indicators: Analysis indicated that physiological parameters affecting performance differ significantly between individuals, highlighting the inadequacy of generalized testing protocols in elite settings.
Innovations: The study employed multivariable data analysis (MVDA) to create individualized athlete profiles, demonstrating superior predictive validity compared to conventional group-level assessment techniques.
Practical Implications: Emphasizing the need for personalized training and testing approaches, the research advocates for continuous monitoring and the use of advanced analytical methods, such as machine learning, to enhance the accuracy of performance predictions in alpine skiing.
Why it matters:
These findings highlight that while traditional physiological tests provide limited predictive power for competitive performance at the group level, they shine when tailored to individual athletes. For coaches and sports scientists, this means developing personalized training plans based on the unique strengths and weaknesses of each skier could significantly enhance performance outcomes, as demonstrated by the dramatic individual predictive power of 88% to 99% in some cases. Understanding these factors offers a pathway toward more effective training strategies in alpine skiing.
QUICK BITES 🍤
Biomechanics
-A dynamic warm-up significantly improves performance scores in adult golfers on the Titleist Performance Institute screen.
Female Athlete
-Females and older adults find walking sports most enjoyable when motivated by fun and social connections.
Nutrition
-Unpleasant salty or bitter solutions do not enhance sprint performance or knee-extensor force in trained cyclists after intense exercise.
Physical Education and Pedagogy
-Arts-based methods enrich physical education research by amplifying youth voices and capturing embodied experiences.
-Co-developing a gamified PE intervention with stakeholders effectively enhances movement competence and emotional intelligence in primary-aged children.
Skill acquisition
-Bowling strikes are more likely when the ball hits the head pin with minimal deflection and near the lane’s center.
Sport Medicine
-Sports medicine physicians face significant financial risk from malpractice lawsuits, requiring high insurance coverage to treat elite athletes safely.
Sport Physiology
-Both trained and untrained individuals experienced similar muscle recovery after immobilization, highlighting effective recovery through resistance training.
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Curated by Haresh Suppiah