Informatics to Support Tactics and Strategies in Curling

Abstract

This paper presents game information analysis by utilizing a digital scorebook system, as the first tool for curling informatics, which supports coaches and players in realizing smart tactics and strategies in the sport of curling. Our research project, called “Curling Informatics,” aims to develop an environment to support curling strategies and tactics by realizing methods to record game information, perform analysis, and provide visualization and sharing of the information.We found a significant correlation between the differences in shot accuracies and scores from game information collected by our digital scorebook system for more than 200 games played by the Japanese national class. The results suggest that the difference in shot accuracies is related to the difference in game scores. This is valuable new knowledge to support strategic/tactical planning in curling games. However, the correlation for games involving world-class teams becomes weaker than for the Japanese national class because there is scarcely any difference in shot accuracies.

Advances in Curling Game Information Analysis by Considering Starting Position

“…In the next step, we have analyzed the data collected with the iCE application focusing on the relation between shot accuracy and game score. Masui analyzed iCE data and confirmed that there is a strong correlation between the difference in shot accuracies and the difference in game scores and that correlation between shot accuracy and game score differ with level of team or player (Masui et al, 2016).…”

“…In the first step, Masui et al developed a digital scorebook iCE which runs on a tablet computer to collect and analyze game information and they confirmed validity of the system (Masui et al, 2016). As one of the applications of iCE, it is possible to check the shot accuracy of each team or player based on collected information sequentially and visually.…”

“…In addition, both men and women players have been achieving excellent results, which allowed them to qualify for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018. In the background of this success, there are various strengthening programs developed for Japanese curling (Yanagi and Miyakoshi, 2011;Takahashi, 2011;Masui et al, 2016).…”

“…An Information Science approach can be mentioned as an example of a method for improving the performance of a team. In the past few years a number of cases to support sports with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) have been reported (Fujimura and Sugihara, 2004;Kagawa, 2006), including curling (Masui et al, 2016). As an example of that, our group proposed a new field called Curling Informatics (Masui et al, 2016).…”

“…It also focuses on realizing several support environments, such as recording and referring to game information, tactical navigation, and assistance for reflection and tactical training. Specifically, general plan developed within this field aims at implementing the methods to (1) collect, (2) Figure 1: The concept of Curling Informatics (Masui et al, 2016).…”