Interdisciplinary Sport Research Can Better Predict Competition Performance, Identify Individual Differences, and Quantify Task Representation

Abstract

Sport performance consists of interacting individual, task and environmental constraints, but research has used a monodisciplinary, rather than an interdisciplinary approach to understand performance. This study used Australian football (AF) as the exemplar sport to investigate the value of an interdisciplinary approach to understand sport performance. Through this, it was also possible to quantify individual differences and representative task design. Fifty-nine semi-professional Australian footballers participated. Based upon accessibility, combinations of these players completed physiological (3 × 1 km trial) and perceptual-cognitive-motor (small-sided game, SSG) tests, with coach rating of psychological skill (mental toughness coach, MTC). Univariate monodisciplinary models indicated that all tests predicted disposal efficiency; 3 × 1 km trial (p = 0.047), SSG (p = 0.001), and MTC (p = 0.035), but only the SSG predicted coaches' vote (p = 0.003). A multivariate interdisciplinary model indicated that SSG and MTC tests predicted disposal efficiency with a better model fit than the corresponding univariate model. The interdisciplinary model formulated an equation that could identify individual differences in disposal efficiency. In addition, the interdisciplinary model showed that the higher representative SSG test contributed a greater magnitude to the prediction of competition performance, than the lower representative MTC rating. Overall, this study demonstrates that a more comprehensive understanding of sport performance, individual differences, and representative tasks, can be obtained through an interdisciplinary approach.

Modeling of Metabolic Equivalents (METs) during Moderate Resistance Training Exercises

“…While during the resting period, only BL was significantly related with MET for the training group (QIC = 95, 95% CI = −0.003~0.000, p = 0.045*) but for the untrained group RER, HR, SBP, DBP, and RPE (QIC = 48, 95% CI = −0.024~0.422, p = 0.000*~0.002*) significantly correlated with MET (Table 4). The results of this study observed that during exercise and rest periods, the untrained group has low QIC and more significant p-values than the training group models which are more predictive as per the criteria for evaluating these models [18,20].…”

“…(2) Resting models: During resting periods, group models were also computed using the same variables as explained above but the resting data for MET, RER, HR, SBP, DBP, BL, and RPE were used. The estimate (ß), standard error (SE), 95% confidence interval (CI), and p-value were considered for GEE modeling [18]. A narrower 95% CI indicates a more accurate estimate, while a wider 95% CI indicates a less accurate estimate [19].…”

“…The Compendium of Physical Activities reported the metabolic equivalent (MET) as the ratio of work metabolic rate to a standard resting metabolic rate of 1.0 (4.184 kJ)/kg/h, 1 MET is considered a resting metabolic rate attained during quiet sitting. The Compendium lists activities as multiples of the resting MET level, ranging from 0.9 (sleeping) to 18 METs (running at 10.9 mph) [7] and resistance training refers to 3.5-5 METs [8].…”

Specialist Coaching Integrated into a Department of Methodology in Team Sports Organisations

“…A DoM is a method of multidisciplinary functioning that draws on the rich empirical and experiential knowledge of a group of practitioners and applied scientists in a democratic fashion (to avoid prioritising one subdiscipline over another), to attend to the fundamental relationship between theory and practice. Indeed, whilst the DoM concept was first proposed by Rothwell et al [3], there have been calls for greater disciplinary functioning within sport science for the last two decades (for example, see [6][7][8][9]). Whilst the nuances of which 'type' of disciplinary functioning fall outside of this opinion piece, Rothwell et al [3] proposed that multidisciplinarity is what could enable practitioners to draw on knowledge from different sub-disciplines, whilst remaining within the bounds of their expertise.…”

A comparison of multidimensional qualities discriminant of selection in elite adolescent Australian basketball athletes

“…Thirdly, even though we utilised a multidimensional testing battery, other approaches to assessment potentially useful in basketball settings were not incorporated into our study. For example, there has been an increased call for in-situ tasks and stronger ecological validity within assessments selected in TID processes [47]. Consequently, development of testing protocols assessing performance during small-sided games or in-situ tasks where match skills can be directly quantified or rated may be useful to explore in future basketball research on this topic.…”