Qualitative biomechanical principles for application in coaching

Abstract

Many aspects of human movements in sport can be readily understood by Newtonian rigid-body mechanics. Many of these laws and biomechanical principles, however, are counterintuitive to a lot of people. There are also several problems in the application of biomechanics to sports, so the application of biomechanics in the qualitative analysis of sport skills by many coaches has been limited. Biomechanics scholars have long been interested in developing principles that facilitate the qualitative application of biomechanics to improve movement performance and reduce the risk of injury. This paper summarizes the major North American efforts to establish a set of general biomechanical principles of movement, and illustrates how principles can be used to improve the application of biomechanics in the qualitative analysis of sport technique. A coach helping a player with a tennis serve is presented as an example. The standardization of terminology for biomechanical principles is proposed as an important first step in improving the application ofbiomechanics in sport. There is also a need for international cooperation and research on the effectiveness of applying biomechanical principles in the coaching of sport techniques.

The Effects of an Eight-Week Plyometric Training Program on Golf Swing Performance Characteristics in Skilled Adolescent Golfers

“…4 Participants performed a pre-and post-training designed test protocol. The intervention group 5 completed the plyometric training programme (Table 1) in addition to their golf training (long and 6 short game practice, practice rounds etc.)…”

Kinematic variables of table vault on artistic gymnastics

“…Coaches' access to applied biomechanics knowledge is also limited because the youth of biomechanics means there are fewer narrative or meta-analysis review papers on sport biomechanics issues 4 . In Artistic sports where it is important the presentation, the technical level and the increase of complexity, it is necessary to analyse kinematic aspects of performance, and competition requirements.…”

“…For females, the number of vaults coded in each group are: 24 in group I (handspring), 14 in group II (handspring and salto), 12 in group III (¼ or ½ turn in the rst ight phase, Tsukahara), 19 in group IV (round o entry and salto, Yurchenko) and 11 on group V (round o entry with ½ turn in the rst ight phase), in total of 80 vaults coded 2 . Due to those coded vaults, research would be needed about general concepts of vaulting biomechanics, to develop principles for qualitative application of biomechanics to improve movement performance and to reduce the risk of injury 4 .…”

Application of Video-Based Methods for Competitive Swimming Analysis: A Systematic Review

“…Moreover, qualitative analysis is considered by some to be more intuitive for an athlete, compared with quantitative approaches. 74 Despite this, limited examples of qualitative swimming research using video can be found. 31,75,76 One recent study used a qualitative approach to assess different breaststroke techniques.…”

“…4,15 This analysis is based on a coach's own knowledge and experience but video allows the coach to prepare, observe, assess and evaluate a swimmer's performance before taking what they consider to be the most appropriate action. 54,74 A key advantage is that it is low cost and easy to implement with large numbers of athletes. Wilson 4 suggests that in coaching settings there is more of a focus on qualitative methods as it allows for rapid video feedback to be provided at any stage during a training session.…”