Gaze Behavior of Gymnastics Judges: Where Do Experienced Judges and Gymnasts Look While Judging?

Gymnastics judges and former gymnasts have been shown to be quite accurate in detecting errors and accurately judging performance. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine if this superior judging performance is reflected in judges’ gaze behavior. Method: Thirty-five judges were asked to judge 21 gymnasts who performed a skill on the vault in a video-based test. Classifying 1 sample on 2 different criteria, judging performance and gaze behavior were compared between judges with a higher license level and judges with a lower license level and between judges who were able to perform the skill (specific motor experience [SME]) and those who were not. Results: The results revealed better judging performance among judges with a higher license level compared with judges with a lower license level and more fixations on the gymnast during the whole skill and the landing phase, specifically on the head and arms of the gymnast. Specific motor experience did not result in any differences in judging performance; however, judges with SME showed similar gaze patterns to those of judges with a high license level, with 1 difference in their increased focus on the gymnasts’ feet. Conclusion: Superior judging performance seems to be reflected in a specific gaze behavior. This gaze behavior appears to partly stem from judges’ own sensorimotor experiences for this skill and reflects the gymnasts’ perspective onto the skill.     

Optimization of the felge on parallel bars

The felge, or undersomersault, on parallel bars has become an important skill in men's artistic gymnastics as it forms the basis of many complex variations. To receive no deductions from the judges, the felge must be performed without demonstrating the use of strength to achieve the final handstand position. Two male gymnasts each performed nine trials of the felge from handstand to handstand while data were recorded using an automatic motion capture system. The highest and lowest scoring trials of each gymnast, as determined by four international judges, were chosen for further analysis. The technique used by each gymnast was optimized using a computer simulation model so that the final handstand position could be achieved with straight arms. Two separate optimizations found different techniques identified in the coaching literature that are used by gymnasts. Optimum simulations resulted in improved performances through a combination of increased vertical velocity and height of the mass centre at release. Although the optimum technique found close to the gymnasts' own technique was more demanding in terms of the strength required, it offered the potential for more consistent performance and future developments in skill complexity.     

第29 届奥运会中国女子平衡木的优势与差距

采用文献资料法、录像观察法及数理统计和比较法,分析中国女子平衡木的优势与差距.发现:中、外选手成套技巧和舞蹈两类A分动作的完成比例相当,但整体技术平均实力以中国稍强,在向后的技巧串和舞/技(或相反)混合串个性化动作的实力连接等方面,占有技术领先优势;而顶尖选手成套动作完成不稳定、连接价值丢失及出现重大失误,是中国平衡木没获得更好成绩的主要原因.强化动作连接和减少失误、完善提高成套动作完成的规范熟练性,是中国女子平衡木未来人赛努力的方向.     

世界女子平衡木技术发展新动向分析

采用调查访问、录像统计和文献资料调研等方法,分析当今世界体操平衡木技术发展的新动向。结果认为,使用单个低难度动作为上法,运用“三个以上技巧动作”构成的“多连接”结合具有高加分因素的“体操/技巧”(或相反)混合的“二连接”,并采用D组以上难度的空翻或“三连接的空翻下”为下法,是当今世界女子平衡木成套动作结构编排的主要特征,而使用“腾空”的D+D技巧“二连接”和C组难度“同一个空翻”的“三连接”,开发“单臂前手翻”系列动作的新连接,以及使用E组以上的高难度空翻及其连接为下法,将是未来大赛女子平衡木技术发展的新趋向。     

The measurement of competitive anxiety during balance beam performance in gymnasts

The purpose of the present study was to investigate competitive anxiety during balance beam performance in gymnasts. Competitive anxiety was assessed continuously by heart rate monitoring and by retrospective self-report of nervousness in eight female national level gymnasts during their balance beam routine during one competition and two training sessions. A significant negative correlation was found between the score of the retrospective self-report of nervousness and performance during the routine. There were no significant differences in performance score by the judges between the three test sessions. There were also no differences in the retrospective self-report of nervousness. However, heart rate was significantly higher during the competition session than during the training sessions. The potential value of the retrospective report of nervousness for the study of critical events during gymnastic performance is illustrated. The results are discussed in the light of catastrophe theory.     

The measurement of competitive anxiety during balance beam performance in gymnasts

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate competitive anxiety during balance beam performance in gymnasts. Competitive anxiety was assessed continuously by heart rate monitoring and by retrospective self-report of nervousness in eight female national level gymnasts during their balance beam routine during one competition and two training sessions. A significant negative correlation was found between the score of the retrospective self-report of nervousness and performance during the routine. There were no significant differences in performance score by the judges between the three test sessions. There were also no differences in the retrospective self-report of nervousness. However, heart rate was significantly higher during the competition session than during the training sessions. The potential value of the retrospective report of nervousness for the study of critical events during gymnastic performance is illustrated. The results are discussed in the light of catastrophe theory.     

Elite athletes' attitudes towards the use of placebo-induced performance enhancement in sports

Abstract

While an increasing number of research is devoted to the understanding of placebo effects in sports, athletes' experiences with and attitudes towards the use of placebo for performance enhancement remain poorly understood. In this study, 79 elite athletes from different sports were surveyed on five issues related to placebo use in sports. Results showed that 47% of the athletes have experienced placebo effects in the past. A majority of the athletes (82%) thought that placebos could affect their sports performances. A wider use of placebos in sport settings was endorsed more by those who have experienced placebo effects in the past than those who did not (P = .005). Regardless of past experience with placebo, more than half of the athletes (53%) would accept an unknown but legitimate substance from the coach, and 67% of them would not mind a placebo-linked deception if that was effective. These findings confirm that most elite athletes believe in the power of placebos in enhancing sports performance, and those having a positive past experience exhibit slightly more favourable attitudes in contrast to those without such experiences.     

The role of community sports coaches in creating optimal social conditions for life skill development and transferability – a salutogenic perspective

Sport is widely recognised as having the potential to enhance the personal development of socially vulnerable youth, yet there is very limited knowledge on how community sports coaches can create optimal social conditions for life skill development and transferability. We adopt a salutogenic approach in order to study whether and how community sports coaches create these optimal social conditions. Based on the salutogenic framework, a thematic analysis was conducted of 15 in-depth interviews with community sports coaches providing sports lessons to socially vulnerable youth. As part of the interviews, the sports coaches were presented with several training scenarios and asked how they would respond in specific training situations. The results showed that the sports coaches aimed to create meaningful sporting experiences for youths. These meaningful sporting experiences were considered a precondition for keeping youths engaged in the sporting activities, as well as a precondition for life skill development. The sports coaches specifically focused on creating little moments of success and on making sure that the youths felt they belonged to a group. In order to ensure that the youths could experience moments of success, specific coaching strategies were implemented to increase the youths’ comprehensibility and manageability in specific sport situations. According to the sports coaches, experiencing little moments of success could contribute to an increase in socially vulnerable youths’ understanding of the everyday challenges that they face, as well as contribute to their ability to deal with these challenges. Creating meaningful sporting experiences may help youths ‘to learn to cope' – a skill that could be beneficial over their lifespan and in different societal domains.     

Competition,gender and the sport experience: an exploration among college athletes

Worldwide, sport and physical activity rates of women generally lag behind those of men. One reason for this could be the way that sport cultures typically frame and value competition. This study provides an examination of the meaning and impact of ‘competition’ on the sport participation experiences of men and women. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, individual and group interviews were conducted with 76 current and former male and female collegiate athletes from both varsity and club sports regarding the impact of competition on their sport experiences. Results revealed that women and men tended to view and interpret competition differently, which strongly impacted their sport experiences. Sport programming that embraces a balance of cooperation and competition may be valuable for attracting and retaining both male and female participants.     

Judges in judo conform to the referee because of the reactive feedback system

Abstract

This experiment tested whether the conformism observed among panels of judges in aesthetic sports also occurs among judges in judo. Similar to aesthetic sports, judo judging relies upon a form of open feedback. However, in judo, this system is reactive (i.e. two judges have to publicly ‘correct’ the score given by the higher-status referee), whereas it is active in aesthetic sports (i.e. judges with equal status report their score simultaneously and can use the feedback about the scores of their colleagues for evaluating later performances). In order to test whether such reactive open-feedback system leads to conformism among judges in judo, we designed an experiment in which this feedback was manipulated. Participants were 20 certified Flemish judges, who had to score two sets of 11 ambiguous video sequences that are used during formation and training of judo judges: one set with feedback about the referee's score and one set without feedback. The results revealed that when participants knew the referee's score, their scores were significantly more in line with this score than when they did not know this score. More specifically, for both sets of sequences at least 10% less deviations from the referee were observed when participants were given feedback about the score of the referee. These results suggest that preventable conformism can occur in typical judo judging, that is with reactive open feedback.     

论我国田径英语裁判员的培养

本文就我国培养田径英语裁判员的意义、我国田径英语裁判员应具备的素质、和我国培养田径英语裁判员的策略进行了详尽的论述。     

The role of preparatory heart rate deceleration on balance beam performance

Preparatory heart rate deceleration occurs in tasks with an external focus of attention and is often assumed to facilitate balance performance. However, its effects upon sport-related complex balance movements have not been studied. Heart rate patterns during the preparation period of an acrobatic element (flic-flac) on the balance beam were studied in 14 female gymnasts (M age 13.2 years). A significant heart rate deceleration was found in attempts with a fall in the consecutive acrobatic element, but not in attempts without a fall. These data suggest that preparatory heart rate deceleration may be detrimental to the performance of complex movements on the balance beam.     

The double back salto dismount from the parallel bars

The purpose of this study was to identify those mechanical determinants or their trends that distinguished a gymnast's best performance of the double back salto dismount on parallel bars from those judged to be inferior. Dismounts, in the tucked position, by nine Canadian gymnasts were analysed. Unique to this study was the inclusive analysis of multiple performances of the same skill by these athletes. It was felt that within-subject comparisons would reveal the kinematic variables on which the gymnast may focus in order to achieve their best performances. A non-parametric median sign test was used to compare mechanical variables, within subjects, between the dismount judged the best and those dismounts awarded a lower score. Three judges judged each dismount. In comparison to poorer performances of the dismount, statistical analyses revealed that athlete's best performances were characterised by (1) a higher release point, more vertical velocity yet with less angular momentum at take-off, (2) greater height, with a tighter and earlier tuck position during the flight phase, and (3) a greater range of motion and a more compact squat position at landing (all p's < .06).     

Young Dutch commercially sponsored kite surfers: free as a bird?

Abstract

While coaches and organizational structures play a pivotal role in the disciplining of young athletes in traditional mainstream organized sports, young kite surfers seem to be free to develop their own skills and create their own identity and subcultures. However, the feeling of freedom of young commercially sponsored kite surfers may be more complex than the popular discourses within action sport cultures suggest. I use a Foucauldian framework to explore how disciplinary power, embedded in time and space, produces athletic skill and identity in adolescent kite surfers and informs their practices of freedom. In this paper, I show how young kite surfers negotiate constraints of space and time that are shaped by relationships with their parents, their kite surfing peers and their commercial sponsors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven commercially sponsored male kite surfers, between 11 and 17 years old. In so doing, I found that although the discourse of freedom associated with kite surfing acts on their experiences, these young athletes were also subjected to disciplinary power produced by temporal and spatial limitations and capabilities, their subculture, digital media and commercialization.     

论体操动作技术教学中的正迁移与负迁移——“以肩肘倒立”与“经单肩后滚翻成单膝跪撑平衡”为例

技巧肩肘倒立与经单肩后滚翻成单膝跪撑平衡是体操动作技术教学中常见的教材内容。教学实践证明,体操动作技术教学过程中有迁移现象且效果明显,即正迁移与负迁移。深入研究运动技能迁移现象,寻找其发生发展的规律,从而更加主动地控制、把握并利用它。     

试论高师体育专业开设体育社会学课程的必要性

由于体育社会学学科本身的特点及研究內容的广泛,业已成为体育社会科学领域中众所关注的热点,同时也成为填补高师体育专业学生知识结构失衡的迫切之需,它应与自然学科、运动技术和工具学科共同组成学生完整的知识体系。因此,建议将体育社会学列入高师体育专业的教学计划中,既使在初期作为选修课也是很有必妻进行尝试的。这不仅会为今后其它体育社科的前沿学科开课奠定基础,更主要的是有利于在高层次上达到我们的培养目标。     

Performance scores and standings during the 43rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, 2011

Abstract Scores in artistic gymnastics are subject to changes in the rules that occur each Olympic cycle as outlined in the Code of Points, because rules influence the composition of routines and therefore performance. The aim of this study was to identify the most important routine apparatus for success in a World competition. The data were the official results for the 478 gymnasts (262 men, 216 women) who competed in the 43rd Artistic Gymnastic World Championships in 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. The factors least influenced by the technical standard of competitors were performance scores on uneven bars and balance beam for women, and those on pommel horse for men. For uneven bars, balance beam, and pommel horse, scores were consistently good predictors of final standing. Our results suggest that high scores on these apparatus have a greater influence on overall performance than scores on the other apparatus, regardless of the competitors' standard.     

对男子标准手枪速射第一发技术动作的分析

对50名运动年龄在4年以上的男子标准手枪速射优秀射手(运动健将)的第一发技术动作进行分析,结果表明:以手枪速射为主项兼打标准手枪速射的射手可采用“停扣”技术动作;以标准手枪为主项兼打标准手枪速射的射手可采用“边走边扣”技术动作。     

不同的认知线索对技能形成效果影响的实验研究

采用实验手段考察了简单技能和复杂技能形成过程中三种不同线索的作用问题。通过对１５０名被试的实验研究，结果表明：技能的复杂程度不同，线索的作用也存在明显的差异；在技能形成过程中存在一个循环加工问题；线索之间的协同作用对技能形成有明显的促进作用     

Key motion characteristics of side-step movements in hip-hop dance and their effect on the evaluation by judges

In hip-hop dance, the elements of motion that discriminate the skill levels of dancers and that influence the evaluations by judges have not been clearly identified. This study set out to extract these motion characteristics from the side-step movements of hip-hop dancing. Eight expert and eight non-expert dancers performed side-step movements, which were recorded using a motion capture system. Nine experienced judges evaluated the dancers’ performances. Several parameters, including the range of motion (ROM) of the joint angles (neck, trunk, hip, knee, and face inclination) and phase delays between these angular motions were calculated. A quarter-cycle phase delay between the neck motion and other body parts, seen only in the expert dancers, is highlighted as an element that can distinguish dancers’ skill levels. This feature of the expert dancers resulted in a larger ROM during the face inclination than that for the non-expert dancers. In addition, the experts exhibited a bottom-to-top segmental sequence in the horizontal direction while the non-experts did not demonstrate any such sequential motion. Of these kinematic parameters, only the ROM of the face inclination was highly correlated to the judging score and is regarded as being the most appealing element of the side-step movement.