Using a Situation Awareness Approach to Identify Differences in the Performance Profiles of the World’s Top Two Squash Players and Their Opponents
Purpose The pressure exerted on a squash player is a consequence of the quality of a shot coupled with the ability of the player to return the ball, namely, the coupling of the two players’ situation awareness (SA) abilities. SA refers to an awareness of all relevant sources of information, the ability to synthesize this information using domain knowledge and the ability to physically respond to a situation. Methods Matches involving the two best players in the world (n = 9) at the 2011 Rowe British Grand Prix, held in Manchester, United Kingdom were recorded and processed using Tracker software. Shot type, ball location, players’ positions on court and movement parameters between the time an opponent played a shot prior to the player’s shot to the time of the opponent’s following shot were captured 25 times per second. All shots (excluding serves and rally ending shots) produced five main SA clusters, similar to those presented by Murray et al. (2018), except a greater proportion of shots were categorized in the greater pressure clusters and less in the lower pressure ones. Results Individual matches were presented using cluster performance profile infographics which demonstrated how individual player’s performance profiles differed between matches. Conclusion It is suggested that it is the coupling, of the two player’s behaviors, that makes the examination of tactics so challenging. This inherently means that performance profiles vary in subtle ways, making consistent profiles that are independent of the opponent very unlikely for elite players. This approach should be further modified to determine within match changes in performance.
In search of invariant athletic behaviour in sport: an example from championship squash match-play.
Analysis of competitive sport performance from a priori observation is frequently used to prepare an athlete for a future contest. This practice necessarily assumes that the observed athletic behaviours are invariant, in that the data from an earlier contest apply to the next. We report different analyses of championship squash matches from 1987 and 1988 in search of such invariance and thus a general signature of athletic behaviour. The results show that once the preceding condition to an athletic response (shot) becomes more detailed, by either accounting for where on court the previous shot was played to, or by pairing the previous shot with its own antecedent, the corresponding response becomes more predictable (P > 0.25). This is especially the case for a squash champion when the forehand and backhand characteristics of his shot response are accounted for. The finding that the champion is more consistent if his forehand and backhand shot responses to a preceding shot are analysed separately, shows that the level of analytic detail is an important consideration if the derived information from sport analysis is to prepare an athlete reliably for future sport competition. Finally, we consider sport competition from an ecological perspective with regard to the natural organization and stability of non-linear systems in an attempt to explain the empirical data.
Analysis of penalties taken in shoot-outs
Penalties are now a subject of myth, romance, excitement, dread, fear and pressure - depending upon whether you are watching or taking them. Many soccer managers and coaches have said that they are a lottery and many are of the opinion that practising them are a waste of time, because it is not possible to replicate the pressure. Little research has been completed on penalty shoot-outs, and most of this has been on the performance of goalkeepers. The aim of this work is to use notation to analyse the performances of the penalty takers and goalkeepers in penalty shoot-outs taken from the FIFA World Cup finals and also the finals of the European Champions League, and present these data so that a successful profile of optimal performance can be defined. A notation system was designed to input data directly into Access, 129 penalties were notated with an intention to analyse the time in preparing the shot, the number of paces taken to approach the ball, their relative pace, the pace of the shot, its placement and the outcome. It was found that:- • One in five saved (20%; 3/15), one in fifteen missed (7%; 1/15) and three in four scored (73%; 11/15).• 25% of shots a fast run are saved because the player then tried either 50% or 75% power.• Best success ratios are from an even run up of 4, 5 and 6 paces.• There is no laterality in the success ratios – left footed and right footed strikers have the same success when the frequencies are represented as percentages.• No shots above waist height were saved, although 18% of those shots missed.• In every case, the goalkeeper moved off the line before the ball was struck.• There is only a small data set, but the goalkeepers who took a pace forward and stood up while the striker approached the ball, had the best save and miss ratios.• The profile of Germany’s penalty takers show a consistent pattern that is very different from the average, indicating analysis and training. Table 1 Respective frequency of the different paces of striking the ball with the outcomes expressed as percentages.Power of shotFrequencyFrequencyMissedSaved50%12%47%0%53%75%70%81%1%18%100%18%63%31%7% It was concluded that these data analyses demonstrate that there are optimal strategies in taking and saving penalties. These point to ways of enhancing the individual performance of the players in these closed skills. Coaches in this team sport will be helped by methods used in individual sports such as golf and racket sports, where the emphasis is on the attainment of expert technique.