advancedracingcomputers.com 1 Athlete Response to Using a Real-Time Optical Navigation Feedback System Richard Kirby

advancedracingcomputers.com 2 Introduction  Today, athletes in many sports benefit from real-time quantitative feedback about their performance during training and racing  Feedback is critical as it is the brain’s link to the body. (Shea et al., 1993)  Quantitative feedback in alpine skiing generally comes well after the performance  Technique improvement often comes through video analysis that is qualitative and comes hours after the training

advancedracingcomputers.com 3 Aim of this study  Verify if alpine ski racers perceive a benefit from using real time audio feedback related to lateral displacement to improve their carving technique  Evaluate the “distraction” effect of audio feedback while training  Evaluate if the skiers detect a change in the characteristics of their skis due to the apparatus

advancedracingcomputers.com 4 Apparatus Click to view Video

advancedracingcomputers.com 5 Technology Y X

advancedracingcomputers.com 6 Feedback  One beep per 0.5 mm slip at most sensitive level  Actual delay between slip and feedback seconds

advancedracingcomputers.com 7  Randomly selected young racers training at Mount Hood as part of summer race camps  Familiarized the racers with the meaning of the feedback  Racers trained 2 hours with device in gates  Racers filled out survey  Racers were interviewed for subjective comments

advancedracingcomputers.com 8 Subjects  12 club level racers (5 years to 15 years racing)  13 – 18 years old except one 43 year old master  Average age 18.9 years old  5 girls, 7 boys  11 out of 12 had never used real time feedback prior to test

advancedracingcomputers.com 9 Familiarization  Skiers must understand what the feedback is telling them  Sensitivity/threshold must be set to the skill level of the skier and snow conditions

advancedracingcomputers.com 10 Garland Click to view video

advancedracingcomputers.com 11 Drifted initiation Click to view video

advancedracingcomputers.com 12 Single carved arc Click to view video

advancedracingcomputers.com 13 Linked carved turns Click to view video

advancedracingcomputers.com Survey Results

advancedracingcomputers.com 15 Did having the device attached to your skis affect your skiing?

advancedracingcomputers.com 16 Did the real time feedback help you better understand your carving skills?

advancedracingcomputers.com 17 Did the real time feedback help you improve your carving skills?

advancedracingcomputers.com 18 How often would you like to use real time feedback in training? N = 9

advancedracingcomputers.com 19 How satisfied were you using real time feedback for training?

advancedracingcomputers.com 20  It is like watching a video of yourself while you are skiing  I’ve been racing for 10 years and I didn’t know I slipped that badly at the initiation of my turn  It really helped me understand the issues I have with the timing of my turns  The audio feedback was distracting at first  It tells me I’m doing something wrong, but not what to do to correct it Comments from Interview

advancedracingcomputers.com 21 Discussion  While we did not evaluate if performance actually improved, we interviewed several of the coaches who believed that they saw improvements in their skiers after the two hour test  Some skiers adapted to the feedback much quicker than others  Those that were more technologically savvy  Those that play computer games  Importance of familiarization process

advancedracingcomputers.com 22  Evaluate performance improvement  Evaluate different types of feedback and different familiarization exercises  Evaluate the effect of a coaching program based around using real-time feedback (coaches device)

advancedracingcomputers.com Thank you for your attention

advancedracingcomputers.com 24 Conditions  Hard snow  Slope gradual enough to carve cleanly all gates  Mixture of GS and SL gates, stubies and brushes

advancedracingcomputers.com 25 Survey Results  Did real time feedback help you better understand your carving skills.  83% definitely  17% probably  Did real time feedback help you improve your carving skills  50% definitely  33% probably  17% not sure

advancedracingcomputers.com 26 Survey Results (continued)  How often would you like to use real time feedback in training?  11% > 70% of the time  78%30% to 70% of the time  11%< 30%  3 no-answer  Satisfaction with real time feedback as training tool in gates  58% Very satisfied  33% Somewhat satisfied  8 % Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied