3D COACHING: SPORTS BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS (TRACK & FIELD)
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Date
2024-01-09
Authors
ADENIJI, OLA
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Athletic (Track & Field) championships have showcased globally the great strength, power, and speed of athletes in a myriad of disciplines. Notably over the last 30 years, steady improvements in championship performances have intrigued the Athletics community—athletes, coaches, spectators—sparking interest to look further into how this caliber of athletes perform and what the training demands are to continue the pace of progress.
Coaches, by nature, focus on what is familiar to them until the next ‘phenomenon’ in development and training becomes recognizable. In consequence, sports science research sources are perceived with complexity, and unused or misused by the Athletic community. Efforts led by leading sports scientists have been made in the live capture of world-class competitors during world championships to better understand, discuss, and use science within the current state of Athletics in published biomechanical reports.
Although athletes have a critical role in whether achievements are met, coaching efforts are to serve the athlete's needs within the demands of each discipline. Balancing what an athlete can do biomechanically and the mechanism within a discipline is the challenge. Coaches often turn to the experiences that have built their coaching philosophy for guidance on the best approaches. With a focus on the NCAA collegiate championship, this project served as a biomechanical-driven evidence-based collection to better understand championship performance. The results justified achieving season-best sprint times and jump marks for higher seeding purposes. Furthermore, results underscored the high individuality in step characteristics during the development of acceleration and velocity of sprinters and jumpers.
NCAA championships feature arguably the best collegiate and world-class competitors in Athletics. When the coaching and scientific views are taken into consideration at this level, an improved attempt at defining and appropriately applying mechanical principles to the technique and skills used can be established. Assessing kinematic parameters captured during these championships provides insight into biomechanical contributions in performances for coaches to evaluate and improve training design that will shape an athlete’s performance. An opportunity is available to add to the sports science narratives on the mechanics of Athletic disciplines using a biomechanics lens to magnify the coaches’ eye.
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Keywords
Sports Biomechanics, Sports Coaching, Sports Performance, Sports Science