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Topic Name: Rugby kick success may come down to swing of the arm, shows research
Category: Nanobiotechnology
Research persons: Dr Grant Trewartha
Location: University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
Details
Johnny
Wilkinson’s prodigious kicking success may come down to what he does with his
arms - but it is not just his trademark preparation stance that does the trick.
In research published in the journal Sports
Biomechanics, scientists have analysed the
kicking techniques of professional and
semi-professional rugby players to see which technique is most successful.
They found that players who swing their
non-kicking-side arm across their chest as they make contact with the ball
are the most accurate kickers, particularly over longer distances. Such
movements are very obvious in the kicking technique of Wilkinson and Scotland’s
Chris Patterson.
The researchers believe that the momentum caused by this movement helps
kickers control the amount of rotation in their bodies so that when they kick
the ball their body is facing the target for longer.
Also, the movement of the arm helps counteract the movement of the leg,
allowing the kicker to stay more upright, increasing their margin of error and
improving their accuracy.
“If a coach is working with an inaccurate kicker who does not make use of
their non-kicking-side arm, our findings could well help them improve their
game,” said Dr Grant Trewartha from the
University of Bath, who worked
with Neil Bezodis, a PhD student at Bath, and colleagues from the
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff on
the project.
“In taking a kick, players try to have their torso facing the target at the
point of impact with the ball.
“Swinging their non-kicking-side arm helps players to maintain this position
for longer – allowing them to develop a ‘J’ shaped kicking action, rather than
backwards ‘C’ shaped one.
“When you examine their action from the front, it is clear that this action
also helps counteract the swing of the leg, enabling the players to remain more
upright at ball contact.
“This should increase their error of margin, and increase their overall
accuracy.
“It is interesting that the technique that came out on top in our analysis is
a close match with the Rugby World Cup’s most successful kickers so far.”
The research involved fitting five players with reflective markers that
enabled researchers to monitor the three-dimensional kicking techniques of the
players.
They were then set a variety of kicking challenges, and recorded using
high-resolution cameras to monitor the motion of the legs, arms and torso in
three dimensions.
This data could then be fed through special analytical software that enabled
the researchers to identify and measure trends in kicking techniques.
“In our study, those players who swung their non-kicking-side arm across the
body were approximately twice as accurate as those who used it less or not at
all.”
“In sports such as elite rugby where the difference between winning and
losing can come down to an individual’s technique, every little piece of advice
can help,” said Dr Trewartha, a lecturer in sport & exercise science in the
University’s School for Health.
“Top professionals usually develop their kicking techniques through long
hours of trial and error practice and by picking up hints and tips passed on by
former professionals and top coaches.
“With biomechanical analysis, we can
break down an individual’s movement as they kick a ball, and understand more
clearly what is going on.
“This then gives us the opportunity to pass on advice based on the evidence
of what works across the board.”
As for Wilkinson’s trademark two-armed stance as he prepares for the kick,
that is a pre-performance ritual that helps him prepare for the kick, says
Trewartha.
“A lot of effort goes in to helping players prepare psychologically for key
moments in games,” said Dr Trewartha.
“For those that need it, biomechanical analysis of their technique could
really help.”
About Researcher:
Dr Grant Trewartha
email: g.trewartha@bath.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1225 383055
Fax: +44 (0)1225 383275
Lecturer in Sport and
Exercise Biomechanics
As a lecturer in sport and exercise biomechanics, Dr Trewartha teaches both
biomechanics and interdisciplinary units on the BSc Sport and Exercise Science
programme. His responsibilities for the Undergraduate programmes include
admissions tutor and membership of the Staff Student Liaison Committee. He is
also a member of the redevelopment team for the MSc in Sport and Exercise
Medicine.
Dr Trewartha is a member of the Active Life Span and Measurement and
Modelling Research Groups within the School. His primary research interest is in
the control of balance during human movement, both in sport and exercise
settings. Ongoing projects include computer simulation analysis of trip recovery
strategies, technique and injury analysis within rugby union and development of
techniques for tracking human movement.
Dr Trewartha was awarded a University of Bath Teaching Development Fund in
October 2004 for a project entitled "Developing interactive online resources for
scenario-based learning in sport and exercise science".
He is a member of the International Society of Biomechanics and the British
Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES).
Recent publications:
Yeadon, M.R., Trewartha, G. & Knight, J.P. (2004).
Model-based automatic tracking of articulated human motion. Sports Engineering,
7, 53-63.
Trewartha, G., Yeadon, M.R. & Knight, J.P. (2003).
Colour based rigid body tracking using three-dimensional graphics models. Sports
Engineering, 6, 139-148.
Yeadon, M.R. & Trewartha, G. (2003). Control
strategy for a hand balance. Motor Control, 7, 411-430.
Kerwin, D.G. & Trewartha, G. (2001). Strategies for
maintaining a handstand in the anterior-posterior direction. Medicine & Science
in Sports & Exercise, 33, 1182-1188.
Recent conference papers:
Trewartha, G., Bezodis, N., Wilson, C. & Irwin, G.
(2005). Control of rotation during rugby union goal kicking. Proceeings of the
International Symposium of Biomechanics in Sports. August 22-27, Beijing, China.
Trewartha, G., Casanova, R., Wilson, C. & Irwin, G.
(2005). The influence of coordinated joint actions on the accuracy and
variability during rugby line-out throwing. Proceeings of the International
Symposium of Biomechanics in Sports. August 22-27, Beijing, China.
Roberts, S., Stokes, K., Trewartha, G., Higgitt, R.
& El-Abd, J. (2004). An objective time-motion analysis of rugby union.
Communications to the Annual Conference of the British Association of Sport and
Exercise Sciences. September 7-9, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Kencl, L., Pias, M., Pennock, S. Branley, A., Kerwin, D., Shepherd, P. &
Trewartha, G. (2004). A system for radio tracking of
team-sports players. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on
Ubiquitous Computing. September 7-10, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Trewartha, G., Stokes, K. & Griffiths, I. (2003).
Balance strategies employed by rugby union goal kickers. Proceedings of the
International Conference on the Science and Practice of Rugby (p. 31). November
5-7, Brisbane, Australia.
Trewartha, G. & Stokes, K. (2003). Impact forces
during rugby tackles. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Science
and Practice of Rugby (p. 25). November 5-7, Brisbane, Australia.
Stokes, K., El-Abd, J., Higgitt, R., Roberts, S. &
Trewartha, G. (2003). Physical demands of premiership rugby union.
Proceedings of the International Conference on the Science and Practice of Rugby
(p. 45). November 5-7, Brisbane, Australia.
Stokes, K., Roberts, S. & Trewartha, G. (2003). The
speed-accuracy trade-off when using different passing styles in rugby union.
Proceedings of the International Conference on the Science and Practice of Rugby
(p. 32). November 5-7, Brisbane, Australia.
Trewartha, G., Yeadon, M.R. & Knight, J.P. (2001).
Marker-free tracking of aerial movements. In, R. Müller, H. Gerber & A. Stacoff
(Eds.), Proceedings of the XVIIIth Congress of the International Society of
Biomechanics (p. 185). July 8-13, Zurich, Switzerland.
Trewartha, G., Yeadon, M.R. & Knight, J.P. (2001).
The sensitivity of video tracking performance to the simulated environment, the
human body model and the image matching algorithm. In, F. Casolo, V. Lorenzi &
B. Zappa (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Computer
Simulation in Biomechanics (pp. 187-192). July 5-6, Milano, Italy.
About University of Bath
The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities, with an
international reputation for quality research and teaching. In 15 subject areas
the University of Bath is rated in the top ten in the country.
Address: University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK · tel 01225 388388
Related Important Links:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/23874/kicking_techniques_for_street_fighting.html
http://www.mastersport.co.uk/soccerkickingtechniques.htm
http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/37/1/36.pdf
http://www.biomechanicalanalysis.com/
http://sportdimensions.com/Physio_Rehab/Biomechanical_Analysis.html
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