Shots at goal in Australian Football: Historical trends, determinants of accuracy and common strategies.

Objectives: To understand the historical context of and relationships between, the characteristics of shots at goal and match outcome in the Australian Football League.

Design: Observational.

Methods: Descriptive statistics of shots at goal were calculated and compared across 20 seasons.

Factors that affect handball execution in Australian Football.

A handball is one of two technical skills used to dispose of the ball in Australian Football. Previous research has only considered handball effectiveness in the analysis of team performance and there is a need to understand whether there are other more important characteristics of handball execution that explain effectiveness (i.e.

Real time prediction of match outcomes in Australian football.

This study aimed to determine whether machine learning models based on technical performance and not score margin could be used to predict end-of-match outcome of Australian football matches in real-time. If efficacious, these models could be used to generate insights about team performance and support the decision-making of coaches during matches. A database of 168 team technical performance indicators from 829 Australian Football League matches played between 2017 and 2021 was used.

A framework to explain the in-match decision-making of elite Australian football coaches.

The ability to make effective decisions is an important function of any football coach, whether during training, team selection, match-day performance or post-match player evaluation. It is not yet known how elite Australian football coaches make decisions during matches, in time-constrained but well-resourced environments. This study is the first to explore the decision-making of elite Australian football coaches during matches, in pursuit of identifying opportunities to improve the translation and implementation of research findings into the competitive match environment.

The Physical Qualities of Elite Australian Pace Bowlers: Typical Characteristics and Longitudinal Changes in Men and Women.

Purpose: To determine whether the most important physical qualities in elite Australian male and female cricket pace bowlers change with age and phase of the cricket season.

Methods: An existing longitudinal database (7 cricket seasons) of selected and routinely collected physical testing data from 103 male and 58 female elite Australian pace bowlers age 18-30 years was retrospectively analyzed. Male and female physical testing data from the isometric midthigh pull, 1-repetition-maximum bench pull, run-of-3, and countermovement jump (male only) were analyzed separately by performing linear mixed models on each of the physical qualities.

Force-velocity profiles of track cyclists differ between seated and non-seated positions.

The aim of the study was to compare the Force-Velocity profiles of track sprint cyclists obtained in seated and non-seated positions. Athletes were tested on a stationary cycle ergometer for the seated position and on a racing bike at the velodrome for the non-seated position. We modelled torque and power vs.

The Physical Differences Between Faster and Slower Elite Male and Female Pace Bowlers.

Purpose: This study investigated the differences between selected physical attributes and ball release speed in slower and faster male and female elite pace bowlers.

Methods: Twelve physical attributes and ball release speed were retrospectively analyzed from 63 male and 31 female elite pace bowlers over the course of 5 seasons. Pace bowlers were categorized as either fast (>122.

The effect of team formation on defensive performance in Australian football.

Objectives: Understanding the successful characteristics of team formation during different scenarios in Australian Football matches can assist coaches in making important tactical match-day and training decisions. The aims of this study were to explore the outcomes of entries inside 50 m of the goal, in Australian Football and to determine whether there was an association between team formation and team defensive performance after a turnover.

Design: Observational.

Technical determinants of success in professional women's soccer: A wider range of variables reveals new insights.

Knowledge of optimal technical performance is used to determine match strategy and the design of training programs. Previous studies in men's soccer have identified certain technical characteristics that are related to success. These studies however, have relative limited sample sizes or limited ranges of performance indicators, which may have limited the analytical approaches that were used.

Is injury associated with team performance in elite Australian football? 20 years of player injury and team performance data that include measures of individual player value.

Objectives: To determine whether specific injury measures were associated with team performance in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Methods: 15 289 injuries caused players from 18 teams to miss 51 331 matches between 1997 and 2016. Data were aggregated to the team level.

Australian Football League Injury Characteristics Differ Between Matches and Training: A Longitudinal Analysis of Changes in the Setting, Site, and Time Span From 1997 to 2016.

Background: Injury surveillance has been used to quantify the scope of the injury burden in Australian football. However, deeper statistical analyses are required to identify major factors that contribute to the injury risk and to understand how these injury patterns change over time.

Purpose: To compare Australian Football League (AFL) injury incidence, severity, prevalence, and recurrence by setting, site, and time span from 1997 to 2016.

The relationship between match performance indicators and outcome in Australian Football.

Objectives: To identify novel insights about performance in Australian Football (AF), by modelling the relationships between player actions and match outcomes. This study extends and improves on previous studies by utilising a wider range of performance indicators (PIs) and a longer time frame for the development of predictive models.

Design: Observational.

The Australian high performance and sport science workforce: A national profile.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide a profile of the demographics and employment characteristics of the Australian high performance and sport science workforce.

Design: This study used a cross-sectional, quantitative survey methodology to collect data about the Australian high performance and sport science workforce.

Method: 175 Australian high performance and sport science employees completed an online survey which captured demographic information and work-related characteristics such as role, industry sector, income, permanence of employment and hours worked.

The influence of match characteristics and experience on decision-making performance in AFL umpires.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of match characteristics and elite level umpiring experience on the decision-making performance of umpires in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Design: Cross Sectional Study.

Methods: All decisions from the 2014 AFL home and away season made by 32 male AFL field umpires (age 33.

The Player Load Associated With Typical Activities in Elite Netball.

Context: Most previous investigations of player load in netball have used subjective methodologies, with few using objective methodologies. While all studies report differences in player activities or total load between playing positions, it is unclear how the differences in player activity explain differences in positional load.

Purpose: To objectively quantify the load associated with typical activities for all positions in elite netball.

Induced Alkalosis and Gastrointestinal Symptoms After Sodium Citrate Ingestion: a Dose-Response Investigation.

Sodium citrate induces alkalosis and can provide a performance benefit in high-intensity exercise. Previous investigations have been inconsistent in the ingestion protocols used, in particular the dose and timing of ingestion before the onset of exercise. The primary aim of the current study was to quantify blood pH, blood bicarbonate concentration and gastrointestinal symptoms after ingestion of three doses of sodium citrate (500 mg⋅kg, 700 mg⋅kg and 900 mg⋅kg).

Player Load in Elite Netball: Match, Training, and Positional Comparisons.

Context: The activity profile of competition and training in elite netball has not been comprehensively reported in the literature.

Purpose: To measure and analyze player load in elite netballers during matches and training sessions. The primary research question was, How does player load vary between playing positions in a match and between matches and training sessions?

Methods: Various measures of player load were recorded in 12 elite professional netballers with a mean ± SD age of 26 ± 4.

Metabolic Power Method: Underestimation of Energy Expenditure in Field-Sport Movements Using a Global Positioning System Tracking System.

The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of a global positioning system (GPS) tracking system to estimate energy expenditure (EE) during exercise and field-sport locomotor movements. Twenty-seven participants each completed a 90-min exercise session on an outdoor synthetic futsal pitch. During the exercise session, they wore a 5-Hz GPS unit interpolated to 15 Hz and a portable gas analyzer that acted as the criterion measure of EE.

Performance analysis and prediction in triathlon.

Performance in triathlon is dependent upon factors that include somatotype, physiological capacity, technical proficiency and race strategy. Given the multidisciplinary nature of triathlon and the interaction between each of the three race components, the identification of target split times that can be used to inform the design of training plans and race pacing strategies is a complex task. The present study uses machine learning techniques to analyse a large database of performances in Olympic distance triathlons (2008-2012).

Influence of field position and phase of play on the physical demands of match-play in professional rugby league forwards.

Objectives: No study has investigated the influence of field position and phase of play on the physical demands of match-play in professional rugby league forwards. We investigated the physical demands placed on forwards in elite rugby league matches, with special reference to how these demands differed between attack and defence, and in different field positions.

Design: Cohort study.

Global positioning system data analysis: velocity ranges and a new definition of sprinting for field sport athletes.

Global positioning system (GPS) technology has improved the speed, accuracy, and ease of time-motion analyses of field sport athletes. The large volume of numerical data generated by GPS technology is usually summarized by reporting the distance traveled and time spent in various locomotor categories (e.g.

Considerations for the use of salivary IgA for monitoring mucosal immune function.

Introduction: We aimed to make recommendations concerning the use of total IgA in saliva (s-IgA) as an aid for monitoring athletic and military training.

Methods: Unstimulated whole saliva was collected from 16 subjects (11 women and 5 men ages 18-57) during nonconsecutive days of fasting and non-fasting. Seven samples were collected from each subject at 0700, 0900, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, and 2030 on each day and a further three samples were collected 30 min after three meals on the non-fasting day (at 0730, 1230, and 1830).

Measurement of immunoglobulin A in saliva by particle-enhanced nephelometric immunoassay: sample collection, limits of quantitation, precision, stability and reference range.

Background: Total immunoglobulin A in saliva (s-IgA) is normally assayed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We have investigated methodological issues relating to the use of particle-enhanced nephelometric immunoassay (PENIA) to measure s-IgA in whole unstimulated saliva and determine its reference range.

Methods: Whole unstimulated resting saliva was collected to determine sample stability (temperature, time, effect of a protease inhibitor), limit of quantitation (LOQ), assay precision and analytical variation.