Presenters and Chairperson

Sport Biomechanics and its applications on skill learning in sport

Kazuhiko Watanabe, Ph.D.

President of the Japanese Forum for Winter Sport Sciences

President of ACESS

Guest Prof., Beijing Normal University

Prof. Emeritus, Hiroshima University,

Hiroshima, JAPAN

Abstract. Sport Biomechanics is one of the important research fields in supporting sport performance. This symposium will focus on the research of biomechanics on the specific sport topics and will be able to provide it audience useful suggestions for improving the methods of teaching, coaching and training. Sport biomechanics consists mainly of three areas: Kinetics, Kinematics and Energetics. Nowadays, more and more up-to-date research instruments have been developed in each aspect and we often use combined research techniques relating to biomechanics for example, high speed cameras for motion analysis plus EMG and force/moment measurements in an actual field study. How can we apply these techniques to develop our teaching, coaching and training performance?  In this symposium, you would be able to get useful information and brainstorm from each excellent speaker. In my presenting paper, I will introduce the recent topic on ski jumping research focusing on the simulation in the take-off and flight phases. Feedback information of the vertical ground reaction force, observation of the Center of Pressure position and the “feeling” of the wind pressure in wind tunnel will be introduced.

Dr. Watanabe has been worked as Professor of physiology and sport biomechanics at Hiroshima University. He also worked as the first Director of the Institute for Sport Sciences, Hiroshima University. His research topics including: 1) Study on Physical Fitness and basic movement of Japanese school children (funded by the Japanese government). 2) Scientific supports for the Japan ski jumping team and 3) Study on postural control and gait analysis on elderly people. Dr. Watanabe supported Japanese top skiers as the chief research staff at the Sapporo Olympic Games and established theory of the “egg shaped posture” in downhill. As a member of Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (winter team: Medical Science), Dr. Watanabe set up the monitoring points in Antarctica for the continuous investigations of the world environment (1973-1974). He launched ski jumping research since Lake Placid Olympic Games, and found the “V Jumping style” using wind tunnel experiment. At the Nagano Olympic Games, Dr. Watanabe worked as the director of the IOC Medical Commission, sub-commission on Biomechanics and Physiology of sports. Besides his main research projects, he proposed a brand new research project regarding “Sports Science Education”, which started from the Nagano Olympic Games. This project was supported by Mr. Prince de Merode, Vice president of IOC and Chairperson of IOC Medical Commission.

Applying Sports Biomechanics at a Community Level

Jacqueline Alderson, Ph.D.

Lecturer in Biomechanics

School of Sport Science, Exercise & Health

University of Western Australia

AUSTRALIA

Abstract. The impact of the science of biomechanics in the sports domain is increasingly evident, yet the dissemination and application of this knowledge is limited at the community level.  In the sporting context, biomechanics is used to describe and improve performance, identify the aetiology of an injury and aid in the management, treatment and prevention of injury and disease. This presentation will provide a general framework of analysis that facilitates the adoption of knowledge and skills gained from the discipline of sports biomechanics to broader community health and fitness programmes. Case studies will be used through to illustrate how the cross fertilisation of biomechanics knowledge from the laboratory to the community may be achieved. The presentation will also provide an overview of exciting advances in motion analysis, biomechanical simulation and modelling and how these may benefit the community in future years.

Jacqueline Alderson is a lecturer in Biomechanics at the University of Western Australia, completing her doctorate in 2004 and awarded a University Faye Gale fellowship that same year. A recipient of grants from a diverse range of funding bodies inclusive of international sporting federations, government bodies and private industry, she has an extensive graduate supervision history. She is a regular presenter at international biomechanics conferences (Austria, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Canada, United States of America, Italy, Switzerland) and  has published book chapters, and scientific papers in both applied and theoretically based biomechanics texts (Applied Anatomy and Biomechanics in Sport, 2008; Biomechanics of Striking and Kicking In Biomechanics in Sports; 2008) and journals (Journal of Biomechanics, Journal of Sports Sciences, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise). She currently serves on the review board for the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and Research In Sports Medicine and  is a biomechanics consultant to Vicon Motion Analysis Systems, the International Cricket Council, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and was a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission biomechanics projects at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. A passionate advocate for the promotion of science in schools, she also serves as a biomechanics consultant for the Australian and NZ Learning Federation.

Biomechanical Study on Figure Skate Techniques: Focusing on Jump motion

Prof. Yasuo Ikegami

Nagoya University, Nagoya, JAPAN

Prof. Hisako Ikegami

Nanzan University, Nagoya, JAPAN

Abstract. In modern figure skating competitions, a successful jump has become much more important factor in evaluation of the competitor's performance. World-class top-level skaters always perform various kinds of jumps with 3 and a half or 4 times of rotation of the body and they often combine two or more jumps as one sequence. Both higher velocity of rotation of the skater's body and enough airborne time after take off are essential for the successful jump with multiple rotation of the body. A higher velocity of rotation will make possible to rotate the skater's body in a given time duration ( airborne time ) and a longer duration of time in the air will also have an advantage for the multiple rotation of the body in the air in a given velocity of the rotation of the body at take off. For the higher rotation velocity in the air it is necessary to obtain the grater angular momentum of the body during take off motion and the longer duration of the airborne time is led by the higher vertical component of the initial velocity of the body at take off. However it is difficult in general to achieve both these two factors simultaneously in the take off motion.

In the presentation of the symposium, we will discuss the results of the investigation of the kinematics aspects of the jump motion in figure skating in 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games.

Dr.Yasuo Ikegami is a Prof. of the Research Center of Health, Physical Fitness and Sports at Nagoya University. Prof. Ikegami graduated from the department of physics, the Faculty of Science, Nagoya University in 1974. He has strong interest in sport science and started his research work at Nagoya University as an Assistant Professor from 1979. Prof. Ikegami has studied the sport performances and movements using state-of-the-art biomechanical techniques. As a guest researcher, he studied in the biomechanics lab at the Penn State University. He focuses his research topic on the 3D analysis of sports motion and related techniques. He analyzed the turning techniques in the alpine skiing in an actual field condition. He was a leader of the figure skate research team in the IOC biomechanics research project in the Nagano Olympic Games (1998). Prof. Ikegami has been worked as a chief editor of the “JJBSE: Japanese Journal of Biomechanics in Sports & Exercise”, one of the top journals in sport science in Japan.

Footwear Biomechanics and Sports Performance

Ki-Kwang Lee, Ph.D.

Biomechanics Lab

College of Sport Science

Kookmin University, Seoul, KOREA

Abstract. Most sporting activities involve some form of locomotion. Walking, shuffling, running, cutting and jumping maneuvers require an intimate contact between the athletes’ feet and the ground, more specifically between their footwear and the playing surfaces. This footwear-surface interaction defines the performance, protection and comfort needs of athletes. Footwear is important for insuring that the athlete needs are fulfilled. Sport shoes may affect on the energetics of human movement. The two main aspects where sport shoes can play a role are in maximizing the energy which is returned to the athlete and minimizing the energy which is lost by the athlete. Stored energy in a shoe sole should be returned to the athlete as much as possible. Depending on the movement, energy return sometimes occurs at the wrong time, frequency, location and in the wrong direction which compromises the ultimate influence on improving performance. The strategy to minimize energy loss include reducing the mass of the shoe, using appropriate midsole materials, implementing constructions which improve the stability of the ankle joint and increasing the bending stiffness of shoe midsoles which reduces the energy lost at the metatarso-phalangeal joint. Energy that has not been lost for tasks not directly related to the actual performance may be applied to the movement and may result in an increase of athletic performance.

Dr. Ki-Kwang Lee is a director of the Biomechanics laboratory at Kookmin University. Prof. Lee graduated from the department of physical education, Seoul National University in 1987. He has studied biomechanics in health and human performance and got a doctoral degree at Oregon State University in 1998. His main research topic was footwear biomechanics and he worked many research projects with footwear companies at Inje University as an Assistant Professor from 2000 to 2006. As a visiting researcher, he worked footwear biomechanics intensively at the Nike Sports Research Lab in Beaverton, Oregon. He moved to Kookmin University in 2006 and studied injury mechanism and prevention in sports activities and various sports and fitness equipment design. Dr. Lee currently serves on the Korean Society of Sports Biomechanics (KSSB) as a general secretary and organized the 2008 International Conference on Biomechanics in Sports in Seoul, Korea.