To understand the dynamic patterns of behaviours and interactions between athletes that characterize successful performance in different sports is an important challenge for all sport practitioners. This book guides the reader in understanding how an ecological dynamics framework for use of artificial intelligence (AI) can be implemented to interpret sport performance and the design of practice contexts. By examining how AI methodologies are utilized in team games, such as football, as well as in individual sports, such as golf and climbing, this book provides a better understanding of the kinematic and physiological indicators that might better capture athletic performance by looking at the current state-of-the-art AI approaches. Artificial Intelligence in Sport Performance Analysis provides an all-encompassing perspective in an innovative approach that signals practical applications for both academics and practitioners in the fields of coaching, sports analysis, and sport science, as well as related subjects such as engineering, computer and data science, and statistics.

This is the first book to explore in depth the science of climbing and mountaineering. Written by a team of leading international sport scientists, clinicians and climbing practitioners, it covers the full span of technical disciplines, including rock climbing, ice climbing, indoor climbing and mountaineering, across all scientific fields from physiology and biomechanics to history, psychology, medicine, motor control, skill acquisition, and engineering. Striking a balance between theory and practice, this uniquely interdisciplinary study provides practical examples and illustrative data to demonstrate the strategies that can be adopted to promote safety, best practice, injury prevention, recovery and mental preparation. Divided into six parts, the book covers all essential aspects of the culture and science of climbing and mountaineering, including: physiology and medicine biomechanics motor control and learning psychology equipment and technology. Showcasing the latest cutting-edge research and demonstrating how science translates into practice, The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering is essential reading for all advanced students and researchers of sport science, biomechanics and skill acquisition, as well as all active climbers and adventure sport coaches.

To understand the dynamic patterns of behaviours and interactions between athletes that characterize successful performance in different sports is an important challenge for all sport practitioners. This book guides the reader in understanding how an ecological dynamics framework for use of artificial intelligence (AI) can be implemented to interpret sport performance and the design of practice contexts. By examining how AI methodologies are utilized in team games, such as football, as well as in individual sports, such as golf and climbing, this book provides a better understanding of the kinematic and physiological indicators that might better capture athletic performance by looking at the current state-of-the-art AI approaches. Artificial Intelligence in Sport Performance Analysis provides an all-encompassing perspective in an innovative approach that signals practical applications for both academics and practitioners in the fields of coaching, sports analysis, and sport science, as well as related subjects such as engineering, computer and data science, and statistics.

This is the first book to explore in depth the science of climbing and mountaineering. Written by a team of leading international sport scientists, clinicians and climbing practitioners, it covers the full span of technical disciplines, including rock climbing, ice climbing, indoor climbing and mountaineering, across all scientific fields from physiology and biomechanics to history, psychology, medicine, motor control, skill acquisition, and engineering. Striking a balance between theory and practice, this uniquely interdisciplinary study provides practical examples and illustrative data to demonstrate the strategies that can be adopted to promote safety, best practice, injury prevention, recovery and mental preparation. Divided into six parts, the book covers all essential aspects of the culture and science of climbing and mountaineering, including: physiology and medicine biomechanics motor control and learning psychology equipment and technology. Showcasing the latest cutting-edge research and demonstrating how science translates into practice, The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering is essential reading for all advanced students and researchers of sport science, biomechanics and skill acquisition, as well as all active climbers and adventure sport coaches.

Dynamics of Skill Acquisition, Second Edition, provides an analysis of the processes underlying human skill acquisition. As the first text to outline the multidisciplinary ecological dynamics framework for understanding movement behavior, this heavily updated edition stays on the cutting edge, with principles of nonlinear pedagogy and methodologies from the constraints-led approach. Students and practitioners across a variety of professions-including coaches, physical educators, trainers, and rehabilitation specialists-will appreciate the applied focus of this second edition. Movement models throughout the text provide examples for visualizing task constraints and enhancing the study and understanding of movement behavior. Athletes and sports teams are presented as specific complex adaptive systems, with information on designing learning environments and adapting programs to foster skill development. Readers will learn the historical evolution of dynamical systems theory and the ecological dynamics framework. These foundational concepts illustrate the integration between intentional action, cognition, and decision making and their effects on performance and behavior. Complex theoretical concepts are explained in simple terms and related to practice, focusing on the implications of the work of pioneering researchers such as Nikolai Bernstein, Egon Brunswik, James Gibson, Scott Kelso, and Karl Newell. Case studies written by practitioners contain specific examples of the ecological dynamics framework in action, bringing theory to life. By learning how to identify and manipulate key constraints that influence learning skilled behavior, readers will gain insight into practice designs for creating positive learning experiences that enable individuals to develop and learn functional movements. Throughout the book, learning features guide readers through material with clear direction and focus to improve understanding. Spotlight on Research sidebars provide detailed descriptions of important studies to connect theory, research, and application. Lab activities teach application skills beyond the content, ensuring reader understanding. In addition, chapter objectives, self-test questions, and Key Concept sidebars highlight important concepts in each chapter. With the study of human movement now bridging many disciplines, including motor development, psychology, biology, and physical therapy, Dynamics of Skill Acquisition, Second Edition, provides a timely analysis of the ecological dynamics framework and presents a comprehensive model for understanding how coordination patterns are assembled, controlled, and acquired. The theoretical roots and development of the ecological dynamics framework provide application strategies for all people with an interest in movement coordination and control.

Before 1970, scientific research in swimming was poor and anecdotal, and the improvements of performance were linked firstly to the swimmer's experience and, secondly, as a result of permanent research for speed. Before and after the Second World War, scientific studies were conducted by pioneers and marked the beginning of research in stroke mechanics and swimming physiology exercise. This book reviews research on the body of knowledge available for the improvement of sports coaching and training practice in swimming, which seems to be relevant, numerous, and diversified enough to help swimming coaches bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Ontologically, our research is conducted from the perspective of human motor behavior as a complex system at the interface of biomechanics and motor control, with dynamical systems theory providing a means for understanding the complexity of human motor behavior beyond the purely mechanical analysis of movement. As our focus is on functional rather than structural aspects, we investigate the time dynamics of behavior, the changes in system states, and the constraints that affect state changes rather than comparisons of states before and after training, before and after learning. This perspective has given us another vision of the nature of expertise, performance optimization, and motor control and learning, especially through our studies on how the interactions of constraints affect a system (constraints-led approach, Davids et al., 2008) by testing its stability (adaptation to disturbance) and analyzing its variability (flexibility between stable states).

Before 1970, scientific research in swimming was poor and anecdotal, and the improvements of performance were linked firstly to the swimmer's experience and, secondly, as a result of permanent research for speed. Before and after the Second World War, scientific studies were conducted by pioneers and marked the beginning of research in stroke mechanics and swimming physiology exercise. This book reviews research on the body of knowledge available for the improvement of sports coaching and training practice in swimming, which seems to be relevant, numerous, and diversified enough to help swimming coaches bridge the gap between theory and practice.