Report

A novel indoor tracking system to explore the demands of wheelchair sports

Understanding the physical demands placed on athletes during competition is a key requirement to help practitioners prescribe specific, individualised training programmes.

Lead academic:
Professor Vicky Tolfrey
Additional academics:
Barry Mason
Funder:
The Peter Harrison Foundation

In able-bodied team sports this information is typically obtained using Global Positioning Systems (GPS). However, indoor team sports such as Wheelchair Basketball and Rugby cannot utilise GPS since it does not operate indoors.

Therefore, this study sought to explore the accuracy and reliability of a radio frequency based indoor tracking (ITS) for use with the wheelchair court sports.

Methods

One able-bodied participant experienced with wheelchair propulsion performed a series of field tests on a Wheelchair Basketball court.

Performance measures including mean and peak speeds reached and distance covered were monitored by the ITS, and were compared against a laser total station and an inertial sensor (criterion measures).

Main findings and applications

  • The static error of the ITS was between 19-32cm.
  • During dynamic tasks specific to wheelchair sports the relative errors for distance covered and peak speed never exceeded 1.3 and 2.0%, respectively.
  • Accuracy reduced at a lower sampling frequency (4 Hz).
  • The ITS was deemed an acceptable and reliable tool for tracking wheelchair sports activities at frequencies of 8 or 16 Hz.

Reference

  • Rhodes J, Mason B, Perrat B, Smith M, Goosey- Tolfrey V. (2014). The validity and reliability of a novel indoor player tracking system for use within wheelchair court sports. Journal of Sports Sciences. 32: 1639-1647. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2014.910608