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23 Jul 2014

Which sport are you made for? Loughborough researchers help to develop Commonwealth Games quiz

The light-hearted quiz is part of the BBC’s Get Inspired campaign, which was launched as part of the London 2012 legacy to encourage more people to participate in sport and activity.

The test is comprised of 13 questions which ask players to rate their physical and mental attributes on a scale of one to ten. Among the questions are ‘In terms of endurance, are you most like a tortoise or a hare?’, and ‘Are you as agile as a cat or more like a sloth?’

Once players have completed all of the questions, their three closest matched sports will be revealed, along with some sporting facts and figures.

To develop the quiz, the researchers from Loughborough’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences drew up an initial list of the physical and mental attributes crucial to success in sport. Then each sport in the Commonwealth Games was rated against these attributes. For example, gymnastics was rated as needing high levels of agility and power, while weightlifting was rated highly for power but required little agility.

Dr David Fletcher, Senior Lecturer in Performance Psychology and Management, said: “The idea of the quiz is to inspire people watching the Commonwealth Games to try some of the sports themselves. If they aren’t sure where to start, then completing the quiz will hopefully give them a few ideas and getting people talking about the sports. We wanted to cover a range of physical and mental characteristics needed for sports because different skills are often needed for different sports.”

Dr Jonathan Folland, Reader in Human Performance and Neuromuscular Physiology, added: “Human beings are hugely variable in their physical and mental attributes, with success in different sports requiring widely different characteristics. Some sports require very unusual or even extreme attributes in just one or two physical or mental characteristics, for example weightlifters require huge amounts of power and triathletes need phenomenal endurance. Other sports, such as hockey or squash, require a broader combination of characteristics.

“We hope people have fun with the quiz, and hopefully some will be inspired to try a sport they never would have considered before.”

For all the latest information on Loughborough University at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, go to the dedicated website or follow us on Twitter @lborocwg2014