ATHLETICS
PLAY IT SAFE BEFORE A RECENT VIRGINIA TECH women’s soccer team training session, David Tegarden and Jay Williams prepared for practice.
Tegarden and Williams are investigating whether a player’s training load leaves evidence, or markers, that warn of the potential for future injury.
“We also see changes over the week when the team plays multiple games,” he said. “Those changes may be indicative of fatigue.”
Accelerometer—check. Gyroscope— check. Heart monitor—check. Global positioning system (GPS) receiver—check.
“Fractal analysis is used in finance to determine stock trends or detect fraud,” Tegarden said. “Injury can be seen as a type of fraud.”
Researchers expect to collect enough data to observe players from the start of their careers at Virginia Tech through graduation. This data will allow them to track how an athlete’s performance improves or regresses over time based upon injury history—or lack thereof—and training regimen.
Each athlete affixed a unit containing each of the four instruments to her custom vest. This unit noninvasively records and transmits information, in real-time, to a receiver located adjacent to the playing field by using two-way wireless encryption. For Tegarden, an associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, and Williams, a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, this data collection helps with their research goal—maximizing athletic performance while minimizing injury risk. Using fractal analysis, a concept developed from business analytics that applies nontraditional mathematics to patterns,
The players’ units track and transmit their heart rate, geo-location, acceleration, distance traveled, and gait throughout the session, with the goal of finding a correlation between the physical demands of training and competition and injury. The data gathered is imported into a database and run through different programs, including one written by Tegarden. A video analysis system then detects correlations between the information being tracked and injuries. After a game or practice, Tegarden and Williams provide data to coaches and players to help inform training changes on a personalized level. Williams said that their analysis can reveal subtle differences over the course of a season, such as the manner in which a player runs.
Tegarden said there is another use for their research. “In accounting, we use control charts to find fraud,” he said. “We took the same idea, adapted it, and applied it to the playing field. With these insights, we can adapt it again and apply it to business. “We are taking information from one field, literally, and applying it to another field.” Read more about this research study at vtx.vt.edu/magazine. Jeremy Norman is assistant director of communications and marketing for the Pamplin College of Business.
COURTESY OF TOMAS WILLIAMSON
FIELD WORK: Riley McCarthy is a defender for the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team.
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