At a recent meeting at the UT, assistant trainer Nico Hofman was presented with a cake, as a belated congratulation for the recent world championship successes of Marianne Timmer and Erben Wennemars. Head coach Jac Orie was unable to attend because his wife was due to give birth at any moment.
But even without the coach, the attendants got down to business. Partially based on the successful test measurements during skate training in Austria, the assembled athletes and scientists collectively decided to purchase and further develop the advanced measuring system. According to Frans Kokkeler, coordinator at the Institute for S&L, the system offers unprecedented possibilities for improving sports performances.
`This will allow us to see what is happening during each gliding stroke that a skater makes, instead of forcing us to conclude only after a hundred meters that he was too fast or too slow. And that in an area of 500x500 meters, instead of 5x5 as was the limit up till now.'
Although the measurements can already be made, as is shown by the tests with Orie's skaters, a lot of development is required to utilize all of the system's possibilities. `We're now capable of generating enormous amounts of raw data. Even on the movements of the various body parts of a sportsman in relation to each other. But how do you use that? A lot of software will have to be developed for that,' according to Kokkeler.
Skating coach Orie is especially interested in his skaters' movements while making curves. Kokkeler: `That's where he thinks a lot can be gained: that's where energy is lost and where accelerations and decelerations start. But no one knows exactly what happens in the movements of skaters. Our equipment allows us to accurately chart that movement.'
Initially, development will focus on speed skating, but in the coming four years applications should be developed for other sports, including running and soccer. That is why NOC*NSF policymaker Marti ten Kate was `extraordinarily interested,' according to Kokkeler.
`A lot happens in the Netherlands in the area of motion science, training method research, dietetics and mental coaching,' Kokkeler says. `But there is no link between technology and the NOC. If you can connect that knowledge, many opportunities open up.'
The purchase of the hardware was financed by Orie's skating team, the Institute for S&L and the NOC*NSF. The follow-up research, to be executed by scientists of the UT and University of Groningen in cooperation with the TNO and the NOC*NSF, will most likely be financed by subsidies and by technology foundation STW.
For the benefit of newcomers to the Netherlands: speed skating is not only an important national sport, but an essential Dutch passion. - Ed.
transl: Jeroen Latour
