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Purpose: Ice hockey is a team invasion sport characterized by repeated high-intensity skating efforts, technical and tactical skill, physical contact, and collisions requiring considerable levels of muscular strength. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between lower-body vertical force–time metrics and skating qualities in subelite female ice hockey players. Methods: A cross-sectional cohort design was employed utilizing 14 athletes (body mass = 66.7 [1.8] kg; height = 171.6 [6.2] cm; age = 21.1 [1.7] y). The relationships between metrics of lower-body strength collected from a drop jump, squat jump, countermovement jump, loaded countermovement jump, and an isometric squat and 4 skating qualities collected from a linear sprint, repeated sprint test, and a multistage aerobic test were evaluated. Results: The regression models revealed a positive relationship between relative peak force in the isometric squat and skating multistage aerobic test performance (r2 =.388; P =.017) and a positive relationship between repeated-sprint ability and eccentric mean force during the loaded countermovement jump (r2 =.595; P =.001). No significant relationships were observed between strength metrics and skating acceleration or maximal velocity. Conclusions: These data suggest that skating ability is most affected by relative isometric strength in female ice hockey players. It is recommended that practitioners focus training on tasks that improve relative force output. It is also recommended that isometric relative peak force be used as a monitoring metric for this cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boat acceleration profiles can provide valuable information for coaches and practitioners to make meaningful technical interventions and monitor the determinants of success in rowing. Previous studies have used simple feature detection methods to identify key phases within individual strokes, such as drive onset, drive time, drive offset and stroke time. However, based on skill level, technique or boat class, the hull acceleration profile can differ, making robust feature detection more challenging. The current study's purpose is to employ the undecimated wavelet transform (UWT) technique to detect individual features in the stroke acceleration profile from a single rowing hull-mounted accelerometer. In this investigation, the temporal and kinematic values obtained using the AdMosTM sensor in conjunction with the UWT processing approach were strongly correlated with the comparative measures of the Peach™ instrumented oarlock system. The measures for stroke time displayed very strong agreeability between the systems for all boat classes, with ICC values of 0.993, 0.963 and 0.954 for the W8+, W4− and W1x boats, respectively. Similarly, the drive time was also very consistent, with strong to very strong agreeability, producing ICC values of 0.937, 0.901 and 0.881 for the W8+, W4− and W1x boat classes. Further, a Bland–Altman analysis displayed little to no bias between the AdMosTM-derived and Peach™ measures, indicating that there were no systematic discrepancies between signals. This single-sensor solution could form the basis for a simple, cost-effective and accessible alternative to multi-sensor instrumented systems for the determination of sub-stroke kinematic phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cormier, P, Meylan, C, Agar-Newman, D, Geneau, D, Epp-Stobbe, A, Lenetsky, S, and Klimstra, M. A systematic review and metaanalysis of wearable satellite system technology for linear sprint profiling: technological innovations and practical applications. J Strength Cond Res 38(2): 405-418, 2024--An emerging and promising practice is the use of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology to profile team-sports athletes in training and competition. Therefore, the purpose of this narrative systematic review with meta-analysis was to evaluate the literature regarding satellite system sensor usage for sprint modeling and to consolidate the findings to evaluate its validity and reliability. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, an electronic search of the databases, PubMed and SPORTDiscus (EBSCO), was conducted. Concurrent validity and reliability studies were considered, and 16 studies were retained for the review from the initial 1,485 studies identified. The effects on outcomes were expressed as standardized mean differences (SMDs, Cohen's d) for each outcome (i.e., maximal sprint speed [MSS], the acceleration constant [t], maximal theoretical velocity [V0], relative force [F0], and relative power [Pmax]). Effect magnitudes represented the SMD between GNSS-derived and criterion-derived (i.e., radar and laser) and resulted in the following estimates: small for MSS (d 5 0.22, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.42), t (d520.18, 95% CI 20.60 to 0.23), V0 (d 5 0.14, 95% CI 20.08 to 0.36), relative F0 (d 5 0.15, 95% CI 20.25 to 0.55), and relative Pmax (d 5 0.21, 95% CI 20.16 to 0.58). No publication bias was identified in meta-analyzed studies and moderator analysis revealed that several factors (sampling rate and sensor manufacturer) influenced the results. Heterogeneity between studies was considered moderate to high. This highlighted the differences between studies in sensor technology differences (i.e., sampling rate, sensor fusion, and satellite network acquisition), processing techniques, criterion technology used, sprint protocols, outcome reporting, and athlete characteristics. These findings may be useful in guiding improvements in sprint modeling using GNSS technology and enable more direct comparisons in future research. Implementation of all-out linear sprint efforts with GNSS technology can be integrated into sport-specific sessions for sprint modeling when robust and consistent data processing protocols are performed, which has important implications for fatigue monitoring, program design, systematic testing, and rehabilitation in individual and team sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]