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Polo and Sports Science: An unlikely pair or a match made in heaven?
- 1. Polo and Sports Science: An unlikely pair or a match made in heaven? Russ Best & Regan Standing
- 3. Ask questions Understand Athletes Better Basics Performance Sport Science
- 4. Why Polo? • 2 (or more) athletes = 1 performance • It’s a sport for everyone • Largest pitch in professional sport • A perfect model for HIIT training • A unique ‘system’, with unique questions • It hasn’t been done before
- 5. SO WHERE DID WE START? Polo and Sports Science
- 6. Performance Analysis • Devised a performance matrix – What would we like to measure? – What can we measure? – Define success • How do you quantify play like this…?
- 7. Action Definition Successful Unsuccessful Forehand Long >10 horse lengths with elbow flexion Shot is hit into open space or player or player’s team retains possession. Possession is lost, including ball hitting horse/player or out of bounds Forehand Middle >2 <10 horse lengths As above As above Backhand Long >10 horse lengths played with elbow extension As above As above Backhand Middle >2 <10 horse lengths As above As above Dribble Possession maintained within approximately two horse lengths; two or more contacts Possession is maintained Possession is lost Penalty Long An attacking penalty taken on the halfway line or 60 yards from the goal As above or Goal scored As above or Goal is not scored Penalty Short An attacking penalty taken 30 or 40 yards from the goal As above or Goal scored As above or Goal is not scored Penalty As action Penalty awarded Penalty conceded Turnover Unforced errors (missing the ball) resulting in a change of possession Possession is obtained Possession is lost Melee Coming together of two or more horses from each team Possession is retained ‘in traffic’ or obtained Possession is lost Ride off Fair contest for the ball between two players, in line with the last shot hit Possession is retained by player or player’s team Possession is lost; penalty conceded
- 8. Performance Analysis • 1 team; 1 tournament • % Success rate and % difference to opposition • Penalties, Melees and Turnovers as raw values • Intra and Inter-rater reliability calculated via ICC
- 9. 1 2 3 4 Quarter Semi Final DRIB -6 -22 1 21 1 -2 20 FHM 0 -3 -2 -4 -3 5 5 FHL -7 17 -12 -8 16 4 9 BHM 16 -13 -17 1 -14 18 -3 BHL 34 -25 -50 -10 45 -4 12 TUO -4 4 -5 0 -1 -6 -9 MEL 0 3 1 5 -8 -1 -4 PENL 0 -1 2 0 1 1 3 PENS 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 PEN 1 -2 7 0 0 2 2 RO 9 -14 -27 16 26 8 -11 Results
- 10. So what next? Case study • What does a handicap mean? • Which actions are associated with handicap – Higher – Lower • Is there wiggle room within a handicap? • What’s a horse worth? Whole tournament • Do the findings hold up across a tournament? • Can we identify styles of play? • Are there winning and or losing behaviours?
- 11. Preliminary findings 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 0 1 2 3 4 Forehand Middle
- 12. Preliminary findings 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 0 1 2 3 4 Backhand Middle
- 13. Preliminary findings 0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 0 1 2 3 4 Ride Offs
- 14. Many questions left… • Biomechanics • Environmental Physiology • Nutrition • Performance Analysis • Performance Profiling • Physiology • Strength and Conditioning • Technology
Editor's Notes
- Introduction to Polo was through Alice and Hazel, namely at the Gold Cup final in 2015. Got to know Hazel well, so much so…Breathtaking play and goal by Facundo Pieres ignited the spark. Spent most of the summer on the pony lines, studying how all I could…helps when your wife is a groom for one of the oldest clubs in the country!
- Sport Science is a process that allows us to: Ask questions Understand athletes Better Basics Performance Bishop 2005 Applied Model for Sports Sciences in Sports Med also a great tool when designing research
- Horse(s) and rider interact to produce performance, along with the team dynamic. Both genders play, and all ages can play – highlighting a range of fitness characteristics alongside skill development/level Pitch is 145m x 275m – 9 soccer pitches! Chukkers are surprisingly close to commonly used methods for interval training – why don’t we see how closely they marry up Handicapping doesn’t exist in a similar fashion in any other sport Why not?! There is some literature on veterinary practices around ponies, but nothing on players with the exception of injury prevalence. Brilliant and demanding sport, plenty of challenges for athletes but no documentation of this.
- Click picture – play from ~ 2mins in.
- Dribble saved us a lot of time and energy. Horse lengths used as this is a real metric – players change horses sometimes twice per chukker, no way to calibrate between ponies as a string can be up to 12 or 14 in a high goal environment. Note we’ve only assessed activity on the ball. This is a limitation we are looking to counter.
- Not just any team – KPF are the most successful team to play in Britain in recent years, composed of two 10 goalers and two up and coming Brits. One of those 10s is arguably the best in the world, and still on the way up. If you’re going to learn, learn from the best. Success rates to avoid high count values and blowing out residuals, so reduces need for log transformation – understandable metric already used in many sports. ICCs were important given the novelty of the study, averaged large to very large across all variables with a range from small to near perfect.
- Blue denotes ‘count’ as opposed to percentage values DRIB: Small % diff in majority of cases, suggests shared importance of controlling the ball FHM: Small % diff suggests common shot often hit directly to a player or into space FHL: No trend but greater % diffs suggests shot is more variable and may perform differing roles BH: Backhands are more variable collectively than forehands; this may be due to the defensive nature of the shot TUO: Fewer turn overs means more of the ball; 100% agreement with outcome MEL: Not as important as we perhaps thought PENL: Greater than opposition in 4/5 games suggests importance in retaining possession and establishing play. PENS: Clear goal scoring opportunity; often a Penalty 3a meaning goal undefended PEN: More penalties awarded than opposition in 4/5 wins RO: Role of the ride off in attacking play is unclear; ride off off the ball perhaps more important
- Since beginning Hazel has progressed to a 9; thanks to her and Mike Kay, and other memebers of Kihikihi Polo club for influencing the design of the matrix. Couldn’t have done it without the energy, enthusiasm and hunger of the big man!