AN APPLICATION OF ACCELERATION ANALYSIS FOR THE EVALUATION OF ROWING TECHNIQUE

Abstract

During a rowing cycle, a shell is accelerated by the force performed with an oar and, while decelerated by such facts as resistance of the water, air and movement of the oarsmen's body. The magnitude of the acceleration and deceleration is dependent on the rowing technique. In this study, the equipment for measuring the acceleration of a rowing shell was manufactured in order to measure the acceleration of the rowing shell on the water. The subjects of this study were 10 athletes of the Japanese National Crew (singlescull: 3 males, 1 female/pair: 6 males) and 3 members (singlescull) of a varsity rowing club. An acceleration transducer was mounted on the bottom of the shell. Acceleration data were stored in a portable recorder on board during rowing. The acceleration of the shell was measured at several different velocities and in several rowing phases. With increasing velocities of the shell the acceleration and deceleration increased. The National Crew who have excellent rowing technique demonstrated that when the velocity of the she11 was almost constant, the variations in acceleration and deceleration the less than in the varsity rowers. It was also observed that the acceleration change corresponded to each phase in rowing motion and showed characteristics compiled with emphasized motions. In addition to the above, the acceleration curves showed different characteristics between the singlescull and the pair. These results suggest that the acceleration curves reflect a level of movement skill performed by oarsmen during rowing. It was concluded from this study that the acceleration data is useful for checking the rowing motion of oarsmen and is an indicator for evaluation of the rowing technique.