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Well, 2012 is here. At last. It’s been a long wait and it seems like we’ve been talking about 2012 forever. For anyone involved in elite sport it is like a switch has been thrown – I’m only on the periphery and it’s manic so it must be crazy for those at the centre of it all. As part of the celebrations of the role of science in sport, I’ve been working with the Royal Institution in London on a project funded by Research Councils UK (RCUK) to put on a series of 6 events to showcase the UK science community’s efforts behind the scenes. Opened by David Willets MP (the UK Minister for Universities and Science), the first event was held on 25th January at the Royal Institution on the topic of wheelchair basketball (as far as we know the first time wheelchair basketball has featured in the famous Faraday Lecture Theatre).
Not only did the audience learn something new, we found out what the audience thought of science and sport.
Tyler Saunders shoots a perfect basket in the Faraday Lecture Theatre at the Royal Institution.
When you open your Christmas present this year it might not be obvious that you are helping a revolution in sports science. Some of the most popular presents are likely to be mobile phones, games consoles and computer games and the modern stocking filler now contains more sensory technology than an early space mission. The accelerometer chip that prompts your phone to create light-sabre sounds as you swing it is the same technology that we use to help train the world’s best athletes.
FINA changed the rules on swimsuits on 1st January 2010. This effectively banned full body polyurethane swimsuits which had been blamed for the overwhelming number of world records in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 Rome World Championships. Nunzio Lanotte wrote a guest blog on this very subject and concluded that perhaps we shouldn’t worry since overall performances seemed to be continuing anyway. One thing that is only just becoming evident, however, is that records made during the swimsuit era may be difficult to break.
The common perception of engineering and sport is that of shiny new bikes, aerodynamic helmets and sleek bobsleds. I often get asked, “isn’t it just the best equipment that wins now, rather than the athlete?” The answer – as far as I’m concerned – is obviously “no” and I’ve spent my working life in the field of sports engineering. I’ll explain why.
Skeleton bobsleigh simulation using ANSYS (formerly Fluent) CFD, and Ensight software. Skeleton and slider model of Kristan Bromley created from 3D laser scanning and surfacing with Geomagic Studio.
Figure 1. The new roof on Wimbledon's Centre Court has been claimed to slow the ball down, make the ball heavier and make the air more humid, none of which quite adds up (picture from the Guardian, 2009).
The comments made about the new roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court have puzzled me. The Wall Street Journal and the Times had the headline “Wimbledon Roof Slows Balls Down” while the Daily Mail had “How Centre Court’s new roof puts a dampener on Andy Murray’s serve” (I admit that I’m quoted in this one). One comment suggested that “due to the increase in humidity when the roof is closed, balls are heavier and travel slightly slower through the air“.
Well, I’ve done a lot of work for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on ball impacts, aerodynamics and surfaces and the comments above are physically contradictory (although not necessarily obvious). I want to explain the contradictions and in the process figure out what happens when the roof closes to make the players complain that the ball is slowing down. Hawkeye data has shown the ball to be travelling up to 5 mph slower when it reaches the reciever if the roof is shut.
Well, it’s all over. And what an amazing day it was. It was exhausting trying to work out who was staying up and what the scenarios were. Here is what happened drawn as a polar time plot of the 5 teams that were in danger of relegation.
Figure 1. 1st Half of Survival Sunday: polar chart of the league table . Teams are identified by their colours with 19th place at the inside and 15th place at the outside. The numbers on the outside indicate minutes and the dotted line shows the relegation zone. (Tip - follow individual teams around the circle to see how they fared during the half.)
Survival Sunday is almost upon us and my earlier post on the number of scenarios appears to have stirred up feelings – see The Premier League: predicting who will go down (and the strange case of scenario no. 55). To recap, there are 5 teams separated by only one point who could all get relegated to the Championship. I calculated that there are 81 possible scenarios based on a simple win, draw or lose. I then worked out the percentage of the scenarios in which the teams went down (see Figure 1 below) such that overall the chances of relegation are Rovers 11%, Wolves 24%, Birmingham 48%, Blackpool 58%, and Wigan 67%.
The main criticism of this approach was that it didn’t take into account goal difference or the number of goals scored. In particular, it was easy to point out that Wigan, say, could significantly improve their chances by scoring a couple of goals at demoralised Stoke. So I decided to have a look at potential scores in the games on Sunday to answer the basic question:
What does my team have to do to escape relegation?
Figure 1. The chances of relegation based upon the number of scenarios out of 81 in which the team goes down.
As a Blackburn Rovers season ticket holder I can’t believe that it’s come down to the last game of the season. By 5.45pm on Sunday 22nd May 2011, two of five teams currently separated by only a single point will have been relegated from the Premier league (Table 1). Comments from mates like “you’ll be safe” or “you’re too good to go down” don”t help when it comes down to a single game that can make or break your season. So what are the chances of Blackburn – or indeed any of the bottom teams – joining West Ham by going down on Sunday?
- Table1. The Premier League Table 2010/11.
What do physicists think about when they’re running? I’m currently training for my first marathon (gulp) which gives me a lot of time to think. Running around Sheffield, most of the time I think about how unfair it is that there is another hill and wonder why it is that the wind is always against me no matter which direction I’m going in. Generally, when I’m running all the blood seems to flee my brain so mental calculations take an awful long time: here are just a couple that keep me occupied on my long training runs.
We have known for quite some time here at Sheffield Hallam University the value of using sport to teach science. Sport is ideal for grabbing people’s attention and getting them interested in science, engineering and technology. We often do public lectures which are always packed out by people interested in sport who also want to know more about the science. We explain complex scientific problems and the hard bit is usually trying to stop the questions at the end. If you’re thinking about using sport to teach science (especially as the Olympics approaches) then here are some resources that might float your boat.
Enjoy!
Sports Lab: our very own interactive exhibit in Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum on the science behind the medals.
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