Sports Science and Technology

 

In shooting today there are often very little differences in scores between the first ten places. Yet, the difference between first and second place often impacts on the competitors significantly both in career and financial terms. For example, can you remember who came second behind Cathy Freeman’s 400 metre Gold run at the Sydney 2000 Olympics? In major pistol championships often a count-back is required to separate placing’s for the first ten places. So competitors are often turning to Sports Science for the answers in maintaining a competitive edge. From this perspective the most critical area of performance comes from the shooters psychological skills. This can be demonstrated by the mere fact that a world champion will probably outscore you with an out of the box pistol whilst you will struggle to reach a reasonable score with the world’s best pistol! However, there are many other aspects to shooting that will increase a shooters performance. If there even only small improvements in these areas the cumulative effect is an observable increase in performance. So what else is out there in Sports Science to assist the shooter?

 

Pistol shooters require a precise knowledge of the human skeleton and musculature in order to achieve a physical posture that can be maintained for several hours without undue stress. This is where Biomechanics comes into the Sports Science equation. Biomechanics studies the movement of the shooters body so that it can optimise the body’s movement to achieve optimal performance. Biomechanics also studies injury minimisation and assists in developing appropriate training modalities. Major sports institutions use specialised technologies and equipment such as force platforms and video analysis. These are usually available at their performance laboratories. Video analysis will often result in recommendations for technique changes so that there is the potential for greater shot accuracy. Force platforms will assist the target shooter in developing a more balanced stance however, these athletes need to be aware that if their body goes through substantial body changes (i.e. change in body weight) that they may need to be retested.

 

Now you may well say that you don’t have access to some of this type of equipment. Well, you may not have access to a force platform at your local shooting club. However, video cameras are readily available and can provide you with a substantial range of information. The key question to ask here is have you ever considered video taping yourself to increase your sports performance? If you have, when is the last time your coach video taped you whilst shooting? By observing your own performances it is often amazing what you can see and analyse. Ideally, this should still be done with the help of your club coach, who not only can point out areas for improvement but also has an understanding what should be placed on the video tape for analysis in the first place.

 

Sports Science has also impacted on clothing assesories for shooters. There are many specialist manufacturers who utilise sports science principles in their research in manufacturing product ranges to optimise performance. For example, the majority of shooting boots have been designed to keep up with the demands of modern sports orthopaedics. Many of these are suitable both as casual boots, worn at the intervals between competitions or as shooting boots for a variety of disciplines. They are designed to prevent pressure marks and some have heel cups with a wedge shaped base to avoid tiring of the feet even after long periods of standing. The Sauer Boot “Easy” for example includes wide anti-slip and inwardly arched soles to ensure optimal stance preventing the foot from slipping sideways or spraining. The elastic strip around the edge of the sole offer additional stability and also prevents the shoe from expanding too much. In addition, if that is not enough you can even get shooting socks to match!

 

Shooting glasses have also utilised sports science principles in allowing the shooter to focus on the front sight. With properly prescribed lenses and correct adjustment of the lens position on the shooting glasses, the shooter can see the sight with much less effort than without. This allows the shooter to concentrate on the front sight and shoot. In addition, there are other sport science devices on the shooting glasses that can help in different shooting situations, such as adjustable iris diaphragms, various colour filters, eye-shields for the non-aiming eye, side shields to block off stray light from the side, to name a few. Each of these devices has its own specific purpose, and they can only be utilised when a pair of shooting glasses are used.

 

Perhaps, the greatest level of technology available to shooters revolves around a range of commercially available training systems. These systems measure accurately the pistol’s orientation path on the target surface both before and after the shot, and record the shot itself. This path indicates how the shot was generated. The pistol orientation path can forecast the resulting score with remarkable accuracy, and it in fact can contain almost all the information required for technical evaluation of the performance. However, to utilise these properly it is highly recommended that you consult your coach. Analysis and technique correction still requires a level of expertise that many shooters simply do not posses. Generally these systems are based around a model to analyse the skill of shooters in an objective, reliable and understandable way. The Noptel Sport 2 system for example is based around their shot model. This model revolves around the interconnection of hold, aim and trigger control to influence a particular outcome or result. The software that this particular manufacturer provides allows for analysis of the success factors both in graphical and numerical form.

 

Sports Science also looks into nutrition as what and how you eat before and during a competition can have a large impact on your performance. For example, how well do you shoot half an hour after lunch, or what happens if you have a fatty pie for lunch? I have already in past articles touched upon this subject and would recommend that you revisit these. Hydration is also a major issue in shooting good scores. You are probably already aware that if your body is telling you that you are thirsty that it is probably already dehydrated by anything to up to 10%. What you may not be aware of is that your eyeballs are one of the first body parts to loose fluid and anything that impacts negatively on ones vision will affect performance! You may start to think that the answer lies in drinking copies amounts of water before matches. But did you know that drinking water also increases your heart rate and will elevate your blood pressure. This will have a negative impact on your performances especially in the precision events. So what can you do? The answer is to take small amounts on a regular basis and remember it is always better to be slightly over hydrated than dehydrated.

 

Finally, sports sciences can not only improve your performance but also can increase your enjoyment of life. It can assist you in getting fitter for general well being and can assist you in coping with stress outside of the sports arena. So Sports Science is not for the elite few but for all.

 

Good shooting

 

Dieter