Effect of the Environment on the Sport Performance
Alessandro Pezzoli
1,2
, Elena Cristofori
2,3
, Matteo Moncalero
2,4
, Fiorella Giacometto
2,5
and Andrea Boscolo
2
1
DIATI, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy
2
MeteoSport, Sport Psychology Research Unit, Motor Science Research Centre, School of Motor and Sport Sciences,
University of Turin, P.zza Bernini 12, Torino, Italy
3
DIST, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Mattioli 39, Castello del Valentino, Torino, Italy
4
DICAM, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Via Terraccini 28, Bologna, Italy
5
Ospedale Cottolengo, Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza, Via S. Giuseppe Cottolengo 14, 10152, Torino, Italy
1 OBJECTIVES
The effect of weather and environmental conditions
on sports has been extensively studied over the last
few years (Thornes, 1977); (Spelmann, 1996);
(Pezzoli et al., 2010); (Fleming et al., 2010). Based
upon the studies of Lobozewicz (1981) and of Kay
and Vamplew (2002), Pezzoli and Cristofori (2008)
have studied the impact of some specific
environmental parameters over different sports using
a particular impact index divided into five classes.
This analysis clearly shows that most of the
outdoor sport activities, and in particular endurance
sports, are strongly influenced by the variation of
meteorological parameters. In effect the evaluation
of bio-climatological conditions and of thermal
comfort in endurance sports, particularly in road
cycling, has a fundamental importance not only for a
proper planning of the training program and the
nutritional plan, but also for a better evaluation of
the race strategy (Olds et al., 1995). Despite these
observations, the influence of meteorological and
environmental conditions is often disregarded in the
outdoor sport performance assessment.
Among the meteorological variables that
strongly influence the sporting activity the most
important are temperature, wind, precipitation, fog,
atmospheric pressure and relative humidity. The
usefulness of weather forecasts in performance
sports management has been demonstrated by
Pezzoli and Cristofori (2008) and Pezzoli et al.
(2012a). The results obtained by the Authors show
us how the role of the meteorological parameters
becomes crucial for sporting activities carried out in
an outdoor environment.
The aim of this paper is to assess how much
atmospheric variables may influence both the
athletic performance and the comfort level for
different sport disciplines. The availability of these
specific information leads to a more detailed
knowledge of the area of interest and opens up the
possibility of making considerations on past trends,
as well as on the predictability of future situations
and phenomena.
2 METHODS
Based on Lobozewicz (1981), Kay and Vamplew
(2002) and Pezzoli and Cristofori (2008) studies, we
conducted a qualitative-quantitative assessment of
the influence of environmental variables on sport
performance using the Haddon matrix (Haddon,
1980).
William Haddon Jr developed his conceptual
model, the Haddon matrix, in 1980. Since that time,
the matrix has been used as a tool to assist in
developing ideas for preventing injuries of many
types.
The application of the Haddon matrix in the field
of the sports activities allows to determine the
factors that mostly affect the performance, such as
(Figure 1):
Personal factors (psychophysical preparation);
Vector or Agent Factors (materials and
opponent);
Physical Environmental factors (meteorological
and environmental analysis). Hereafter the
“Physical Environmental factors” will be called
“environmental parameters” and they will be
referred to meteorological parameters (i.e.: air
temperature, air humidity, wind, rain, etc…) that
affect the sport performance;
Socio-environmental factors (of internal and
external social environment).
167
Pezzoli A., Cristofori E., Moncalero M., Giacometto F. and Boscolo A..
Effect of the Environment on the Sport Performance.
DOI: 10.5220/0004643201670170
In Proceedings of the International Congress on Sports Science Research and Technology Support (EESP-2013), pages 167-170
ISBN: 978-989-8565-79-2
Copyright
c
2013 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
This study illustrates the different methodologies
used for the analysis of the environmental
parameters during the different temporal phases of a
specific sport event. During the pre-event phase a
climatological and statistical analysis proves to be
the most suitable. On the other hand, during the
event a deterministic forecast methodology,
associated with very short-term numerical weather
prediction models, is suggested. Finally in the post-
event phase meteorological measurements can be
used, if available, for refining the performance
analysis (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Haddon matrix.
If the environmental parameters are not taken
into account, one column would be missing within
the Haddon matrix and hence an error would be
produced using the performance assessment model.
The importance of Environmental Analysis for
sport performance is often underestimated by
coaches and managers. This is mostly due to the lack
of knowledge about the added value brought by
innovative techniques for measuring environmental
variables and for predicting meteorological
parameters.
The different time-scales for a proper
environmental analysis and the weather forecasting
during a general sport event can be divided as
follows:
Long term (up to 30 days before the event);
Medium term (from 30 days before the event to 8
days before the event);
Short term (from 8 days to 6 hours before the
event);
Very short term (from 6 hours before the event
until the ‘action’).
This subdivision, and the related weather forecast,
have to be used with regard to the possibilities
offered by each Sports’ Rule for what concerns the
use of meteorological information.
With this kind of meteorological analysis, and
according to the Haddon matrix, a proper assessment
of the environmental parameter is assured.
A series of in-depth focus groups conducted with
different stakeholders (athletes, coaches, managers,
performance analysts) coming from the main
National Sports Federations of the Italian Olympic
Committee (CONI) have allowed us to determine the
importance of meteorological variables and the
impact of different time-scales weather forecasts on
the general performance for several sports (Pezzoli
et al., 2012b; Arpino and Pezzoli, 2012).
In particular the following disciplines have been
analyzed:
Cycling: road;
Rowing;
Canoe & Kayak;
Athletics: Marathon & Race Walks;
Modern Pentathlon;
Equestrian Sports;
Tennis;
Archery;
Shooting Sports;
Triathlon;
Sailing.
3 RESULTS
The analysis of the data extracted from the focus
groups, showed that all sports studied are strongly
influenced by the following meteorological
variables:
Temperature;
Humidity;
Wind.
Some sports, and among them we can mention
tennis, cycling and, in general, all shooting
disciplines, are also influenced by rain and fog
(Table 1).
It was also observed the high impact that long-
term weather forecasting can have on all sports
considered (Table 1). This analysis leads us to
believe that all major sporting events (Olympics,
World Championships) are to be considered as “situ-
specific”.
As we will see below, it follows that athletes,
coaches and technicians can use a careful
climatological analysis to finalize the sports training
well in advance from the date of the event.
Finally, it was evaluated as the weather forecast
at different time’s term can be used to improve
sports performance (Table 2).
This further analysis confirms that the sports
training of an athlete should be considered as a
complex system where only the correct interaction
between information from different sources can lead
to the achievement of excellence’s performance.
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Table 1: Impact of meteorological parameters and meteorological forecast on the sport performance.
Table 2: Impact of weather forecast at different time scale on the improving of the sport performance (example for cycling
and rowing).
4 DISCUSSION
The performed analysis clearly shows that both
meteorological and environmental parameters can
have a significant impact on the sports performance
for outdoor events. Therefore the assessment
methodology presented can be considered as
innovative for applied sport research.
It follows that the Performance Analyst should
develop relevant competences needed for conducting
an integrated data analysis, taking into account the
environmental parameters as well.
Moreover the Performance Analyst have to take
care of the results’ communication of this integrated
performance data analysis to the coaches through
understandable and meaningful messages.
From the focus groups it was concluded that, in
the sports performance analysis, need to be
addressed, as well as the well-known areas of
Performance Analysis, which are (Figure 2):
EffectoftheEnvironmentontheSportPerformance
169
Motion Analysis
Match & Timing Analysis
Notational Analysis
also two new areas, namely:
Rule Analysis
Environmental Analysis
Figure 2: Wheel of the sport performance analysis.
These considerations are in agreement with
innovative researches carried out on the Team Sport
(Opatkiewicz et al., 2012); (Brocherie et al., 2012),
on the cycling (Pezzoli et al., 2012a), on the water
sport (Pezzoli et al., 2013) as well as in the winter
sports (Pezzoli et al., 2010); (Pepino, 2012).
Therefore National Sports Federation should pay
particular attention to train these specific
competencies in order to create sports operators that
can fill the role of Performance Analysts with the
necessary awareness. In addition the technicians will
need a specific and continuous education allowing
the achievement of the fundamental knowledge in
the field of environmental analysis.
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