Sports Engineering Student Project Competition 2015

Eligibility:

This competition is open to undergraduate, masters, and PhD students of years 2014 and 2015 at any institution of higher education in the world, who have undertaken an individual project on a sports engineering topic. Individual projects are defined as work wherein the student was the primary contributor (e.g., would be considered ‘first author’ if the work was published).

Submission

This is in two stages:

First stage deadline, 1 August 2015: submission of the abstract in English taken from the project report. Submissions should be sent to the following: nadine.lippa@eagles.usm.edu. All candidates will be advised of the outcomes on or about the 1 September 2015. Short listed candidates will be invited to enter the second stage.

Second stage deadline, 1 October 2015: by invitation, submission of an electronic copy of the project report in English. Submissions should be sent to the following: nadine.lippa@eagles.usm.edu. Final winners will be notified on 1 November 2015.

Judging:  This will be carried by members of the Executive Committee of the ISEA. Judging criteria will be based on originality of the project, the quality of the work, and its presentation.

Prizes:  First prize will be a certificate together with a cheque for £100 and full membership of the ISEA for one year.  Second prize will be a certificate and full membership of the ISEA for one year.

For further information see the ISEA website at www.sportsengineering.org or by direct contact with the organiser, Nadine Lippa via nadine.lippa@eagles.usm.edu.

The winners have been announced in the ISEA Image Competition 2013/14. The competition was an opportunity for those involved in sports engineering, science, and technology to showcase their work. Conveying the outstanding research and consultancy that is being conducted in sports engineering today.

Best in show was awarded to Jorge Santana Cabrera from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, for his short film titled “Swimmers Bubbles”. This shows his work into the study of entry angle into the water of a swimmers hand during crawl stroke. As Cabrera explains “The object of the filmed frames are the study of the incoming angle of the swimmer hand into the water during the crawl stroke style. This work is conducted to analyse turbulence generation during the contact between water and hand. The footage can then be shown to the swimmers to demostrate the affect of hand entry angle. For a clear view of the turbulence phenomena, a film filter software has been used and a “Detect Borders” filter has been selected. So, the water and bubbles generated from the stroke are clearly observed.”

[evp_embed_video url=”https://www.sportsengineering.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Jorge_Santana_Cabrera_Swim.mp4″ width=”700″]

The Best in Photographic award went to Nick Hamilton for his image of a mountain biker jumping a five foot shark fin, titled “Jumping the Shark”. This is an idiom that was born when the nostalgic American TV series Happy Days, a show based on family life, had the lead character, The Fonz, perform a stunt where he jumped over a captive shark on water skis, in an attempt to boost failing ratings. The idiom has now become synonymous with the moment a brands evolution of design, or creative effort, declines, and the brand in turn resorts to hype and gimmick. As Hamilton explains “Working as a full time Sports Engineer, developing and analysing the performance of sports equipment in the minutest of detail, I understand the impact this has in a sporting context. It was with great interest that I once listened to a large sporting goods manufacture detail how they spent 5% of their turnover on R&D and product development, while 45% was spent on marketing. Naively I had believed that the performance of the products was paramount and that solving problems and addressing needs were key. My bubble had been burst; they created the need and addressed only part of it. They regularly ‘Jumped the Shark’. In taking this photo we had lots of fun, thinking it up, setting up and getting the shot; just riding our bikes. In essence we loved jumping the shark but as Sports Engineers we really couldn’t care less about ‘Jumping the Shark’. “

Best in Computer Generated category went to Dr Marcus Dunn for his image showcasing his work in markerless measurement of step and movement strategy during elite match-play tennis. As Dunn explains “current knowledge of tennis player-surface interactions is limited. The analysis of player step and movement strategy during match-play tennis will improve knowledge of player-surface interactions”. The image demonstrates the application of a video-based method for measuring a player’s step and movement strategy during elite, match-play tennis. This application is the direct result of Dunn’s PhD project that developed a single camera method for measuring step and movement strategy in sport. The method does not require the application of sensors or markers, e.g. video-based, allowing analyses to be performed in situ, without interfering players. The method represents a flexible approach to gait analysis which could be used for different applications, ranging from sport to surveillance.

Ten best in show runners up were also awarded to:

• Sarah Carter, Griffith University
• Takeshi Asai, Tsukuba Univ.
• Jeffery Kensrud , Washington State University Sports Science Laboratory
• Matthiis Eversdijk, TU Delft
• Joost Pluijms, VU University Amsterdam
• Chantal Tutein Nolthenius, InnoSportNL
• Adeline Drillon, INSA Lyon
• Sean Clarkson, CSER, Sheffield Hallam University
• Andy Hext, CSER, Sheffield Hallam University
• Heather Driscoll, CSER, Sheffield Hallam University

Congratulations to all who won!

Sport England award hopes to help make sport accessible to more people

September 15, 2014 marks the opening for entries to a new Sports Technology Design award.  The competition, which is the brainchild of the Sports Technology Awards and is being supported by Sport England, is hoping to unearth a design that gets more young people, women or disabled people  doing sport.

Awards Director, Rebecca Hopkins, explained ‘The Sports Technology Awards has been embraced by the sector and whilst it is exciting to celebrate excellence within the sector, we felt we could add value by prompting innovation at a practical level too. Sport England shared our vision and helped us shape something that has tangible value both for the person or body behind a design but for large numbers of end users too.’

Tanya Joseph, Director of Business Partnerships Sport England, added ‘Sport England is committed to get as many people involved in sport as possible. This means tackling the barriers which get in the way, that is why we have issued this challenge to designers as this is a real issue they can help us overcome.’

Entries for the award are encouraged from UK-based individuals, academic institutions and SMEs with the winner receiving a £10,000 bursary to help them further develop their product.

Submissions are via the Sports Technology Awards website (www.sportstechnologyawards.com) and are open until 30 November 2014. The shortlist will be announced in late January 2015 with the successful entry being revealed at the awards ceremony on 27 March in Central London.

For more information about the challenge please email yasmin@ensltd.com or if you would like to know more about the awards, please visit www.sportstechnologyawards.com.

Criteria and minimum Terms and Conditions of the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge

Entry Criteria:

1. To enter the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge, access and complete the entry form. Only fully completed entry forms will be accepted.
2. Entries are limited to 1500 words and 5 attachments. Entries exceeding the word limit will be automatically marked down by the judges.
3. Entries must be submitted online via the Sports Technology Awards website.
4. Please provide contact details of a representative who can answer any enquiries on the entry form.
5. All entries must be submitted by November 30th 2014.
6. The competition is open to UK based entrants.
7. Entries will be accepted by those who have a new concept, product or service that will facilitate an increase of participation in sport, especially for women, young people or disabled people.
8. The project can be at any stage of development – from inception of the idea to the distribution of product.
9. All applicants must be able to demonstrate ‘financial need’ for the funding and come under one of the following criteria:

i.    A proposal at the idea stage which needs help to develop into a project

ii.    A project that needs support to become an effective product service

iii.    A product or service that is ready to be scaled up

10. Entry is open to enterprises of all sizes as well as individuals.
11. The winner will be awarded a grant of £10,000 (excl VAT) and will be required to enter into a funding agreement with Sport England.

Terms and Conditions:

1. The entry form represents the full and entire official entry. Attempts to influence the judges further by any means outside, or in addition to, the official entry may result in disqualification.
2. On receipt of an entry, the awards administrators will confirm its arrival via email. If a receipt is not received within three days, it is the responsibility of the entrant to contact the administrators to confirm its  arrival. Unless written or verbal confirmation has been received, the arrival of any entry cannot be guaranteed.
3. Entrants will be shortlisted, and then published on the Sports Technology Awards and Sport England websites in January 2015.
4. The final decision will be at the sole discretion of Sport England.
5. The winner will be announced during the Sport Technology Awards on 27th March 2015.
6. All entrants reaching the provisional shortlist will be contacted upon announcement to discuss their attendance. Entrants unable to commit to attendance at the awards ceremony may not be included in the final shortlist.
7. Details of the shortlisted entries will be published, including entry profiles using the information taken from the entry form. The names of the enterprises/individuals that are not shortlisted will not be revealed.
8. Funding can only be used for the purpose for which the prize is granted. Misuse on ineligible items of spend will result in the withdrawal of funding. Ineligible items include:                 

• Any personal expenditure including rent, salaries, food, bursary’s etc.
• Legal Fees
• Consultancy Fees

9. The grant recipient must be able to provide evidence of all spending to ensure no misuse.
10. The grant can be paid either in advance as one payment or split between two six-monthly payments.
11. The investment from Sport England must be recognised using the Sport England Sports Technology Design Challenge logo.

It’s been announced that the 11th conference of the International Sports Engineering Association will take place in Delft from 11th up to 14th of July 2016 at TU Delft.  Please visit the website for further information.

Professor Sadayuki Ujihashi was acknowledged as the newest ISEA Fellow at the Engineering of Sport conference dinner on Thursday 17 July 2014.

The new ISEA Executive Committee for the 2014-2016 term was announced during the Engineering of Sport Conference.  Details can be found on the Meet the Executive Committee page.

The members and officers of the ISEA Executive Committee (EC) are elected biennially, and the new committee announced at the ISEA Conference.

Nominations are now being received for members to stand for a position in the 2014-2016 committee. This is your chance to get involved in the running of the ISEA!

Please contact Alan Bramley or the ISEA office for further information.

The deadline for nominations is 1st June 2014.

Showcasing the best in sports science, engineering, and technology

The ISEA Image Competition 2013/14 is an opportunity open to all involved in sports engineering, science, and technology to showcase the best expertise in sport. We are looking for captivating and exciting images that convey and explain the outstanding research and consultancy being conducted in the field of sports science and engineering. Selected images will be exhibited at the ISEA Engineering of Sport 10 Conference, Sheffield 14-17th July 2014.

Categories

– Photographic (Still or motion)

– Computer Generated (Still or animation)

Closing Date:

– 30th April 2014

Prizes:

– Best In Show: £250

– Best In Category: £100

– 10 Runners Up: £25

For full details, please see here

Please see attached a scientific review on the potential for further technical improvements in
recreational alpine skiing. This has been written by Veit Senner, on behalf of the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu).

Alpine Skiing Scientific Review