An Investigation Into Kicking in Women's Australian Football
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An Investigation into Kicking in Women’s Australian Football Emily Elizabeth Cust Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science Bachelor of Business (Sport Management) Bachelor of Applied Science – Human Movement (Honours) Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Professor Sam Robertson Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Kevin Ball Co-supervisor: Dr. Alice J. Sweeting The Institute for Health and Sport (IHES) Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia & Western Bulldogs Football Club, Melbourne, Australia March 2020 Victoria University Student Declaration I, Emily Cust, declare that the PhD thesis by Publication entitled An investigation into kicking in women’s Australian football is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature Date: 27/03/2020 ii Abstract In Australian Rules football (AF), kick skill performance involvements, notably the drop punt, are statistically strong contributors towards team match success. The start of a National women’s AF competition (AFLW) in 2017 created opportunity for new knowledge to be established around the characteristics of AFLW athletes’ skilled performances. Using developments in inertial measurement unit (IMU) technology and analytical methods, this thesis takes a multi-disciplinary approach to analysing AFLW skilled performances and subsequently proposes a concept of a semi-automated AF kick type classification system for skill monitoring in an applied environment. Specifically, the thesis: 1) evaluates the research literature on machine learning for sport-specific movement recognition, 2) determines the importance of AFLW athlete skilled performance indicator contributions during match play, 3) defines AFLW drop punt kick kinematics, and 4) evaluates AF kick type classification models using IMUs as a proof-of-concept to support further developments in the area. Understanding analytical methods previously implemented with IMU or computer vision data and the evaluated capacity of these models in sport-specific movement recognition literature, is important in the adaptation for, and application towards new problems in sport. The first part of this thesis focuses on the experimental set-up, data pre-processing, and model development methods in the relevant literature on recognition of sport-specific movements in-field using IMU or computer vision technology. Of the 52 studies identified, 29 used IMUs, 22 used vision data and one study integrated both technologies. Supervised machine learning models were the dominant approach for developing sport specific movements recognition systems. Although nine studies implemented deep learning iii algorithms which comparatively indicated superior results to machine learning models, and demonstrated the advantages and potential of these model types. This study also highlights the importance of considering the model and overall system development in relation to the targeted sports movement(s) when progressing future research in the field. The applications of IMUs for sport skill recognition and subsequently performance analysis in-situation demonstrated in the literature may be beneficial in AF. As AF matches are technically skilled in nature, this thesis sought to investigate relationships of AFLW athlete skill performances in explaining team quarter and match success which knowledge was previously limited. Performance indicator distributions in explaining match quarter outcomes show the strongest skilled contributions from key high performing athletes, and the overall team strongest features related to kick performance indicators. Considering the importance of the kick in AF, the thesis then continued to define the kinematics of AFLW athlete’s drop punt kicks across leg preferences which was unknown. Several key differences from men’s AF kicks were found, also, women’s kick movement patterns quantified which is beneficial for specific coaching practices. Developments in IMU use for sport-specific movement recognition through machine learning models demonstrate advantages in sporting performance analysis applications. In the final section, these technological developments are investigated for the concept of a semi-automated AF kick monitoring system using IMUs. The work is applied in an AFLW training environment as a unique study for capturing the importance kick skill performance towards team match success and differentiation from men’s AF kick biomechanics. The findings indicate that kick types can be sufficiently distinguished from one another which creates scope for further applied work in AF training sessions. Overall, the work in this thesis is the first to establish the biomechanical characteristics of elite women’s AF kicks and enhances the knowledge of skilled performances in the AFLW. Furthermore, it is the first to implement IMUs for on- iv field AF kick recognition. Increasing automation in sport-specific movement recognition can be applied in AF kick skill monitoring; particularly as a unique forefront in AFLW sport science applications towards kick performance improvement. The methods used and findings of this thesis can also be transferred to other elite women’s team sporting leagues involving kicking actions such as Rugby and Gaelic football. v Acknowledgements Well that was a three-year journey that packed a punch! Reflecting on what I have learnt, experienced, and shared has been a real eye-opener on where I first started to where and who I am now. There are most certainly many people who I am so grateful for in getting me to the finish line and beyond. It is no secret that I had The Dream Team of supervisors. Thank you so much to Professor Sam Robertson for the opportunity to undertake my studies with a great team and alongside the inaugural AFLW competition with the Western Bulldogs. I am incredibly grateful for all your hard work, guidance, and knowledge passed on during the last four years. Secondly, to Associate Professor Kevin Ball; I’m sure your humour and calmness kept me sane during my biomechanics study when I couldn’t bear to label another Vicon dot again and analysis wasn’t always working out! Thank you for the wealth of knowledge you passed on in kicking biomechanics, Vicon, and conference presentations. Last but not least, thank you to Dr. Alice Sweeting for your super paper edits, study design and writing knowledge, football liaising, plus all the support and kind words. Also, thank you to Professor Rob Aughey for having me as part of the FIFA research team; it was an incredible learning experience that I will remember forever. I feel very fortunate to have been able to complete my PhD with Victoria University and the Western Bulldogs football club. Thank you to all those as at IHeS who work in supporting all research students, furthermore to all the technical staff who helped during my research. Thanks to Suus Ellens for always being a friendly face and willing to give me a hand with my projects. Working in a professional sporting club was a fantastic experience and I’d like to particularly thank Chris Grant, Paul Groves, Debbie Lee, Jason Smith, and all the AFLW players that made my time at the Bulldogs a rewarding one. The W202 crew at Whitten Oval made the last three years awesome with many laughs, extended balcony lunch breaks, support for one another, and office baking! Thanks Elissa Denton for all the coffee chats and great cooking. When the heartbreak of cancer hit our family during 2019, Mum was still my rock and never let me lose sight of my goals when I was so close to finishing my studies and I didn’t want to leave her side. Big love to my sister Sarah for all the hugs whilst we kept ourselves grounded; congrats on getting to the Dr. before me! vi Table of Contents Victoria University Student Declaration .......................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................vi Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii List of Publications and Presentations ..............................................................................xi Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables .....................................................................................................................xiv List of Figures ....................................................................................................................xvi Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Aims of the Thesis .......................................................................................................... 3 Chapter Two: Review of Literature ..................................................................................