The Beach Volleyball World Championships will take place in Hamburg from 28 June to 07 July 2019. After the gold medals at the Olympic Games 2012 and 2016, the German teams are again hoping for places on the podium. The teams will be supported by a game analysis program developed by the Chair of Perfomance Analysis and Sports Informatics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Journal article on psychological effects of failure
In the run-up to the World Championships, PD Dr. Daniel Link and Sebastian Wenninger analyse different strategies that the athletes can fall back on in competition. The staff of the chair of Prof. Dr. Martin Lames also considered whether an experience of failure leads to players changing their tactics. The study on the phenomenon called "Cold-Hand-Effect" in psychology was published in the journal "Frontiers in Psychology". The journal has an impact factor of 2,089.
"Beach volleyball is particularly suitable for investigating our question because both players are involved in every action. There is no possibility to change or to take something out after a failure", says the habilitated sports computer scientist Link.
Study with 965 beach volleyball games and a total of 79,422 rallies
The study looked at 965 beach volleyball matches with a total of 79,422 rallies during the FIVB World Tour and the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. The result: "If you were unsuccessful with a hard shot in the previous rally, you might play a targeted shot into the open area of the field in the next rally - or vice versa," says Link. The effect is more pronounced with women than with men.
Analysis of athletes for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020
Based on the findings, a detailed analysis of the world's best is now being carried out within the framework of the project "Data Mining in Beach Volleyball" (I1-070504/19-20) funded by the Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp). "Using methods of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we want to investigate whether individual players are subject to stereotypes in stressful situations," explains Link. The results can be used by the coaches of the German Volleyball Association (DVV) and their athletes to develop strategies that, at best, will again lead to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
To the Homepage of the Chair of Performance Analysis and Sports Informatics
To the article in "Frontiers in Psychology"
Contact:
PD Dr. Daniel Link
Chair of Performance Analysis and Sports Informatics
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Phone: 089 289 24498
E-Mail: Daniel.Link(at)tum.de
Text: Dr. Fabian Kautz
Pictures: André Goerschel; private