CHAPTER ONE WHAT IS SPORTS SCIENCE A scientist attaches a series of gray The pitcher picks up a baseball and marble-sized spheres to a pitcher’s body enters a laboratory Cameras and computers surround him He stands on a square of green turf Across the room is a broad net The pitcher enters his stance He goes into his throwing motion He hurls the ball at top speed into the net Motion capture technology can help baseball players and other athletes study their performance 5
As he moves dots on a computer screen light up The cameras track the gray spheres They send this data to the computer The computer program draws the scene in 3D It connects the dots to form a skeleton Every tiny movement is tracked After a few pitches the athlete and a scientist study the data They look for areas for improvement They find the most efficient pitching motion Together they have turned raw data into a useful tool Their work is an example of sports science and technology in action 6 Smart Egg Sports scientists use a wide variety of technologies to help them do their jobs One high-tech tool is called a BOD POD It looks like a giant egg A person sits inside the pod The BOD POD measures changes in air volume and pressure It uses this information to estimate body volume and body weight These numbers show how dense a person’s body is Muscle is more dense than fat The BOD POD can estimate what percentage of a person’s body is made up of fat Knowing this can help athletes track how well they are meeting their fitness goals
without block upward force forward force starting block upward force forward force The Biomechanics of a Starting Block Biomechanists study the forces acting on an athlete They find ways athletes can use these forces to improve their performance This illustration shows a runner starting with and without the use of a starting block Which runner will be able to get a quicker start The scientist is a biomechanist Biomechanists study the forces that act on an athlete’s body They study how muscles and bones move Different 7
