Biomechanical P ... Slalom Water Skiing R1.pdf - Atrium - University ...

There is a lack of quantitative experimental data for advanced water skiers available inthe literature. The study by Runciman (2011) focused on intermediate skiers and utilizedmethods that could be used to collect the desired quantitative results for advanced skiersbut lacked a controlled environment that would reduce the variables influencing theresults. The purpose of this study was to use a more controlled environment to improvethe quality of the data and provide quantitative results for advanced skiers. This data willfill a void found in literature and act as a tool for improved analysis of skier performance,which could be applied to optimize skier technique and ski design. This article willprovide details of the methods and equipment used to collect rope load and skier velocitydata for six advanced water skiers. It will also discuss how the results could be used toanalyze a skier’s performance and initiate a more advanced level of product design andcoaching techniques within the water ski industry.2 MethodsThis study was reviewed and received ethics approval for its human participation andwritten survey components by the University of Guelph Ethics Committee. Six malehuman participants were recruited based on their ability to meet the required testconditions. Test conditions were as follows, each subject had to be able to ski two passesof a slalom course on four different slalom skis in one test day. These test conditionsrestricted the classification of the subject pool to be advanced slalom skiers. A summaryof the subjects can be seen in Table 1.54