A CASE STUDY OF A BEACH FLAGS START TECHNIQUE VARIATION IN ELITE SPRINTERS

Robert G. Lockie, Samuel J. Callaghan, Matthew D. Jeffriess, William M. Vickery

DOI Number
10.22190/FUPES1702249L
First page
249
Last page
259

Abstract


Beach flags are a surf lifesaving event that involves a 20-meter sprint across sand. Sprinters begin in a prone position, facing the opposite direction to the intended sprint, before rising and turning to sprint and dive to capture a flag positioned in the sand. The typical start involves posterior movement away from the start line during the turn. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that beach flags sprinters can use variations to the start technique documented in the literature. Therefore, this research provided a case study of a start variation termed the pivot start. One male (age = 19 years; height = 1.74 m; mass = 66 kilograms), and one female (age = 23 years; height = 1.68 m; mass = 57 kilograms) elite sprinter were analyzed. A high-speed camera filmed the start. The analyzed data included: start time; hip and shoulder height during the turn; feet spacing; elbow, hip, knee, trunk lean, and trajectory angles at take-off, and descriptive statistics were derived. The analysis showed that the sprinters had no posterior movement behind the start line as they kept one leg on the start line, while the other leg was swung about the body so the sprinter rotated about the pivot leg. The rotatory start movements placed both sprinters into an effective, low body position for acceleration, indicated by trunk lean (~60°) and trajectory angle (~47°). These unique movement patterns should be trained accordingly for beach flags sprinters that use the pivot start.

Keywords

acceleration, biomechanics, sprinting, sprint start, surf lifesavingacceleration, biomechanics, sprinting, sprint start, surf lifesaving

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References


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