| Whilst numerous investigations have explored the physical demands
placed upon competitive sportspeople from a wide array of sports little
is known about the physical demands placed on lawn bowlers. The purpose
of this study was to ascertain the movement activities of Australian
representative singles and pairs players and to determine the frequency
and duration of these activities. One match each of two male and two
female players (one singles and one pairs player per gender) were
videotaped during an international tournament. During playback of
the videotaped matches (n = 4), a single observer coded the players'
activities into five distinct categories (waiting, walking forward,
walking backward, jogging and bowling) using a computerised video
editing system (Gamebreaker™ Digital Video Analysis System). Field
calibration of players over 30m for forward motions and 15m for the
backward motion was performed to allow for the estimation of total
distance covered during the match. Heart rate was monitored during
each match. The duration of a match was found to be (mean ± SD) 1hr
28 ± 15mins. The total distance covered during each match was 2093
± 276m. The mean percentage of match time spent in each motion was:
waiting, 61.8 ± 9.3%; walking forward, 22.3 ± 5.6%; walking backward,
2.0 ± 0.4%; jogging, 1.1 ± 0.5%; and bowling, 8.5 ± 4.2%. Average
heart rate was found to be 57 ± 7% of age-predicted HRmax with a maximum
of 78 ± 9% of age-predicted HRmax. The results of this study suggest
that playing lawn bowls at an international level requires light-moderate
intensity activity similar to that reported for golf.
KEY
WORDS: Frequency, mean duration, heart rate, energy expenditure.
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