title: Spatial Awareness is Related to Moderate Intensity Running during a Collegiate Rugby Match.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between spatial awareness, agility, and distance covered in global positioning system (GPS) derived velocity zone classifications during a collegiate rugby match. Twelve American collegiate rugby union players (mean±SD; age: 21.2±1.4 y; weight: 85.0±16.0 kg; 7 forwards & 5 backs) on a single team volunteered to participate in this investigation. The distances travelled at low (walking/jogging; <2.7m/s), moderate (cruising/striding; 2.7-5.0 m/s), and high intensities (running/sprinting; >5.0 m/s) were measured for each player using GPS sensors and normalized according to playing time during an official USA Rugby match. Spatial awareness was measured as visual tracking speed from one core session of a 3-dimensional multiple-object-tracking speed (3DMOTS) test (1.35±0.59 cm·sec-1). Agility was assessed utilizing the pro agility (5.05±0.28 sec) and t drill (10.62±0.39 sec). Analysis of variance revealed that athletes travelled the greatest distance during walking/jogging (39.5±4.5 m·min-1) and least distance during running/sprinting (4.9±3.5 m·min-1). Pearson product moment correlations revealed that only distance covered while cruising/striding (20.9±6.5 m·min-1) was correlated to spatial awareness (r=0.798, p=0.002). Agility did not correlate to distance covered at any velocity zone or spatial awareness. Spatial awareness, as determined by 3DMOTS, appears to be related to the moderate intensity movement patterns of rugby union athletes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Kyle S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Beyer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Amelia M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Miramonti
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Mattan W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: LA Monica
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Josh J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Riffe
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA; Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, JAPAN.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanigawa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Stout
authors.affiliation: Institute of Exercise Physiology and Wellness, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Jay R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hoffman
keywords: Agility performance; movement patterns; multiple object tracking