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- SMU Faculty Expert: Peter Weyand
- Peter Weyand, Dept. Applied Physiology & Wellness
- Journal of Applied Physiology: “The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up”
- “The mass-specific energy cost of human walking is set by stature”
- SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory
- Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
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Center for Creative Leadership to study innovative learning method of SMU Lyle School of EngineeringJournalist Eric Nicholson with the Dallas Observer covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.
The coverage, “Mark Cuban and SMU Are Teaming Up for an Important Scientific Study of NBA Flopping,” was posted June 7.
Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.
The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”
The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.
EXCERPT:
Eric Nicholson
Dallas Observer
Taking a charge in basketball is an art, and it has been for a long time. A not-insignificant portion of high school basketball practices — at least as of a decade ago — are dedicated to training players on coming to an abrupt stop, setting one’s feet just so, and falling as if they’ve been clothes-lined by a freight train. Taking a charge at the right moment can turn a game.Charges used to be much rarer than they are today, and it’s fairly widely acknowledged that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the defensive player, who can draw a whistle by flailing wildly to the ground at the lightest touch.
The NBA has been cracking down on flopping this season, and Commissioner David Stern hopes to increase the penalties against players who do so. The $5,000 fine recently laid on LeBron James isn’t much of a disincentive for someone making $33 million per year.
Complicating matters is the fact that it isn’t always easy to discern who’s faking it and who’s really getting knocked on their ass. To help referees and league officials figure that out, SMU announced today that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is chipping in $100,000 to fund an 18-month academic study on the biomechanics of flopping.
“The issues of collisional forces, balance and control in these types of athletic settings are largely uninvestigated,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand says in a press release. “There has been a lot of research into balance and falls in the elderly, but relatively little on active adults and athletes.”
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SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.
SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.
Book a live interview
|
To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu. |
Related links
- SMU Faculty Expert: Peter Weyand
- Peter Weyand, Dept. Applied Physiology & Wellness
- Journal of Applied Physiology: “The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up”
- “The mass-specific energy cost of human walking is set by stature”
- SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory
- Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
More SMU Research news
Business Insider covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.
The coverage, “Mark Cuban Is Funding A Scientific Study To End Flopping In The NBA,” was posted June 7.
Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.
The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”
The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.
EXCERPT:
Business Insider
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is funding a scientific study into flopping in basketball.The study will be conducted by biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University, and it will look into exactly what makes a flop, a flop.
From the university website:
“The researchers will look at how much force is required to cause a legitimate loss of balance. They’ll also examine to what extent players can influence the critical level of force via balance and body control. They will also explore techniques by which the forces involved in collisions might be estimated from video or other motion capture techniques.”
Flopping has become an unseemly part of the NBA game.
The league started fining and publicly shaming floppers this season, but it hasn’t stopped some high-profile flopping incidents in the playoffs.
Right now, determining whether some is or isn’t a flop is largely subjective. It sounds like Cuban and SMU are trying to define the bounds of flopping with science.
Cool!
Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.
For more information, www.smuresearch.com.
SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.
SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.
Book a live interview
|
To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu. |
Related links
- SMU Faculty Expert: Peter Weyand
- Peter Weyand, Dept. Applied Physiology & Wellness
- Journal of Applied Physiology: “The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up”
- “The mass-specific energy cost of human walking is set by stature”
- SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory
- Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
More SMU Research news
NOvA neutrino detector in Minnesota records first 3-D particle tracks in search to understand universe
Parenting program tackles child abuse and neglect among formerly homeless familiesESPN covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.
The coverage, “Cuban funds flopping study,” was posted June 7.
Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.
The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”
The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.
EXCERPT:
ESPN
While NBA commissioner David Stern says the league needs to expand its anti-flopping rules, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is funding a study on the practice.David Stern’s NBA has been aggressively progressive, moving early on everything from globalization, a number of race issues, women in sports, drug testing and many kinds of technology. And now it’s ready to lead the way again, writes Henry Abbott.
One of Cuban’s companies has provided $100,000 to Southern Methodist University for an 18-month investigation of the forces involved in basketball collisions. The goal is to figure out whether video or other motion-capture techniques can distinguish between legitimate collisions and instances of flopping.
“The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team, said in a statement.
Cuban tweeted: “Is it a flop? Let the scientists figure it out . im paying for the research to find out.”
Stern said Thursday that stronger flopping penalties will be on the agenda when the NBA’s competition committee meets next week in San Antonio.
This season, the league instituted a video-review system that retroactively fined players for flopping. But only five players were fined $5,000 apiece in the regular season, and seven more have been fined that amount in the playoffs.
Dirk Nowitzki joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live in studio to discuss the moves he expects the Mavericks to make this summer, what his pitch would be to Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, and his upcoming Heroes Celebrity baseball game.
Stern hinted at increasing the penalty for those found guilty of flopping.
“It isn’t enough, it isn’t enough,” Stern said in his annual pre-NBA Finals news conference. “You’re not going to cause somebody to stop it for $5,000 when the average player’s salary is $5.5 million. And anyone who thought that was going to happen was allowing hope to prevail over reason.”
Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.
For more information, www.smuresearch.com.
SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.
SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.
Study will investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data
Book a live interview
|
To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu. |
Related links
- SMU Faculty Expert: Peter Weyand
- Peter Weyand, Dept. Applied Physiology & Wellness
- Journal of Applied Physiology: “The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up”
- “The mass-specific energy cost of human walking is set by stature”
- SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory
- Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
More SMU Research news
Biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University have teamed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to carry out a scientific study of the unsavory practice of player flopping in basketball and other sports.
Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.
The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”
The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU, Dallas.
“The issues of collisional forces, balance and control in these types of athletic settings are largely uninvestigated,” said SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team. “There has been a lot of research into balance and falls in the elderly, but relatively little on active adults and athletes.”
The objective of the research is to investigate the forces involved in typical basketball collisions, said Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.
Study to look at force, motion in basketball collisions
Other members of the SMU research team include: research engineer and physicist Laurence Ryan; Kenneth Clark, doctoral student in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory; and mechanical engineer Geoffrey Brown.
The researchers will look at how much force is required to cause a legitimate loss of balance. They’ll also examine to what extent players can influence the critical level of force via balance and body control. They will also explore techniques by which the forces involved in collisions might be estimated from video or other motion capture techniques.
The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines, Weyand said. “It may be possible to enhance video reviews by adding a scientific element, but we won’t know this until we have the data from this study in hand.”
Weyand is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research integrating the biomechanical and physiological basis of athletic performance has advanced scientific understanding and stimulated evidence-based approaches to performance and training practices across the globe.
Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.
For more information, www.smuresearch.com.
SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.
SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.
Peter Weyand, an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics, was part of a team of experts in biomechanics and physiology that conducted experiments on Oscar Pistorius. The South African bilateral amputee track athlete has made world headlines trying to qualify for races against runners with intact limbs, including the Olympics.
The team just released their full findings in the “Journal of Applied Physiology.” Some of the findings were previously confidential and are being released now for the first time. The findings were presented earlier to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland in May of 2008.
Reporter Jeannine Stein of the Los Angeles Times reported July 1 on the new findings.
Excerpt:
By Jeannine Stein
Los Angeles Times
Oscar Pistorius is faster on two prosthetic legs than many are on two intact legs, which makes some people believe those legs give the South African athlete an advantage.While controversy has been simmering about the curved “Cheetah” carbon fiber legs for some time, a new study comparing various aspects of his athletic performance with able-bodied runners sheds some light on the situation. Ultimately, however, it might also make things even muddier.
Pistorius has competed (and won medals) for years in the Paralympics, but in 2007 he ran in an international competition against able-bodied runners. That year the International Assn. of Athletics Federations placed a ban on technical devices incorporating springs, wheels or other elements that could give a benefit to the user, although it denied the ban was linked to Pistorius.
Related links:
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Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development