New partnership measures up

Sport is filled with measurements like time, distance, speed and angles which provide data to inform daily training, performance interventions and competition strategies.

In high performance sport this might include a physiologist calculating sprinting speed to assess the effectiveness of a training program or a biomechanist evaluating movement patterns to see if a rehabilitation plan is improving range of motion.

If measurements are conducted poorly due to lack of awareness, poor process, or inferior technology, this can impact athlete performance.

A new partnership has been established between the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Legal Metrology Branch of the National Measurement Institute, opens in a new tab (NMI), Australia’s national authority on measurement, to develop a customised online education resource aimed at high performance sport. This initiative will help to ensure the high performance sport system remains at the top of its game when it comes to best practice in measurement methods.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will enable the two organisations to further the training and education on offer to the high performance sector in this critical area.

General Manager of Legal Metrology Bill Loizides from NMI said, “The new MoU covers the development of an e-learning package with a high performance sport focus. This builds upon NMI’s existing calibration and measurement fundamentals course.”

“The ASC recognised the potential value of the course to the Australian high performance sports community, especially when tailored to include relevant sporting examples.”

ASC Executive General Manager of AIS Performance Matti Clements said sports will benefit from the MoU with access to world leading knowledge and practice in measurement which is a key priority of Win Well, Australia's High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy.

“Valid, accurate and reliable data is at the heart of high performance sport so we can make good decisions to benefit athletes.”

“We look forward to working closely with the NMI on this new initiative to uplift and develop high quality measurement practices for the benefit of the Australian sport sector,” she said.

The key outcome of this MoU will be to develop a training course with a high performance sports focus targeted primarily to early career practitioners to increase knowledge and understanding of national standards.

If the performance of an athlete is tested at their state sport institute and then at the AIS for example, the only changes in these results should be due to the athlete’s actual performance, not because of the equipment used, or how the test was conducted.

The course will focus on the fundamental principles of measurement, including understanding and accounting for error and interpreting measurements for the best outcomes.