Daniel Memmert

Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln | DSHS · Institut für Trainingswissenschaft und Sportinformatik

The aim of this study was to investigate the well-known selection bias favouring players born earlier in the year commonly referred to as the Relative Age Effect (RAE). Therefore, we analysed a group of top-tier youth academy players. The players joined and left the youth academy at different stages, where the first stage was at 8 years (U9) and th...

Bouldering is an Olympic discipline that encompasses a series of short climbing sequences on low-height structures called boulders. Strategic planning is paramount in competitive bouldering to both identify suitable climbing strategies before climbing and adapt climbing strategies after failed attempts. The ability to identify suitable climbing str...

The occurrence of squad rotation in football and its effect on team performance in terms of points have not been comprehensively studied in football performance analysis literature. This study deploys a data-driven approach to examine the occurrence of squad rotation across English, French, Italian and Spanish leagues over multiple seasons. It aims...

The literature on systematic aspects of goal scoring in football is rich, while little is known about random influences. This study focuses on an unsystematic element of goal scoring, namely rebounds, where a shot that bounces back from another player or the goal creates contested opportunities. Aspects including causes, match situation, player pos...

Using video data is a widespread procedure in the preparation for an upcoming opponent across all levels of football, but the way coaches interpret this data and use it for player feedback is still not fully understood. Three studies were conducted to investigate the level of agreement between football coaches on tactical questions regarding the op...

Creativity is a high-level cognitive activity that can" be affected by acute aerobic exercise. This paper aims to determine how acute aerobic exercise intensities may influence aspects of divergent and convergent creative thinking. In this regard, to give an insight into the results, the predictions of the transient hypofrontality thesis and the st...

Background Applying whole-body electromyostimulation (wbEMS) to voluntary activation of the muscle is known to impact motor unit recruitment. Thus, wbEMS as an additional training stimulus enhances force-related capacities. This study aimed to evaluate the mono- and multiarticular strength adaptations to a running intervention with wbEMS compared t...

This exploratory study examined the effects of previous exercise on goal-side selection in soccer penalty kicking. Two types of 30-min exercise were tested and compared with a control group in an off-center paradigm. The cognitive-exercise group performed the d2 test of attention and the physical-exercise group rode on a fitness bicycle. In the off...

This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of corner kicks, analyze the goal patterns resulting from corner kicks, and develop a model for the implementation of optimal corner kick strategies. The study used a descriptive retrospective design, and the data consisted of 455.898 corner kicks from matches played by 768 teams in 33 different leag...

As a variation of small-sided games (SSGs), Thomas Tuchel's hexagonal shaped possession drills attracted a lot of attention in coaches’ soccer education. Changing certain variables (e.g. pitch size) is one traditional approach to provide an optimal stimulus for a specific training goal. Therefore, the presented field study investigated whether hexa...

The isolated approaching of physical, neural and mental states and the binary classification into stable traits and fluctuating states previously lead to a limited understanding concerning underlying processes and possibilities to explain, measure and regulate neural and mental performance along with the interaction of mental states and neurocognit...

Bouldering is an Olympic discipline that takes place on low-height climbing structures known as boulders. Routesetters play a critical role in bouldering; they design and set boulders to be climbed, which must be original, safe to climb and adapted to climbers’ levels. Considering the critical role routesetters play to keep the present success and...

In the Olympic climbing discipline of bouldering, climbers can preview boulders before actually climbing them. Whilst such pre-climbing route previewing is considered as central to subsequent climbing performance, research on cognitive-behavioural processes during the preparatory phase in the modality of bouldering is lacking. The present study aim...

The focus of this chapter is the SoccerBot360, which is already used as a standard in soccer for practice in some clubs. It can transfer the positions/movements of athletes into a 360° simulation to there by train or improving players in a realistic environment and analyzing players or subjects concerning cognitive abilities, for example, game inte...

This chapter focuses on simple (e.g., number of sprints, meters run, number of passes) and more complex (e.g., space control, pressing parameters) key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics. These physiological or tactical indicators try to reflect the performance of athletes in complex environments and in real competition conditions and reflect...

In the growing field of data analysis in soccer tracking data is analyzed utilizing increasingly complex methods to account for the dynamic, multifactorial nature of the game. One promising approach is the Success-Score combining ball control and space control. The resulting metric is hypothesized to indicate performance levels and to distinguish p...

This section introduces time series data mining tasks in the sport domain. One of the aspects that are described is the discovering of events or detecting anomalies. These event discovery tools can be applied to time series sport data, for example, for recognition of player activities. Recognizing activities such as passing, shooting, or dribbling...

The model-based simulation discussed in this chapter is used to analyze and predict the behavior of complex systems (here: in sports). For this purpose, in the presented approach the real system is mapped to a mathematical-informatics model. The time-dependent values of the system components are captured by variables whose interaction-related chang...

The focus of this chapter is on position data, which are already generated by default for practical use in soccer, but only for research purposes in other sports such as volleyball, field hockey, tennis, badminton or basketball. They describe the positions/movements of athletes and playing equipment in terms of X–Y coordinates and reflect the compl...

The behavior of complex systems such as a soccer game or a human body is difficult to predict by pure observation due to the high number of system components and the even higher number of their interactions. At best, very experienced experts such as coaches have the possibility to capture and possibly also predict such dynamics due to their experie...

Counterattacks in soccer are an important strategical component for goal scoring. Previous work in the literature has described their impact and has formulated descriptive advice on successful actions during a counterattack. In contrast, in this work, we propose the notion of expected counter, i.e., quantifying forward progress by the ball-winning...

Bouldering is an Olympic climbing discipline that encompasses short climbing sequences, referred to as boulders, set up on low-height bouldering walls. Memory plays a critical role in bouldering, as it allows climbers to develop climbing strategies, to mentally rehearse climbing movements, and to recall climbing holds of boulders. This study extend...

Close soccer matches and tight title fights are rarely decided by players' technical skills or their coaches' tactical measures. The most significant impetus comes from an area that is often mentioned but difficult to grasp: mental strength, personality, and team cohesion after special victories. Using current scientific knowledge and illustrated...

There is always a result after the final whistle of soccer matches, but that is often it with the certainties. The 90 or 120 min often raise further questions, some of which will be answered on the following pages. How could Germany, on that autumn evening in 2012 against Sweden, first celebrate the very highest art of soccer for an hour, only to l...

Thinking outside the box can be helpful, in life as well as in soccer and the well known coach of the Freiburg soccer team Christian Streich is particularly good at this. The longtime youth coach from the city of Freiburg, located in the German Black Forrest, who turned out to be a brilliant professional soccer coach for the premier league team in...

All people who are somewhat intensively involved with soccer are familiar with the beautiful phenomenon of so-called runs, winning in a row. Undoubtedly, there are long winning streaks in which strikers seem to succeed at practically everything. The phrase “they’re on a roll” is part and parcel of the jargon, and former German national striker Fred...

The era in which German players’ wives like Bianca Illgner or Gaby Schuster appeared as representatives of their husbands’ interests is long gone. Nowadays, many wives and girlfriends of the stars present themselves primarily as influencers in social media. Their husbands’ business is mostly handled by male specialists.

There are millions of people who accumulate vast amounts of rather useless soccer knowledge, memorized lineups from the deepest past, for example, or years of construction of stadiums. Some people can even explain in detail how the patterns get into the stadium turf. And of course, many soccer fans think they know the answer when asked why it’s an...

Slow motion is a wonderful thing. Soccer has become such a fast-paced game that many things can hardly be seen clearly by the naked eye. For the spectators but also the referees.

Of course, soccer is not an affair that could credibly be described as peaceful. Two teams fight each other on the pitch, competing factions of fans meet in the stands, and there are authorities such as the referees, the security, or the football associations that also make a wonderful bogeyman. Without the others, who are mocked, defeated, blamed,...

A central feature of modern soccer is the intellectualization of the game, which is evident in completely different areas. Professionals have long since received all-around care from highly equipped medical departments. Computers are used to measure training effects and match performances.

“The bait must be to the liking of the fish—not the angler,” Helmut Thoma, former head of programming at German TV station RTL, once said to justify formats that were accused of being too lowbrow. Any number of trash can be justified on this basis, including, of course, the voyeurism that characterizes parts of soccer coverage. The luridly colored...

“Champion coaches” are what soccer coaches are called full of admiration when they have won the premier league title with their team. “In soccer, people are quick to build you a monument, but just as quick to pee on it,” German coaching legend Hans Meyer once said, and most coaches know both extremes all too well. Life as a coach is an eternal inte...

Refereeing in handball is a complex exercise involving numerous decisions and interactions among players and coaches. To meet the demands of officiating a game, (e.g., withstand the pressure generated by spectators or managing critical situations), referees need to have a certain personality type. Since the sport of handball faces an acute shortage...

Introduction Youth soccer academies are challenged with the constant recruitment process of young talented players to select those who will achieve long-term success as an athlete. Youth soccer academies strive to enhance the physical and technical skill development as well as personality development of talented players because psychological charac...

In contrast to simple performance indicators in the practical application of quantitative analysis in professional soccer, the inclusion of certain contextual elements can improve both the predictive quality and interpretability of these. Therefore, the Success-Score is intended to identify the factors relevant to success by linking ball control an...

In this quantitative study, a bespoke coaching drill was designed and tested over a 16-week period with the ultimate aim of improving the bowling accuracy of 6 participant seam bowlers. This experiment consisted of 6 participants that were all male and had a mean age of 19.5  7.5, mean height (cm) of 184.75  5.57 and mean weight (kg) of 78.05  9...

Background This study aimed to evaluate the physiological and metabolic adaptations to an eight-week running intervention with whole-body electromyostimulation (wbEMS) compared to running without wbEMS. Methods In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), 59 healthy participants (32 female/ 27 male, 41 ± 7 years, rel.V̇O2max 40.2 ± 7.4 ml/min/kg) ran t...

The majority of soccer analysis studies investigates specific scenarios through the implementation of computational techniques, which involve the examination of either spatiotemporal position data (movement of players and the ball on the pitch) or event data (relating to significant situations during a match). Yet, only a few applications perform a...

Literature proposes five distinct cognitive strategies for wayfinding decisions at intersections. Our study investigates whether those strategies rely on a generalized decision-making process, on two frame-specific processes—one in an egocentric and the other in an allocentric spatial reference frame, and/or on five strategy-specific processes. Par...

In the past decade, climbing and bouldering have gained considerable popularity. The inclusion of indoor bouldering in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the increasing number of bouldering events, and the ongoing expansion of climbing facilities have contributed to bouldering evolving from an adventurous outdoor activity to a mainstream competitive and...

Domain-specific memory skills are crucial in bouldering to recall the climbing holds and movements of previously climbed boulders, to develop suitable ascent strategies after failed climbing attempts, and to mentally visualise movement sequences. As in other sports, motor actions in bouldering necessitate the integration of task-relevant informatio...

As the sport industry witnesses a surge in the type and volume of data-driven decisions, the general question of the process of information development remains: how is data used to develop meaningful information? And does the presence of novel quantitative data sources lend greater objectivity to match analysis? Study 1 examines how 12 football ana...

While home advantage (HA) is a well-supported phenomenon in sports, the mechanisms responsible for its occurrence are not conclusively known. Research on HA in individual and amateur sport is scarce so far and situations where several plausible mechanisms do not apply are rare. Motivated by these aspects, the present study aims to investigate HA in...

Position data in team sports, like handball, allow for novel approaches of quantitative analysis. Recent work used notational analysis of domain experts to find performance indicators related to success. The aim of this study was to scale expert knowledge using machine learning to extract counter attacks and position attacks from a data set of 539...

The number of goals is the only measure deciding on success in football. Consequently, a whole literature strand in performance analysis is concerned with identifying systematic strategies, that promise higher chances to score goals. At the same time, research concerned with forecasting or statistical modelling of football highlights the significan...

There has been a rise in available data within the sports industry. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world there is high interest in exploiting this data for a wide variety of applications. Machine learning tools seem to be ideal for doing this in an array of subfields within the sport. With this in mind, the current study investigated the K...

Performance analysis in elite football aims at linking the performance of teams to outcomes. To this end, success indicators (SI) are modelled as a function of performance indicators (PI) using statistical techniques. The aggregation of data on a certain level, however, poses the risk of overlooking effects of contextual factors, which might affect...

The availability of large and complex data sets in football has driven the increased need and motivation to perform Big Data analysis. This does not only refer to data directly capturing the events on the pitch, such as positional or event data, but also includes communication on football. Massive amounts of textual data related to football matches...

The schedule of a sports competition is defined as the structure and set of rules that govern the confrontation between competitors and decides on the final winner. This schedule can be conceptually modelled to a network of competitors as nodes and matches as edges. This study investigated the influence of such network properties on the accuracy of...

Visual exploration (scanning) of one's environment is a key aspect in team sports. Based on Gibson's (1979) ecological approach of visual perception, this study aims to advance the understanding of scanning by focusing on the direction of head movements in football and its implications for subsequent on-ball actions. The video-based data analysis c...

In the past 20 years, performance analysis in soccer has accumulated a wide variety of key performance indicators (KPI’s) aimed at reflecting a team’s strength and success. Thanks to rapidly advancing technologies and data analytics more sophisticated metrics, requiring high resolution data acquisition and big data methods, are developed. This incl...

While handball is characterized by repeated sprints and changes of direction, traditional player load models do not consider accelerations and decelerations. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences between metabolic power and speed zones for player load assessment with regard to the player role. Position data from 330 male individuals...

We investigated the impact of outfit colors on the frequency of offside judgments in soccer. In a recent laboratory study, observers made more offside judgments against forwards wearing the outfit of Schalke 04 (blue shirts, white shorts) than against forwards wearing the outfit of Borussia Dortmund (yellow shirts, black shorts), when figure-backgr...

Visual attention capacity impacts performance in different laboratory and real-world tasks positively. The present field-study extends for the first time performance gains from individuals to team performance. Our study examined the attention capacity of 88 soccer players to create low vs. high attention capacity teams (LACT vs. HACT) who competed...

To follow a prescribed route, we must decide which way to turn at intersections. To do so, we can memorize either the serial order of directions or the associations between spatial cues and directions (“at the drug store, turn left”). Here, we investigate which of these two strategies is used if both are available. In Task S, all intersections look...

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the pooled effect size (ES) of plyometric training (PT) on kicking performance (kicking speed and distance) in soccer players depending upon some related factors (i.e., age, gender, skill level, and intervention duration). This study was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines. Four...

In this study, 3,767 balls bowled by international-level fast bowlers across two One-Day International (ODI) tournaments were analysed to determine how to effectively bowl during the “death” phase of an innings (final 10 overs). The results of chi-squared analyses revealed that bowling length, bowling line, batter quality and having wickets in hand...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to present the characteristics of the action efficiency in elite goalkeepers. Material and Methods: 54 observations of 25 goalkeepers participating in 27 matches of the World and European Championships, Africa Cup of Nations and Copa America held in years 2014–2019 were included. The study applied a method o...

Vor allem in den Sportspielen und in den Zweikampfsportarten gilt Taktik als der entscheidende Leistungsfaktor und wird deshalb in Strukturmodellen gegenüber der Technik und den sportmotorischen Fähigkeiten priorisiert. Damit ist auch offensichtlich, dass fundierte Taktik-Trainingskonzepte für unterschiedliche Alters- und Könnensstufen eine wichtig...

Perception and attention are processes that are closely linked. Perceptual processes involve the reception and processing of information via sensory channels, while attentional processes prioritize certain perceptual contents by selectively amplifying some pieces of information and weakening others. Prioritized processing is essential because our (...

Soccer is a low-scoring game where one goal can make the difference. Thus, counterattacks have been recognized by modern strategy as an effective way to create scoring opportunities from a position of stable defense. This coincidentally requires teams on offense to be mindful of taking risks, i.e. losing the ball. To assess these risks, it is cruci...