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Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Sport Sciences

First Advisor

Christopher Snell

First Committee Member

John Boelter

Second Committee Member

Thomas Stubbs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the better predictors of ball velocity and identify differences in the overarm throw of male and female athletes. A three dimensional videographic analysis was performed to analyze the angular and linear velocities of various body segments, the time between maximum velocity of the body segment and ball release, stride length, height of release, and angle of trajectory. Eight male baseball players and six female softball players volunteered to be videotaped. A one way ANOV A with ball velocity as the dependent variable revealed a significant difference between genders (f (1, 11) = 5.3, ll < .0413). A forward stepwise multiple regression analysis allowed selection from all of the angular velocity variables and the kinematic variables regressed on the dependent variable of ball velocity. This identified the main contributors to ball velocity. For the male athletes three variables were selected into the multiple regression equation, (a) the angular velocity of the forearm at ball release, (b) the time between maximum angular velocity of the pelvis and ball release,and (c) the angular velocity of the pelvis at ball release. For the female athletes the multiple regression equation yielded one variable, the angular velocity of the forearm at ball release to predict ball velocity. Gender differences existed in the sequential timing of the pelvis, trunk, and upper extremity. The female athletes reached maximum pelvic velocity earlier with peak trunk velocity occurring later than the males. The sequential timing differences may have played a role in the explanation of why the female throwers lacked transfer of momentum from the lower extremity to the upper. The results of an unpaired two-tailed t-test on the two best throwers in each group revealed differences in ball velocity, maximum linear velocity of the hip, and maximum linear velocity of the trunk.

Pages

106

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