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Research suggests power is key to success for female surfers
The research, led by Dr Matt Barlow from the School of Sport at Leeds Beckett, and published in the latest edition of the Human Movement journal, reveals that high levels of body fat are associated with poor national rankings in modern competitive female surfers.
The study set out to evaluate the body composition of female surfers and to see whether body measurements could predict competitive national rankings. The researchers analysed data collected from 31 female competitive surfers taking part in UK Professional Surfing Association events in England and Scotland in 2015, including measurements of stature, body mass, skinfolds, girths and bone breadths, which then were correlated with end of year rankings.
The team also fitted GPS trackers to some of the competitors to evaluate the activity profile of female competitive surfing with respect to environmental conditions.
The sports scientists found that body fat levels are associated with national rankings in competitive female surfers. Compared to previous studies, the data suggested a trend towards lower body fat levels and increased muscle mass in female professional surfers, potentially due to the demands of competing to the modern judging criteria, where the focus has moved from awarding scores for ‘grace and flow’ to exhibiting power. Increased professionalism and pressure from sponsors to maintain an ‘attractive/marketable’ appearance might also influence the body composition of female surfers.
The GPS data revealed that the female competitors spent on average 62% of the time sitting, 31% paddling and 7% of the time riding waves. The number of waves ridden in a heat, the length of the rides and activity levels were significantly related to heat placement and competition progression.
Data collected by the researchers and compared to similar studies of male surfers showed that female surfers spend a greater proportion of their time waiting and sitting than the reported values for males. Also females spend less time paddling compared to male surfers but their time riding was comparable. Overall this suggests that female surfers are not as active in their approach to catching waves and positioning as their male counterparts.
Speaking about the results, Dr Matt Barlow said: “Findings from this study show that there is a strong link between low body fat levels and national rankings for competitive female surfers. The research demonstrates that coaches should work with female surfers to ensure that body composition is managed with respect to performance and that muscularity is maintained. No other study has provided such detailed data of body measurements and the results suggest that there is now a greater requirement for optimised power to weight ratio under the current competitive format.
“Analysis of the GPS data we collected suggests that female surfers should aim to achieve a good wave count during their competition and avoid time waiting or sitting rather than being overly selective in terms of their wave choice which could lead to low wave counts. Having a high wave count increases the opportunity to achieve a high scoring wave or potentially pressures the surfer’s opponent into making tactical errors. This is of particular importance for coaches as we help to prepare our surfing athletes to achieve success when surfing makes its debut at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.”