Line of sight and acting force of a snowboarder during snowboarding

Clarifying the mechanics of body movements during snowboarding, a popular winter sport, requires analysis of snowboarder motion when gliding down a slope. Several studies have used inertial and force sensors to evaluate characteristics of the acting force and joint torque of snowboarders. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the eye-tracking of a snowboarder. In daily life and sports activities, humans obtain most of their information about the external environment by vision. Therefore, analyzing the gaze of humans during sports activities is expected to improve performance on the sports field. For this study, we investigated relations between the line of sight and acting force during snowboarding, as measured using a gaze measurement system and two 6-axis force sensors, while a snowboarder glided down a slope. Lag times between movements of the line of sight and the associated acting forces of a snowboarder were calculated using a cross-correlation function for measurement information obtained from the experiment. Results show that the line of sight of a snowboarder moved to the forward pole on a slalom course before he generated the acting force necessary for making turns. The proposed method is expected to be useful for assessing snowboarders’ skills.