Author(s): WALTERS, M., CINELLI, M., Institution: WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY, Country: CANADA, Abstract-ID: 2416

INTRODUCTION:
In dynamic sports environments, athletes navigate complex scenarios, requiring split attention toward demanding tasks and interactions with opponents. Sport-specific training can improve one’s ability to integrate visual information, potentially improving collision avoidance behaviour (1). However, athletes collision avoidance behaviours are task-specific, emphasizing the importance of challenging athletes in sport-like environments to elicit visuomotor integration enhancements (2). While previous research found no difference in collision avoidance behaviours between athletes and a general population when walking (3), the current study introduces running to evoke a sport-specific context. The aim of the study is to identify differences in collision avoidance behaviours of athletes between walking and running scenarios, with the hypothesis that athletes will exhibit superior performance in a sport-specific setting (i.e., when running).
METHODS:
Sixteen field-sport athletes were immersed in a virtual environment using a Vive Pro 2 head-mounted display (HMD), while performing a collision avoidance task in a virtual soccer stadium. Participants were required to approach a goal, while avoiding a collision with a virtual player (VP) approaching at three different speeds. Athletes performed two blocks of trials (walking and running) in a counterbalanced order. Within each block, a secondary attention task was included in half of the trials to ensure sport-specificity; athletes reported a changing shape while simultaneously attending to the collision course. The HMD was used to record positional data to calculate each athlete’s minimum clearance distance (m).
RESULTS:
Although there were no differences in secondary task performance during running and walking conditions, results indicate a significant effect of movement speed on minimum clearance distance, F(1, 15) = 10.19, p < .05. As such, athletes maintained a small and constant minimum clearance distance between themselves and the VP when running, regardless of the VP’s approach speed. Alternatively, when walking, the minimum clearance distance matched the speed at which the VP approached (i.e., greater distance when VP moving slower).
CONCLUSION:
A consistently smaller minimum clearance distance in a sport-specific context suggests athletes are attuned to the limits of their action capabilities when challenged in a sport-like environment. Similar to research findings with aperture crossing (2), athletes can efficiently regulate their minimum spatial requirement while running. These insights are crucial for sports training and injury prevention, offering valuable knowledge on how athletes adapt to dynamic scenarios. Understanding these behaviours can inform training interventions aimed at enhancing athletes collision avoidance skills, ultimately fostering safer and more effective athletic performance.

1. Pfaff & Cinelli, Hum Mov Sci. 2018
2. Higuchi et al., Hum Mov Sci. 2011
3. Thompson & Cinelli, [Unpublished Manuscript]. 2023