Spatiotemporal Motion Synchronization for Snowboard Big Air

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for aligning multiple snowboard big air videos in space and time, enabling athletes and coaches to compare performances more accurately during training.

Contribution

It introduces a practical approach using existing image processing techniques for spatiotemporal alignment of snowboard videos, aiding training analysis.

Findings

Expert snowboarders found aligned videos helped identify subtle movement differences.

The method facilitates precise comparison of snowboard jumps during training.

The approach is feasible for real-world training scenarios.

Abstract

During the training for snowboard big air, one of the most popular winter sports, athletes and coaches extensively shoot and check their jump attempts using a single camera or smartphone. However, by watching videos sequentially, it is difficult to compare the precise difference in performance between two trials. Therefore, side-by-side display or overlay of two videos may be helpful for training. To accomplish this, the spatial and temporal alignment of multiple performances must be ensured. In this study, we propose a conventional but plausible solution using the existing image processing techniques for snowboard big air training. We conducted interviews with expert snowboarders who stated that the spatiotemporally aligned videos enabled them to precisely identify slight differences in body movements. The results suggest that the proposed method can be used during the training of snowboard big air.