<p>Aim</p><p>The aim of the study was to develop a method for the survey of play movement demands and temporal patterns in order to enable a descriptive study of the defensive players in American Football. The overall aim was to  improve the understanding of how American Football is played to create opportunities for enhancement of current or developing new training methods to better suit football.</p><p>Method</p><p>Fifty plays from a Division 3 college football game on video from 2005 was divided into sequences of action for one player each from the defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs and analyzed with the video analyzing software cSwing. Every players sequence of action was recorded in a spreadsheet and noted on a scaled football field where distances were measured and together with time stamps from cSwing velocity was calculated.</p><p>Results</p><p>Using this method it was possible to describe the play movement demands and temporal patterns which was the main task of the study. The defensive end worked on an average 4.61 seconds per play, the distance was 12.4 meters and average speed 2.5 m×s-1. The linebacker worked on an average 4.35 s per play, 13.7 m and at a mean speed of 3.0 m×s-1. The free safety worked on an average 4.38 s per play, 14.7 m and at a mean speed of 3.3 m×s-1. The Linebacker had a more varied movement pattern than the other two positions.</p><p>Discussion</p><p>With the developed method both quantitative variables and qualitative assessments of play movement demands and temporal patterns could be done. With the aid of this information the coach can develop or enhance training methods that better emulates the demands games puts on the players. Using a GPS to enhance the quantitative analysis can lead to more extensive measurements of temporal patterns. Zoomed in video uptakes could lead to a better analysis of movement patterns</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The developed method gives the American Football coach a tool to analyse the demands put on certain categories of players based on different types of and frequencies of play sequences and their temporal patterns. This enhanced knowledge the coach can use to improve practices</p>

Aim The aim of the study was to develop a method for the survey of play movement demands and temporal patterns in order to enable a descriptive study of the defensive players in American Football. The overall aim was to  improve the understanding of how American Football is played to create opportunities for enhancement of current or developing new training methods to better suit football. Method Fifty plays from a Division 3 college football game on video from 2005 was divided into sequences of action for one player each from the defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs and analyzed with the video analyzing software cSwing. Every players sequence of action was recorded in a spreadsheet and noted on a scaled football field where distances were measured and together with time stamps from cSwing velocity was calculated. Results Using this method it was possible to describe the play movement demands and temporal patterns which was the main task of the study. The defensive end worked on an average 4.61 seconds per play, the distance was 12.4 meters and average speed 2.5 m×s-1. The linebacker worked on an average 4.35 s per play, 13.7 m and at a mean speed of 3.0 m×s-1. The free safety worked on an average 4.38 s per play, 14.7 m and at a mean speed of 3.3 m×s-1. The Linebacker had a more varied movement pattern than the other two positions. Discussion With the developed method both quantitative variables and qualitative assessments of play movement demands and temporal patterns could be done. With the aid of this information the coach can develop or enhance training methods that better emulates the demands games puts on the players. Using a GPS to enhance the quantitative analysis can lead to more extensive measurements of temporal patterns. Zoomed in video uptakes could lead to a better analysis of movement patterns Conclusion The developed method gives the American Football coach a tool to analyse the demands put on certain categories of players based on different types of and frequencies of play sequences and their temporal patterns. This enhanced knowledge the coach can use to improve practices

Inledning Hjärtrytmsvariabilitet (HRV) är oscillationer i hjärtfrekvensen, dvs. ett mått på hur tiden mellan hjärtslagen varierar slag-för-slag. Litteraturen pekar på samband mellan hög HRV och prestationsförmåga i domäner som IQ-test och pistolskytte, men begränsad forskning har gjorts på sambandet mellan HRV och mer fysiskt krävande prestationsdomäner. Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka mätningar i hjärttrytmsvariabilitets förmåga att förutspå quarterbackprestation inom domänen prickskytte. Arbetet kretsar kring frågeställningarna:  Finns det en korrelation mellan HRV och quarterbackprestation?  Orsakar musik en statistiskt signifikant skillnad i resultaten? Metod Under två testtillfällen fick försökspersoner (n=7, ålder: 16-22) genomgå ett prickskyttetest bestående av 30 kast på måltavla (⌀=50cm) på 7,5m avstånd. Före prickskyttetestet gjordes en 3 minuters HRV-mätning före och efter standardiserad uppvärmning. Uppvärmningen bestod av löpning och kast (10-15 min). Korrelationsanalyser gjordes mellan prickskytteresultat och värden för HRV från de 4 mätningarna. Resultat Korrelationsanalysen Pearson Correlation visade ett negativt samband mellan två uppmätta HRV-värden efter uppvärmning och kastprestation (r=-0,828, p=0,022 respektive r=-0,914, p=0,004). Slutsats Resultaten visar att det finns en korrelation mellan HRV och quarterbackprestation, strax före test. Dessa resultat talar eventuellt för att HRV går att användas som en metod för att mäta spelares grad av beredskap, men en mer omfattande studie med fler försökspersoner krävs för att med säkerhet kunna bedöma sambandet mellan HRV och kastprecision hos quarterbacks.

Background: Concussion in adolescent american football occurs frequently and can give serious damage, especially to the younger brain. SAFF has guidelines for management and rehabilitation. The guidelines to be followed are called “Hjärntrappan”.  Purpose: To investigate a group of coaches experiences of management and rehabilitation after concussion, in adolescent american football in Sweden. Design and method: Qualitative exploratory design, based on semi structured interviews. Five coaches were included in the study. The data was analyzed using content analysis according to Graneheim and Lundman. Results: The coaches experienced limited skills in management and rehabilitation in concussions. There was a major responsibility for the medical staff, were competence varied widely and there was no requirement regarding education about concussion. There was limited knowledge of the work of the football association and its guidelines were not fully implemented. The coach education contained a limited part regarding concussions. A mandatory part about concussion for both coaches and medical staff was suggested to improve current management and rehabilitation. Conclusion: Treatment and rehabilitation regarding concussion need to be expanded in the coaches education courses. A knowledge certificate should be introduced for the medical staff for management and rehabilitation of junior players as well. Future research could study how rehabilitation is followed after concussions, or mapping risks in the management and rehabilitation of brain shocks in junior teams. / Bakgrund: Hjärnskakning inom amerikansk fotboll, i ungdomsleden, är ett känt problem och sker frekvent. Svenska Amerikansk Fotbollförbundet har riktlinjer för hantering och rehabilitering vid hjärnskakning, som kallas Hjärntrappan. Syfte: Undersöka vilka upplevelser och erfarenheter juniortränare, till pojk- och flicklag mellan åldrarna 14 - 19 år inom amerikansk fotboll i Sverige, har av hantering och rehabilitering vid hjärnskakningar. Metod: Kvalitativ explorativ design, som baserades på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fem tränare ingick i studien. Datan analyserades med hjälp av innehållsanalys enligt Graneheim och Lundman. Resultat: Tränarna upplevde en begränsad kompetens gällande hantering och rehabilitering vid hjärnskakning. Ett stort ansvar låg på den medicinska personalen där kompetensen varierade mycket och det saknades krav på utbildning angående hjärnskakningar. Det saknades kunskap om förbundets arbete och dess riktlinjer var inte fullt implementerade. Tränarutbildningen innehöll en begränsad del gällande hjärnskakningar. En obligatorisk del om hjärnskakningar för tränare och medicinsk personal ansågs kunna förbättra nuvarande hantering och rehabilitering. Konklusion: Behandling och rehabilitering rörande hjärnskakningar behöver utökas i tränarutbildningen. Utbildningskrav bör införas för medicinsk personal för hantering och rehabilitering även på juniornivå. Framtida forskning skulle kunna studera hur rehabilitering följs efter hjärnskakningar, eller kartlägga risker vid hantering och rehabilitering av hjärnskakningar inom juniorlag.

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The artificial intelligence is a constant topic of conversation with a field of research that is pushed forward by some of the world's largest companies and universities. Deep learning is a branch of machine learning within artificial intelligence based on learning representation of data such as images and texts by processing the data through deep neural networks. Sports are competitive businesses that over the years have become more data driven. Statistics play a big role in the development of the practitioners and the tactics in order to win. Sport organizations have big statistic teams since statistics are manually obtained by these teams. To learn a machine to recognize patterns and actions with deep learning would save a lot of time. In this thesis a deep learning approach is used to examine how well it can perform to classify the actions pass and run in American footbal lgames. A deep learning architecture is first trained and developed on a public video dataset and then trained to classify run and pass plays on a new American football dataset called the All-22 dataset. Results and earlier research show that deep learning has potential to automatize sport statistic but is not yet ready to overtake the role statistic teams have. Further research, bigger and more task specific datasets and more complex architectures are required to enhance the performance of this specific type of deep learning based video recognition.

Bakgrund: Hjärnskakningar är ett stort problem inom amerikansk fotboll på alla nivåer och mörkertalet hjärnskakningar som inte rapporteras och behandlas anses stort. Obehandlade hjärnskakningar kan få stora konsekvenser för den aktive både på och utanför planen. Hjärntrappan används som ett rehabiliteringsverktyg för idrottsutövare drabbade av hjärnskakning inom svensk idrott, men det saknas studier i vilken utsträckning den används inom amerikansk fotboll. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att kartlägga strategier gällande rehabilitering för säker återgång till idrott efter hjärnskakning hos amerikansk fotbollslag på seniornivå i Sverige. Metod: En enkätundersökning genomfördes via telefon. Populationen var 36 amerikansk fotbollslag som var i seriespel i Sverige under säsongen 2020 och 16 lag deltog i studien. Resultatet av enkäten analyserades sedan med deskriptiv och jämförande statistik. Resultat: Majoriteten av de deltagande lagen använde Hjärntrappan som strategi för rehabilitering av hjärnskakning. En signifikant skillnad mellan dam- och herrlag och användningen av Hjärntrappan påvisades. Det påvisades inte någon signifikant skillnad mellan varken tillgång till medicinsk personal i laget eller storleken på orten som laget utgick ifrån och användningen av Hjärntrappan. Slutsats: Hjärntrappan är den mest använda rehabiliteringsstrategin vid hjärnskakning inom amerikansk fotbollslag i seriespel på seniornivå i Sverige. Det finns skillnader mellan dam- respektive herrlag och användningen av Hjärntrappan. Fler och större studier behövs för att generalisera resultaten till samtliga amerikansk fotbollslag i Sverige. / Background: Concussions are a big problem in American football and the number of concussions that goes untreated is considered large. Untreated concussions can have serious consequences for the athlete both on and off the field. Hjärntrappan is used in Sweden to rehabilitate concussions, but there is no studies to what extent it is used in American football in Sweden. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate what rehabilitation strategies senior American football teams in Sweden used when a player had a concussion. Method: A survey was conducted via telephone. The population was 36 Swedish American football teams that were playing in the Swedish league system during the 2020 season and 16 teams participated in the study. The results of the survey were then analyzed with descriptive and comparative statistics. Results: The majority of the participated teams used Hjärntrappan as rehabilitation strategy when a player had a concussion. A significant difference between the woman’s and men’s teams and the use of Hjärntrappan was found. No significant difference was found between either the access to medical staff in the team or the size of the city where the team was based and the use of Hjärntrappan. Conclusion: Hjärntrappan is the most common rehabilitation strategy among senior American football teams in the Swedish league system after concussion. There is a difference between men’s and woman’s teams and the use of Hjärntrappan. More and extended reseach is needed to generalize the results to all American football teams in Sweden.

Bakgrund: Amerikansk fotboll är en sport under tillväxt internationellt. I Sverige finns tre herrligor i dagsläget. Styrketräning är, nästintill, nödvändigt för spelare inom amerikansk fotboll för att optimera prestation samt reducera risk för akuta- samt överbelastningsskador.  Syfte: Kartlägga styrketräningsdosering samt skade- och sjukdomsläget hos spelare i Sveriges högsta och tredje herrliga under fyra veckor i tävlingssäsong. Metod: Ett frågeformulär formades riktat åt studiens syfte, och förmedlades ut till organisationer i ovan nämnda ligor. Data gällande antal styrketräningspass per vecka, antal övningar per styrketräningspass, antal set per övning, antal repetitioner per set samt skattad utmattning (RPE) i genomsnittligt set samlades in. Även data gällande sjukdomar och skador som begränsat träning senaste fyra veckorna togs in. Data delades in i subgrupper enligt liga samt spelarens position. Resultat: Insamlad data visade följande: 41 % av deltagarna styrketränade ett till två pass per vecka och 37 % tre till fyra pass. Tjugoen procent utförde tre till fyra övningar per pass, 48 % utförde fem till sex och 27 % utförde sju eller fler. Åttioen procent utförde tre till fyra set per övning. Fyrtio procent utförde fyra till sju repetitioner per set och 52 % utförde åtta till tolv. Medianvärdet (kvartilavstånd) för RPE skattningar per set var 7 (2). Andelen som begränsats i träning av skada under de senaste fyra veckorna var 42 %. Motsvarande andel gällande sjukdom var 13 %. Slutsats: Denna studie visar att hälften av deltagarnas styrketräningsdosering var i linje med rekommendationer för att bibehålla styrka och kraftutveckling samt inverka på risk för akuta- samt överbelastningsskador under tävlingssäsong. På grund av stickprovets begränsade storlek behövs vidare studier i detta område samt kring optimal styrketräningsdosering hos spelare inom amerikansk fotboll. / Introduction: American football is a growing sport internationally. In Sweden there are three leagues of men’s American football. Strength training is thought necessary for American football players to perform well and reduce the risk of acute and overload injuries. Aim: To describe what the dosage of strength training were among the players and, further, the number of injuries and illnesses of players active in the first and third Swedish league during the competitive season.  Method: A survey was created for this aim and sent to organizations in targeted leagues. Data on weekly number of sessions, number of exercises per session, number of sets and repetitions and ratings of perceived exertion as well as injuries and illnesses was collected and analyzed for the entity and subgroups, determined by league and position. Results: The collected data showed the following: 41 % of the players performed one to two weekly sessions and 37 % performed three to four weekly sessions. Twenty-one percent performed three to four exercises per session, 48 % performed five to six and 27 % performed seven or more. Eighty-one percent performed three to four number of sets per exercise. Forty percent performed four to seven repetitions per set and 52 % performed eight to twelve. The median value (inter-quartile range) of the rated perceived exertion per set was 7 (2). The amount of players limited in training by injuries during the previous four weeks was 42 %. The equivalent for illnesses was 13 %.  Conclusion: Approximately half the sample of players performed a total strength training dosage thought to retain strength and power and, further, to have an effect on the risk of acute and overload injuries during the competitive season. Because of the small sample size, optimal strength training dosage for American football players needs further study.

This bachelor's thesis in applied mathematics &amp; industrial economics is an attempt to model drives in American football using Markov chains. The transition matrix is obtained through logit regression analysis on historical data from the NFL. Different outcomes of drives are modelled as separate absorbing states in the Markov chain. Absorption probabilities are calculated representing the probabilities of each outcome. Results are tested against a Markov chain with the transition matrix based on frequency analysis. Three scoring rules unanimously declare the regression based model to be superior. The application of the model pertains to live sports betting. With the insight provided by the Markovian model, a bettor should be able to make statistically informed betting decisions. The prospect of creating a start-up based on the Markovian betting model is discussed. / Denna kandidatuppsats i tillämpad matematik &amp; industriell ekonomi är ett försök till att modellera drives i amerikansk fotboll med hjälp av Markovkedjor. Övergångsmatrisen fås genom logit-regressionsanalys av historisk data från NFL. Olika utfall av drives modelleras som separata absorberande tillstånd i Markovkedjan. Absorptionssannolikheter beräknas, vilka representerar sannolikheterna för de olika utfallen. Resultaten testas mot en Markovkedja där övergångsmatrisen fås genom frekvensanalys. Tre olika poängregler föredrar enhälligt den regressionsbaserade modellen. Modellens tillämpning berör sportbetting. Med hjälp av Markovmodellen bör en spelare kunna ta statistiskt underbyggda beslut i deras betting. Möjligheterna att skapa ett företag baserat på Markovmodellen diskuteras.