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JudgED: Comparison between Kickboxing Referee Performance at a Novel Serious Game for Judging Improvement and at World Championships

2023; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 13; Issue: 17 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/app13179549

2076-3417

Dominik Hoelbling, André Salmhofer, Cebrail Gençoğlu, René Baranyi, Karl Pinter, Serhat Özbay, Süleyman Ulupınar, Abdullah Bora Özkara, Thomas Grechenig,

Sports Performance and Training

The particular responsibility of referees in combat sports lies in their decision-making to enforce the rules of the sport, which requires considerable experience and a multitude of skills, including perception, categorization, memory processing, and information integration. As a cost-effective alternative to in-tournament training, this research aims to evaluate the novel video-based serious game called “JudgED” to train martial arts referees’ decision-making processes through immediate feedback. The effectiveness of the JudgED game was assessed by (a) measuring decision accuracy and specific reaction time, (b) calculating a theoretical probability of correct scoring, and (c) comparing these results with real competition judging agreement data. A field study was conducted to analyze the performance of 16 kickboxing referees. The study involved two video-based tests in the serious game. The performance data for JudgED were obtained via a procedure that compares the players’ inputs in the serious game with expert-defined decisions. The results were compared to real-competition data gathered through qualitative analysis of kickboxing fights (n = 400 fights/1200 bouts) at the WAKO World Championships 2021. The findings showed an average decision accuracy of 43.011% and an average reaction time of 1.022 s. For further comparison, binominal distribution for the probability of correct final decisions (between 15.3% and 67.2%) in JudgED and Fleiss’ Kappa interrater reliability for JudgED (Ring: κ = 0.371; Tatami: κ = 0.398; p < 0.001) and tournament decisions (by bout: κ = 0.114; by fight κ = 0.063; by outcome κ = 0.166; p < 0.001) were calculated. The results suggest that more training is required to improve referee decision accuracy, and JudgED bears the potential to work as a suitable supporting system.