Successful Reboot of High-Performance Sporting Activities by Japanese National Women’s Handball Team in Tokyo, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Initiative Using the Japan Sports–Cyber Physical System (JS–CPS) of the Sports Research Innovation Project (SRIP)

  1. Issei Ogasawara
  2. Shigeto Hamaguchi
  3. Ryosuke Hasegawa
  4. Yukihiro Akeda
  5. Naoki Ota
  6. Gajanan S. Revankar
  7. Shoji Konda
  8. Takashi Taguchi
  9. Toshiya Takanouchi
  10. Kojiro Imoto
  11. Nobukazu Okimoto
  12. Katsuhiko Sakuma
  13. Akira Uchiyama
  14. Keita Yamasaki
  15. Teruo Higashino
  16. Kazunori Tomono
  17. Ken Nakata

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted sporting activities across the world. However, practical training strategies for athletes to reduce the risk of infection during the pandemic have not been definitively studied. The purpose of this report was to provide an overview of the challenges we encountered during the reboot of high-performance sporting activities of the Japanese national handball team during the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo, Japan. Twenty-nine Japanese national women’s handball players and 24 staff participated in the study. To initiate the reboot of their first training camp after COVID-19 stay-home social policy, we conducted: web-based health-monitoring, SARS-CoV-2 screening with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, real-time automated quantitative monitoring of social distancing on court using a moving image-based artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, physical intensity evaluation with wearable heart rate (HR) and acceleration sensors, and a self-reported online questionnaire. The training camp was conducted successfully with no COVID-19 infections. The web-based health monitoring and the frequent PCR testing with short turnaround times contributed remarkably to early detection of athletes’ health problems and to risk screening. During handball, AI-based on-court social-distance monitoring revealed key time-dependent spatial metrics to define player-to-player proximity. This information facilitated appropriate on- and off-game distancing behavior for teammates. Athletes regularly achieved around 80% of maximum HR during training, indicating anticipated improvements in achieving their physical intensities. Self-reported questionnaires related to the COVID management in the training camp revealed a sense of security among the athletes that allowed them to focus singularly on their training. The challenges discussed herein provided us considerable knowledge about creating and managing a safe environment for high-performing athletes in the COVID-19 pandemic via the Japan Sports–Cyber Physical System (JS–CPS) of the Sports Research Innovation Project (SRIP, Japan Sports Agency, Tokyo, Japan). This report is envisioned to provide informed decisions to coaches, trainers, policymakers from the sports federations in creating targeted, infection-free, sporting and training environments.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/ijerph18189865
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.29.21250745: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The purpose of the study was explained to all participants with documents authorized by the JHA and the ethics committee of the Osaka University Hospital (19537-2).
    Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    A possible limitation of this system was that the responsibility of data entry rested solely on the athletes. There was a fear of missing out on competitive opportunities making athletes occasionally hesitant to disclose their health status. While it is commendable of the athlete who reported her fever, it was important to build a sense of safety among other athletes as well. We surmised that crucial appraisal regarding infection control by the JHA and frequent negative PCR testing promoted a positive mental outlook to genuinely report their true health condition (Fig. 3, Q: 5, 6). Regardless, web-based monitoring contributed positively towards developing a conducive behavioral environment among the athletes. 4-2. SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing and feedback: Though we had no SARS-CoV-2 positive athletes during the entire duration of the camp, our frequent testing schedule (every 48h or 72h) enabled us to detect COVID-19 infectious athlete early, thereby minimizing the risk of virus-spread. Larremore et. al. suggested that repeated screening of susceptible but asymptomatic individuals could be used to limit transmission and its effectivity therefore rests on accessibility, frequency and sample-to-answer time (Larremore et al., 2020). The accessibility of the PCR test turned out to be crucial when an athlete was reportedly febrile. Though it was outside of the ‘testing day’, the prompt PCR testing allowed us to confirm a ‘negative’ test within 3-hours of sample collection. Without the ...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.01.29.21250745v1 on medRxiv