ABSTRACT
It is the intention of rowers and their coaches to enhance the speed of their boat. Bio-mechanical efficiency should be increased in order to achieve an optimum performance. The boat speed is theoretically proportional to the cube root of the power supplied by rowers via oars. To enhance the production of power, the relationship between the rower's motion and his/her power must be explicitly clarified. Smith and Spinks (1995) used discriminate analysis to classify novice, good and elite rowers. This method distinguished each class with linear connection of the input of bio-mechanical factors. In this study, it was apparent that utilizing a nonlinear modelling method to describe the relationships was more accurate. Fuzzy modelling (Takagi and Sugeno, 1985) appears to be a promising technique with which to identify nonlinear system with multiple input variables. Furthermore, this method describes the input-output relationships with linguistic rules. Linguistic expressions are easy to understand for athletes and coaches.
