What you are holding in your hands is probably the best overview of activities in sports engineering available at the time of printing; i. e. the state of the art in summer 2006. It is the result of so many people's work to whom we are indebted that it is difficult to name them: there are the authors, the scientific advisory board, the scientific committee, the theme patrons, the publisher and printer, the advisors of whatever kind - and, here we have to make an exception, there is Ingo and Amanda. Nobody who has been part of the production of this book could have done without them, at the very least us: they handled issues you wouldn't even believe could turn up with efficiency and charm. Thanks, Ingo Valtingoier; thanks, Amanda Staley. In the accumulation of the contributions and the preparation of the proceedings we encountered one development that we were very happy about: the sports engineering community keeps growing - in the number or researchers and experts involved, but also in the breadth of disciplines and institutions contributing. This should definitely be interpreted as a positive development - even though in the evaluation of contributions this lead to a number of intricate discussions.
The Engineering of Sport 6
The International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) was launched in 1998 as a response to the enthusiasm created by the 1st and 2nd International Conferences on the Engineering of Sport. The primary aim of the ISEA is to act as a forum to discuss technical and scientific issues relating to sport and sport technology for those carrying out research and development in this field. The members of the ISEA come from a wide range of disciplines from engineering to sports science, from research organisations, universities and relevant industries world wide. Since the launch of ISEA in 1998 in Sheffield (UK), biannual conferences have took place in Sydney (Australia), Kyoto (Japan), and two years ago in Davis (USA). In 2006 the biannual conference is being held in Munich following the FIFA World Cup 2006 Germany. ISEA publishes the International Sports Engineering Journal, which represents one of the leading scholarly journals in the field of Sports Engineering, now in its 9th successful year.
The editors
"It is fitting that the biggest International Sports Engineering conference so far has been organised by Eckehard Fozzy Moritz. Fozzy is big both in stature and in ideas, willing to do as all good designers do in thinking outside the box. The conference, to which this proceedings refers, will have been an enjoyable affair since Fozzy rarely does anything without fun (or at least with an element of the unexpected)! Fozzy was instrumental in setting up DIVERS, the German society for sports engineering, and now has a dynamic group of people around him in his unique centre for innovation in sports, the SportKreativWerkstatt. The design of this proceedings is testament to the hard work of Fozzy and his team in the creation of something dynamic and yet different for the world of sports engineering." Stephen J. Haake
"Steve Haake IS sports engineering. With the organization of the first conference on sports engineering in 1996, and the editing of the very first set of proceedings on this topic, he was the one who made this field popular in the world and acceptable in academic circles. Further milestones followed that are all still successful today: The foundation of the International Sports Engineering Association that he has chaired for almost a decade, the establishment of a scientific journal on sports engineering, the origination of novel institutions like the Sports Engineering Network and SportsPulse in England; and since March 2006 Professor Haake is head of the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.
The secret to Steve's success is openness and hospitality. When I approached him in 1998, to learn more about sports engineering and how to relate this to my own field of innovation, Steve was simply inviting me over to his place and shared ideas, competence and knowledge with me. Similar encounters followed that greatly helped my work: I have to say I am very proud to have Steve as a co-editor of these proceedings." Eckehard Fozzy Moritz
