WGI Departments

In the past, basic topics of research and knowledge transfer of the WGI focused on school-based physical education, school sport and organized children and youth sport activities including Olympic education inside and outside schools. In 2017 when the WGI moved from Essen University to the University of Münster its constitution and structure of the institute changed. According the new constitution the WGI is structured into four distinct departments related to the competency of the department heads. Each department is headed by one Vice-President of the WGI.

The four departments address former specialty areas of the WGI studies in more detail, with more resources (personnel) but also focusing on an extended range of topics. The departments of the WGI are:

• Center of Competence for Physical Education, Children and Youth Sport Studies
• Center of Competence for Olympic Studies in History, Pedagogy and Education
• Center of Competence for Health Enhanced Physical Activities for Children and Adolescents
• Center of Competence for Sport Performance
  

The focus areas of the four departments complement each other in terms of trans-disciplinary work and thematic overlapping, e.g. elite sport and Olympic topics or physical education and health enhanced physical activities.

The WGI department Sport Performance, which includes aspects of performance diagnostics, focuses on performance in sport and everyday life of people across the entire lifespan. Thus, the focus is not only on peak athletic performance, but also on performance in coping with everyday movements and tasks. Across the lifespan means that we examine all age groups from childhood to old age. We use a variety of high-quality measurement systems for diagnostics and take into account the different facets of performance diagnostics (motor, biological, biomechanical, cognitive) and their combination. We are interested in measuring the current level of performance (e.g., screening, performance profile, deficit analyses) as well as changes in performance over time (e.g., developmental processes, evaluations of interventions) and thus try to transfer research and knowledge into practice/everyday life.

The various research laboratories at the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Münster offer numerous opportunities for this. Using various movement analysis systems, movement sequences can be precisely recorded and, for example, brain activity, eye movements and muscle activity can be measured. Gait analyses can be carried out in realistic environments using virtual reality. Numerous measurement systems for performance diagnostics make it possible to record the current condition of both individuals and entire teams.

The interdisciplinary collaboration between the WGI and the Institute of Sports Science provides outstanding opportunities for performance diagnostics at all sporting levels and across the lifespan. The WGI also works together with various companies to create successful research and knowledge transfer.

Previous projects (see “International and regional projects”) include, for example, biological performance diagnostics for top athletes in the sports of (beach-) volleyball, (beach-) handball and athletics, three-dimensional throwing analyses for elite handball players, analyses of jumping activities using inertial sensors, gait analyses for patients and the establishment of performance diagnostics on sand surfaces.

In the future, research and knowledge transfer will be initiated and carried out in other national and international projects (e.g. EU project TBrainBoost).