Sharkball is a sports interaction technology project for improving decision-making in young water polo players through projection-based gamification.
This project is a practice for the combination of design thinking approach and the interdisciplinary sports interaction technology. In this project, we have five students from the University of Twente. I was responsible for theoretical research, ideation and interviewing.
Water polo is a high-intensity sport that demands a lot of strength and intensity. It's a high-impact sport that needs a high level of strategic thinking in addition to physical endurance. To improve the decision-making skill of young water polo players, the “Sharkball” project was created. The setup uses interactive visualizations projected on the water surface that create a gamified interaction to support and motivate the players' learning process.
The project was approached by a design thinking method. Based on the opportunities and related work in water polo, a design is suggested which addresses the need for an improved method of training the decision-making skills in children most essential needs of the players and which young water polo players. With the concept described in motivation, a second interview was done to evaluate the idea with an expert player. Based on this evaluation, adaptations were made to the problem statement and the final concept. A schematic overview of the entire iterative design cycle is provided in the figure below.
How can we improve the decision-making skill of children (aged 6-12) learning water polo to increase their in-game performance and sports enjoyment?
▶ Improve decision-making skills
▶ Ensure high transfer
▶ Prepare children for future water polo matches
▶ Let children have fun and be engaged with the sport
In our concept, "Sharkball" presents a game to help children improve their decision-making skills through visualization and gamified simulation. In this game, inspired by the classic "Keep Away" game where one player aims to intercept the ball from the others, the players form a circle in the water, following the projected visualization. Some components in the Sharkball project can be seen here:
