Adaptive Regulation in a Stable Performance Environment: Trial-To-Trial Consistency in Cue Sports Performance

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Motor Control
• Expert Performance

Background:

• Expertise in sports is often linked to adaptive regulation.
• Understanding skill acquisition in cue sports like nine-ball is crucial for performance enhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate trial-to-trial performance and adaptive regulation in nine-ball players.
• To define adaptive regulation as a potential feature of expertise in nine-ball.
• To compare skill levels (low, intermediate, high) in specific nine-ball tests.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-one male nine-ball players were grouped by skill level.
• Participants completed power control, cue alignment, and angle tests.
• 2D video analysis measured error distance and correction of error distance per shot.

Main Results:

• High-skilled players outperformed lower-skilled groups in cue alignment (p = .010) and angle tests (p = .002).
• No significant adaptation effect (decreased error distance across trials) was observed.
• Few significant correlations between error distance and its correction were found within participants.

Conclusions:

• Adaptive regulation, characterized by error-based adjustments, may not be a key feature of nine-ball expertise.
• The hypothesis that error correction is proportional to error size was not supported.
• Skill in nine-ball appears to involve factors beyond simple adaptive error correction.