Sweet spot (sports)
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The sweet spot is the place ON the surface of the subject equipment (racquet, club, bat or other equipment intended to impart impact energy to an object, usually a ball) where kinetic energy input coming from the participant's muscular effort which has been transmitted via what is referred to in sports as the "kinetic chain" results in a maximum response in the ball for a given amount of effort. In tennis, squash, racquetball, baseball, cricket or golf a given swing will result in a more powerful hit if the ball strikes the racket, bat or club on the bater's sweet spot. In sports "Kinetic Chain" means that during complex movements muscular/skeleton movements parts of the body, beginning with the feet, knees, hips, back, shoulders, arms wrists, hand/fingers — all connected with rigid (bone) and flexible (sinew, muscle) material act as a system of chain links, whereby energy generated by muscular effort at one or more locations in the kinetic chain link (or part of the body) is transferred to the next link. In sports, this kinetic chain effect results in changing one property of the kinetic energy at one location into another property at another location along the chain. For example, the speed of a baseball is increased dramatically by energy inputs along the pitcher's kinetic chain, beginning with his feet, legs, hips, trunk, chest, shoulders, arm bones (2), wrist, hand and fingers. Muscles provide energy, bones transmit that energy through their joints (links) and acting as levers, resulting in a transformation of potential energy to higher speed released potential energy (kinetic energy) at increased speed by rigid bone components of the 'chain' between the pitcher's feet and fingers that have converted potential energy into kinetic energy finally imparted to the baseball at his finger tips.
The sweet spot is the location at which the subject being struck, usually a ball, absorbs the maximum amount of the available forward momentum from the equipment (bat, club, racquet, etc.) and rebounds away from the racket, bat, club, etc. with a greater velocity than if struck at any other point on the racket, bat or club.
In endurance sports such as cycling, sweet spot training aims to maximise training benefit — generally for performance at or near functional threshold power (FTP) — by optimally balancing training effect, physiological strain and maximum duration.[1]
Baseball[edit]
A batted ball with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees is quantified as having been hit off the sweet spot of the bat.[2] Balls hit in the sweet spot are not necessarily hit hard with a high exit velocity.[3]
==Baseball==. I would argue that the launch angle analogy (above) to sweet spot is a misnomer. A line drive or "grounder" can still be hit at the sweet spot of the bat, ie, where the bat has imported maximum kinetic energy into the ball.
Cricket[edit]
The sweet spot of a cricket bat is roughly 150-160mm above the toe.[4] Scientific research conducted at the University of Cambridge discovered that bamboo bats are stronger with a better sweet spot compared to those made of willow.[5]
Tennis[edit]
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Housler, Brendan (May 25, 2022). "Doing more cycling in the 'sweetspot' training zone could revolutionise your fitness - here's why". Cycling Weekly. Future plc. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ McCaffrey, Gene (August 6, 2019). "Can examining the Sweet Spot Percentage leaderboard turn up hidden fantasy gems?". The Athletic. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ Clemens, Ben (February 25, 2020). "A Sweet Spot by Any Other Definition". FanGraphs. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ Shetty, Varun (December 15, 2021). "Have sweet spots on bats really got bigger?". The Cricket Monthly. ESPN. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ Sankaran, Vishwam (May 10, 2021). "Cricket bats made of bamboo instead of willow are stronger and have better 'sweet spot', study finds". The Independent. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
