The Impact of Free Guard Zone Rule Modification on the Game of Curling

Abstract

The Free Guard Zone (FGZ) rule, one of the most important elements that has been applied in the sport of curling for the last 30 years, was modified by the World Curling Federation in 2018 to add more excitement to the game. With the modification of the FGZ rule it is expected that the games will be played more competitively. The aim of this research is to examine the changes in various parameters such as the points generated per game, number of blank ends, total ends played, big ends and the extra end situation after the revised FGZ rule. Within the scope of the study elite level international competitions (Olympic Games, World and European Curling Championships) played for 3 years before (844 games) and after (908 games) the FGZ rule in the womens and mens category were evaluated. The data was taken from the Historical Results section of the World Curling Federation web page. Independent Sample t test was run in JASP 0.15.0.0 statistical analysis program. The level of significance was taken as p<.05 for statistical analysis. In the study examining the differences between the four and five rock FGZ rules in some parameters in the sport of curling, it was concluded that there are fewer blank ends and more points are being generated in the games after the five rock FGZ rule modification. In terms of results obtained it can be stated that the curling becomes more excited for both the curlers and spectators after the FGZ modification.

Keywords

• Moncton rule
• effect
• ice sports
• chess on the ice
• rule change

Serbest Koruma Bölgesi Kuralı Değişikliğinin Curling Oyununa Etkisi

Öz

İlk olarak 16. yüzyılda İskoçya’da donan göller üzerinde oynanan ve popularitesi giderek artan curling oyunu, en çok izlenen olimpik sporlardan biridir. Materyalin sporcu tarafından atıldıktan sonra güzergâhının değiştirilebildiği tek hedef sporu olan curling “buz üzerinde oynanan satranç” olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Curling sporunda son 30 yıldır uygulanan ve önemli kurallardan biri olan Serbest Koruma Bölgesi Kuralı (SKB) oyuna daha fazla heyecan katmak amacıyla 2018’de Dünya Curling Federasyonu tarafından modifiye edilmiştir. SKB kuralındaki değişiklikle birlikte müsabakaların daha çekişmeli oynanacağı beklenmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı revize edilen SKB kuralı sonrasında maç başına üretilen sayı, kazanan/kaybeden takımı aldığı sayı, blank end, toplam end, big end sayısı ve maçın uzatmaya gitme durumu gibi çeşitli parametrelerdeki değişimlerin incelenmesidir. Çalışma kapsamında kadınlar ve erkekler kategorisinde SKB kuralı öncesi (844 maç) ve sonrasındaki (908 maç) 3 yıl boyunca oynanan üst düzey uluslararası müsabakalar (Olimpiyat Oyunları, Dünya ve Avrupa Şampiyonaları) değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Veriler Dünya Curling Federasyonu web sayfasındaki Tarihsel Sonuçlar kısmından alınarak MATLAB yazılımında ön işleme yapıldıktan sonra JASP 0.15.0.0 istatistiksel analiz programında hipotez testlerinden Bağımsız Örneklem t testi uygulanmıştır. İstatistiksel analizlerde anlamlılık düzeyi p<.05 olarak alınmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda müsabakalarda üretilen toplam sayı, kazanan takımların maç başına aldığı sayı artışı ve blank end sayısında azalmanın istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde olduğu görülmüştür (p<.05). Elde edilen sonuçlar değerlendirildiğinde curling sporunun SKB modifikasyonundan sonra hem sporcular hem de izleyiciler için daha keyifli hale geldiği ifade edilebilir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Moncton kuralı
• etki
• buz sporları
• buz üzerinde satranç
• kural değişikliği

Kaynakça

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