Abstract
The primary task of a sport official (i.e., referee, umpire, or judge) is to make accurate decisions based on the rules of competition. Yet, officials rarely engage in deliberate practice to develop perceptual-cognitive skills underlying decision making. It is imperative that organizations and sport scientists explore methods to train decision-making and, thereby, enhance decision accuracy. The purpose of the present study was to assess ice hockey referees’ experiences of using a 360-degree videos to train decision-making. Participants (N = 28; 16 female; mean age = 23.3 years; mean experience = 8.0 years) wore head-mounted displays to view 18 ice hockey video clips (8-12s long) while making penalty/non-penalty decisions. To assess their experiences and task fidelity, officials completed the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), Self-Reporting Future Use Questionnaire (SRF), Presence Questionnaire (PQ), and Immersion Questionnaire (IQ). The training experience was: (a) pleasant (mean UEQ = 6.2/7.0), (b) rated favourably for future use (mean SRF = 4.5/5.0), somewhat realistic (mean PQ = 3.5/5.0), and of high fidelity/immersion (mean IQ = 4.1/5.0). Decision accuracy was poor (mean accuracy = 42.9%). Pearson correlations indicated several significant relationships including UEQ-SRF (r = .63, p < .001), UEQ-PQ (r = .44, p = .019), UEQ-IQ (r = -.61, p < .001), SRF-PQ (r = .52, p = .004), and IQ-Accuracy (r = -.38, p = .049). Discussion revolves around insights and recommendations for future video-based protocols that train officials’ decision-making.
