{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T02:30:48Z","timestamp":1791426648985,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,3]],"date-time":"2025-04-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743638400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)","award":["545264300"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["545264300"]}]},{"name":"Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences","award":["545264300"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["545264300"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Over the past four decades, cheerleading evolved from a sideline activity at major sporting events into a professional, competitive sport with growing global popularity. Evaluating tumbling elements in cheerleading relies on both objective measures and subjective judgments, such as difficulty and execution quality. However, the complexity of tumbling\u2014encompassing team synchronicity, ground interactions, choreography, and artistic expression\u2014makes objective assessment challenging. Artificial intelligence (AI) revolutionised various scientific fields and industries through precise data-driven analyses, yet their application in acrobatic sports remains limited despite significant potential for enhancing performance evaluation and coaching. This study investigates the feasibility of using an AI-based approach with data from a single inertial measurement unit to accurately identify and objectively assess tumbling elements in standard cheerleading routines. A sample of 16 participants (13 females, 3 males) from a Division I collegiate cheerleading team wore a single inertial measurement unit at the dorsal pelvis. Over a 4-week seasonal preparation period, 1102 tumbling elements were recorded during regular practice sessions. Using triaxial accelerations and rotational speeds, various ML algorithms were employed to classify and evaluate the execution of tumbling manoeuvres. Our results indicate that certain machine learning models can effectively identify different tumbling elements with high accuracy despite inter-individual variability and data noise. These findings demonstrate the significant potential for integrating AI-driven assessments into cheerleading and other acrobatic sports in order to provide objective metrics that complement traditional judging methods.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s25072260","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,4]],"date-time":"2025-04-04T03:36:45Z","timestamp":1743737805000},"page":"2260","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Artificial Intelligence for Objective Assessment of Acrobatic Movements: Applying Machine Learning for Identifying Tumbling Elements in Cheer Sports"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Sophia","family":"Wesely","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ella","family":"Hofer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering and Industrial Design, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, 39110 Magdeburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robin","family":"Curth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany"},{"name":"Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Dresden\/Leipzig, 04105 Leipzig, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shyam","family":"Paryani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brooks College of Health, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicole","family":"Mills","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Athletics Department, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6822-5201","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olaf","family":"Uebersch\u00e4r","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering and Industrial Design, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, 39110 Magdeburg, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for Applied Training Science, 04109 Leipzig, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6531-0742","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia","family":"Westermayr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany"},{"name":"Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Dresden\/Leipzig, 04105 Leipzig, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23259671211038895","DOI":"10.1177\/23259671211038895","article-title":"Progress in Cheerleading Safety: Update on the Epidemiology of Cheerleading Injuries Presenting to US Emergency Departments, 2010\u20132019","volume":"9","author":"Xu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Orthop. 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