Spotlights

[Research News] Smart Planning of Outdoor Sports Tournaments Using Environmental Heat Measurements

Researchers develop a heat-informed framework to assess available playing time and help organizers evaluate tournament schedules under hot conditions

Effective planning is essential when hosting summer outdoor sports events to protect athletes from heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke. In a recent study, a team led by PhD student Hiroki Yamaguchi of the Graduate School of Health and Sports Science and Professor Kojiro Ishii of the Faculty of Health and Sports Science developed a system that converts environmental heat measurements into practical estimates of low-risk playing time and operational indicators useful for organizing and managing tournaments.

Reference

Yamaguchi H, Mori T, Hanano H, Oishi K, Ikeue K, Omichi C and Ishii K (2026) Operational margin of high-school tennis tournaments under heat constraints: a wet-bulb globe temperature-based scenario analysis. Front. Sports Act. Living 8:1914945.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2026.1914945

For more details, please see the website of Organization for Research Innovation, Doshisha University.
https://research.doshisha.ac.jp/news/news-detail-109/

This achievement has also been featured in “EurekAlert!”
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1148460

Image title: Overview of the proposed framework for heat-informed tournament design
Image caption: This novel approach will help make informed decisions in tournament management to mitigate heat-related risks.
Image credit: Hiroki Yamaguchi from Doshisha University, Japan
License type: Original content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be used without permission

(Thumbnail) 
Image title: Tennis championships in Japan during peak summers
Image caption: To mitigate heat-related risks among competitive athletes, researchers propose a novel framework for better for heat-informed tournament design.
Image credit: EaglebrookSchool via Flickr from Openverse
Image link: https://openverse.org/image/3ee5c47a-e200-44e3-9e83-6f975d22fb71?q=Eaglebrook-School-Spring-2014-Athletics20140409_5478&p=1  
License type: CC BY 2.0
Usage restrictions: Credit must be given to the creator.