Height,mass and skeletal maturity of elite Portuguese soccer players aged 11–16 years

Height, mass and skeletal maturity (Fels method) were assessed in 135 elite youth soccer players aged 10.7-16.5 years (only two boys were ?11.0 years). Sample sizes, years of training and current weekly training volume by two-year age groups were: 11-12 years ( n = 63), 2.6 - 1.0 years and 4.1 - 1.7 h; 13-14 years ( n = 29), 3.1 - 1.6 years and 4.5 - 1.7 h; 15-16 years ( n = 43), 4.7 - 2.4 years and 6.1 - 2.0 h. The oldest age group included membersof the national youth team.Heights and masses were compared to US reference values,and skeletal age and chronological age were contrasted. The players were also classified as late, average ('on time') and early maturers on the basis of differences between skeletal and chronological age, with the average category including boys with skeletal ages within - 1 year of chronological age. The mean heights and masses of 11- to 12-year-old soccer players equalled the US reference values, while those of players aged 13-14 and 15-16 years were slightly above the reference values. The mean skeletal age approximated mean chronological age in players aged 11-12 years (12.4 - 1.3 and 12.3 - 0.5 years, respectively), while mean skeletal age was in advance of mean chronological age in the two older groups (14.3 - 1.2 and 13.6 - 0.7 years, respectively, in 13- to 14-year-olds; 16.7 - 1.0 and 15.8 - 0.4 years, respectively, in 15- to 16-year-olds). Seven boys in the oldest age group were already skeletally mature and were not included when calculating differences between skeletal and chronological age. The proportion of late maturing boys in this sample of elite soccer players decreased with increasing chronological age. Among 11- to 12-year-old players, the percentages of late and early maturing boys were equal at 21% ( n = 13). Among 13- to 14-year-old players, the percentages of late and early maturing boys were 7% ( n = 2) and 38% ( n = 11) respectively, while among players aged 15-16 years the percentages of late and early maturing boys were 2% ( n = 1) and 65% ( n = 28) respectively. The results of this comparative analysis suggest that the sport of soccer systematically excludes late maturing boys and favours average and early maturing boys as chronological age and sport specialization increase. It is also possible that late maturing boys selectively drop-out of soccer as age and sport specialization increase.     

Touch Rugby,Masculinity and Progressive Politics in Durban,South Africa, 1985–1990

Rugby is a sport frequently considered to be highly competitive and even violent. In the history of South Africa under apartheid it was a bulwark of white minority, authoritarian, nationalist rule. So was it possible for an alternative masculinity to develop and express itself on the country’s rugby playing field? This paper seeks to answer this question by examining an informal weekly game of touch rugby played in the five years prior to the unbanning of the liberation movements in 1990. The game was played largely by white men who were explicitly opposed to the system of apartheid and in most cases were actively working for its termination. What implications did their commitment to a non-racial democracy have for their participation in the game and particularly for their gendered relations? This paper argues that there was an alignment between their politics and their gendered behaviour but that such alignment was not exact and even though alternative masculinities were nascent, equally were expressed conventional passions for the game. But these passions were not violent or misogynistic even as they endorsed the male body as a site of physical sporting pleasure.     

‘An Outrage,Not Athletics’: Apartheid and South African–United States Rugby Relations, 1976–1990

Abstract

In the period from1976 to1990 during the international campaign against apartheid, some affiliate members of the USA Rugby Football Union, went out of their way to establish and maintain a strong relationship with the South African Rugby Football Board and its successor, the South African Rugby Board. Over the course of six reciprocal tours, they ignored the campaigns of the worldwide anti-apartheid movement and the British Commonwealth. In their dogged pursuit of a sporting relationship with a key South African cultural institution that buttressed apartheid in a sport that, at best, enjoyed minority status in the United States, they defied both their own national federation and the American Olympic Committee. By 1990 as the international campaign against apartheid became a truly worldwide affair, US–South Africa rugby relations were suspended in line with larger political developments both within and outside of the country. This essay, beyond mapping the trials and tribulations of that relationship, also foregrounds a largely hidden history in order to fill the existing gap in the official sporting histories of both the United States and South Africa.     

Tours of Reconciliation: Rugby,War and Reconstruction in South Africa, 1891–1907

Former South African Rugby Board President A.J. (‘Sport’) Pienaar once reflected that rugby football was the ‘greatest cementing influence between the Afrikaans and English-speaking sections in the country’. 1 1. Quoted in A.C. Parker, The Springboks 1891–1970 (London, 1970), p. 5. Pienaar was president of the South African Rugby Board between 1927 and 1953. Indeed, when Mark Morrison brought the British Isles team to South Africa in 1903, it was, according to rugby historian Paul Dobson, as ‘a tour of reconciliation’. This was, he added, ‘rugby's contribution to healing the sad and painful wounds of the Anglo-Boer War’. 2 2. P. Dobson, Bishops rugby. A history (Cape Town, 1990), p. 44. This article will explore the significance of the early pioneering tours as well as the nature of Anglo-Boer relations leading up to the South African War of 1899–1902. Significantly, the post-war tours of 1903 and 1906, the year of the first oversees rugby Springboks, will be examined as early examples of sport being used in South Africa to reconcile a divided society.     

Esports players,got muscle? Competitive video game players’ physical activity,body fat,bone mineral content,and muscle mass in comparison to matched controls

BackgroundEsports players, like traditional athletes, practice for long hours and, thus, are vulnerable to the negative health effects of prolonged sitting. There is a lack of research on the physical activity and the health ramifications of prolonged sitting by competitive players. The purpose of this study was to investigate activity levels, body mass index (BMI), and body composition in collegiate esports players as compared to age-matched controls.MethodsTwenty-four male collegiate esports players and non-esports players between 18 and 25 years of age signed a written consent to participate. Physical activity was examined using daily activity (step count) with a wrist-worn activity tracker. A questionnaire assessing physical activity was also administered. Secondary outcomes included body-fat percentage, lean-body mass, BMI, and bone mineral content measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry.ResultsThe step count in the esports players was significantly lower than the age-matched controls (6040.2 ± 3028.6 vs. 12843.8 ± 5661.1; p = 0.004). Esports players exhibited greater body-fat percentage (p = 0.05), less lean body mass (p = 0.003), and less bone mineral content (p = 0.03), despite no difference in BMI between the esports and non-esports players.ConclusionAs compared to non-esports players, collegiate esports players were significantly less active and had a higher body-fat percentage, with lower lean body mass and bone mineral content. The BMIs showed no difference between the 2 groups. Esports athletes displayed significantly less activity and poor body composition, which are all correlated with potential health issues and risk of injury. BMI did not capture this difference and should not be considered as an accurate measure of health in competitive esports players.     

Sprint and jump performances do not determine the promotion to professional elite soccer in Spain, 1994–2012

ABSTRACT

The aims of this study are (a) to describe the evolution of neuromuscular performance over an 18 year period within a Spanish elite reserve team; (b) to check if there were any relation between the playing position and sprint and jump performances and (c) to look into the alleged impact of this factor on the top playing level attained by the soccer players. We considered the physical tests (5 m and 15 m sprint times and countermovement jump (CMJ) height) made by 235 players enrolled in the reserve team of the Club from 1994 to 2012 and the highest competitive-level they achieved: Spanish first (n = 39) and second divisions (n = 36) and semi-professional (n = 160). Furthermore, the players were classified according to their playing positions. The main findings were a very-likely/most-likely lower neuromuscular performance (ES = 0.48–0.68, small to moderate) in the last six-season term (2006–2012) than in the first term (1994–2000); possibly/very-likely lower performances in sprinting and CMJ (ES = 0.22–0.55, small) by central defenders (CDs) and midfielders than by other playing positions; very-likely better performances in sprinting and jumping by first and second divisions central defenders than by semi-professional central defenders (ES = 0.90–1.02, moderate). Sprint and jump performances are not a relevant physical parameter to promote to the top level of soccer in Spain except for one in six of the playing positions: CDs.     

The effect of playing status,maturity status,and playing position on the development of match skills in elite youth football players aged 11–18 years: A mixed-longitudinal study

This mixed-longitudinal study examined the development of match skills in elite male youth footballers (aged 11–18 years), while considering the effect of playing status, maturity status, and playing position. Across two seasons, 126 elite male youth footballers were assessed in 1–10 competitive matches (401 player-matches). For each match, the on-the-ball actions of each player were recorded using a notation system. The match skills observed were frequencies of successful passes, on-target shots, dribbles, crosses, clearances, and tackles/blocks/interceptions. Multilevel Poisson analysis was used to model the development of players, with regard to each match skill. Modelling revealed significant (p?p?p?p?p?相似文献   

Esports players,got muscle? Competitive video game players’ physical activity,body fat,bone mineral content,and muscle mass in comparison to matched controls

BackgroundEsports players, like traditional athletes, practice for long hours and, thus, are vulnerable to the negative health effects of prolonged sitting. There is a lack of research on the physical activity and the health ramifications of prolonged sitting by competitive players. The purpose of this study was to investigate activity levels, body mass index (BMI), and body composition in collegiate esports players as compared to age-matched controls.MethodsTwenty-four male collegiate esports players and non-esports players between 18 and 25 years of age signed a written consent to participate. Physical activity was examined using daily activity (step count) with a wrist-worn activity tracker. A questionnaire assessing physical activity was also administered. Secondary outcomes included body-fat percentage, lean-body mass, BMI, and bone mineral content measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry.ResultsThe step count in the esports players was significantly lower than the age-matched controls (6040.2 ± 3028.6 vs. 12843.8 ± 5661.1; p = 0.004). Esports players exhibited greater body-fat percentage (p = 0.05), less lean body mass (p = 0.003), and less bone mineral content (p = 0.03), despite no difference in BMI between the esports and non-esports players.ConclusionAs compared to non-esports players, collegiate esports players were significantly less active and had a higher body-fat percentage, with lower lean body mass and bone mineral content. The BMIs showed no difference between the 2 groups. Esports athletes displayed significantly less activity and poor body composition, which are all correlated with potential health issues and risk of injury. BMI did not capture this difference and should not be considered as an accurate measure of health in competitive esports players.