Die Drei-Punkte-Regel in der deutschen 1. Fußballbundesliga und der Anteil unentschiedener Spiele

Dilger and Geyer (2007) analysed the impact of introducing the three-point rule in 1995/1996 on the results in the German premier soccer league (1. Fußballbundesliga). The authors argue that this change, among others, would lead to a reduction in the number of draws as the possibility to gain 3 points instead of 2 would cause a higher incentive for winning. Examining the entire n=6194 games in the German premier soccer league 10 years before and after the rule change, respectively, they found a significant difference for this specific period (p<0.01). This finding is interpreted as evidence for the impact of the three-point rule. We contradict this questionable interpretation by Dilger and Geyer (2007). In our reply we show that the implementation of the three-point rule has no (practically relevant) impact on the proportion of draws. For this purpose, all of the n=13,406 matches since 1963/1964 were included in the analysis. The results indicate fluctuations in the percentage of draws during 44 years of existence of the German premier soccer league independently of the implementation of the three-point rule. In light of this, an impact of the three-point rule on the proportion of draws cannot be identified at all.     

Motorische Leistungsfähigkeit von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland

Motor performance is an important health resource. Review articles revealed a decline of motor performance of approximately 10?% between 1975 and 2006. In the past most of the data available for such comparisons came from ad hoc studies with non-standardized methods. Within the framework of the ”Motorik-Modul“ (MoMo) study as part of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), it is possible for the first time to directly compare two cohorts in the ages of 4–17 years in a nationally representative database for Germany. The aim of this article is to report changes in motor performance of children and adolescents in the time period 2003–2006 (cohort baseline n = 4528) compared to 2009–2012 (cohort wave 1, n = 2820). Overall, it is clearly shown that the motor performance of children and adolescents in Germany did not decrease within the observational period of 6 years. The comparison of mean values of the baseline cohort compared to those of wave 1 showed that 28 out of 52 mean values of the two cohorts with a high probability did not differ based on 95?% confidence intervals (CI). In 24 out of the 52 mean values positive changes could be noted based on the individual 95?% CI values. There were more positive changes in primary school aged children than in other age groups. Within these positive changes, most effect sizes were small to medium. The results indicate that recent activities aiming at elevating motor performance levels may have started to make an impact and should be expanded, also in secondary schools. The comparative cohort study presented in this article is currently being checked by the ongoing MoMo wave 2 survey of 2014–2017.     

Why do bad balls get wickets? The role of congruent and incongruent information in anticipation

Skilled anticipation is underpinned by the use of kinematic and contextual information. However, few researchers have examined what happens when contextual information suggests an outcome that is different from the event that follows. We aimed to bridge this gap by manipulating the relationship between contextual information and final ball location in a cricket-batting task. We predicted that when contextual information is congruent with the eventual outcome then anticipation would be facilitated. In contrast, when contextual information is incongruent, this would lead to a confirmation bias on kinematic information and result in decreased anticipation accuracy. We expected this effect to be larger in skilled performers who are more able to utilise context. Skilled and less-skilled cricket batters anticipated deliveries presented using a temporally occluded video-based task. We created conditions whereby contextual information and event outcome were either congruent or incongruent. There was a significant skill by condition interaction (p < 0.05). The skilled group anticipated significantly more accurately than the less-skilled group on the congruent trials. Both groups anticipated less accurately on incongruent trials, with the skilled participants being more negatively affected. Skilled performers prioritise contextual information and confirmation bias affects the use of kinematic information available later in the action.     

Die Konstruktvalidität des Allgemeinen Sportmotorischen Tests für Kinder

Whereas numerous studies have confirmed the objectivity and reliability of the “ Allgemeine Sportmotorische Test für Kinder” (AST, a general motor fitness and coordination test for children), examinations of its construct validity reveal that: (1) the few available findings fail to confirm the theoretically predicted distinction between the latent variables of condition and coordination, and (2) no studies so far have examined its item homogeneity, even though the test recommends computing a sum score to provide a general estimate of motor fitness. Confirmatory factor analyses show that the two latent variables condition and coordination cannot be extracted from the AST. Models with different latent variables also cannot be confirmed, too. Analyses based on IRT models, in contrast, reveal that one can distinguish between two qualitative classes of persons who are associated with either better running performance combined with lower throwing performance or better throwing performance combined with lower running performance. Nonetheless, it should be noted that class membership does not remain constant over time. In sum, results based on classical and probabilistic test theory negate the ability assumption underlying the AST. For practical assessments of a skill-specific performance, this means that it only seems justifiable to use a sum score for the locomotion items and a sum score for the object manipulation items.     

Inhalte und Strukturen prototypischer Merkmale in Fußballmannschaften

Members of a social group possess a shared social identity, which is individually represented as the group prototype. The prototype is the individual cognitive representation of all attributes, which best describes the group from the group members’ point of view. The aim of the study was to gather those attributes provided by group members of a soccer team and subsequently to describe and categorize them by means of a content analysis. Using one single open question, a total of 1581 attributes were assessed through n?=?278 soccer players (67?% male; M?=?23.5 years, SD?=?5.0 years) from 20 soccer teams. The data analysis was based on the qualitative content analysis described by Mayring (2010). Results show that the attributes mentioned by the team members can be divided into four distinct categories (social, psychological, sport specific, ecological). These categories result from intragroup synchronisations. Future research should examine which categories and subcategories seem to best represent the prototype in soccer teams.     

Bedingungen der Bindungswirkung inkrementeller Normen in Fußballvereinen

Sports clubs depend on the pooling of resources by their members. The supportive distribution of the resources within a club is facilitated in particular by the effectiveness of incremental standards. A basic prerequisite for a fair distribution of resources is a minimum of community spirit among the members. Based on a nationwide survey of football clubs and an ordinal logistic regression model, factors were determined that reflect the extent of the community spirit within a club. The opening up of the club by payment to players and perceived problems with acquiring and binding of volunteers are associated with a reduction of community spirit. In contrast, the perception that the club activities can be continued in the long term shows a positive correlation to a highly developed community spirit.     

Akuteffekte des Einsatzes von Futsalbällen beim Fußballspielen im Sportunterricht

This study evaluated the effects of utilising futsal balls during physical education lessons via a comparison with traditional and indoor (felt) footballs. A total of 423 5^th grade pupils (197 female and 226 male, age range 10–13 years, mean age 10 years 11.5 months) took part in a series of conditions designed to assess the bearing different football types (i.e. felt, leather and futsal) have on technical playing ability and game awareness. The results indicate that utilizing futsal balls is associated with improvements in most areas of assessment. In particular control of bouncing balls is significantly faster with futsal balls when compared to traditionally used leather or felt footballs. An increase in the number of ball contacts for each player and improvements in the quality of offensive play were also observed and participants appeared to have markedly less fear of the futsal ball in comparison with other types of balls. In conjunction, these findings lend strong support to the concept of making greater use of futsal balls when playing indoor football with young people.