The physical demands of professional soccer goalkeepers throughout a week-long competitive microcycle and transiently throughout match-play

ABSTRACT

The physical demands of English Premier League soccer goalkeepers were quantified during training and match-play in a two-part study. Goalkeeper-specific micromechanical electrical systems (MEMS) devices, profiled training and match-day activities throughout one competitive week (n=8; part A). Changes in MEMS-derived outputs were also profiled throughout match-play (100 matches; n=8, 18±14 observations per goalkeeper; part B). In part A, goalkeeping-training elicited the most dives (51±11) versus all activities (all p≤0.030) except shooting-training (p=0.069). Small-sided games elicited the fewest (5±3) dives (all p≤0.012). High-speed distance covered in match (103±72 m) was similar to goalkeeping-training (p=0.484), while exceeding shooting-training, small-sided games, pre-match shooting, and pre-match warm-up (all p=0.012). Most changes of direction (34±12) and explosive efforts (70±18) occurred during goalkeeping-training, with values exceeding match (both p=0.012). In part B, between-half reductions in total distance, but increased high-speed changes of direction and explosive efforts, occurred (both p≤0.05). Excluding the number of high jumps, all variables differed from 0-15-min during at least one match epoch, with more dives (1.3±1.4 vs 1.0±1.1) and explosive efforts (2.5±2.4 vs 2.0±1.8) performed between 75-90-min versus 0-15-min (all p<0.05). These data highlight the differing physical demands of various activities performed by professional soccer goalkeepers throughout a competitive week.     

The educational psychologist: Facing a new era

The once firm divisions between regular and special education are now fading. In many regions, the integration into regular classrooms of formerly extruded atypical students has an accepted and sometimes legally determined future. Much greater responsibility has thus fallen upon the shoulders of the classroom teacher, and when the failure of students to learn is attributed to a failure to teach them effectively, the question of professional accountability becomes poignant indeed. So, too, for the educational psychologist. Assessment, tied to placement, is no longer acceptable as a raison d'etre. His/her primary contribution in an era of integration for special education is towards improving the quality of instruction in regular classrooms and the quality of learning. Activities of educational psychologists, including assessment, research dissemination, programs of evaluation, systems analysis, and work with parents are reconstrued in this paper as contributing to better instruction in better classrooms.     

Multimodal behavior therapy with elementary school children; rationale and case study

During the 1979-80 school year, a seven-year-old boy was treated with a Multimodal Behavior Therapy (MMBT) approach to counseling. The primary presenting problem evidenced by this youngster involved a low frequency of on-task behavior. While treatment strategies focused on specific modalities of the BASIC ID, the intervention package was built around three major parameters: (a) an emphasis on intervention in the classroom setting, (b) the use of treatment contracting, and (c) comprehensive assessment of client needs. Despite evidence suggesting that the client's teacher was not reinforcing him for on-task behavior, the youngster's on-task behavior increased from 10.5 minutes out of 30 minutes to the goal level of 20 minutes out of 30 by the end of the four weeks of treatment. At follow-up four months later, the client was engaged in on-task behavior for 17 minutes out of 30, and for 20.7 minutes out of 30 one and one-half years later, Implications for counseling with elementary school children are discussed, based on the three parameters listed above.