Psychosocial outcomes associated with soccer academy involvement: Longitudinal comparisons against aged matched school pupils

ABSTRACT

Despite literature highlighting numerous risks to the healthy psychosocial development of youth elite academy soccer players, little of this research is based on high-quality research designs. This study employed a prospective longitudinal cohort design to track psychosocial outcomes of academy involvement within male youth elite soccer players (n = 33, U12-U16 age groups) compared to age-matched soccer-active school pupils (n = 44) over 12 months. Participants completed questionnaires assessing the most commonly raised psychosocial concerns at four equally spaced data collection periods (T1–T4). Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVAs) indicated that, over the year, both groups reported a healthy and improving stress and recovery balance, as well as positive and stable needs satisfaction and physical, psychological and social well-being. Academy players reported stable positive school-related quality of life, whereas school pupils reported increases from T3 to T4. Academy players reported consistent significantly higher total athletic identity and exclusivity of identity. Findings suggest that many concerns around negative psychosocial impacts of soccer academy involvement did not materialise in this context. However, heightened athletic identities remained a concern.     

Knee joint coordination during single-leg landing in different directions

ABSTRACT

Knee joint coordination during jump landing in different directions is an important consideration for injury prevention. The aim of the current study was to investigate knee and hip kinematics on the non-dominant and dominant limbs during landing. A total of 19 female volleyball athletes performed single-leg jump-landing tests in four directions; forward (0°), diagonal (30° and 60°) and lateral (90°) directions. Kinematic and ground reaction force data were collected using a 10-camera Vicon system and an AMTI force plate. Knee and hip joint angles, and knee angular velocities were calculated using a lower extremity model in Visual3D. A two factor repeated measures ANOVA was performed to explore limb dominance and jump direction. Significant differences were seen between the jump directions for; angular velocity at initial contact (p < 0.001), angular velocity at peak vertical ground reaction force (p < 0.001), and knee flexion excursion (p = 0.016). Knee coordination was observed to be poorer in the early phase of velocity-angle plot during landing in lateral direction compared to forward and diagonal directions. The non-dominant limb seemed to have better coordination than the dominant limb during multi-direction jump landing. Therefore, dominant limbs appear to be at a higher injury risk than non-dominant limbs.     

执着——一位美国宇航员的成功之路

我在美国宾夕法尼亚州的邓莫尔长大,我曾经是第66童子军小队的成员:我们开展过很多有趣的活动。其中一项就是松木结构的赛车设计比赛,即模型汽车比赛。     

Too much or not enough? An examination of special education provision and school district leaders’ perceptions of current needs and common approaches

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between special education provision in Norway and school district leaders’ perspectives regarding (a) the need for special education and (b) the importance and prevalence of integrated and segregated approaches. Findings indicate that the percentage of students perceived as being in need of special education was significantly higher than the percentage of students who actually receive this support. However, districts in which an increased need was reported did not have lower enrolment in special education than regions in which participants felt that the level of special education provision was appropriate. No relationship was found between the percentage of students receiving special education and the importance placed on either segregated or integrated approaches. Whereas virtually all participants valued integrated solutions, segregated approaches received higher ratings of importance in districts where these practices were prevalent.