Comment on “Football-specific fitness testing: adding value or confirming the evidence?”

Abstract

The recent point–counter-point exchange arising from the article by Mendez-Villanueva and Buchheit (2013) (Football-specific fitness testing: Adding value or confirming the evidence? Journal of Sports Sciences, 31, 1503–1508) has generated an interesting debate on the real-world utility of fitness testing in professional association football (soccer). In the present authors’ opinion, this exchange could also have been placed more in the context of the physical testing and subsequent benchmark profiling of the youth player within elite academy talent identification and development processes. This point is further strengthened by the current media debate at the time of writing on the development of elite youth football players in England and the Elite Player Performance Plan or EPPP (The Premier League. (2011). Elite Player Performance Plan. London: Author) published by the English Premier League as part of a vision for the future development of youth football in the League and throughout the English professional game. The EPPP recommends the implementation of a national database to enable comparison of Academy player performances against national physical testing “benchmark” profiles. In continuing the above debate, this letter questions the real-world utility and potential pitfalls of nationwide athletic benchmark profiling programmes for elite youth football.     

The effects of reality therapy and choice theory training on self concept among Taiwanese university students

Changing cultural expectations and constant academic pressures may have negative effects on the self concept of todays Taiwanese university students. The teaching of choice theory and the use of reality therapy as interventions were considered to assist these students in developing and maintaining a positive self concept. Taiwanese university students (n = 217) were subjected to either choice theory teaching or reality therapy group counselling. The findings suggest that both of these strategies were effective in facilitating more positive self concepts when compared to the control group. Additional counselling implications were addressed.     

Predicting students' ratings of the importance of strategies to facilitate self‐directed distance learning in Taiwan

Distance students' ratings of the importance of strategies to facilitate self‐directed learning were evaluated. Students from an open university in Taiwan (449 current and 140 inactive) participated in this study. Current students scored significantly higher than inactive students on internal motivation, insight about self, and self‐directed learning readiness. A combination of high internal and external motivation and high self‐directed learning readiness predicted ratings of the importance of five sets of strategies for helping students become self‐directed learners. The study provides information to help distance learning professionals enhance the effectiveness of self‐directed learning and reduce the number of students who become inactive.     

Running patterns for male and female competitive and recreational runners based on accelerometer data

The purpose of this study was to classify runners in sex-specific groups as either competitive or recreational based on center of mass (CoM) accelerations. Forty-one runners participated in the study (25 male and 16 female), and were labeled as competitive or recreational based on age, sex, and race performance. Three-dimensional acceleration data were collected during a 5-minute treadmill run, and 24 features were extracted. Support vector machine classification models were used to examine the utility of the features in discriminating between competitive and recreational runners within each sex-specific subgroup. Competitive and recreational runners could be classified with 82.63 % and 80.4 % in the male and female models, respectively. Dominant features in both models were related to regularity and variability, with competitive runners exhibiting more consistent running gait patterns, but the specific features were slightly different in each sex-specific model. Therefore, it is important to separate runners into sex-specific competitive and recreational subgroups for future running biomechanical studies. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the ability to analyze running biomechanics in competitive and recreational runners using only CoM acceleration patterns. A runner, clinician, or coach may use this information to monitor how running patterns change as a result of training.     

Children's behavior problems and referral for school psychological services

Personality and conduct problem behaviors from Quay and Peterson's Behavior Problem Checklist were rated by considering their significance in referring an elementary-grade child for school psychological services. Spearman correlations indicated that regular class teachers, special class teachers of the emotionally disturbed, and school psychologists agreed regarding the relative importance of the behavior problems. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that conduct problems were prioritized by the professional groups for referral. This consistent agreement across professional groups is interpreted in terms of ecological psychology. Considering the behavioral demands of the schools, the conduct problem child achieves the poorest behavior-milieu fit and is perceived as a priority for referral.