Premier League academy soccer players’ experiences of competing in a tournament bio-banded for biological maturation

Individual differences in the growth and maturation have been shown to impact player performance and development in youth soccer. This study investigated Premier League academy players’ experiences of participating in a tournament bio-banded for biological maturation. Players (N = 66) from four professional soccer clubs aged 11 and 14 years and between 85–90% of adult stature participated in a tournament. Players competed in three 11 vs 11 games on a full size pitch with 25-min halves. Sixteen players participated in four 15-min focus groups and were asked to describe their experiences of participating in the bio-banded tournament in comparison to age group competition. All players described their experience as positive and recommended the Premier League integrate bio-banding into the existing games programme. In comparison to age-group competitions, early maturing players described the bio-banded games more physically challenging, and found that they had to adapt their style of play placing a greater emphasis on technique and tactics. Late maturing players considered the games to be less physically challenging, yet appreciated the having more opportunity to use, develop and demonstrate their technical, physical, and psychological competencies. Bio-banding strategies appear to contribute positively towards the holistic development of young soccer players.     

Facilitating Preschool Learning and Movement through Dance

A preschool movement through dance program is a way to open the door to numerous cultural benefits and opportunities, and preschool skill facilitation. Creating new contexts for learning enrich young children and offer them different opportunities to understand and negotiate the world. Inclusive curricular integration and parent and community participation are important components of a cultural arts experience that deepen the children’s repertoire of behavior and responses to the world. Early childhood education practitioners are encouraged to creatively explore their community and develop rich cultural learning experiences for children.     

Relations among school assets,individual resilience,and student engagement for youth grouped by level of family functioning

Given the importance of student engagement for healthy outcomes, research needs to investigate whether school‐based assets promote student engagement beyond individual and family influences. Unfortunately, such research has been limited by a lack of valid instrumentation. After examining the psychometrics of the California Healthy Kids Survey Resilience Youth Development Module, we used this risk and resilience instrument with a randomly selected sample of 10,000 diverse 7th‐, 9th‐, and 11th‐grade students to test a model of relations between school assets, individual resilience, and student engagement for students grouped by level of family assets. Although youth in the low family asset group reported lower student engagement, contrary to hypothesis, multigroup structural equation modeling revealed that school assets did not have a differential relation for low family asset youth compared to their high family asset peers. School assets were associated with student engagement for all groups, even accounting for individual resilience. Implications and future directions are provided. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Immune nutrition and exercise: Narrative review and practical recommendations

Abstract

Evidence suggests that periods of heavy intense training can result in impaired immune cell function, and whether this leaves elite athletes at greater risk of infections and upper respiratory symptoms (URS) is still debated. There is some evidence that episodes of URS do cluster around important periods of competition and intense periods of training. Since reducing URS, primarily from an infectious origin, may have implications for performance, a large amount of research has focused on nutritional strategies to improve immune function at rest and in response to exercise. Although there is some convincing evidence that meeting requirements of high intakes in carbohydrate and protein and avoiding deficiencies in nutrients such as vitamin D and antioxidants is integral for optimal immune health, well-powered randomised controlled trials reporting improvements in URS beyond such intakes are lacking. Consequently, there is a need to first understand whether the nutritional practices adopted by elite athletes increases their risk of URS. Second, promising evidence in support of efficacy and mechanisms of immune-enhancing nutritional supplements (probiotics, bovine colostrum) on URS needs to be followed up with more randomised controlled trials in elite athletes with sufficient participant numbers and rigorous procedures with clinically relevant outcome measures of immunity.     

The Alert Program for self-management of behaviour in second level schools: results of phase 1 of a pilot study

This article reports on Phase 1 of a pilot programme on self-management of behaviour with challenging class groups of students as part of the evidence-informed practice of the National Behaviour Support Service. The Alert Program is a structured active learning programme using an engine analogy. The person’s engine runs on high, low or just right for the task in hand. The focus of this first phase of the pilot was on the appropriateness of module content, teaching approaches, resource materials and classroom management strategies. Eighty-five first year students (aged 12–13 years) and four teachers in four second level partner schools in areas of social disadvantage were involved. Trial 1 offered five class sessions and Trial 2 offered eight. Phase 1 was occupational therapist led with class teacher support. Perceptions from teachers and students were gathered by questionnaires. Teachers reported that the content and class management strategies were appropriate. Students gained an understanding of their behaviour and identified self-management strategies for use in the class. They recommended that all teachers working with the class group should be familiar with the language and techniques of the programme to reinforce learning. Feedback from 85% (72) of students confirmed that the learning tasks were considered by the majority to be enjoyable and relevant. The group of students perceived to be the most challenging gave the most positive scores, and 100% of these indicated their intention to use their new self-management strategies in class. The positive results led to Phase 2 of the pilot in which teachers took the lead role with occupational therapist support in a national pilot in 16 schools in areas of social disadvantage.     

A Qualitative Study of Juvenile Offenders,Student Engagement,and Interpersonal Relationships: Implications for Research Directions and Preventionist Approaches

Background factors that correlate with juvenile delinquency are consistent across the interdisciplinary literature base. Yet, information about the process of how risks relate to outcomes, especially within school settings, is limited. Researchers used qualitative methods to examine school and interpersonal experiences from the perspective of juvenile offenders and their families. Sixteen families were recruited from juvenile probation facilities in 2 different geographic regions. Consensual Qualitative Research methods yielded consistent themes, including the central role of advocacy to obtain appropriate school services, the importance of flexibility in discipline policies, classroom experiences that shaped outcomes, and the importance of nonjudgmental social support for the adolescents and their parents. The findings and recommendations for school consultants are presented from a preventionist standpoint, and self-determination theory is discussed in relation to future juvenile delinquency research.     

Embarrassment: The effects of embarrassor and target perceptions

This study investigated the role perception plays in embarrassing situations between same‐sex friends. We argued that when two same‐sex friends share a common experience where one was embarrassed due to something the friend did or said, the embarrassors and targets would differ in (a) their perceptions relating to the degree of embarrassment falt, (b) their attribution of intentionality, and (c) the degree to which the embarrassment affected their relationship. One hundred and sixty‐three same‐sex friend dyads were asked to report their perceptions about a commonly shared embarrassing incident. Results showed that only 52.5% (n = 84) of the embarrassors recognized that the target experienced embarrassment. Further analyses were then conducted on these 84 dyads. We found that embarrassors and targets tend to agree on the intent of the embarrassor. However, no associations were found between perspective and degree of embarrassment felt nor degree of relationship consequences. Implications of the findings and limitations are discussed.     

The novel use of a SenseCam and accelerometer to validate training load and training information in a self-recall training diary

Self-recall training diaries are a frequently used tool to quantify training load and training information. While accelerometers are predominantly used to validate training diaries, they are unable to validate contextual training information. Thus this study aimed to examine the novel use of data fusion from a wearable camera device (SenseCam) and accelerometer to validate a self-recall training diary. Thirty participants filled in a training diary for 1 day while simultaneously wearing a SenseCam and accelerometer. The training diary was validated using Bland–Altman plots, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, percentage agreement and κ measure of agreement between the diary and the SenseCam and accelerometer. The results demonstrated overall agreement, and no bias, between the training diary and the accelerometer for training intensity, and the SenseCam for duration of activity and travel time. A positive correlation was found for duration (r = 0.82, P < 0.001) and intensity (r = 0.67, P < 0.001). Hundred per cent agreement was found between the SenseCam and training diary for activity, training surface and footwear (κ = 1, P < 0.0001), with a lower agreement noted for sports played (97.3%, κ = 0.91, P < 0.0001). The self-recall training diary was found to be a valid measure of capturing training load and training information using the combined wearable camera device and accelerometer.     

Public Library Futures—Reality—Recognition—Reimagination

The author of this article recognizes that massive and rapid change is a continuing feature in big libraries, and many of the changes are new: A social worker is a full-time staff member who helps other staff to sort out and deliver the best possible services to vulnerable populations, health care specialists who help plan health programs and provide direction to staff referrals to needed medical services, and librarians specially trained to help early childhood users prepare to be good learners in school. Working on this change agenda, library staff have learned that the library’s future work is not bound up by the limits of its “stuff” (i.e., owned or rented materials) or buildings but rather to the many communities of Philadelphia people whose economic, social, and cultural needs needed to be met.