The kinematic differences between skill levels in the squash forehand drive,volley and drop strokes

ABSTRACT

Knowledge of the kinematic differences that separate highly skilled and less-skilled squash players could assist the progression of talent development. This study compared trunk, upper-limb and racket kinematics between two groups of nine highly skilled and less-skilled male athletes for forehand drive, volley and drop strokes. A 15-camera motion analysis system recorded three-dimensional trajectories, with five shots analysed per participant per stroke. The highly skilled group had significantly (p < 0.05) larger forearm pronation/supination range-of-motion and wrist extension angles at impact than the less-skilled. The less-skilled group had a significantly more “open” racket face and slower racket velocities at impact than the highly skilled. Rates of shoulder internal rotation, forearm pronation, elbow extension and wrist flexion at impact were greater in the drive stroke than in the other strokes. The position of the racket at impact in the volley was significantly more anterior to the shoulder than in the other strokes, with a smaller trunk rotation angular velocity. Players used less shoulder internal/external rotation, forearm pronation/supination, elbow and wrist flexion/extension ranges-of-motions and angular velocities at impact in the drop stroke than in the other strokes. These findings provide useful insights into the technical differences that separate highly skilled from less-skilled players and provide a kinematic distinction between stroke types.     

‘We’re the lassies from Lancashire’: Manchester Corinthians Ladies FC and the use of overseas tours to defy the FA ban on women’s football

ABSTRACT

The FA banned women’s football from the grounds of Association-affiliated clubs in 1921, on the grounds that the organisation perceived that football was ‘unsuitable’ for women and too much money raised for charity had been absorbed in player expenses. But women continued to play. This article analyses how Manchester Corinthians Ladies Football Club, which had been formed in 1949, was able to sustain a varied range of overseas tours and domestic matches in spite of the ban. Using a range of methods, including oral history, family history interviews, a reunion of the surviving players and player memorabilia, firstly, the article provides a history of Corinthians and Nomads from 1949 onwards. Secondly, the article uses oral history to reflect what the players felt about playing for the club and particularly its overseas tours, and charity work. Not all of the players are represented due to constraints of space, but this is an introduction to a larger ongoing project to reclaim the teams’ history. Finally, the article argues that it is important to examine the 1950s and 1960s, decades when women’s football was an unregulated activity, in order to understand that which followed once the FA ban was lifted in 1969.     

Fifty interesting years

This case study gives an analytical account of institutional development in induction provision.

Driven by student experience concerns, a London post-1992 University set up an ‘enhanced induction project’ to provide a more integrated, personalised approach through more coordinated processes. In a large, diverse context, university-wide working is problematic; issues about control and autonomy are illustrated by this action research. Significant change has been achieved in a developmental process shaped by and revealing the interplay of differing organisational cultures. Critical reflection on change management, from practice and strategy to policy and embedding, draws on a range of work on organisational cultures.     

Whole-school management issues concerning the PE department: ‘a natural division of labour?’

Utilising the labour ideas of Adam Smith and Emile Durkheim as a theoretical basis, the main objective of this study was to investigate the perception that Heads of Physical Education (HoPE) face unique management and leadership challenges. Results showed that HoPE believe that they are overburdened with tasks primarily involving the delegation of finance and exam administration. Many felt that their efforts were undervalued by senior management teams (SMTs). However, HoPE themselves could work more closely with the latter and instead of developing a culture of antagonism and mistrust they should seek to partake more fully within whole-school initiatives to demonstrate capabilities and so increase the status of their department.     

The Effect of Goal-Line Presentation and Goal Selection on First-Grader Subtraction Fluency

Math proficiency is related to math calculation fluency. Explicit timing provides repeated practice for math fluency. It is enhanced through goal setting, graphic feedback, and rewards. Self-selected goals have potential to increase performance for math fluency. This study compared the effect of goal lines, and researcher goals versus self-selected goals. The authors compared three groups: (a) researcher-selected goals only, (b) researcher-selected goals with goal lines, and (c) self-selected goals with goal lines. First-grade students completed subtraction probes and colored in a bar graph with their performance. When participants met or exceeded their goals, participants received rewards twice per week. Results indicated that the researcher-selected goals with goal lines procedures with explicit timing had the greatest effect on subtraction fluency for first-grade students. The researcher-selected goals with goal lines and self-selected goals with goal lines groups outperformed the researcher-selected goals-only group.     

THE PLOWDEN REPORT'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IDENTIFYING CHILDREN IN NEED OF EXTRA HELP

The inadequacies of an area or school‐based approach to the problem of identifying children who are in need of extra help at school are illustrated with data collected from the infant reception classes of 12 schools. These sample schools were each nominated for one of three categories according to the characteristics of the areas which they served. The two local education authorities involved each nominated an advantaged school, a settled working‐class school, and four deprived schools. The socio‐economic and developmental characteristics of the infant reception class intakes of these categories of school type were examined. The findings were that categories of school type are not as socio‐economically disparate as may often be assumed; and that there appears to be a sizeable relationship between school type and the school entrants’ developmental characteristics, but there are too many exceptions to this general trend to justify the use of school characteristics for identifying ‘children at risk’.     

The Teaching of Mathematics‐‐IV TEACHING ARITHMETIC BY CONCRETE ANALOGY‐‐I. MIMING DEVICES (Continued)

The hypotheses that the mobile life of the service boy deprives him of opportunities to develop his self‐concept to the level of his geographically stable peers, and that the category system he uses to interpret and predict the behaviour of others will also be less developed, were examined. Two groups of 15‐year‐old boys, one group in an Army school in Germany, one group of geographically stable boys at school in Britain, were compared on a form of repertory grid test and some support for these hypotheses was found.

A possible explanation of this conceptual impairment is that the instability of his way of life leaves the child bewildered and unable to cope with the task of making judgements about himself or others. His sources of information and instruction are too many and too often changed, and because of this he may fail to develop skill in self‐assessment and the assessment of others. He may also retreat from too precise an assessment because of repeated failure in predicting the behaviour of others, and a need to defend himself against the anxiety engendered by the awareness of poor understanding and limited control.     

Aboriginal Environmental Wisdom,Stewardship, and Sustainability: Lessons From the Walpole Island First Nations,Ontario, Canada

Generally speaking, environmental education teaching, research, and practice have been informed by the traditions of western, Euro-centric culture. In this context indigenous perspectives are often marginalized, maligned, and perceived to be unscientific and therefore inferior. This essay adds to the growing body of literature exploring aboriginal indigenous environmental epistemologies and responsible human interactions with the natural environment. The paper provides a Canadian context as it examines the environmental philosophy and attitude of a Canadian First Nations community to the natural environment grounded in the lived experiences of adults, children and elders from the Walpole Island First Nation. We make the argument that while not a panacea, Aboriginal environmental epistemologies hold lessons for teaching environmental stewardship and sustainability behavior in mainstream classrooms.