Is there an influence of relative age on participation in non-physical sports activities? The example of shooting sports

Abstract

The aims of this study were to test for the presence of a relative age effect among male (n = 119,715) and female (n = 12,823) members of the shooting sports federation, and to determine whether any such effect has an impact on dropout from the sport. For the boys and girls, the results show a uniform distribution of dropout. A relative age effect was not found for the girls, showing that in female shooting sports there is no such effect. For the males, a significant statistical relative age effect was not detected in the 18–20 and 13–14 year categories. However, a relative age effect was found among adults and the 11–12 and under 11 year categories. A significant “inverse” relative age effect was found for the 15–17 year group. Further qualitative research is needed to clarify which factors contribute to this asymmetric distribution of birth dates in French male shooting sports.     

Force–velocity characteristics of upper limb extension during maximal wheelchair sprinting performed by healthy able-bodied females

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between force and velocity parameters during a specific multi-articular upper limb movement – namely, hand rim propulsion on a wheelchair ergometer. Seventeen healthy able-bodied females performed nine maximal sprints of 8?s duration with friction torques varying from 0 to 4?N?·?m. The wheelchair ergometer system allows measurement of forces exerted on the wheels and linear velocity of the wheel at 100 Hz. These data were averaged for the duration of each arm cycle. Peak force and the corresponding maximal velocity were determined during three consecutive arm cycles for each sprint condition. Individual force–velocity relationships were established for peak force and velocity using data for the nine sprints. In line with the results of previous studies on leg cycling or arm cranking, the force–velocity relationship was linear in all participants (r?=??0.798 to ?0.983, P?<0.01). The maximal power output (mean 1.28?W?·?kg^?1) and the corresponding optimal velocity (1.49?m?·?s^?1) and optimal force (52.3?N) calculated from the individual force–velocity regression were comparable with values reported in the literature during 20 or 30?s wheelchair sprints, but lower than those obtained during maximal arm cranking. A positive linear relationship (r?=?0.678, P?<0.01) was found between maximal power and optimal velocity. Our findings suggest that although absolute values of force, velocity and power depend on the type of movement, the force–velocity relationship obtained in multi-articular limb action is similar to that obtained in wheelchair locomotion, cycling and arm cranking.     

Decrease in pulmonary diffusion capacity after maximal exercise

Oppression of the chest, cough and orthopnea are well known to occur in some athletes after competitions, maybe reflecting an increase in lung water. In order to indicate if lung water increases after maximal exercise we measured pulmonary diffusion capacity before and 2.1 h after a short maximal arm exercise bout in 11 canoeists and showed a decrease of 6.7%. The result may be explained by a calculated 17% increase in alveolar interstitial volume.     

Mirrored Three-View Cinematography in Small Animal Locomotion Studies

Abstract

Present athletic practices in stop-watch timing require the median of three watch times to be declared “official” time. Theoretical evidence is available that the standard error of the median is larger than the standard error of the mean when sampling is from a single, normal population. The present investigation was designed to determine if, under actual race conditions, the same relationship between the mean and median time exists. In the two independent experiments described the standard error of the median was observed to be larger than that of the mean.     

Influence of a stressing constraint on stiffness and damping functions of a ski simulator's platform motion

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of stress on a previously acquired motor coordination. Following a longitudinal learning experiment, four participants performed oscillations on a ski simulator, either in normal or stressful conditions. The results showed that the amplitude of the oscillations decreased under stress, but no significant effect was seen regarding coordination, suggesting the strong resistance to stress of overlearned behaviour. Nevertheless, for one participant, a transient regression towards a former stage of learning was observed. This result was consistent with the regression hypothesis formulated by Fuchs ().