Growth,functional capacities and motivation for achievement and competitiveness in youth basketball: an interdisciplinary approach

The interaction of multiple influences on the path to sport success is not yet fully understood by sport scientists. In this study, we examined variation in body size, functional capacities and motivation for achievement, competitiveness and deliberate practice of youth basketball players associated with differences in biological maturity status, chronological age and years of training experience. Reflecting the importance of interactive effects, we examined the relationships between the psychological variables and functional capacities. Fifty-eight male basketball players aged 9.5 to 15.5 years were considered. Variables included chronological age, estimated age at peak height velocity, stature, body mass and sitting height by anthropometry; the Work and Family Orientation and Deliberate Practice Motivation Questionnaires were also used. Finally, the Line Drill test and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) tests were used as functional capacities indicators for basketball. Variance components models derived from series of multilevel linear regression models revealed a substantial variation by maturity status for body size, functional capacities indicators, mastery and will to excel. The influence of estimated maturity status on mastery and will to excel was independent of age and years of experience. In contrast, no relationships were observed between psychological variables and functional capacities indicators. We conclude that growth-related changes are relevant to understanding players´ motivations for achievement, competitiveness and deliberate practice. This should be of interest to those involved in the selection and development of youth basketball players.     

Students as co-producers in a multidisciplinary software engineering project: addressing cultural distance and cross-cohort handover

This article reports an undergraduate software engineering project in which, over a period of 2 years, four student teams from different cohorts developed a note-taking app for four academic clients at the students’ own university. We investigated how projects involving internal clients can give students the benefits of engaging in real software development while also giving them experience of a student-staff collaboration that has its own benefits for students, academics, and the university more broadly. As the university involved is a Sino-Foreign university located in China, where most students are Chinese and most teaching staff are not, this ‘student as co-producer’ approach interacts with another feature of the project: cultural distance. Based on analysis of notes, reports, interviews, and focus groups, we recommend that students should be provided with communicative strategies for dealing with academics as clients; universities should develop policies on ownership of student-staff collaborations; and projects should include a formalised handover process. This article can serve as guidance for educators considering a ‘students as co-producers’ approach for software development projects.     

Job aids and performance support: Moving from knowledge in the classroom to knowledge everywhere by Allison Rossett,and Lisa Schafer

Allison Rossett, CPT, teaches at San Diego State University and is equally at home in the consulting world, where she has helped a global mix of companies and other organizations. Lisa Schafer is one of the principals in Collet and Schafer, which focuses on performance improvement in Fortune 100 companies. Job Aids and Performance Support: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere (ISBN 978‐0‐7879‐7621‐7) is published by Jossey‐Bass/Pfeiffer. This publisher may be reached at (800) 274‐4434 (phone) or (800) 569‐0443 (fax).     

Youth’s Sibling Relationships Across the Course of a Parent’s Military Deployment: Trajectories and Implications

The present exploratory study explored the trajectories and implications of at-home (military unaffiliated) parents’ perceptions of youth’s sibling relationships across the course of a parent’s military deployment. Participants included 109 families with at least two siblings (older sibling and younger siblings age: M = 10.85, SD = 3.92 and M = 7.89, SD = 3.58, respectively) and one parent serving in the National Guard. Data were collected via in-home interviews, at six time points across the deployment cycle. A series of multilevel models revealed increases in sibling disharmony during the months a deployed parent was away, but showed signs of recovery in the year after they returned. Increases in sibling disharmony were positively associated with increases in youth’s externalizing behaviors above and beyond the effects of parenting.     

Using shared online blogs to structure and support informal coach learning—part 1: a tool to promote reflection and communities of practice

Coaches' apparent preferences for informal and self-directed modes of learning have been highlighted in the literature. Consequently, there is a need for innovative coach education approaches that complement these clearly preferred, informal routes and better provide coaches with the professional skills they need to deal with the complex nature of their work. Online blogs are one such tool said to have the potential to strengthen and promote critical thinking and reflection on professional practice; however, research evidence and theoretical frameworks for their use is inconclusive and currently lacking. Therefore, the purpose of part 1 of this two-part investigation was to explore the use of shared online blogs as a tool to promote reflection and community of practice (CoP) in a cohort of 24 undergraduate sports coaching students (5 females, 19 males). Four group blogs, purposely designed to support informal workplace learning, were subjected to content analysis in order to determine the emergent reflective quality of blog entries and the extent to which functioning online CoPs emerged. Findings revealed that shared blogs were a useful tool to promote higher order reflective thinking, and fully functioning online CoPs emerged in all four groups.     

Using shared online blogs to structure and support informal coach learning. Part 2: the participants' view and implications for coach education

In part one of this paper, Stoszkowski and Collins showed that shared online blogs were a useful tool to structure and support the informal learning of a cohort of final year undergraduate sports coaching students. The aim of the present study was to offer insight into student coaches' perceptions of their use and experiences of structured group blogging for reflection and learning. Twenty-three student coaches (5 females, 18 males), purposely sampled from the original study, took part in four semi-structured focus group interviews. Interview data were inductively analysed. Student coaches were generally very positive about their learning experiences and the pedagogical approach employed. This was especially apparent in terms of perceived increases in levels of reflection, knowledge acquisition and improvements in coaching practice; changes corroborated by the data presented in part one. A range of reasons emerged for these outcomes, alongside several potential limiters of engagement in shared group blogging as a learning endeavour. Whilst these findings support recent, and growing proposals to systematically incorporate Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs into coach education pedagogy, several key considerations for the process of using such tools are outlined. Finally, the implications for coach educators are discussed.     

Connectedness: Developing a Shared Construction of Affect and Cognition in Children with Autism

Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald teach children with autism at Mowbray School, North Yorkshire. Dave Sherratt also teaches at the University of Birmingham and is honorary research fellow at the University College of York St John. Gill Donald is also a specialist speech and language therapist for Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust. In this article, Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald outline an approach to teaching children who are on the autistic spectrum. They describe the social construction of understanding in normally developing children and suggest ways in which this differs in children with autism. These children may have difficulties in attributing relevance to the aspects of experience that are regarded as significant by most learners. The authors suggest that this may account for the poverty in social engagement or connectedness commonly observed in children with autism. Illustrating their propositions with vivid examples from practice, Dave Sherratt and Gill Donald go on to describe ten teaching structures promoting progress from early social engagement; through a shared understanding of objects and observable processes; to a shared understanding of symbolic representation in play, ideas and language. These structures, rooted in a fascinating evocation of theory, will help practitioners striving to develop a shared understanding of self, others and the environment in children with autistic spectrum disorders.     

The role of ‘pracademics’ in education and development of adventure sport professionals

Understanding and exploiting the synergy between theory and practice lies at the heart of effective education for outdoor professionals. Accordingly, and in an attempt to stimulate debate, this paper conceptualizes the interaction between theory and practice in the context of the education of outdoor professionals. We identify issues specific to the often separated worlds of practice and academia. While acknowledging those distinct skills and competencies, however, we also explore a mid-role; that of the ‘pracademic’ or scientist–practitioner or practitioner scholar, considering behaviours that may encourage greater collaborative work to inform the process and implementation of the education of outdoor professionals.