Effect of sand versus grass training surfaces during an 8-week pre-season conditioning programme in team sport athletes

Abstract

This study compared the use of sand and grass training surfaces throughout an 8-week conditioning programme in well-trained female team sport athletes (n = 24). Performance testing was conducted pre- and post-training and included measures of leg strength and balance, vertical jump, agility, 20 m speed, repeat speed (8 × 20 m every 20 s), as well as running economy and maximal oxygen consumption (VO_2max). Heart rate (HR), training load (rating of perceived exertion (RPE) × duration), movement patterns and perceptual measures were monitored throughout each training session. Participants completed 2 × 1 h conditioning sessions per week on sand (SAND) or grass (GRASS) surfaces, incorporating interval training, sprint and agility drills, and small-sided games. Results showed a significantly higher (P < 0.05) HR and training load in the SAND versus GRASS group throughout each week of training, plus some moderate effect sizes to suggest lower perceptual ratings of soreness and fatigue on SAND. Significantly greater (P < 0.05) improvements in VO_2max were measured for SAND compared to GRASS. These results suggest that substituting sand for grass training surfaces throughout an 8-week conditioning programme can significantly increase the relative exercise intensity and training load, subsequently leading to superior improvements in aerobic fitness.     

Lower limb joint kinetics during the first stance phase in athletics sprinting: three elite athlete case studies

Abstract

This study analysed the first stance phase joint kinetics of three elite sprinters to improve the understanding of technique and investigate how individual differences in technique could influence the resulting levels of performance. Force (1000 Hz) and video (200 Hz) data were collected and resultant moments, power and work at the stance leg metatarsal-phalangeal (MTP), ankle, knee and hip joints were calculated. The MTP and ankle joints both exhibited resultant plantarflexor moments throughout stance. Whilst the ankle joint generated up to four times more energy than it absorbed, the MTP joint was primarily an energy absorber. Knee extensor resultant moments and power were produced throughout the majority of stance, and the best-performing sprinter generated double and four times the amount of knee joint energy compared to the other two sprinters. The hip joint extended throughout stance. Positive hip extensor energy was generated during early stance before energy was absorbed at the hip as the resultant moment became flexor-dominant towards toe-off. The generation of energy at the ankle appears to be of greater importance than in later phases of a sprint, whilst knee joint energy generation may be vital for early acceleration and is potentially facilitated by favourable kinematics at touchdown.     

The regulation of transnational higher education in Southeast Asia: Case studies of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia

The millennium round of the General Agreement on Tradein Services (GATS) underlines issues relating to the regulationof education as an internationally traded service. Transnationaleducation is a key component of such trade. Southeast Asia issomething of a laboratory in the development and regulation oftransnational education. The region combines high demand, keencompetition among providers, and host country regulatory regimesranging from relatively laissez faire to strongly interventionist.This paper examines the approaches of three Southeast Asiangovernments – Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia – to theregulation of transnational education within their borders. Ineach case the authors provide background on the higher educationsystem, describe the regulatory approaches to transnationaleducation, and analyse the motivations behind regulation. Boththe neoliberal approach of the WTO to trade in educationalservices, and critiques of this approach, are outlined. Theauthors conclude that any attempts to promote global standards orquality principles for transnational education must address themyriad concerns of governments, including consumer protection,advancing national goals and protecting the local system.     

Higher prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among Latino men who have sex with men than non-Latino men who have sex with men: data from the Urban Men's Health Study

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among Latino adult men who have sex with men who live in the US was estimated because a history of childhood sexual abuse increases HIV sexual risk behaviors and other negative health outcomes in adulthood. METHOD: The Urban Men's Health Study is a random-digit telephone probability survey of 2881 adult men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 18 years or older residing in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Self-reported history of childhood sexual abuse was the main outcome measure gathered from 2692 MSM. RESULTS: A significantly higher proportion of Latino MSM reported sexual abuse before age 13 (22%) than did non-Latino MSM (11%). CONCLUSIONS: Latino MSM are twice as likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse than are non-Latino MSM. Given the association between childhood sexual abuse and increased risk for HIV and other negative health outcomes, health providers must remain vigilant to the possibility of childhood sexual abuse histories among their Latino patients.     

Difficulties in defining mobile learning: analysis,design characteristics,and implications

Educational technology research and development - Mobile learning, or m-learning, has become an umbrella term for the integration of mobile computing devices within teaching and learning. In the...     

How can we Teach History through Television?

This article contrasts the often ambivalent attitudes of teachers towards television and generalised research on teachers’ uses of television, with detailed empirical evidence from primary school history co‐ordinators describing their reactions to and expectations of the medium. The data describes a wide variety of reasons why television is educationally useful in the teaching and learning of history. The argument is articulated that teachers and children can be sophisticated viewers of televisual schools history, offering useful guidelines for programme makers; but that teacher conservatism and lack of advisory support for teachers’ deployment of the medium may be hindering its educational effectiveness.     

Learning to teach with the web: Factors influencing teacher education faculty

Professional development at postsecondary institutions has primarily been supported through a central faculty development center. With purposive sampling, this small case study explored the ways in which teacher education faculty members were influenced to participate in decentralized professional development focused on learning to teach with WebCT. Results suggest that university faculty were influenced by both intrinsic factors (including convenience, comfort, common interests, and future purposes) and an extrinsic factor (external pressures). This research suggests that these factors also contributed to the faculty's satisfaction with the professional development. A follow-up interview explored how faculty coped with budgetary limitations and encouragement to pursue other distance education technologies.     

Measures of reading comprehension: do they measure different skills for children learning English as a second language?

The validity of two measures of English reading comprehension was examined across three different groups of English language learners (ELLs; 64 Portuguese, 66 Spanish and 65 Cantonese). All three groups were achieving within the average range in second grade. An exploratory principal components analysis of reading skills was carried out to determine which skills were related to two commonly used tests of reading comprehension, the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery??s test of Passage Comprehension (WLPB-PC; Woodcock, 1991) and the Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4; Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001). The factor solutions were different for the three language groups but showed many similarities in that the GORT-4 and WLPB-R tests of reading comprehension fell on the same factor within each group. Hierarchical regression analyses examining relationships among vocabulary, decoding and reading comprehension showed that language group membership did not significantly predict performance on either measure of reading comprehension. Differences that arose are likely due to issues with task validity and not ELL status. Limitations and future research are discussed.