Excelling at youth level in competitive track and field athletics is not a prerequisite for later success

Enhancing our understanding of athlete development would be valuable for coaches, parents and administrators to set realistic performance expectations and to advance youth sport policy. To this end, a database of track and field performances was examined. Records of 134,313 performances by athletes aged between 12 and 35 years in sprinting, throwing, jumping and middle distance events were analysed. Results revealed that a minority (Male, 9%; Female, 13%) of top 20 ranked senior athletes were also ranked in the top 20 at Under 13 (U13). These results were supported by the finding that a minority of athletes retained their top 20 ranking at subsequent age grades (36.3% U13-U15; 23% U13-U17; 13% U13-U20; 43.3% U15-U17; 22.1% U15-U20; 41.8% U17-U20). By U20, less than 30% of athletes who had been ranked in the top 20 at U13 were still listed on the national rankings. Examining a broader sample of athletes revealed weak to moderate correlations between performances at different age grades until at least Under 17-Under 20. These findings reinforce the message that excelling at youth level in competitive athletics is not a prerequisite for senior success.     

Left ventricular morphology and function in endurance-trained female athletes

In this study,we investigated resting left ventricular dimensions and function in trained female rowers, canoeists and cyclists. In male populations, such athletes have demonstrated the largest left ventricular wall thicknesses and cavity dimensions. Echocardiograms were analysed from 24 athletes (rowers and canoeists, n=12; cyclists, n=12) and 21 age-matched controls to measure left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and volume, and septal (ST) and posterior wall (PWT) thicknesses. Left ventricular mass was calculated from M-mode data. Systolic and diastolic function were calculated from M-mode and Doppler echocardiography, respectively. Height, body mass, body surface area and fat-free mass were determined anthropometrically. The athletes were well matched with the controls for all anthropometric variables except fat-free mass (rowers and canoeists 49.7 3.6 kg, cyclists 48.0?+\- 3.8 kg, controls 45.0?+\- 5.4 kg; P < 0.05). The left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, mass and volume, and septal and posterior wall thicknesses, were all significantly greater in the athletes than the controls (P < 0.05). These differences persisted (except for left ventricular end-diastolic dimension) even after allometric adjustment for group differences in fat-free mass. Stroke volume was larger (rowers and canoeists 102?+\- 13 ml, cyclists 103?+\0 16 ml, controls 80?+\- 15 ml; P < 0.05) in both groups of athletes but all other functional data were similar between groups. As in male athletes, female rowers, canoeists and cyclists displayed significantly larger left ventricular cavity dimensions and wall thicknesses than controls.     

'Part of Who we are as a School Should Include Responsibility for Well-Being': Links between the School Environment, Mental Health and Behaviour

Drawing from a Scottish study, this article examines ways in which the school environment can impact upon the well-being of pupils and their associated behaviour. It identifies tensions between existing school structures and cultures and the promotion of positive mental health, particularly in relation to the curriculum, pastoral care, discipline and teacher/pupil relationships. In many cases, schools attempt to address mental well-being by bolting fragmented initiatives onto existing systems, and we argue that a more fundamental review of values, policies and practices throughout the school is needed. This paper also looks at the roles of interagency workers in schools, and reports that, in most cases, these workers are seen as offering a parallel service to the mainstream school, targeted at the most troubled or troublesome pupils. We suggest that schools should draw on the skills and understandings of these workers to help build new cultures throughout the school for the benefit of all children and young people.     

Personal Computers in Laboratory Teaching of Control

This paper reports on the incorporation of personal computers in the laboratory program at UMIST's Control Systems Centre. Laboratory practice is an integral component of all our control course. The laboratory facilities provide a mechanism for testing and verifying theoretical and design approaches. Incorporating computers in all phases of the laboratory program makes possible the use of current techniques in the analysis and design of realistic control systems. The control systems laboratory at UMIST has been developed with the goal of providing real world analysis and design experience in a laboratory setting. A collection of scale model experiments representing the major categories of industrial control problems has been constructed. These working models are coupled with a standard instrumentation interface and analogue and digital computers to implement control strategies. In all cases, great care has been taken to retain realism and allow the student to concentrate on control issues rather than configuration or programming problems. The primary objective of using personal computers in the control laboratory is to provide an on-line link between the student and the laboratory model. This provides direct ‘hands on’ experience of digital control ideas, interactive digital control experimentation and use of the computer as a multi-function virtual instrument. In addition, the computer is used off-line to simulate model performance as various control strategies are tried. At this point in time, each laboratory model station has been equipped with a personal computer containing A/D and D/A converters, hard and floppy disk, and a real-time clock. The computers are networked to provide access to printing and file storage facilities. Originally the software packages were written primarily in BASIC, and ran on BBC computers. These versions are however in the process of being replaced by PC-based packages written in C. Both the original BASIC and the C-successors have been developed to provide interactive, real-time control of the model using a choice of digital control algorithms. Using the keyboard as a control panel, the student can observe model performance, vary controller parameters, choose display characteristics and record parametric and graphical data. Future developments will expand the choice of available control algorithms and enhance the off-line analysis and design tools.