Body composition and hydration status changes in male and female open-water swimmers during an ultra-endurance event

Young adult soccer players often encounter difficulty progressing from youth competition to being regularly selected for high-level, open-age competition. In an attempt to increase the playing opportunities of semi-professional and amateur under-21 players in first teams, the Royal Belgian Football Association required national division teams to include at least two players younger than 21 in their match selection (under-21 rule). Over four seasons, the following variables were analysed across 2138 semi-professional and amateur soccer players aged 16?–?39 years: (1) the number of times a player was selected to be in the first team squad; (2) the number of times a player was selected to play in the starting line-up; and (3) the number of minutes played. Chi-square analysis demonstrated that second and third division teams had complied with the new selection regulations. However, two-way analysis of variance of individual player data revealed no increase in the number of playing minutes in the under-21 group. It would appear that many teams had complied with the new regulations by selecting young players as substitutes. The results highlight the difficulties that talented young soccer players experience progressing from youth to senior competition. We conclude that the rule imposed by the Royal Belgian Football Association has failed to improve the playing opportunities of young adult soccer players. Alternative strategies for increasing playing opportunities for young talented players are required.     

The influence of drink temperature on thermoregulatory responses during prolonged exercise in a moderate environment

Abstract

Nine males cycled at 53% (s = 2) of their peak oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O_2peak) for 90 min (dry bulb temperature: 25.4°C, s = 0.2; relative humidity: 61%, s = 3). One litre of flavoured water at 10 (cold), 37 (warm) or 50°C (hot) was ingested 30 – 40 min into exercise. Immediately after the 90 min of exercise, participants cycled at 95%[Vdot]O_2peak to exhaustion to assess exercise capacity. Rectal and mean skin temperatures and heart rate were recorded. The gradient of rise in rectal temperature was influenced (P < 0.01) by drink temperature. Mean skin temperature was highest in the hot trial (cold trial: 34.2°C, s = 0.5; warm trial: 34.4°C, s = 0.5; hot trial: 34.7°C, s = 0.6; P < 0.01). Significant differences were observed in heart rate (cold trial: 132 beats · min^?1, s = 13; warm trial: 134 beats · min^?1, s = 12; hot trial: 139 beats · min^?1, s = 13; P < 0.05). Exercise capacity was similar between trials (cold trial: 234 s, s = 69; warm trial: 214 s, s = 52; hot trial: 203 s, s = 53; P = 0.562). The heat load and debt induced via drinking resulted in appropriate thermoregulatory reflexes during exercise leading to an observed heat content difference of only 33 kJ instead of the predicted 167 kJ between the cold and hot trials. These results suggest that there may be a role for drink temperature in influencing thermoregulation during exercise.     

Morphology of the deltoid muscles in elite tennis players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the deltoid muscle properties of the dominant and non-dominant arm of Greek professional male tennis players. Eight male tennis players (mean age 22.0 years, s = 3.2) were subjected to biopsy of the deltoid muscle of both arms. Adenosine triphosphate (ATPase) histochemistry and myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition were performed on the samples with homogenate electrophoresis. No significant differences were observed in the percentage of types I, IIa, IIab, and IIb muscle fibres between the deltoid muscles of the two arms. Types I, IIa, and IIx muscle fibres of the dominant and non-dominant deltoid muscles did not differ significantly for MHC isoform composition. Type IIab muscle fibres showed a similar cross-sectional area (CSA) percentage distribution between the two arms. The CSA percentage for types I, IIa, and IIb muscle fibers did not differ significantly between the dominant and the non-dominant arm. We conclude therefore that regular tennis training probably does not lead to any significant changes in the muscle fibre types of the dominant and non-dominant arms of elite tennis players.     

Age and Sex Differences in Motor Performance of 3 through 6 Year Old Children

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of age and sex to the performance of 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds on seven motor performance test items. Although significant age and sex differences were found on most of the motor tests, it appears that age generally was related more to performance than was gender. Overall, change with age was fairly linear except perhaps for balancing and a general tapering in improvement in the 5 to 6 year old category. On the tests of throwing and balancing, gender was as important as age, or more so, in its relationship to performance. Boys were superior to girls at all ages on the throwing tests; girls were superior to boys at age 6 on the Balance test. Gender differences of a lesser magnitude were found on the Speed Run and Standing Long Jump tests with the performance of boys generally being superior to the performance of girls. Thus, it appears that gender differences in motor performance occur as early as the preschool years. Interestingly, except for the Balance test, on all the tests the 3 and 4 year old boys performed similarly and the 5 and 6 year old boys performed similarly. For the girls there were more significant differences from year to year in performance, with the data generally indicating at least three distinct skill groups for girls from age 3 to 6.     

Long-Term Effects of a Conceptual Physical Education Program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes, knowledge, and activity behaviors of college graduates who completed a lecture-laboratory (concepts) course in physical education during their undergraduate study. Serving as controls were college graduates of the same university who transferred to the university and who received credit for a traditional rather than a concepts course. Both groups were compared to college graduates who “quizzed out” of the concepts course rather than enrolling in the class. Subjects were randomly selected from the 1977 and 1979 graduating classes. All those selected as subjects received a questionnaire containing an attitude test, a knowledge lest, and an activity checklist. Fifty-nine percent of the 300 questionnaires were returned. Multivariate analyses indicated that the concepts groups possessed attitude-knowledge-activity profiles which differed from those of either of the other groups. Though differences were not uniform for the two years studied, knowledge was consistently the greatest contributor to differences between transfer and concepts groups. Univariate and combined year analyses indicated that, though less consistent than the knowledge differences, attitude and activity differences among groups also existed. In general, the results suggested that a college level conceptual physical education class can have positive long term effects.     

《楞严经疏解蒙钞》的文献学价值

《楞严经疏解蒙钞》是钱谦益晚年的一部佛经疏释的力作,是他反经明教的佛教改革思想的具体体现,显示出了钱氏作为学者式文人的学术修养,在佛经文献疏钞类著作中具有独到的文献价值,在目录、校勘等方面都显示出钱氏深厚的文献学功力。     

Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale: Cross-Revalidation and Modification

This study aimed to provide further evidence of validity and reliability for the Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale (PETAFTS), which consisted of affective and cognitive domains. There were two subdomains in the affective domain (i.e., enjoyment of implementing fitness tests and enjoyment of using test results) and one domain in the cognitive domain (i.e., beliefs in the usefulness of test results). Full-time physical education teachers (N?=?469) from two southwestern states in the United States participated in the study. Reliability and validity of the scale were examined. Alphas were computed for the entire 16-item scale, the affective and cognitive domains, and the two subdomains, respectively, to test the reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to investigate the construct validity. The commonly used CFA indices, such as the chi square (χ²), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the goodness of fit index (GFI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), were used to assess the fit of the data to the model. The CFA results suggested that the data from the study did not fit the original model proposed by Keating and Silverman (2004b) Keating, X. D. and Silverman, S. 2004b. Physical education teacher attitudes toward fitness test scale: Development and validation. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 23: 143–161. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], resulting in the elimination of item 3. The fitness of the data to the model was improved and deemed acceptable. More studies on the reliability and validity of the scale are needed in the future in order to use the scale with more confidence.     

Grand designs! analysing the conceptual tensions associated with new physical education and health and well-being curriculum

The positioning of physical education in the school curriculum continues to reflect external discourses circulating in political and social milieu. As increasing austerity measures influence and restrict educational priorities, we consider that there is an urgent need for physical educationalists to articulate a rationale for an educational contribution which is worthy of investment and which avoids the pitfalls of conceptual ambiguity and/or reliance on narrowly drawn health evidence. We, therefore, write as teacher educators, working within a critical framework, who are concerned by the disconnection between competing visions of physical education, when examined from contemporary sociological and philosophical perspectives. With reference to the policy opportunities available in Scotland, we identify how cultivating salutogenic approaches, where a broad, but nevertheless coherent perspective on health and well-being is advanced could offer enhanced prospects for the centrality of physical education in education and schooling. However, apart from the contribution of Quennerstedt, quite how such approaches can be modelled in curriculum has received little critical attention. We see the potential in applying Tiberius's philosophical and social psychological ideas on developing reflective wisdom and of nurturing in education productive experiences which can help pupils deepen their understanding of the health and well-being decisions they make and of the lives they choose to live. After reviewing the contextual influences on policy, we have begun to consider in embryonic terms the methodological possibilities for teachers as insightful and active curriculum decision makers in years to come. We conclude by summarising the benefits of re-conceptualising experiences in physical education in order to help pupils' make informed decisions which are based on enhanced self-awareness and a perspective on the world that views physical education as an essentially optimistic and good endeavour which is worthy of sustained commitment.     

Handling pressures: analysing touch in American films about youth sport

This paper examines how films produced in the USA in the past 10 years and featuring the coaching of youth sport, represent the issue of touch during instruction and training. Touch in such films is figured in diverse ways ranging from pats of reassurance and hugs of congratulation to cuffs of disapprobation. Touch is also occasionally depicted differently, dependent upon the ethnicity and gender of the central characters in specific films. These distinctions are evaluated for what they reveal about the nuances of understandings of touch in film portrayals of sport education in American high schools. The difficulty of interpreting physical contact between coaches and athletes in these films, and what this reveals about the problem of policing touch in general in educational settings, is explored. Finally, the paper examines how the films expose the intricacy of tactile encounters in ways that challenge the judiciousness of risk-averse ‘no-touch’ policies and practices in sports coaching.     

‘Who’s that girl sitting with the boys?’: negotiating researcher identity in fieldwork with adolescent boys

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to discuss the negotiation and performance of researcher identities while conducting fieldwork. It draws on a larger study of masculinities, health and physical education, and sport in an elite boys’ school to analyse the researcher’s role as a female ethnographer in the world of health and physical education in boys’ schooling. Using data drawn from field notes, reflections, and observations from six months of fieldwork at the school, this paper joins a growing body of research, which attests to the importance of making known the ‘hidden histories’ of qualitative research. The significance of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it lies in recognising the details of how researchers position themselves in the field, negotiate and renegotiate their identities, and the significance of social dynamics and relationships to this process. Secondly, it raises awareness of the implications of negotiating researcher identities and embodied experiences in the field and suggests this analysis should become more public in qualitative research.