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Core stability and athletics performance among university athletes
No full textBackground: Information about the contribution of core stability to athletic performance is still limited although it has been suggested to be an important factor. Thus, questions remain about the mechanisms of core stability, its measurement and its correlation with athletic performance in different types of sport.
Objectives: To determine and describe the relationship between core stability and athletic performance measures in male and female university athletes.
Methods: Hundred and twenty-five (125) male and fifty-two (52) female first team Kovsie athletes participating in rugby, hockey, cricket, basketball and soccer underwent five performance tests: the double leg lowering test (DLLT) to measure core stability, the forty-meter sprint test, the T-test, vertical jump and a medicine ball chest throw. All athletes performed three trials of each test in a randomized order. Correlations between the DLLT and each of the four performance tests were determined overall and separately by gender and sport. Furthermore, the effect of core stability on athletic performance measures was assessed using ANCOVA, fitting the factors sport and gender and the covariates age, height, weight, BMI and fat% of the athletes, as well as relevant interaction terms.
Results: This study suggests that in the overall sample (both genders and all sports) all correlations between core stability (DLLT) and the performance tests were small (r<0.3). However, when the different sports were considered separately, for basketball players there were very large to large correlations between core stability (DLLT), the vertical jump (r=0.75) and chest throw (r=0.64).
When stratified by gender: In females, overall for all sports, there were large correlations between core stability (DLLT), the vertical jump (r=0.67) and chest throw (r=0.53). However, when the different sports were considered separately, for basketball players, there were very large to large correlations between core stability (DLLT), the vertical jump (r=0.87), chest throw (r=0.76) and forty-meter sprint (r=-0.53). All of the other sports reflected small to moderate correlations between core stability (DLLT) and athletic performance.
In males, overall for all sports, there were only small correlations between core stability (DLLT) and all the performance tests (r<0.2). However, when the different sports were considered separately, for basketball players there were large correlations between core stability (DLLT), the vertical jump (r=0.60) and chest throw (r=0.59). Furthermore, for soccer players there were large correlations between core stability (DLLT) and both the forty-meter sprint (r=0.58) and T-test (r=0.58); however, these correlations suggest a decrease in performance with increasing core stability (DLLT), since they are positive. Cricket players also revealed a large correlation between core stability (DLLT) and vertical jump (r=-0.51); however, this correlation also suggests a decrease in performance with increasing core stability (DLLT), since it is negative.
When body fat percentage is considered, it is clear that body composition varies according to the type of sport. Overall (both genders and all sports), the study suggest very large to correlations between body fat percentage and the performance tests, T-test (r=0.67), forty-meter sprint (r=0.74) and vertical jump (r=-0.69). When the different sports were considered separately the results look similar; however, hockey (r=-0.51) and soccer (r=-0.54) also show a significant large correlation between the chest throw and body fat percentage (p<0.05). When stratified by gender: Overall, in females the results show large correlations between core stability, the T-test (r=0.55) and forty-meter sprint (r=0.61); whereas in males, these correlations are only small to moderate.
Conclusion: The association between core stability (DLLT) and athletic performance appears to be weak in the overall sample, that is, when the factors gender and in particular type of sport are ignored; however, when correlations are considered separately, for the two genders and for the various types of sport, some large and very large correlations between core stability (DLLT) and specific performance tests can be identified. Thus, basketball players show large and very large correlations between core stability (DLLT) and both the vertical jump and chest throw. This study can serve as the basis of future research on the role of core stability (DLLT) in optimal performance in different sports; to the results of such research assist coaches and athletes with the development of training guidelines that enhances athletes’ performances. Ideally sport specific tests will be able to better define and to examine the correlation of core stability with performance
SOUTH AFRICA FOUNDATION Inventory of documents
No full textCOVERAGE: 1962-1968Independent organisation privately funded to promote international view on South Africa; pamphlets and periodical
KRIEL, S. Photograph
No full text1 photograph (F9) – representatives to the Congress of the National Women’s Part
Gender as moderator in the relationship between identity formation and the evaluation of romantic relationships during adolescence
No full textAdolescence is a dynamic period during which identity formation occurs and romantic relationships emerge. Research studies often focus on self-evaluation, the development of romantic relationships, and the identity-intimacy link, but rarely focus on the evaluation of romantic relationships during adolescence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether a significant amount of variance in identity formation can be explained by the evaluation of romantic relationships, and whether gender plays a moderating role in the relationship between the evaluation of romantic relationships and identity formation.
The present research was conducted using a quantitative, non-experimental approach, with a correlational research design. A sample of 169 participants was selected from a high school in the Mangaung area, Bloemfontein, by means of non-probability, convenience sampling. Self-report questionnaires, including a biographic questionnaire, the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ), and the Romantic Evaluation Scale (RES) were used to collect data for the research. Data were analysed by means of regression analyses.
With regard to the amount of variance in identity formation that can be explained by the evaluation of romantic relationships, it was found that 30% of the variance in identity formation could be explained by the evaluation of romantic relationships. Individually, the objectively motivated dimension made the only significant contribution and explained 20.1% of the variance in identity formation. It was also concluded that, in the present study, gender did not play a significant moderating role in the relationship between the evaluation of romantic relationships and identity formation. Therefore, it can be concluded that, in the present sample, evaluation of romantic relationships influenced identity formation, but gender had no effect on this relationship
Tree of Knowledge (1997): die ontketening van kennissamehange by Willem Boshoff
No full textEnglish: Since the beginning of the twentieth century there has been a growing interest in archival projects and practises as well as artists’ collections. Various artists and cultural theorists are propelled/driven by “archive fever” (Derrida 1995) and the “archival impulse” (Foster 2004). In contemporary art historical discourses there still exists a variety of discussions centred on archives, collections, archival practises and the combination thereof with artistic practises. It is within this field that the following study can be contextualised because I investigate the archival projects of Willem Boshoff. In this study I am interested in the ways in which Boshoff’s archival projects organise knowledge and how they undermine historical disciplinary divisions by combining scientific and non-scientific knowledge and portraying this in aesthetic ways (sometimes in artworks) and thereby unlocking or opening up knowledge as wisdom. The study thus serves as the first study of Boshoff’s Archive and its coherence with or relation to his artworks. The selected artworks for this study, Tree of Knowledge (1997), which consists of three artworks: Broken Garden, Druid’s Keyboard and Letters to God, have also not been interpreted before and this study serves as a first exploration. In order to enrich my interpretation of Letters to God I refer to a relatively unfamiliar religious and philosophical text written by Boshoff, Genesis (1974-1976). The study therefore also serves as the first interpretation of this text.
Through my interpretation of the artworks I attempt to answer the following: In which aesthetic ways do the artworks from Boshoff’s Archive act as instruments or imaginary projections that identify, collect, exhibit, organise, connect, question or disseminate knowledge? And how do these artistic agents, instruments or fictions unravel existing orders of knowledge, thereby unleashing new clusters of knowledge? In this study the figure or image of the tree is central because all three artworks refer to the tree as a metaphor of knowledge. I approach the tree as an organisational metaphor and as a poetic fiction or device which contains various religious connotations. Thus I attempt to discover the figurative role the tree plays in these artworks. In this study I investigate the relationship between Tree of Knowledge (1997) and Boshoff’s Archive and I attempt to answer the following: how do the artworks and Boshoff’s Archive reflect aspects of each other? What are the similarities and differences in the ways in which they collect, organise, exhibit and undermine existing categories of knowledge? I approach these artworks and his Archive as explorative instruments which discover new knowledge clusters, as a result of their ability to compare, recombine, rearrange, restructure and deconstruct items from various fields of knowledge and to discover and create links between various fields. This entails a re-evaluation of and enrichment of the organisation of knowledge.
I make, with caution, specific comparisons between Boshoff and artists and cultural theorists like Aby Warburg, Joseph Beuys, Walter Benjamin and Damien Hirst in order to highlight the playful, innovative and alternative ways in which they ruminate on, revisit and unfold categories of knowledge. Through these comparisons I discover a variety of associations which provide a vocabulary with which I can better define Boshoff’s project and differentiate its special niche. I also employ this vocabulary in order to highlight the coherences among various fields of knowledge, and the work of artists and cultural theorists. The comparisons also serve to situate and contextualise Boshoff and his project within art history where fictionalisation mediates knowledge. It illuminates how Boshoff’s project unravels knowledge, how it complicates the boundaries between disciplines, how his work and Archive encourage debates on interdisciplinary research and open up various interdisciplinary research possibilities.Afrikaans: Sedert die begin van die twintigste eeu het ‘n groeiende belangstelling in argivale projekte en kunstenaarsversamelings sy opwagting gemaak. Talle kunstenaars en vooraanstaande kultuurfigure word deur “argiefkoors” (Derrida 1995) en die “argivale impuls” (Foster 2004) gedryf. In hedendaagse kunshistoriese diskoerse bestaan daar nog steeds gesprekke rondom argiewe, versamelings, argivale praktyke en die (her-)kombinasie daarvan met kunstenaarspraktyke. Dit is in hierdie veld waarin hierdie studie geplaas kan word omdat ek Willem Boshoff se argivale projekte ondersoek. In hierdie studie is ek geïnteresseerd in die wyses waarvolgens Boshoff se argivale projekte kennis organiseer en historiese dissiplinêre vertakkings ondermyn deur wetenskaplike kennis en nie-wetenskaplike kennis te kombineer en dit op estetiese wyses (soms in kunswerke) voor te stel waardeur Boshoff wetenskaplike kennis op 'n relativerende wyse as wysheid ontsluit. Die studie dien dus as die eerste volwaardige studie van Boshoff se Argief en van hoe dit saamhang met sy kunswerke. Die gekose kunswerke vir hierdie studie, Tree of ‘n Knowledge (1997) wat bestaan uit drie werke: Broken Garden, Druid’s Keyboard en Letters to God, is ook tot dusver ongeïnterpreteer gelaat en hierdie studie dien as die eerste verkenning daarvan. Om my interpretasie van Letters to God te verryk, betrek ek ‘n relatief onbekende religieuse en filosofiese teks van Boshoff, Genesis (1974-1976). Die studie dien dus ook as die eerste interpretasie van hierdie teks.
Deur my interpretasie van die werke probeer ek die volgende te beantwoord: op welke estetiese wyses ageer hierdie kunswerke uit Boshoff se Argief as instrumente of imaginêre projeksies wat kennis identifiseer, versamel, vertoon, orden, verbind, bevraagteken en dissemineer? En hoe ontrafel hierdie artistieke agente, instrumente of fiksies, bestaande kennisordes en ontketen dit daardeur nuwe kennissamehange? In hierdie studie staan die figuur of beeld van die boom sentraal omdat al drie kunswerke na die boom as kennismetafoor verwys. Ek benader soos Boshoff die boom as ‘n organiseringsmetafoor en as ‘n poëtiese versinsel wat religieuse konnotasies het en probeer daardeur die figuurlike rol wat die boom in hierdie kunswerke speel, te peil. Ek ondersoek in hierdie studie die verband tussen Tree of knowledge (1997) en Boshoff se Argief en poog om die volgende vrae te beantwoord: hoe bevrug die kunswerke en Argief aspekte van mekaar? Hoe verskil die wyses waarvolgens hulle kennis versamel, orden, vertoon en bestaande kategorieë ondermyn, of hoe kom dit ooreen? Ek benader hierdie kunswerke en sy Argief as eksploratiewe instrumente of katalisators vir die ontdekking van kennissamehange na aanleiding van hulle vermoëns om items uit verskeie velde van kennis konjektureel te vergelyk, herkombineer, herrangskik, herstruktureer, dekonstrueer en om skakels tussen verskeie velde van kennis te ontdek en daardeur die organisasie van kennis te herevalueer en te verryk.
Ek tref met groot omsigtigheid produktiewe vergelykings tussen Boshoff en kunstenaars en kulturele denkers soos Aby Warburg, Joseph Beuys, Walter Benjamin en Damien Hirst na aanleiding van die speelse, innoverende en alternatiewe wyses waarmee hulle werk kennisordes herkou, hersien en ontvou. Deur hierdie vergelykings ontdek ek ‘n verskeidenheid assosiasies wat ‘n woordeskat bied om Boshoff se projek te formuleer en te onderskei van ander, en wat ek ontplooi om te dui op die samehange tussen verskeie velde van kennis, kunstenaars en kulturele denkers. Die vergelykings dien ook as die situering en kontekstualisering van Boshoff en sy projek binne die kuns- en kultuurgeskiedenis waarin fiksionalisering kennis bemiddel. Dit werp lig op Boshoff se projek, hoe hy kennis ontrafel, hoe sy projek die grense tussen dissiplines verbrokkel en kompliseer, hoe sy werk en Argief debatte rondom interdissiplinêre navorsing oopmaak en dui op verskeie verbredende interdissplinêre navorsingsmoontlikhede
Science teacher preparation: an assessment of the opportunities to learn and their effects on pre-service teachers’ competence
No full textTeacher education institutions are important because they are tasked with preparing teachers who will in turn prepare future professionals. Although these institutions have been preparing teachers for decades, the manner in which teacher education contributes to teacher competence is not thoroughly captured in the literature. Studies have been conducted in initial teacher education to link teacher education and teacher competence, but few scholars attempt to study the effects of teacher training holistically. The current study therefore investigated the relationships between opportunities to learn (OTL) that pre-service teachers (PST’s) are afforded in their teacher education programmes and aspects of PST’s competence. Specifically, this study sought to determine OTL that are predictors of multiple pre-service physical science teachers’ knowledge and belief bundles. The assumption is that these OTL may form the basis of effective science teacher preparation programmes and therefore, lead to competent novice physical science teachers.
This quantitative study used a questionnaire which consisted of knowledge, beliefs and OTL sections to collect data from 112 final year pre-service science teachers from four universities in South Africa. The knowledge section of the questionnaire included content (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Pre-service science teachers’ belief bundles were divided into five categories which were beliefs about (i) the nature of science (BLF1), (ii) learning science (BLF2), (iii) science achievement (BLF3), (iv) preparedness for teaching physical science (BLF4) and (v) programme effectiveness (BLF5). OTL that were considered included OTL tertiary-level physics and chemistry (OTL1), OTL school-level physical science (OTL2), OTL science education/pedagogy (OTL6), OTL through reflection (OTL9), OTL through teaching practice (OTL11, OTL12 and OTL14) and OTL in a coherent programme (OTL15). The self-administered questionnaire was validated using various methods including Cronbach alpha’s (α > 0.66) and the knowledge section was validated using Rasch analysis (reliability indices > 0.66). ANOVA tests, correlations and stepwise regression analysis were used to determine relationships between OTL and pre-service science teachers’ knowledge and beliefs.
The findings suggest that there are significant differences in the knowledge, belief bundles and OTL mean scores of the four universities (p < 0.05). Analysis of the data suggests that the universities mean scores on beliefs and knowledge increase with increasing OTL scores although this link is not clear in some cases. Additionally, the mean scores of two universities lend empirical support to the notion that beliefs act as a filter when PST’s acquire and construct their knowledge. OTL that address similarities between the methodologies and strategies used by PSTs at schools and the knowledge they are exposed to at the university are predictors of knowledge (CK: β = 0.497, p = 0.00) and beliefs variables (BLF1: β = 0.319, p = 0.000; BLF2: β = 0.265, p = 0.013; BLF3: β = 0.184, p = 0.049). Similarly, OTL that address similarities between the methodologies used by mentor teachers at school and the knowledge that PSTs are exposed to at the university show some effects with multiple knowledge (PCK: β = 0.230, p = 0.005) and beliefs variables (BLF1: β = 0.432, p = 0.000; BLF2: β = 0.176, p = 0.099; BLF3: β = 0.319, p = 0.001). OTL that address links between courses offered to PSTs including sequencing of and links between courses offered in teacher education programmes also explain the variance observed in the mean scores of knowledge (CK: β = -0.264, p = 0.001) and beliefs variables (BLF3: β = -0.214, p = 0.004; BLF4: β1 = 0. 313, p = 0.000; BLF5: β2 = 0.199, p = 0.005). OTL tertiary level physics and chemistry is also a predictor of multiple knowledge (CK: β = 0.321, p = 0.001; PCK: β = 0.219, p = 0.023), and beliefs variables (BLF1: β = 0.192, p = 0.001; BLF2: β = 0.269, p = 0.000; BLF3; β = 0.159, p = 0.019; BLF4: β = 0.118, p = 0.030). The findings recommend that teacher education programmes could be based on the principle of coherence because of the possible positive effects on aspects of PSTs competence. The study therefore proposes that the design of teacher education programmes could be based on the OTL mentioned and they could also be emphasised in already existing teacher education programmes
LAMPRECHT, D.S. Inventory of documents
No full textCOVERAGE: 1948, 1953; 0.02 metresScrapbook of newspaper clippings on the electio
Between a rock and a hard place, third space practitioners exercise agency
No full textAcademics as well as educational and academic development practitioners often find themselves in an ambiguous space in which personal and professional transformation can take place. Moving constantly between contexts and cultural learning environments at the university, these practitioners inhabit a strange, in-between space between mainstream academic support work, leadership and advocacy and other roles at the periphery.
This space known as the third space from which other positions emerge, displaces the histories that constitute it and sets up new structures of authority, practice and discourses which are not always congruent with the university at large. This paper critically reflects on the experiences and insights of academics in a specific professional development course for new academics.
Using a critical discourse analysis of in-depth, semi-structured narrative interviews, the authors explore the journey of new academic practitioners as they exercise their agency to carve out a hybrid identity in the third space across institutional boundaries.
While resistance and struggle are challenging aspects of third space work, these constitute legitimate processes of identity construction and socialisation through contestation of traditional roles at the university. This paper interrogates the university’s role in creating and sustaining enabling institutional conditions so that academics can work in creative, responsive and relevant ways in a changing higher education landscape.Publisher's versio
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INFORMATION SERVICE Inventory of documents
No full textCOVERAGE 1972-1994; 408 Files; 7,30 Metres.Papers of the United States of America Information Service: Press interviews with the USA State President on almost any possible subject, including S.A
MOLLER, M.E. Inventory of documents
No full textCOVERAGE: 1954-1966Minute book of National Party – transferred to PV 55, NP Natal collection files 2-3, 11-12, 17, 28, 36-3