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Coach perceptions of FA youth heading guidance: an online survey
No full textConcerns surrounding the safety of heading within football led the English Football Association (FA) to implement guidelines for youth football participants in February 2020. Information on coach perceptions of guidelines can help to evaluate their suitability.From aninitial 1383 clubs emailed, a total of 351 respondents from English teams spanning ages U12-U18 completed an online survey between August 2020 and January 2021. Questions included their familiarity with and perceptions of youth guidelines, as well as how they approach heading within training. Information was also gathered on perceived heading frequency within training and matches. 31.1% of respondents were either unaware of guidelines or how they relate to their team. Only 4.8% of respondents did not agree with guidelines. For most respondents (60.1%), heading frequency in training was low (between 0 and 5 headers for the whole team per session), with 71.1% of respondents reporting that heading exposure would stay the same in response to guidelines. Most participants were aware of and agree with FA youth heading guidelines, however the majority think their training will not be influenced by guidelines, questioning their applied usefulness. Regardless of guidelines, coach reported heading frequency within training and matches appears to be low
Research into trainees: perception of graduate and undergraduate trainees in the early years sector
Get PDFThe clarity of the recently launched ‘Early Childhood Road Map’ (Thompson, et al., 2021) was welcomed with open arms by a sector that has been plagued by confusion around the complex multiplicity and appropriateness of qualifications designed to provide the best possible outcomes for children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The visual acuity of the road map provides setting managers and school leaders with a focussed beam of light to pierce through the fog of confusion left by successive governments and policy changes designed to protect and enhance the lives of children and families across the country. The palimpsest created by the multi-layered de- and re-regulation is a necessary evil in a sector that must adapt rapidly to societal changes and research findings, as well as new legislation and expectations designed to keep young children thriving. The confusion and resultant frustration in the ECEC sector is felt more acutely, perhaps, than in other sectors, because of the weight of accountability pressing on practitioners, managers, teachers, and all school staff to safeguard children and maintain exceptionally high standards of pedagogy for children in their formative years. Introspection into the sector's interpretation of what should be included in these qualifications, as well as perceived requirements for future generations of practitioners, has been rendered even more urgent given the turbulent context endured in recent years. Thankfully, we now have a highly progressive and meaningful set of QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) benchmark statements for Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degrees to support our collective adaptation to future challenges (QAA, 2022), as well as growing numbers of universities who offer placements implementing a new set of Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies (ECGPCs) designed to promote consistent vocational quality between degrees (ECSDN, 2019)
Rationale and practical recommendations for testing protocols in female soccer: a narrative review
Get PDFThe aim of this narrative review is to evaluate the presented literature on tests (aerobic, speed, changes of direction [COD], strength, power, jump and anthropometry) of the varied components of female soccer and to draw attention to the most suitable protocols to allow practitioners to accurately track players' fitness status. The two most common field tests used to assess aerobic fitness are the Yo-yo intermittent test (level 1 and 2) and the 30-15 intermittent fitness test, due to an ability to measure multiple players at once with a soccer specific intermittent profile. The sprinting performance can be assessed on distances < 30 m, however, longer distances (e.g., 40 m) allow for achieving peak speed (flying sprint test), which can be assessed using global navigation satellite system. COD capacity has been found to be an important component of players testing and training programs, although there is no “gold standard” to assess COD or repeated sprint ability performance in female players. Lower limb power can be assessed using jump tests that can use force platforms, jump mats, optoelectronic devices, whilst maintain a good reliability. Several in-direct tests are currently available for assessing anthropometry parameters such as skinfold thickness, hydrodensitometry, and ultrasound. However, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry is the most valid and reliable method for assessing body composition in team sport athletes, with the addition of bone health that is a key measure in female athletes. In conclusion, the evidence reported in this review will be able to aid practitioners, coaches, and researchers to decide which tests meet the requirements of their environment
The relationship between the supervisors and the supervisee: Experiences of PhD completers
Get PDFThere is a growing pool of literature addressing doctoral students’ experiences, especially how the supervisory relationship prompted their poor wellbeing during their study. The purpose of this article is to offer additional critical discussion on PhD completers’ experiences, and to examine the influence that their supervisors had on completing their thesis. A qualitative approach to research is applied to capture the experiences of eight PhD students, who were also senior lecturers in various higher education institutions, and who recently completed their studies in the United Kingdom. Data collected from semi-structured interview were analysed using a constructionist narrative approach, where stories were co-constructed between the participants and the researchers. Our research findings show that for some of these completers, success was not merely based on their individual determination, nor was the role of supervisors, but support from their family and friends. This research offers an insight into the positive and negative experiences of PhD completers which may help supervisors and other academic colleagues in universities in England and globally, on how to support students and how to be part of a successful PhD completion team
O.5.1-6 Bucking the mid-life inactivity trend: a study of 40–64-year-olds' participation in Zwift, a real-time online exercise community, through a social identity lens
Get PDFPurpose Despite evidence suggesting a decline in the physical activity of middle-aged adults, 40–64-year-olds participation in group exercise is actually increasing. One potential reason for this increase in activity is the increase in a range of different online group exercise formats and contexts. Recent research suggests that people join, participate, and stay involved in, exercise groups that reflect who they are - a process of social identification. The purpose of this research is to qualitatively explore participants’ experiences and facilitators of social identification related to the online group exercise platform known as Zwift. Methods Zwift participants (n = 17) aged between 40-64 (midlife) (13 Men, 4 Women) were recruited into the study for three stages of data collection: (stage 1) an initial semi-structured interview exploring participant exercise history and use of Zwift, (stage 2) completing a two-week post exercise diary to capture their experiences of social identification after participation, (stage 3) a follow up final interview to explore topics raised over the first two data collection steps. This generated 23 hours of interviews, that were then transcribed and combined with the participant diaries resulting in 468 pages of data. Results Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the data. The results from this analysis indicate the following themes from the data: (1) Online exercise as an enabling facilitator of exercise identity; (2). Online exercise provides exercise identity continuity or exercise identity creation depending on the exercisers, exercise history; (3) Online exercise identification via communities goes through phases of identification; (4) Two-way communication contributes to perceptions of identification phases of identification; and (5) Social identity leadership is demonstrated by online exercisers norms, behaviours and beliefs Conclusions Overall, this research highlights three key suggestions for mid-life physical activity promotion: (1) That facilitators and processes of social identification may be context specific; (2) That social identification processes should be considered in the design of online exercise; and (3) That online exercise that enables social identification should be considered as a vehicle of maintaining/ increasing exercise participation Funding The study was funded by the researcher
Influence of match status and possession status on the physical and technical characteristics of elite youth female soccer match-play
Get PDFThis study compared the influence of match status (drawing, losing, or winning) and possession status (in-possession, out-of-possession, or ball-out-of-play) on the physical and technical characteristics of U14 and U16 elite youth female soccer match-play. Data were collected from 189 female academy players during 45 competitive matches, resulting in 387 match observations. Linear mixed models estimated relative; total distance, high-speed running (≥3.00 m·s-1), very high-speed running (≥4.83 m·s-1), and sprinting (≥5.76 m·s-1) distance according to match status and possession status, and 21 technical variables according to match status. Differences in physical and technical characteristics were observed between and within age-groups, dependent upon match status and possession status. Regardless of match status, both age-groups covered greater distances when the ball was in-play compared to ball-out-of-play (107-130 vs 58-68 m·min-1). U16s covered greater distances when out-of-possession than in-possession, regardless of match status. Whilst U14s covered greater distances out-of-possession when drawing or losing only. Differences in physical and technical characteristics when drawing, losing, or winning, suggest a change in playing style according to match status, likely in an attempt to influence or maintain the score-line. These findings have practical implications for coaching, talent identification and development practices within youth female soccer
Beyond speech: Exploring diversity in the human voice
Get PDFHumans have evolved voluntary control over vocal production for speaking and singing, while preserving the phylogenetically older system of spontaneous nonverbal vocalizations such as laughs and screams. To test for systematic acoustic differences between these vocal domains, we analyzed a broad, cross-cultural corpus representing over 2 h of speech, singing, and nonverbal vocalizations. We show that, while speech is relatively low-pitched and tonal with mostly regular phonation, singing and especially nonverbal vocalizations vary enormously in pitch and often display harsh-sounding, irregular phonation owing to nonlinear phenomena. The evolution of complex supralaryngeal articulatory spectro-temporal modulation has been critical for speech, yet has not significantly constrained laryngeal source modulation. In contrast, articulation is very limited in nonverbal vocalizations, which predominantly contain minimally articulated open vowels and rapid temporal modulation in the roughness range. We infer that vocal source modulation works best for conveying affect, while vocal filter modulation mainly facilitates semantic communication
Assessing psychological flexibility in chronic illness
Get PDFObjectives: The present study aimed at assessing psychological flexibility, the core construct of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model, in the context of chronic illness. More specifically, the present study aimed at validating the 18-item Portuguese CompACT measure of psychological flexibility in a chronic illness sample (total n = 419; 83.8% women; 16.2% men) collected via online survey. Method: Specifically, we studied the internal structure of the scale employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), gender-based invariance, and associations with conceptually relevant constructs (shame, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia severity, and self-compassion). Results: All items from the Openness to Experience subscale were removed due to low loading values on the EFA. The CFA confirmed the adequacy of an 8-item Portuguese CompACT with two subscales, Behavioral Awareness (α = .87) and Valued Action (α = .86). Both subscales correlated negatively with shame, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and insomnia severity. The Valued Action subscale additionally correlated positively with self-compassion. Conclusion: An 8-item version of the Portuguese CompACT, with two subscales, seems to be well suited for application for clinicians with clients with chronic illness
Association between external training loads and injury incidence during 44 weeks of military training
Get PDFMilitary training is physically arduous and associated with high injury incidence. Unlike in high-performance sport, the interaction between training load and injury has not been extensively researched in military personnel. Sixty-three (43 men, 20 women; age 24 ± 2 years; stature 1.76 ± 0.09 m; body mass 79.1 ± 10.8 kg) British Army Officer Cadets undergoing 44 weeks of training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst volunteered to participate. Weekly training load (cumulative 7-day moderate-vigorous physical activity [MVPA], vigorous PA [VPA] and the ratio between MVPA and sedentary-light PA [SLPA; MVPA:SLPA]) was monitored using a wrist-worn accelerometer (GENEActiv, UK). Self-report injury data were collected and combined with musculoskeletal injuries recorded at the Academy medical centre. Training loads were divided into quartiles with the lowest load group used as the reference to enable comparisons using Odds Ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Overall injury incidence was 60% with the most common injury sites being the ankle (22%) and knee (18%). High (load; OR; 95% CI [>2327 mins; 3.44; 1.80–6.56]) weekly cumulative MVPA exposure significantly increased odds of injury. Similarly, likelihood of injury significantly increased when exposed to low-moderate (0.42–0.47; 2.45 [1.19–5.04]), high-moderate (0.48–0.51;2.48 [1.21–5.10]) and high MVPA:SLPA loads (>0.51; 3.60 [1.80–7.21]). High MVPA, and high-moderate MVPA:SLPA increased odds of injury by ~2.0–3.5 fold, suggesting that the ratio of workload to recovery is important for mitigating injury occurrence