1,720,963 research outputs found
Understanding physical performance data: an investigation into the use of information in the support of player development in elite academy soccer
Get PDFSoccer is becoming an ever more physically challenging sport, demanding athletes to possess a myriad of high-level physical capacities. Performance practitioners, providing physical support to soccer players, utilise technology and monitoring systems to gather data on their players physical status, and support decision making. Whilst research has begun to explore the use of collected data, thus far, none has examined the holistic approach to monitoring and the potential impact physical performance data can have on club-based decision making.
The initial phase of the project aimed to present a multi-club investigation to detail current physical performance monitoring practices, and opinions of elite soccer practitioners. Utilising an online survey, respondents highlighted the presence of a multitude of technologies, monitoring areas, and manners of data analysis. Whilst practitioners noted an increase in the data collected, only a quarter of clubs operated with a specialist data practitioner. Furthermore, practitioners evidenced redundancy in data collected, along with complex systems of data processing. Positively, practitioners did feel their monitoring practices provided a return on investment and allowed them to achieve their aims. Whilst data is certainly supporting practice within soccer clubs, this study presented concerns regarding the efficacy of current monitoring practices.
The second phase of the project increased focus on physical performance data processes. By combining observational analysis with interviews, the study aimed to determine the processes of physical performance data monitoring within an ‘example’ club. A wealth of data was collected across wellbeing, pitch-based loading, gym-based performance, and physical capacity testing. Despite evidence of data use to support the player development process, inefficiencies were again identified. Despite regular data feedback, coaching staff did not fully engage with the data. They were also shown to place reliance on their performance staff to feedback key insights. It was suggested this may be through a lack of understanding, or lack of interest in the data. It also confirmed the importance of effective and trusting relationships between performance and coaching staff.
The third phase aimed to enhance the efficacy and efficiency of physical performance monitoring through a modified feedback strategy. The first study of phase three aimed to extract insightful metrics that would be used in the feedback strategy. Results highlighted the importance of understanding the associations between changes in performance, and the complexity of physical development. Nonetheless, data highlighted the potential that manipulation of training demand to increase players’ exposure to distance covered, and internal demand, may promote a more challenging physiological stimulus, that could result in positive fitness adaptations.
This finding was used to inform the intervention process in the modification of club-based feedback strategies within the second study of phase three. The intervention successfully impacted change within the club. Through increasing coaches awareness and understanding of data, whilst reducing the amount of data presented to them in reports, training demand increased. During post-intervention interviews with coaching staff, it was clear that the positive impact of the intervention was due to this combined approach.
This research highlights the importance of ensuring collected data is accurate, informative and effectively translated to stakeholders. Through education of the importance and impact of data, physical performance information can have an impact upon the player development process within soccer clubs
Maturity-status bio-banding as a tool for ongoing talent (de)selection of academy soccer players using a multi-disciplinary approach
Get PDFThis repeated measures design study aimed to provide a greater understanding of the physical, psychological, technical and tactical responses of youth soccer players to maturity status bio-banding within small sided games, as a potential tool for talent identification. Ninety-two youth soccer players aged 11 to 15-years-old (age: 13.6 ± 1.1 years, height: 163.0 ± 9.7cm, weight: 49.5 ± 9.1 kg, % of estimated adult stature attained (EASA): 89.6 ± 4.2 %, years from peak height velocity (YPHV): -0.3 ± 1.1 years) were recruited for the study from three professional soccer club’s youth academies. The players were arranged into three maturity status groups; pre-PHV, circa-PHV and post-PHV. This arrangement was completed by the use of predictive maturation equations (Khamis & Roche, 1994; Fransen, et al., 2018). Cut off values for each of the methods were used to distinguish between the groupings (Khamis & Roche, 1994: pre 0.0 YPHV; Fransen et al., 2018: pre <87.0% EASA, circa 87.0-91.9% EASA and post ≥92.0% EASA). Using their predicted maturity status, players were assigned to one of six teams per testing club, comprised of players with the same maturity status, with the exception of the final testing week where random selection to teams was used. Teams competed against the other five squads once per testing night creating maturity matched and maturity unmatched fixtures during the first two testing weeks and mixed maturity fixtures during the final testing week. Players were monitored using micro-electromechanical systems with an integrated global positioning system, a heart rate monitor and subjectively by a technical and psychological scoring chart, completed by coaching staff. Through linear mixed modelling of the collected data, it was revealed how pre-PHV players experience significantly (Khamis and Roche (1994): P ≤ 0.001; Fransen et al. (2018) P < 0.05) greater physical loading, as determined by the summation of accelerations across three planes of motion using the PlayerLoadTM calculation. They also perceive the small sided match play to be significantly (Khamis and Roche (1994): P < 0.05; Fransen et al. (2018): P < 0.05) harder, compared to the ‘circa’ and post-PHV maturity bandings, assessed by collection of rating of perceived exertion (RPE) values. ‘Between biological maturity banding’ small sided match play produced very little difference in psychological, technical and tactical values. However, when players competed within maturity ‘matched’ bio-banded games, they produced their best overall performances. Pre-PHV players covered significantly (P < 0.05) more distance, with seven of the ten technical variables being scored higher and players also perceived these matches to be less demanding. Post-PHV players perceived a greater challenge, as assessed by RPE, against matched maturity squads and in addition, recorded higher physical and technical marks, with six of their ten technical values scoring higher. PlayerLoadTM was also greater, conveying a greater physical demand, with a significant difference being present between ‘pre’ and ‘post’ squads (P < 0.05) (Khamis and Roche (1994); matched: 56.6 AU, post v circa: 54.2 AU, post v pre: 55.0 AU, Fransen et al. (2018); matched: 56.8 AU, post v circa: 55.3, post v pre: 53.3 AU). Tactical differences as assessed by maturity status and fixture setup i.e. maturity status bio-banding were not present within the results, however tactical differences were possibly constrained by pitch dimensions. These findings highlight the possible use of maturity status bio-banded small sided match play within youth soccer for (de)selection purposes by eliciting changes in the physical, technical and psychological responses of the players, facilitating the talent identification process
Maturity-status bio-banding as a tool for ongoing talent (de)selection of academy soccer players using a multi-disciplinary approach
No full textThis repeated measures design study aimed to provide a greater understanding of the physical, psychological, technical and tactical responses of youth soccer players to maturity status bio-banding within small sided games, as a potential tool for talent identification. Ninety-two youth soccer players aged 11 to 15-years-old (age: 13.6 ± 1.1 years, height: 163.0 ± 9.7cm, weight: 49.5 ± 9.1 kg, % of estimated adult stature attained (EASA): 89.6 ± 4.2 %, years from peak height velocity (YPHV): -0.3 ± 1.1 years) were recruited for the study from three professional soccer club’s youth academies. The players were arranged into three maturity status groups; pre-PHV, circa-PHV and post-PHV. This arrangement was completed by the use of predictive maturation equations (Khamis & Roche, 1994; Fransen, et al., 2018). Cut off values for each of the methods were used to distinguish between the groupings (Khamis & Roche, 1994: pre 0.0 YPHV; Fransen et al., 2018: pre <87.0% EASA, circa 87.0-91.9% EASA and post ≥92.0% EASA). Using their predicted maturity status, players were assigned to one of six teams per testing club, comprised of players with the same maturity status, with the exception of the final testing week where random selection to teams was used. Teams competed against the other five squads once per testing night creating maturity matched and maturity unmatched fixtures during the first two testing weeks and mixed maturity fixtures during the final testing week. Players were monitored using micro-electromechanical systems with an integrated global positioning system, a heart rate monitor and subjectively by a technical and psychological scoring chart, completed by coaching staff. Through linear mixed modelling of the collected data, it was revealed how pre-PHV players experience significantly (Khamis and Roche (1994): P ≤ 0.001; Fransen et al. (2018) P < 0.05) greater physical loading, as determined by the summation of accelerations across three planes of motion using the PlayerLoadTM calculation. They also perceive the small sided match play to be significantly (Khamis and Roche (1994): P < 0.05; Fransen et al. (2018): P < 0.05) harder, compared to the ‘circa’ and post-PHV maturity bandings, assessed by collection of rating of perceived exertion (RPE) values. ‘Between biological maturity banding’ small sided match play produced very little difference in psychological, technical and tactical values. However, when players competed within maturity ‘matched’ bio-banded games, they produced their best overall performances. Pre-PHV players covered significantly (P < 0.05) more distance, with seven of the ten technical variables being scored higher and players also perceived these matches to be less demanding. Post-PHV players perceived a greater challenge, as assessed by RPE, against matched maturity squads and in addition, recorded higher physical and technical marks, with six of their ten technical values scoring higher. PlayerLoadTM was also greater, conveying a greater physical demand, with a significant difference being present between ‘pre’ and ‘post’ squads (P < 0.05) (Khamis and Roche (1994); matched: 56.6 AU, post v circa: 54.2 AU, post v pre: 55.0 AU, Fransen et al. (2018); matched: 56.8 AU, post v circa: 55.3, post v pre: 53.3 AU). Tactical differences as assessed by maturity status and fixture setup i.e. maturity status bio-banding were not present within the results, however tactical differences were possibly constrained by pitch dimensions. These findings highlight the possible use of maturity status bio-banded small sided match play within youth soccer for (de)selection purposes by eliciting changes in the physical, technical and psychological responses of the players, facilitating the talent identification process
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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