Comparison of dynamic balance in adolescent male soccer players from rwanda and the United States.

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND: Dynamic balance is an important component of motor skill development. Poor dynamic balance has previously been associated with sport related injury. However, the vast majority of dynamic balance studies as they relate to sport injury have occurred in developed North American or European countries. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare dynamic balance in adolescent male soccer players from Rwanda to a matched group from the United States. METHODS: Twenty-six adolescent male soccer players from Rwanda and 26 age- and gender-matched control subjects from the United States were screened using the Lower Quarter Y Balance Test during their pre-participation physical. Reach asymmetry (cm) between limbs was examined for all reach directions. In addition, reach distance in each direction (normalized to limb length, %LL) and the composite reach score (also normalized to %LL) were examined. Dependent samples t-tests were performed with significant differences identified at p<0.05. RESULTS: Twenty-six male soccer players from Rwanda (R) were matched to twenty-six male soccer players from the United States (US). The Rwandan soccer players performed better in the anterior (R: 83.9 ± 3.2 %LL; US: 76.5 ± 6.6 %LL, p<0.01), posterolateral (R: 114.4 ± 8.3 %LL ; US: 106.5 ± 8.2 %LL, p<0.01) and composite (R: 105.6 ± 1.3 %LL; US: 97.8 ± 6.2 %LL, p<0.01) reach scores. No significant differences between groups were observed for reach asymmetry. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent soccer players from Rwanda exhibit superior performance on a standardized dynamic balance test as comparison to similar athletes from the United States. The examination of movement abilities of athletes from countries of various origins may allow for a greater understanding of the range of true normative values for dynamic balance. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: 3b.

Memory and learning for a novel written style.

Subjects read and recalled a series of five short stories in one of four plot and style combinations. The stories were written in one of two styles that consisted of opposing clause orders (i.e., independent-dependent vs. dependent-independent), tense forms (i.e., past vs. present), and descriptor forms (modifier modifier vs. modifier as a noun). The subjects incorporated both plot and style characteristics into their recalls. Other subjects, who, after five recalls, either generated a new story or listed the rules that had been followed by the stories read, included the marked forms of the characteristics they learned more often, except for tense. The subjects read and recalled four stories of the same plot and style and then read and recalled a fifth story of the same plot and style or of one of the other three plot/style combinations. Ability to switch style depended on both the characteristic and the markedness.