The developmental activities of elite ice hockey players

The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of four 20 year-old elite hockey players through an in-depth examination of their sporting activities. The theoretical framework of deliberate practice (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993) and the notion of deliberate play (Côté, 1999) served as the theoretical foundations. Interviews were conducted to provide a longitudinal and detailed account of each participant's involvement in various sporting activities. The interviewer asked questions about the conditions and sporting activities for each year of development. The data obtained were validated through independent interviews conducted with three parents of three different athletes. The results were consistent with Côté's (1999) three stages of development in sport: the sampling (age 6-12), specializing (age 13-15), and investment (age 16+) years.

Reforming the law of medical negligence: Solutions in search of a problem

The Commonwealth Government's Principles Based Review of the Law of Negligence recently recommended reforms aimed at limiting liability and damages arising from personal injury and death, in response to the growing perception that the current system of compensating personal injury had become financially unsustainable. Recent increases in medical liability and damages have eroded the confidence of doctors and their professional bodies, with fears of unprecedented desertion from and reduced recruitment into high risk areas, and one of the primary foci of the review concerned medical negligence. The article analyses proposals to redefine the principles necessary for the finding of negligence, against the terms of reference of the review. The article assumes that for the foreseeable future, Australia will persist with tort-based compensation for personal injury rather than developing a no-fault scheme. If the suggested changes to the fundamental principles of negligence are unlikely to reduce medical liability, greater attention might be given to the processes which come into play after the finding of negligence, where reform is more likely to benefit both plaintiffs and defendants.