Perceived sports competence mediates the relationship between childhood motor skill proficiency and adolescent physical activity and fitness : a longitudinal assessment

Background: The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether perceived sports competence mediates the relationship between childhood motor skill proficiency and subsequent adolescent physical activity and fitness.

Methods: In 2000, children's motor skill proficiency was assessed as part of a school-based physical activity intervention. In 2006/07, participants were followed up as part of the Physical Activity and Skills Study and completed assessments for perceived sports competence (Physical Self-Perception Profile), physical activity (Adolescent Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire) and cardiorespiratory fitness (Multistage Fitness Test). Structural equation modelling techniques were used to determine whether perceived sports competence mediated between childhood object control skill proficiency (composite score of kick, catch and overhand throw), and subsequent adolescent self-reported time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness.

Results: Of 928 original intervention participants, 481 were located in 28 schools and 276 (57%) were assessed with at least one follow-up measure. Slightly more than half were female (52.4%) with a mean age of 16.4 years (range 14.2 to 18.3 yrs). Relevant assessments were completed by 250 (90.6%) students for the Physical Activity Model and 227 (82.3%) for the Fitness Model. Both hypothesised mediation models had a good fit to the observed data, with the Physical Activity Model accounting for 18% (R2 = 0.18) of physical activity variance and the Fitness Model accounting for 30% (R2 = 0.30) of fitness variance. Sex did not act as a moderator in either model.

Conclusion: Developing a high perceived sports competence through object control skill development in childhood is important for both boys and girls in determining adolescent physical activity participation and fitness. Our findings highlight the need for interventions to target and improve the perceived sports competence of youth.

Wearing a sports compression garment on the performance of visuomotor tracking following eccentric exercise : a pilot study

Clinical compression garments have been shown to improve functional control in patients with motor impairments, however, investigation in functional control has not been observed whilst wearing sports compression garments. This pilot study assessed motor control changes in the bicep brachii muscle following a bout of eccentric exercise designed to induce delayed onset muscle soreness for intervals up to 14 days after exercise. Eight male participants performed 35 maximal isokinetic eccentric extensions at 90° s−1. Participants where then randomly divided into one of two groups to perform a one-dimensional elbow flexion/extension visuomotor tracking task; one group wore a sports compression garment during the task, the other acted as control (no garment). The group who wore the compression garment performed the tracking task significantly better immediately post-exercise, and at days 1, 2 and 3 post-exercise (p ≤ 0.05). Non-significant but large and moderate effects sizes (ES), in tracking, were found between the two groups on day 5 (ES = 1.3) and day 7 (ES = 0.7), respectively. Further research is necessary to elucidate these preliminary findings, however, the results suggest that the wearing of sports compression garments post-eccentric exercise has a positive effect on functional motor control.

A scalable and extensible segment-event-object-based sports video retrieval system

Sport video data is growing rapidly as a result of the maturing digital technologies that support digital video capture, faster data processing, and large storage. However, (1) semi-automatic content extraction and annotation, (2) scalable indexing model, and (3) effective retrieval and browsing, still pose the most challenging problems for maximizing the usage of large video databases. This article will present the findings from a comprehensive work that proposes a scalable and extensible sports video retrieval system with two major contributions in the area of sports video indexing and retrieval. The first contribution is a new sports video indexing model that utilizes semi-schema-based indexing scheme on top of an Object-Relationship approach. This indexing model is scalable and extensible as it enables gradual index construction which is supported by ongoing development of future content extraction algorithms. The second contribution is a set of novel queries which are based on XQuery to generate dynamic and user-oriented summaries and event structures. The proposed sports video retrieval system has been fully implemented and populated with soccer, tennis, swimming, and diving video. The system has been evaluated against 20 users to demonstrate and confirm its feasibility and benefits. The experimental sports genres were specifically selected to represent the four main categories of sports domain: period-, set-point-, time (race)-, and performance-based sports. Thus, the proposed system should be generic and robust for all types of sports.

Player welfare and privacy in the sports entertainment industry

In an era when games at the elite level are sports entertainment businesses many of the elite performers in different industries have evolved into celebrities: they exist as images, icons and brands whose every thought, action, change of style or partner is commodified and consumed. This article reports on one aspect of a research project that was funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) to explore the emergence and evolution of a `professional identity' for AFL footballers. Drawing on Foucault's later work on the care of the Self we focus on the ways in which player identities are governed by coaches, club officials, and the AFL Commission/Executive; and the manner in which players conduct themselves in ways that can be characterized as professional — or not. The article explores the roles of Player Development Managers (PDMs) in emerging processes of risk and player management that can be seen as intrusive in players' lives. The research we report on produced evidence of tensions between the paternalistic, profiling and reporting elements of various risk management practices at the Club level — in an environment where what it means to be a professional footballer is taking on new forms.

Developing a scale to measure season ticket holder attitudes towards the professional sports club offering

Given the importance of season ticket holders (STH) to sporting organisations, we empirically examine a scale for measuring their attitudes to the season ticket product. This involved identifying through qualitative research and past literature, the various elements that are perceived to comprise the season ticket package and developing items to measure STH attitudes to them. The season ticket package was decomposed into six key components, closely mirroring past research. A survey of over 2,500 STH of a professional sporting organisation was then conducted, incorporating items related to these six areas, overall satisfaction and disconfirmation of expectations. The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis on those items is presented here, with results suggesting the items are valid measures of season ticket holder attitudes that capture the breadth of the STH experience.