Correlations Between Agility, Speed And Effort Capacity In Women's Soccer, Handball And Rugby

In team sports, the essential factors in achieving performance are represented by speed and agility, expressed in conditions of high intensity and high volume. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationships between speed, agility and effort in women's soccer, rugby and handball. At the same time, we want to compare these parameters in order to determine the profile for each discipline. The research analyzed 49 performance women athletes from the first leagues of Romania, divided into 3 groups: soccer, rugby and handball. To evaluate the speed we applied the 10 m test. Agility was assessed using samples 505 and 1001. Anaerobic effort capacity was assessed by the 8x10 + 10m and aerobic effort capacity by the VAM-Eval test. The Pearson correlation showed a direct relationship between 505 and 1001, for all groups. Significant correlations were shown between speed and agility, the effort capacity being also involved in the detected interferences.

Defining ‘woman': A governmentality analysis of how protective policies are created in elite women's sport

Women's sport remains a contested realm that frequently features standards and regulations premised on women's inferiority and physiological distinctions from men. In response to these purported sex-based differences, a range of protective policies have been implemented to ostensibly ensure women's safety and health, defend “fair competition” in women's sport, and/or prevent the violation of social and medical boundaries that define who is a “woman.” Yet, protective policies encompass a multitude of rationales and strategies, demonstrating the malleability of “protection” in terms of who is protected and why. In this article, I draw from Michel Foucault's theory of “governmentality” to investigate the nuances of protective policies, especially their placed importance on sex differences. To do so, I examine three case studies: World Athletics’ (WA) 2019 female eligibility policy, WA's 2019 transgender eligibility policy, and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). Using document texts and semi-structured interviews with eight scientists involved with developing the case studies, I find that protective policies are developed through messy and often contentious processes that selectively draw from varying knowledges and discourses. This then culminates in contrasting methods of defining, protecting, and governing women athletes and their bodies.

The testosterone barrier in sport

World Athletics (formerly known as IAAF) has recently published the eligibility regulations for female classification that apply to running events from 400 meters up to the mile. The regulations have prevented some elite women athletes with DSD (Difference of Sexual Development) to compete or have made some of them to change their preferred running event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. According to World Athletics, female hyperandrogenism (a biological anomaly that naturally produces a high level of testosterone) must be in some way “compensated” to respect the fair play of the competition. Nonetheless, such argument rests upon a problematic assumption: hyperandrogenic women are not “natural” women —at least when it comes to compete in sports— so their “not-normal” condition must be fixed to meet the standards. Norbert Elias’s process-sociology helps to place the case of hyperandrogenic sportswomen within a broader context of power relations. In this fashion, we see that the case becomes problematic because these women athletes are perceived as a threat/disruption of one of the vertebral categories of sport: sex/gender. The testosterone barrier is to sex/gender what the colour barrier was to race in sports: a disciplinary strategy to maintain what is considered the “natural” sports categories of a certain era.

Advertising Review: The Portrayal of Muslim Women Athletes in YouTube Ads

Promoting wearing of the hijab by active young consumers is one method of showing respect for the human rights of Muslim women. Some international sportswear corporations such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour UA, and Haute Hijab HH have been targeting modest athletic wear as new clothing lines to empower veiled athletes and increase their consumer base. This study analyzed four international sports brands’ advertisements on their official YouTube channels aimed at promoting modest sportswear for veiled women. The study investigated the discourse and semiotics used in the advertisements to persuade customers to make a purchase. Methodologically, the study conducted qualitative content analysis to review the ads and explore the extent of viewers’ interactions. The findings determined that the Nike and HH ads were most reached ads, followed by the UA ad, while the Adidas ad was the least reached. Two strategies played a significant role in the success of hijab sportswear ads: cultural identification and transformational appeal. These factors were found to attract the target audience and result in their engagement more than a company’s history and reputation.

Methodological approaches to the epidemiological diagnosis of allergy and paraallergy manifestations in sportswomen

In connection with the growing incidence of allergies began to conduct mass research, including international, on the epidemiological diagnosis of allergies, as well as paraallergies. However, methodological approaches to the epidemiological diagnosis of allergies and paraallergies in athletes as a group critical to these pathologies have not yet been developed, which makes such development relevant and timely. Purpose of the study: to develop methodological approaches to the epidemiological diagnosis of allergies and paraallergies in athletes. Research methods: methods of theoretical analysis of scientific literature were used: generalization, synthesis, formalization, abstraction. Research results and conclusions: As for the athletes themselves, a test questionnaire for early detection of allergic diseases in athletes was developed and proposed for use in practice, but without dividing the questions separately for athletes into two or more questions of the questionnaire, it should be sent for consultation to an allergist determining the need for additional volume of allergy tests to diagnose. This questionnaire does not take into account both the peculiarities of allergies in women- athletes in comparison with male athletes - gender specificity) and does not record the manifestations of paraallergy (pseudoallergy) in terms of their sports activities. It also does not take into account such specifics in relation to the body of women as the presence of the so-called "female type of allergy", which is closely related to the ovarian - menstrual cycle (OMC) and which can occur 10 - 2 days before menstruation. We recommend using a specially developed test questionnaire (which can be considered to some extent as a modification) of the international standard questionnaire test - survey GALEN survey for epidemiological diagnosis of allergies and paraallergies (pseudoallergies), which takes into account the peculiarities of sports activities and the presence of athletes "Female type of allergy" and paraallergy. A questionnaire for epidemiological diagnosis of allergies and paraallergy in athletes has been developed. It is concluded that the developed test questionnaire for epidemiological diagnosis of allergies and paraallergies in athletes may be used in the future in practice.

‘Who unlocked the kitchen?’: Online misogyny, YouTube comments and women's professional street skateboarding

Abuse and harassment of sportswomen has become a global issue. And while the sportification of skateboarding has increased professional opportunities and media visibility for women athletes, it has also resulted in misogyny and gendered abuse on online platforms where competition coverage is posted. This study examines comments that collectively target competitors in YouTube streams of major professional women’s street skating competitions. Examined through the lens of ‘virtual manhood acts’, it demonstrates how gender boundaries of skateboarding are policed online through masculine acts such as gendered language, comparison, sexualisation and stigmatisation of non-normative femininities. In undertaking these virtual manhood acts, perpetrators delegitimise women skaters collectively and engage in strategies that elevate male membership in both the sport and fandom. The pervasive presence of abuse and misogyny highlights a need for further sport-specific research into behaviours which may impact athletes’ emotional and mental well-being, and create further barriers to participation, particularly in male-dominated sports cultures.