Assessing Perceptions and Practices of Environmental Problems: Bahir Dar City, in Ethiopia, in Focus

The main purpose of this study was to see the level of environmental perception and perceived environmental practices. It also addressed the correlations among demographic factors, awareness and perceived behaviors. Besides, how gender difference, if any, revealed on people’s perception and practice was checked. Fifty participants selected randomly from different working sites (such as football field, shopping centers, and public library) were administered a likert scale questionnaire on perceptions and practices of environmental issues. The descriptive statistics revealed fairly higher level of environmental perception and practices. Correlation coefficients revealed little sign of connection between what the participants perceived about environmental problems and what environmental activities they reported. Besides, insignificant differences between men and women were observed on both their perceptions and pro-environmental behaviors. Therefore, the role background and gender related variables play for pro-environmental issues seemed to be re-examined for a more elaborated explanation on environmental perception and behaviors.

Schoolyard Affordances for Physical Activity: A Pilot Study in 6 Nordic–Baltic Countries

Environmental settings influence children’s and adolescents’ physical activity (PA) in neighborhoods and schoolyards. This study aimed to explore the main characteristics of schoolyards in six Nordic–Baltic countries, to document how those facilities provide affordances for PA in 7–18 year–old schoolchildren, and how the schoolyard meets children’s preferences. One schoolyard was studied in each included country: Iceland, Norway, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The affordances, facilities, and equipment for PA in schoolyards were identified through orthophoto maps and standard registration forms. Children’s preferences were collected through group interviews at each participating school. A common design of schoolyards across countries indicated mostly flat topography with sparse vegetation and green areas dominated by large traditional sport arenas such as a football field, areas suitable for ball games, and track and field activities. Green spaces and varied topography were more prominent in Nordic countries. Across nationalities, the responses from pupils regarding the schoolyard were similar: they liked it though they wished for more variety of activities to do during recess. National regulations/recommendations for schoolyard design differed across the countries, being more restricted to sport fields and sport-related activities in Latvia and Lithuania, while in Nordic countries, the recommendations focused more on versatile schoolyard design.

Cognitions That Support Concussion Reporting in Collegiate Athletes: An Analysis of a Worksheet Activity

Background Sports related concussions continue to be a public health concern and improving reporting behavior a focus of educational programs. While educational programs have addressed changes in knowledge of concussion symptoms, it has been challenging to design educational programs which have lasting effects on reporting behavior. Aims The current analysis describes an intervention in which thoughts about reporting behavior are actively written down in a worksheet exercise to “pre-arm” athletes with cognitions designed to enhance reporting behavior prior to the injury event. Method A total of 503 male and female college athletes participating in collision (football, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and soccer) and contact sports (baseball, basketball, and softball) from 7 colleges/universities competing across all three NCAA divisions provided data collected during a randomized trial of a peer concussion education program. Results Qualitative analysis revealed 10 themes that would improve reporting including short-term benefits, faster recover, safe and healthy return to play, reporting helps the team, reporting protects the brain, risk aversion, long-term benefits, coach will be supportive, teammates will be supportive and understanding, and academic performance will be affected. Discussion Athletes had awareness of key risks involved in concussions and understood both short- and long-term consequences. Conclusion These findings have important implications for understanding how to change athletes’ thoughts about reporting concussions.

COMPARISON OF THE PERFORMANCE VALUES OF THE U-16 DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN THE COMPETITION PERIOD

This study aims to compare the performance values of U-16 development league football players. The research was carried out according to the experimental research model. A total of 25 football players of a super league football team (age: 16, height: 170,36±7,31cm, weight: 56,89±8,88kg), all competing in the U-16 elite development league, participated voluntarily. The players wear Polar watches on the grass football field; Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 test was applied and aerobic endurance levels, maximal heart rate, and heart rate recovery times were measured. Tests and measurements were applied 1 week before the start of the league. After the first test, the competition period general training program was applied for 9 weeks, 4 days a week, and after that, the same tests and measurements were carried out again. After a 9-week competition training program, there were statistically significant differences in aerobic endurance levels and heart rate recovery times at the 1st minute (p<0.01), no statistically significant differences were found in maximal heart rate and heart rate recovery times at the 2nd minute (p>0.01). In conclusion, it can be said that the 9-week training program applied during the competition period is effective on the aerobic endurance level and heart rate recovery time in the 1st minute. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0893/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Tactical and strategic orientation sports selection of attacking flange defenders-laterals in football

An important role in the modern strategies of the game of highly qualified football teams belongs to the players who are "responsible" for the control of the playing space in the flank and semi-flank (adjacent to the flank) areas of the football field. Together with players of other roles, they express the creative game potential of the team's flank attack and defence. We are talking about flanking attacking defenders-laterals. The study of the analysis and implementation of sports selection of flank players through the prism of unity with tactical and strategic aspects is an important issue in the theory and practice of football. This also applies to the learning, education, training, improvement and development of the fastest and most correct game thinking and instant tactical and strategic response in the process of game actions of the attacking flank defender-lateral. The aim. Study of tactical and strategic orientation of sports selection of flank lateral defender in modern football strategies. The basic principle of our approach is that in football, as in other team games, the end result is much greater than the simple sum of the game's local actions and components. A methodical set of tools for training, coaching and improving attacking flank defenders-laterals, who are the bearers of the creative potential of team flank attack in modern football strategies, based on the principle of tactical and strategic control of the playing space in the flank areas of the football field. In the zone of defence of "their" goal, and in the zones of creation and completion of dangerous goal moments at the gate of the opposing team.

Paul Robeson

Many intellectuals describe Paul Robeson as one of the nation’s greatest musicians, scholars, actors, athletes, and activists of the 20th century. Born on 9 April 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, Robeson was the youngest of five children born to William Drew Robeson, a runway enslaved African American who went on to graduate from Lincoln University, a historical black college located in Pennsylvania, and Maria Louisa Bustill, a biracial Quaker who was also from Pennsylvania and came from a family of abolitionists. Without question, Robeson’s fame as an athlete on the football field, on the theater stage, in the concert hall, in films, as an activist, and as a leader for social change and justice has been documented in a variety of ways. His being blacklisted and the seizure of his passport by the US government for his anti-colonialism stance and articulation for certain forms of socialism during the 1940s and 1950s has also received much attention from scholars. But most folks do not know about his humble beginnings. For instance, in 1910 the Robeson family moved to Somerville, New Jersey, a relatively large town located between Westfield and Princeton, New Jersey. This is where Paul’s father, Reverend William Drew Robeson, served as pastor of the St. Thomas AME Zion Church until his untimely death in 1918. As a youngster, Paul was a very bright student who attended a local all-Black elementary school, where he graduated at the head of the class. Upon his graduation, his father, although very proud of him, seemed to not show any great enthusiasm. Many years later Robeson recalled, “I guess . . . it was only what he expected of me,” and that he “was never satisfied with a school mark of 95 when 100 was possible.” This attitude, Robeson, continued, was not because his “Pop” wanted perfection. It was rather a sign of his belief in the concept of “personal integrity,” which included the idea of “maximum human fulfillment.” Thus, Robeson proclaimed that “success in life was not to be measured in terms of money and personal advancement, but rather the goal must be the richest and highest development of one’s own potential.” These words embodied and directed the rest of the life of Paul Robeson until his death in 1976, at the age of seventy-seven. More importantly, Robeson’s philosophical framework and political activism can be divided into four main areas: Religion; Anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanism; Music and Theater Performances; and Human Rights.

Complexity Computer Simulation in the Study of the Overall Playing Method of Campus Football

With the mutual exchange and integration of world football, modern football is in an increasingly comprehensive direction. This research mainly discusses complexity computer simulation in the study of the overall play of campus football. Complexity computer simulation is used to design the background of the simulated football field, and the area is divided according to the size ratio of the actual football field. Then, it uses drawing software to draw the football and player controls. The construction of the knowledge base of this paper is mainly combined with the functional modules of rapid formation and response tactics. In the fast formation function, the required formation can be quickly given through football experience and knowledge rules. In the applied tactics function, for the responsibilities of forwards, midfielders, defenders, and other roles, the tactics implemented are given, including partially coordinated offensive and defensive tactics, personal offensive and defensive tactics, and set-ball tactics. The “holistic play” football tactics studied in this paper use XML files as recording and playback data, which not only greatly reduce the amount of file data but also make the operation of XML files intuitive and simple. XML can not only realize the recording and playback of player and football track but also be used in the function of rapid formation. The coach uses the “holistic play” football tactics simulation to demonstrate the movement route through the image, guide the players in each position to perceive the game scene by observing the movement route, and analyze and judge the tactical coordination of their respective positions. The computer simulation tactical analysis of the precision of the passing and running and the path coefficient of the passing factor is 0.606 and 0.59, respectively. This research helps to provide guidance on the overall playing tactics of football.

Sexuality politics on the football field: queering the field in Turkey

Focusing on queer-identified amateur football teams, this article investigates the potentials of the mobilities and alliances of gender non-conforming footballing people to disrupt the seemingly effortless structure of the football field. While football is arguably one of the sports with the strongest discriminatory attitudes toward gender non-conforming people, it has also become a site of resistance for queers in Turkey as of 2015. How political opposition groups relate to the football field, which is mostly considered as a male-dominant and heterosexualized space where social norms are reproduced, are classified into three groups in my research: resistance through, against, and for football. I give particular attention to the category “resistance for football” as a distinctive way for gender non-conforming people to inhabit the field. I discuss how the link between sexual and spatial orientations shapes the domain of what a body can do, both in terms of normativity and capacity, and I explore what these teams offer in order to exceed spatial and sexual boundaries. Lastly, I present recent queer interventions in the value system of the game through which I reflect upon the concept of “queer commons” and the processes of bonding, belonging, and border-making in queer communities.