Psycho-administrative determinants for choice of physical education among senior secondary school students at external examination bodies

Empirical observations reveal low enrolment of senior secondary school students for physical education at external examination bodies. The poor rate of students' choice of the subject at this level is a matter of concern to professionals, given the fact of monumental benefits of physical education as a science subject to humanity. The study was conducted to examine how psycho-administrative factors influence the choice of physical education by senior secondary school students at external examination bodies (in Nigeria) to come up with modalities to increase enrolment of the subject at external examination bodies. Descriptive method was applied for the study due to large respondents involved. Self-developed validated questionnaire tagged psycho-administrative determinants for choice of physical education among senior secondary school students at external examination bodies (PADGPEAS) was applied for the research. Out of three thousand and twenty-four (3024) questionnaire forms administered, only two thousand and fifty (2950) copies completed and returned were coded for analysis, with the use of descriptive statistics of percentages and nonparametric statistics of Chi-square (x 2) at 0.05 level of significant. Results unraveled a remarkable influence of psycho-administrative variables on the choice at physical education among senior secondary school students at external examination bodies. Based on this outcome, it is suggested that utilization of variety of methods by physical education teachers will go a long way to kindle the interest of the students for the subject. Enlightenment of students and parents on the values of physical education will facilitate remarkable positive attitude of both parts that relocate their position in favor of the subject.

The origins of rugby in Catalonia

Catalan rugby reached the high point of its young and successful history when became one of the founding nations of the International Amateur Rugby Federation (FIRA) and started competing at international level as an autonomous rugby nation. Towards the end 1921 rugby settled in Catalonia penetrating through sports such as football, athletics, boxing and swimming and owing much to French expatriates residing in Barcelona or Catalan citizens who had lived in France. In 1923 the Catalan Football Rugby Union was created due to the aroused need for organized competitions. With this institutionalisation and organisational structure began a flourishing period for the clubs, culminating in 1929 at the Barcelona International Exhibition where rugby was played in front of 60.000 spectators. In spite of this achievement, rugby remained a minority sport with restricted geographical appeal, with a group faithful and loyal followers.

Historical aspects of studying the influence of physical activity on the mental health of people

This article presents the main results of work on the study of the issue of the historical process of improving knowledge about the influence of physical activity of a person on the level of his mental health. Based on the results of the analysis of scientific information presented in modern domestic and foreign literary sources, the conclusion was substantiated that the historical process of improving knowledge about human nature and his mental activity in recent years has reached the highest level of development. The study of the long-term experience of scientists in many countries of the world gives grounds to assert that the beginning of the process of targeted study of the effect of physical activity on human mental functions was laid back in the last century. However, scientists have achieved the most outstanding results in this area of scientific research in recent decades. The historical need for in-depth research in this scientific direction was maturing gradually and was due to the peculiarities of the course of scientific and technological progress in general. Due to the fact that it was in recent decades that many discoveries were made, which formed the basis of modern methods for studying the physiological state of a person and his intellectual functions, there was obvious progress in the study of the mental health of persons whose central nervous system works under conditions of extreme intellectual and psycho-emotional stress. Scientists working in the field of physical education and sports, in collaboration with scientists in the field of education and health, have significantly intensified their joint activities and developed modern complexes of measures aimed at studying the mental health of students and representatives of the teaching staff of state institutions of higher education. This contingent of the subjects was not chosen by chance. The fact is that the learning process in higher education institutions is associated with intense loads on the central nervous system of both students and teachers, as well as on some of their senses (in particular, on the visual and auditory analyzers).

Lack of shame and deception in sport

The subject of this paper is a brief review of a worldwide decreasing and loosing of moral values and moral norms in any field of human existence and in sport as well. In this regard, shame as an ethical category representing one of the supporting pillars of theological moral is almost disappearing from sports practice and sport competitions. We are witnessing common deception in sport (the use of performance-enhancing drugs, match-fixing, referee bias) which is degrading the traditional Olympic spirit and purity of sports performance and sporting events. Though there have been attempts to prevent those negative tendencies through generalisation and promotion of the fair play code of conduct (in order to level various codes of various societies and groups), its practical use is still far from what is expected. A return to already approved values of Christian morality avoiding anything that is dishonourable, shameless and impermanent is highlighted in the paper.

Canonical relations between anthropometric and motor dimensions among 12-year-old students

The aim of this empirical research was to examine the correlations between the groups of variables of anthropometric characteristics (16) and motor skills (21) among 154 students (AM = 11,53 SD = 1,12). The method of canonical correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between the pairs of linear functions of predictor and criterion variables. The obtained canonical coefficients and canonical weights revealed that, with significance level (p ≤ 0,0,5 or p ≤ 0,01), there is a high level of correlation between linear combinations of the examined morphological characteristics and motor skills, where the explained mutual variance was 80% for the first and 33% for the second canonical function. The extracted relevant canonical pairs were interpreted hypothetically as "integrated morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength and coordination", and the second one was interpreted as "morphological factor and the factor of explosive strength". The set of the first canonical morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength, and coordination, is the maximum weight on the variables body mass, body height, forearm circumference, horizontal reverse plank, knee push-ups, and stick mobility, while the biggest contribution to the structure of the second canonical morphological factor and the factor of static and repetitive strength have variables 20m sprint with standing start, standing long jump, hand tapping and foot tapping. The obtained results of the analyzed bicomponent canonical model reveal more defined and predictable structure of the correlation between anthropometric characteristics and motor manifestations, and therefore give guidelines for planning, developing and controlling the training processes during physical education classes.

Is it important to overcome motor problems of elementary school-age students?

The purpose of writing this article is to find out about the importance of overcoming motor problems of elementary school-aged students. The method used is a literature review study. Impaired motor development can cause learning difficulties. This will have an impact on students such as low scores, low achievement, and difficulties in learning. In addition to matters related to academics, students usually feel embarrassed or make other friends feel annoyed and uncomfortable. Seeing the impact caused by motor problems can interfere with the learning process of children, it requires intervention from the school, especially by teachers who interact more intensively with children. Motor problems experienced by elementary school students certainly require intervention, as an initial screening to find out problems that may be experienced by students, it is necessary to do a universal intervention. This universal intervention is an intervention given to students whose problems at first are not known. Four aspects can benefit from optimizing the development of children's motor skills. The four aspects are the child's physiological, emotional, cognitive, and social. Other benefits are also grouped based on the optimization of fine and gross motor skills. Recommendations for future research to examine more deeply the motor problems of elementary school-aged students, so that the right method can be found to overcome them.

Beginnings and development of rugby in Ukraine

The founder of rugby as a specific kind of sport in Ukraine was Odessa. In 1878, the Odessa British Athletic Club was founded in South Palmyra, which was assembled by the British - employees of commercial firms, shipping companies, as well as employees of the Indo-European telegraph.

Sports photography and its artistic dimensionality

Sports photography is a powerful visual tool that can be used to promote sports, athletes and recreational physical activities. Her main role is to present sport as an art. In that respect, good sports photography also implies the recorded moment of the athlete in a specific movement position, which is unusual and which cannot be seen on television. When it comes to the promotion of professional sports, sports photography occupies a significant place in the sports press and sports magazines. On the other hand, sports photography also promotes recreational sports, which is intended for all those who want to do sports for themselves and their own health. Sports photography has the power to present important sports and recreational events to readers in a simple way, without large and dry texts. Good sports photography refers to the composition, angle, light, dynamics and color contrast, i.e. the relationship between warm and cold tones. Also, sports photography depends on good photographic equipment, knowledge and experience of a sport photojournalist. Sports photojournalists always try to present quality and interesting sports photographs in the most professional and high-quality way, which in an artristic way convey ''visual information'' of sports events to loyal readers and sports fans. It is very important to understand that sports photography is not only sports, but also artistic. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present sports photography and its artistic dimension.

Analysis of the immune response in padel

High intensity exercise and sports activities are closely related to a general state of inflammation that can lead to immunosuppression. This physiological response could decrease sports performance and even compromise the athlete's health. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute inflammatory response of a padel match. 15 elite players (28.2±7.9 years) participated voluntarily in the study. Different pro-inflammatory (IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-12 and TNFa) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-5, IL-10 and IL-13) were analyzed before and after a match. The results showed a decrease in IL-7 (p=0.007) and IL-8 (p<0.03) and increases in IL-10 (p<0.04). The results obtained suggest that the practice of high-level padel induces an anti-inflammatory response.

Giants of physical culture Rafael and Dušanka Ban

Having had the opportunity to live with Bans for a period of time and having analysed their biographic and bibliographic data, as well as the entirety of their scientific work, the author comes to the conclusion that the members of Ban family, both father and daughter, had dedicated their entire lives to physical culture. The opus of Rafael and dr Dušanka Ban has been founded on a carefully nurtured sport-sokol lifestyle. Based on their entire opus, the author believes that there are people of a certain kind, the rare and extraordinary ones, who relish the burden of creatorship in their field of expertise-physical culture. They set up new guidelines and in the process reexamine the foundational premises of physical culture, in theory as well as in practice.