Predicting Dropout From Organized Football: A Prospective 4-Year Study Among Adolescent and Young Adult Football Players

Previous studies have shown that enjoyment is one of the key predictors of dropout from organized sport, including organized football. However, prospective studies, particularly studies focused on long-term dropout, are largely lacking. Drawing on the basic principles of interdependence theory, in the present prospective study among 1,762 adolescent and young adult football players (27.1% women, mean age 17.74 years, SD = 1.35), we tested the predictive value of sport enjoyment, perceived alternatives, and restraining forces on football players' short-term (6 months) and long-term (4 years) dropout from organized football. As anticipated, the results of the logistic regression and follow-up analyses indicate that players' enjoyment was the main predictor of (short-term and long-term) dropout. In addition, relative to remainers, dropouts perceived more alternatives in terms of other sports, had fewer family members involved in their football club, and were older at the time they started playing organized football. We conclude that particularly measures aimed at enhancing sport enjoyment may prevent players from dropping out from organized football in both the short and long term. In addition, dropout rates may be reduced by attracting and engaging youth at a very young age (from 6 years), and their siblings, parents, and other family members as well.

Spatial Accuracy of Predictive Saccades Determines the Performance of Continuous Visuomotor Action

In a table tennis rally, players perform interceptive actions on a moving ball continuously in a short time, such that the acquisition process of visual information is an important determinant of the performance of the action. However, because it is technically hard to measure gaze movement in a real game, little is known about how gaze behavior is conducted during the continuous visuomotor actions and contributes to the performance. To examine these points, we constructed a novel psychophysical experiment model enabling a continuous visuomotor task without spatial movement of any body parts, including the arm and head, and recorded the movement of the gaze and effector simultaneously at high spatiotemporal resolution. In the task, Gabor patches (target) moved one after another at a constant speed from right to left at random vertical positions on an LC display. Participants hit the target with a cursor moving vertically on the left side of the display by controlling their prehensile force on a force sensor. Participants hit the target with the cursor using a rapid-approaching movement (rapid cursor approach, RCA). Their gaze also showed rapid saccadic approaching movement (saccadic eye approach, SEA), reaching the predicted arrival point of the target earlier than the cursor. The RCA reached in or near the Hit zone in the successful (Hit) trial, but ended up away from it in the unsuccessful (Miss) trial, suggesting the spatial accuracy of the RCA determines the task's success. The SEA in the Hit trial ended nearer the target than the Miss trial. The spatial accuracy of the RCA diminished when the target disappeared 100 ms just after the end of the SEA, suggesting that visual information acquired after the saccade acted as feedback information to correct the cursor movement online for the cursor to reach the target. There was a target speed condition that the target disappearance did not compromise RCA's spatial accuracy, implying the possible RCA correction based on the post-saccadic gaze location information. These experiments clarified that gaze behavior conducted during fast continuous visuomotor actions enables online correction of the ongoing interceptive movement of an effector, improving visuomotor performance.

Girls and Young Women in Community Sport: A South Australian Perspective

Girls' and young women's engagement and disengagement in physical activity has been well documented in Western culture. Sport plays a pivotal role in the development of behaviours that promote physical activity, particularly through commitment to team and individual goal attainment, socialisation, and feelings of belonging and self-identity. Community sport in Australia is the dominant pathway into state, national, and elite international competition. The importance of community sport in the lives of girls and young women cannot be overstated, irrespective of individual long-term sporting goals. Indeed, the dropout rate of girls in sports, like many other western cultures is significant and is certainly disproportionate to the numbers of boys who drop out. The present study aims to examine the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental influences on community sporting pathways for girls and young women. Using a mixed-methods design, we include survey data from 2,189 high-school students (aged 12–18 years) and focus group and individual interview data from a subset of 37 high-school students, parents, and teachers, across metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The study included an examination of sporting practises and insights of male sport participants from the same age groups to juxtapose the findings and provide a more comprehensive understanding of girls' and young women's community sporting involvement. Parents and teachers were also included within the participant cohort to provide a comprehensive perspective. The results highlight the challenges that girls face with respect to engagement and disengagement in sport and particular points throughout their adolescent years. Recommendations are provided to help mitigate potential attrition of girls in sport in the future.

Improvisational Movement to Improve Quality of Life in Older Adults With Early-Stage Dementia: A Pilot Study

Alzheimer's disease has profound effects on quality of life, affecting not only cognition, but mobility and opportunities for social engagement. Dance is a form of movement that may be uniquely suited to help maintain quality of life for older adults, including those with dementia, because it inherently incorporates movement, social engagement, and cognitive stimulation. Here, we describe the methods and results of the pilot study for the IMOVE trial (NCT03333837, www.clinicaltrials.gov), a clinical trial designed to use improvisational dance classes to test the effects of movement and social engagement in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early-stage dementia. The pilot study was an 8-week investigation into the feasibility and potential effects of an improvisational dance intervention on people with MCI or early-stage dementia (PWD/MCI) and their caregivers (CG). The pilot aimed to assess changes in quality of life, balance, mood, and functional brain networks in PWD/MCI and their CG. Participants were recruited as dyads (pairs) that included one PWD/MCI and one CG. Ten total dyads were enrolled in the pilot study with five dyads assigned to the usual care control group and five dyads participating in the dance intervention. The intervention arm met twice weekly for 60 min for 8 weeks. Attendance and quality of life assessed with the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's disease (QoL-AD) questionnaire were the primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes included balance, mood and brain network connectivity assessed through graph theory analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Class attendance was 96% and qualitative feedback reflected participants felt socially connected to the group. Increases in quality of life and balance were observed, but not mood. Brain imaging analysis showed increases in multiple brain network characteristics, including global efficiency and modularity. Further investigation into the positive effects of this dance intervention on both imaging and non-imaging metrics will be carried out on the full clinical trial data. Results from the trial are expected in the summer of 2022.

Sleep Characteristics in Esport Players and Associations With Game Performance: Residual Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling

The current study aimed to examine sleep characteristics of esport players and the stipulated effects of game performance on consecutive sleep characteristics using residual dynamic structural equation modeling (RDSEM). A sample of 27 Counterstrike players with a mean age of 18½ years participated in the current study. Sleep was detected over a period of 56 days with a Somnofy sleep monitor that utilizes an impulse radio ultra-wideband puls radar and Dopler technology, and weekly game performance was reported by the players. The results showed that esport players' sleep characteristics were in the lower levels of recommended guidelines and that sleep onset started later and sleep offset ended later in the morning compared with athletes from other traditional sports. The esport players displayed stable patterns in sleep onset, sleep offset, time in bed, sleep efficiency and non-REM respiration rates per minute (NREM RPM). On the between-person level, esport players with better game performance spent more time sleeping (r = 0.55) and scored lower on NREM RPM (r = −0.44). Unstandardized within-person cross-lagged paths showed that better game performance predicted subsequent earlier sleep offset. The within-level standardized estimates of the cross-lagged paths revealed that participants with better game performance spent subsequently more time in deep sleep (0.20), less time in light sleep (−0.14), less time in bed (−0.16), and displayed lower NREM RPM (−0.21), earlier sleep offset (−0.21), and onset (−0.09). The findings of better game performance being related to better sleep are discussed in terms of existing knowledge on how stress responses elicitated by poor performance might impact on non-REM respiration rates and sleep.

Assessing International Sport Federations' Sustainability Practices: Toward Integrating Sustainability in Their Main Sports Events

Research Question: Sustainability has become a pressing issue for a wide range of organizations, including sports' world governing bodies. This paper examines (1) how sustainability can be defined in the context of international sport federations and (2) how international federations implement social and environmental sustainability practices. We used an eight-dimensional analytical framework to analyze multiple case studies and drew on neo-institutional theory to interpret the recent changes international federations have made with regard to sustainability.Research Methods: Our methodology combined a multiple case study with analyses of official documents and in-depth semi-structured interviews.Results and Findings: Our six case studies revealed five approaches to sustainability: (a) implementing sustainability pilot events; (b) partnering with NGOs; (c) partnering with sustainability consultancies; (d) creating a sustainability committee; and (e) launching a comprehensive sustainability strategy with at least a full-time sustainability manager.Implications: In terms of theory, examining our data through the lens of neo-institutional theory provides insights into international federations' recent sustainability behaviors. Our findings enabled us to draw up a “sustainability ladder” of sport federations' responsibilities, which can be used to assess the degree to which they have embraced sustainability. In practical terms, our findings should encourage more sport federations to take concrete steps to improve their sustainability by implementing the five approaches.

Is There Any Non-functional Training? A Conceptual Review

This conceptual review investigates whether functional training (FT) is a different approach from traditional strength, power, flexibility, and endurance (aerobic or cardiorespiratory) training already adopted in the physical training plan of professional, recreational athletes, healthy, and older adults. The 20 most recent papers published involving FT were searched in the PubMed/Medline database. Definition, concepts, benefits, and the exercises employed in FT programs were analyzed. The main results were: (a) there is no agreement about a universal definition for FT; (b) FT programs aim at developing the same benefits already induced by traditional training programs; (c) exercises employed are also the same. The inability to define FT makes the differentiation from traditional training programs difficult. Physical training programs can be easily described and classified as strength, power, flexibility, endurance, and the specific exercises employed (e.g., traditional resistance training, ballistic exercises, plyometrics and Olympic-style weightlifting, continuous and high-intensity interval training). This apt description and classification may provide consistent and clear communication between students, coaches, athletes, and sports scientists. Based on the current evidence and to avoid confusion and misconceptions, we recommend that the terms FT, high-intensity FT, and functional fitness training no longer describe any physical training program.

Becoming InterActive for Life: Mobilizing Relational Knowledge for Physical Educators

The overarching purpose of the InterActive for Life (IA4L) project is to mobilize relational knowledge of partnered movement practices for physical education practitioners. Through a participatory, motion-sensing phenomenological methodology, relational knowledge gleaned from world class experts in salsa dance, equestrian arts, push hands Tai Chi and acroyoga, and analyzed through the Function2Flow conceptual model, was shared with Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students. They, in turn, made sense of the ways these experts cultivate relational connections through a process of designing interactive games suitable for physical education curricula. The kinetic, kinesthetic, affective and energetic dynamics of these games were then shared through professional development workshops, mentoring, and open-access resources. Each phase of the IA4L project invites us to depart from the predominance of individualistic ways of conceiving and teaching movement and instead explore what it means to be attuned to the pulse of life as we break away from tendencies to objectify movement as something our bodies do or that is done to them. Consideration is given to the ways in which meaningful relational connections are formed in and through movement and how this learning prioritizes the InterActive Functions, Forms, Feelings and Flows of moving purposefully, playfully and expressively with others. In so doing, what this research offers is an understanding of how knowledge of an essentially motion-sensitive kind, which can breathe life into physical education curricula, can be actively and interactively mobilized.

The Relation of Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity and Serum Uric Acid Using the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004

Objective: Gout is a crystal-induced inflammatory arthritis caused by elevated uric acid. Physical activity has the potential to reduce serum uric acid (SUA), thus improving the disease burden of gout. In this study, we examined the association of objectively-measured physical activity and SUA.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using survey, laboratory, and accelerometer data from the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). SUA concentrations (mg/dL) were obtained during an initial exam, and then physical activity (kCal/day) was measured with 7 days of ActiGraph accelerometry in participants (n = 3,475) representative of the ambulatory, non-institutionalized US civilian population. Regression, including restricted cubic splines, was used to assess the relation of physical activity and SUA in bivariate and adjusted models. Covariates included age, gender, race/ethnicity, alcohol use, body mass index, renal function, and urate-lowering therapy.Results: In the bivariate model, physical activity was correlated with SUA concentrations and included a non-linear component (p < 0.01). In the adjusted model, linear splines were employed with a node at the SUA nadir of 5.37mg/dL; this occurred at 703 kCal/day of physical activity. The association of physical activity and SUA was negative from 0 to 703 kCal/day (p = 0.07) and positive >703 kCal/day (p < 0.01 for the change in slope).Conclusion: Physical activity and SUA are associated in a non-linear fashion, with a minimum estimated SUA at 703 kCal/day of objectively-measured physical activity. These findings raise intriguing questions about the use of physical activity as a potential adjunctive therapy in patients with gout, and further interventional studies are needed to elucidate the effects of moderate intensity exercise on SUA concentrations.

Characterizing Middle School Students' Physical Literacy Development: A Self-Determination Theory-Based Pilot Intervention in Physical Education

Purpose: Positive youth development (PYD) can be achieved through effective and purposeful instructions in physical education (PE) and other relevant experiences both in and beyond schools. Students' PYD is associated with their physical literacy (PL) development, which has become a primary emphasis of PE, especially in the United States, in recent years. This study aimed to (a) characterize middle school students' physical literacy (PL) and (b) capture their PL developing trajectories in light of receiving a self-determination theory (SDT)-based pedagogical workshop, with the long-term vision on PYD.Methods: Participants (N = 226) completed the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL-2) in physical education (PE). A subsample (n = 49) received four workshop sessions over 8 weeks; and completed the CAPL-2 and participated in focus group interviews before and after the workshop.Results: Both boys and girls' CAPL-2 scores were in the “progressing” stage. Significant differences in PL and PL domains were observed by gender, grade, socioeconomic status (SES), body mass index (BMI), and race/ethnicity. The low PL group showed improvements in PL and PL domains. Interview data delineated positive PL developing trajectories for physical activity (PA) type, frequency, and intensity; perceived motives; and participation barriers.Conclusion: PL is a dynamic state that can be improved through purposeful PE. Future work should examine the effect (and implementation) of opportunities in (e.g., PE) and beyond schools (e.g., youth sports programs) to ultimately advance PYD.