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Contents (Jump to)

Introduction

Principles and best practice in coaching

The effectiveness of different styles of coaching in different contexts

How models of coaching can help practitioners

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Sport, as a physical education concept, is governed exclusively by principles, rules and regulations. More than any other form of education, ethics dominate the culture of sport. Indeed, in an era dominated by the breakdown of rules and regulations and the increasing emphasis upon the needs of the individual over the collective, sport can in some ways be seen as the last bastion of the team ethic, helping to infuse in people a sense of belonging and of togetherness. For this reason, the ideal of best practice is a highly important contemporary topic one whose measure can be meted out in the fact tat the business community in the twenty first century is looking with increasing respect at the achievement of high?achieving sports coaches such as Sir Alec Ferguson in order to create a model for success within their own corporate teams. The following essay seeks to look at the ways in which these principles pertaining to best practice can best be applied in a variety of modern sporting contexts.

Principles and best practice in coaching

The ideal of sport has changed markedly in the past fifteen to twenty years (Polley, 1998)^[1]. What was once seen as leisure and/or a recreational activity is now viewed primarily as a vehicle through which one can instigate deep-seated cultural and societal change. This is especially true in the UK which has a particularly insipid connection to sport with a variety of games considered endemic in British society; indeed, many of the most popular sports in the world were played first in Britain and their governing bodies still reside within British state borders. As a result, as Dawn Penney (2000:59) declares, sport, society and equity are interlinked to a degree that has only very recently been acknowledged by academic, specifically sociological, study.

“Physical education and sport are part of our social and cultural worlds. The relationship is dynamic, with the policies and practices of physical education reflecting, but also clearly shaping (reproducing and/or challenging), the values and interests of broader society.”^[2]

It is for this reason that the concept of ‘best practice’ has attained a new level of significance in recent years relating specifically to the adoption of the finest possible academic, psychological and ethical procedures especially with regards to children and young people so as to prepare them mentally and physically for the multiple demands of adult life whether this be in a sporting or non?sporting context. ‘Best practice’ utilises research conducted primarily between the years 1950 to 1980 with the implementation of these strategies taking place over the past thirty years. It is a wholly recent phenomenon and, as such, is lacking in some areas of research compared to other fields of sociological study. However, in the twenty first century the amount of attention devoted to the subject is likely to increase with the dual spectre of globalisation and commercialisation making sports a highly lucrative hub of activity.

The principles governing the concept of ‘best practice’ are centred upon the twin aims of forging a common sense of unity and teamwork within a group of players and at the same time to nurture individual skill and flair on a one-to-one basis so that the more gifted players’ skills are honed without neglecting the primacy of the team as the over-riding ethos of ‘best practice’. This essential dualism which resides at the epicentre of ‘best practice’ coaching concepts is inherently affected by the evolution of sports players as they grow up. For instance, young players (aged six to ten years old) are much more inclined to gravitate towards the individual element of sports and competition with the group dynamic coming at a later age (developing primarily between the ages of twelve and sixteen). For this reason, there is no ‘best way’ to ‘best practice’; no right or wrong. Rather, there is a great exchange of fluidity between concepts, principles and practices that should be implemented on an individual basis. This is as true of coaching adults (clients) as it is of coaching youngsters where Jennifer Rogers (2007:7-10)^[3] has outlined six core principles that ‘define’ the role of the coach in the modern era. These are:

The client is resourceful (the coach’s sole aim is to work with the client to achieve all of their potential – as defined by the client).
The coach’s role is to spring loose the client’s resourcefulness.
Coaching addressing the whole person: past, present and future.
The client sets the agenda.
The coach and the client are equals.
Coaching is about change and action.

The common denominator outlined by Rogers is that coaching is always triggered by change – be it a change in age, in circumstance, in style or technique. Furthermore, because change is the currency in which the coach does business, there is bound to be wildly fluctuating styles of coaching that fit wildly different social and cultural contexts and it is towards these different styles and contexts that attention must now be turned.

The effectiveness of different styles of coaching in different contexts

It has been shown that the evolution of young people greatly affects the implementation of coaching methods pertaining to the precarious balance between coaching the individual and the group dynamic. This is necessarily dependent on the kind of sport being coached: team sports such as football require a dedication to the team ethic while sports such as tennis and golf stress the individual element of competition. Sports such as cricket combine the team ethic with a heavy emphasis upon individual ability, certainly with regards to batting, which is a very solitary skill that requires intensive levels of concentration and individualism (Palmer, 1999)^[4]. Thus, in the first instance, effective coaching requires the practitioner to tailor his or her coaching style to the sport in question and then to further tailor these coaching techniques to the age group of the team or individual being coached.

This inherent diversity in coaching styles is also true of the economic context of coaching adults. Certain sports require greater levels of economic participation than others. Golf, for example, is an expensive sport that demands that the participant is well funded so as to purchase the necessary equipment such as clubs, bags, clothing and, most importantly, membership to a golf club. The same can be said of tennis and cricket where the equipment is a vital part of the ultimate success or failure of the technique of the client in question. Economic context is also important with regards to the psychological element of coaching with the social, cultural and political problems of urban poverty playing an important part in the types of coaching techniques which are likely to yield the best results from any given demographic. There can be no doubt that a coaching style employed for a group of middle class practitioners with free access to capital, time and resources is going to be markedly different from the kind of coaching style deployed for children and adults who do not have access to the same luxuries and who therefore are going to respond to different coaching techniques.

Economic context, demographic context and age context are further compounded by the increasingly common problem of multiculturalism and, specifically, globalisation, which has obvious consequences for teachers, mentors and coaches operating at all levels of society throughout the UK. When one thinks, for instance, of the impact of language upon coaching (relaying tactics, pointing out areas of strength and weakness, and, most significantly, attempting to instil a team ethic) one can see the extent to which the role of the coach is inexorably intertwined with the fate of mass movement of peoples across the planet in the twenty first century. As Jones (1997:27) declares, “there is no more important task within the wider coaching process than that of communication.”^[5] Bains and Patel (1994) have long pointed out the blatant under?representation of Asians playing professional football in England despite some areas in the Midlands and the North-West of England having urban areas with a higher than 50% ratio of ethnic communities.

“Recent Sport England national statistics confirmed that people of South Asian origin have markedly lower participation rates than other minorities or the indigenous population.” (Collins, 2003:75)^[6]

This anomaly with regards to the high numbers of Asians living in modern Britain and the disproportionately small number of Asians playing football, it has been argued, is due to coaches indulging in outmoded stereotyping when it comes to coaching players from the Asian community. Asians are still seen as primarily academic achievers over sports players and where they are perceived as sports players they are still pigeon?holed in typical Asian images of cricket players; rarely are they ever seen as potential professional footballers. Likewise black players are still seen as primarily quick, powerful players; rarely, the tactical brains or the spiritual heartbeat of the side.

This cultural element to sports coaching is exacerbated by the historical gender divide between males and females in a sporting context. Here, just as with ethnic people, stereotypes remain the dominant coaching paradigm. Girls and women are expected to play traditionally female sports such as netball, hockey, lacrosse, swimming and tennis. This, however, is in direct opposition to the growing numbers of women playing traditionally male?dominated sports such as rugby, cricket and football with the latter in particular experiencing a veritable boom in female interest since the beginning of the 1990s.

“A generation ago, sport was a core, patriarchal institution in a larger, contested gender order. Now, with the dramatic growth of girls’ and women’s athletics participation, sport no longer simply or unambiguously plays this reactionary role in gender relations. Sport is now more internally contested.” (2002 introduction xxii)^[7]

It is, in the final analysis, up to the sports coach to take each of these mitigating factors and contexts into account so that the practitioner is able to coach skills and techniques that are relevant to the contemporary era as opposed to perpetuating anachronistic stereotypes that do little to advance civilised society in both a sporting and non?sporting context.

How models of coaching can help practitioners

Studying different models of coaching represents the scientific element of sports mentoring whereby the student and practitioner can attempt to explain the essence and purpose of coaching via the development of models (Fairs, 1987:17-19)^[8]. It can be separated into two distinct camps: the ‘of’ coaching camp and the ‘for’ coaching camp. Models ‘of’ coaching are based upon empirical research investigating best practice while the ‘for’ coaching models are idealistic representations that arise from attempts to identify a concrete set of assumptions about the coaching process. The majority of practitioners tend to employ a symbiosis of the two models incorporating an ‘of’ and ‘for’ model of best practice. In this way, empirical data can be used in a realistic setting that takes into account the age, skills and other contexts that affect the coaching process. However, these two models of coaching underline the extent to which academia and intellectual analysis has come to dominate the empirical study of sports performance when in fact the first hand experience of established practitioners ought to form the basis of all models of coaching sports. The difference, essentially, comes down to one of theory and practice with the concept of ‘expertise’ necessarily clouded by the arguments of the academics and the professionals respectively. Once again, though, the individual element of the coaching process must be highlighted so as to reflect the inherent complexity that takes place within the field of sports with vastly differing levels of skill and ability being matched by the vastly different psychological reactions to slumps in form and technique.

It is, ultimately, up to the national governing sports bodies to ensure that the primacy of holistic coaching practice does not become relegated at the expense of literature, theory and academia (Lyle, 1999:1-24).^[9] For this reason, organisations such as Sport England have been established by the central government in a bid to impose a centralise model for sports development on regionalised sports bodies so as to directly influence and aid practitioners. The primary model deployed by Sport England is the “traditional sports development continuum” – a pyramid which locates foundation as the core, base value followed in hierarchical terms by participation, performance and, finally, excellence (Bramhan et al, 1999:3).

This generic model is dovetailed by more advanced models for practitioners to use with athletes at a professional or elite stage in their sports. As is so often the case it is the Australians who represent the pinnacle of academic research into the coaching process with the revolutionary ‘Old Way, New Way’ technique correction model offering an intensive ‘one session’ approach to the problem of proven performers suffering seemingly inexplicable dips in form and technique with the case of Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie standing tall as the most prominent example of therapeutic success achieved via sports practitioners embracing new means of solving old problems. ‘Old Way, New Way’ is consequently a manifestation of the much sought after collaboration between academic researchers and sports practitioners which works on a psychological as well as a physical level in a bid to continue the sportsperson’s quest for skill development and continuous technical improvement.

Conclusion

There has never been so much research dedicated towards the practice of sports, sports psychology and best practice in sports coaching the likes of which has been witnessed in the past decade. This has served to help to transport sport from a marginalised recreational activity to a mainstream study of human behaviour and psychical endurance. Furthermore, bearing in mind the increased proliferation of televised sports across the global media apparatus, the vastly increased participation of women in sports in the contemporary era and the shift in focus at a governmental level towards much improved health and physical exercise resources, this level of research is only likely to be elevated in the years and decades to come. Thus, ultimately, the models, contexts and best practices outlined herein require constant updating so as to keep up with the unprecedented rate of change taking place within the global sports coaching community.

References

Bramhan, P., Hylton, K., Jackson, D. and Nesti, M. (1999) Introduction, in, Bramhan, P., Hylton, K., Jackson, D. and Nesti, M (Eds.) Sport Development: Policy, Process and Practice London and New York: Routledge

Collins, M.F. (2003), Social Exclusion from Sport and Leisure, quoted in, Houlihan, B. (Ed.) Sport and Society: a Student Introduction London: SAGE

Fairs, J. (1987) The Coaching Process: The Essence of Coaching, in, Sports Coach Journal, Volume 11, Number 1

Jones, R.L. (1997) Effective Instructional Coaching Behaviour: A Review of Literature, in, International Journal of Physical Education, Volume, 24, Number 1

Lyle, J.W.B. (1999) The Coaching Process: Principles and Practice, in, Cross, N. and Lyle, J.W.B. (Eds.) The Coaching Process: Principles and Practice for Sport Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann

Messner, M.A. (2002), Taking the Field: Women, Men and Sports Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press

Palmer, G.V. (1999) Cricket Coachmaster: Batting Mechanics London: Gary Palmer

Penney, D. (2000) Physical Education: In what and who’s Interests? , in, Jones, R.L. and Armour, K.M. (Eds.) Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice London and New York: Longman

Polley, M. (1998) Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society since 1945 London and New York: Routledge

Rogers, J. (2007) Coaching Skills Buckingham: Open University Press

1

Dissertation

Introduction

The popularity of football and the impact it has on many people can globally can be justified by the fact that more than 1.1 billion people viewed the FIFA World Club in Germany in 2006 (FIFA, 2006). Therefore, with the demand for entertaining football as high as ever, researchers and coaches have attempted to develop a strategy to produce and develop talent, however such processes takes eight to twelve years of training (Grant, 1999). Yet, as football is a business integrated sport, stakeholders often stress in yielding immediate returns from expensive investments. Thus, the KFA (Korean Football Association) still tend to allocate the majority of resources and funding to elite football set ups resulting in K-league football teams to hire proven foreign athletes rather than nurturing and developing local talented athletes (KFA, 2009). This may possibly be due to the benefits as Holger Preuss (2000) suggested that successful football teams are more likely to attract lucrative foreign investments through sponsorship and media rights. Evidently, many of the world’s leading and most famous football teams including Barcelona and Manchester United possess numerous world class athletes originally based from different countries and cultures.

Subsequently, the characteristics and formation of football teams are very similar to that of multi-national organisations. In this ever so competitive sport, failure to manage cultural diversity in football teams may upset and provoke stakeholders such as the chairman and board of directors to take action in most scenarios the manager being replaced. Moreover, the management of cultural diversity is concurrent in the media yet minimal scientific research is present regarding the effects on football teams. Therefore, the purpose and aim of this study is to further research and understand the methods of managing cultural diversity in football teams with the aid of Pohang Steelers Football Club.

Literature Review

Business organisations are changing at a phenomenal pace because of globalisation, outsourcing, telecommuting and deregulation with employees including football coaches seeking alternative approaches to working (Daft, 2002). Furthermore, with ethnic conflicts and issues constantly arising in today’s society, it is inevitable that various demands must be met in order to maximise productivity and synergy (Cascio, 1995). Furthermore, Elashmawi & Harris (1993) stated management currently is increasingly multicultural and Daft (2002) also supported this claim and added that synergy is present when a culturally diversified team understand the individuals’ roles, create norms and produce effective communication structures and utilise individuals’ strengths to enable the team to achieve set targets.

Consequently, communicating effectively as a football coach is a very complicated process (Watt, 1996). Moreover, athletes during sporting operations on the field use verbal and non-verbal communication in a variety of ways that are both culturally and individually motivated (Kippenberger, 2000). This suggests that that the use of language, hence the use of verbal language within a multicultural football team could be the biggest barrier to enable cohesion through effective communication (Elashmawi & Harris, 1993). Therefore, this suggests that the coach must acknowledge that to effectively manage multicultural football teams, it is essential to understand that different behaviours and communication styles must be present (Husting, 1995). Effective communication strategies

This is extremely evident during matches and training and a crucial component to successfully managing the team is the style of leadership of the coach (Watt, 1996). This could be due to the fact that within sports coaching the central responsibility of the coach is to enhance performance (Lyle, 2002). However, in sports coaching there are no correct or incorrect approaches and attributes that coaches are favoured to possess yet Watt (1996) suggested that a common leadership approach is the transformational style. Such style showcases leadership attributes including integrity, honesty and commitment through development of a vision, inspiring and selling the vision with motivation and over viewing the vision (Hodgetts & Luthans, 2003).

Studies suggest that younger athletes may produce natural ability and talent at a tender age and follow the youth system of some big clubs (Owen, 2005). This suggests that the developmental stage and correct guidance is the key to transitions that players have to experience. Failure to do so can result in the stagnation of the development of technical attributes (Nicolaou, 2008). Furthermore, it can also lead to the loss of interest for the athlete as football may no longer be perceived as ‘fun’, since younger athletes mostly play without competition but due to the early introduction of playing to win the emphasis is too great on performance (Reed, 2007) as the two FA’s introduce competition from a young age. Therefore, further investigations should be conducted in countries with solid football set ups to be used as a benchmark for both The KFA and The FA to compare, contrast and further enhance the understanding of necessary changes allowing ratifications to occur. Holland is a country with only a 50 year history since the formation of the professional league. Despite of the lack of resources Holland has produced a very successful team constantly challenging for the highest honors. This directly corresponds to the fact that amongst the 2500 clubs within Holland, 95% have a fully functional youth academy. (Helsen, Hodges, van Winckel & Starkes, 2000). With the successful system present in Holland which contrasts drastically with the fragile structure in England and Korea.

Due to the agreement of the ten year or 10,000 rule between researchers, athletes should train on average three hours daily for ten years (Salemela, 1998). This asserts that long term training and development needs to occur for successful development rather than a ‘peaking by Friday’ approach (Balyi and Hamilton, 1999). Furthermore, (Balyi and Hamilton, 1999) research also stated that sports can be classified as early specialization or late specialization, the former referring to sports that requires sport-specific training such as gymnastics and diving whereas the latter referring to sports that require a generic approach to training such as football and rugby.

The early learning stages of athlete development can be viewed as most fundamental since this is the period where basic skills are nurtured through the act of ‘playing’, such as kicking, striking, catching and running as this leads to the enhancement of cognitive and motor skills (Gentile, 1972). The development of FUNdamentals (Appendix 0.1) is also the first stage of the Late Specialization Model which emphasizes the importance of the development of physical capacities and fundamental movement skills (Balyi, 2004). Furthermore, Gentile also stated that coaching younger athletes should not only promote getting the basic idea of movement but also introduce a diversified program which works on both closed and open skills. This is contrary to what Hoare suggested as he claimed that younger players hold a tendency to follow coaches and when success is yielded they move on to the next developmental stage (Hoare, 2000). Therefore, the act of copying adults from younger athletes implies the need for qualified coaches at youth level and may suggest that investment on the standard of coaching could be a vital element of success. On the other hand, (Gentile, 1972) suggested that repetitive practice in a diverse set of environments is important, as younger athletes may show consistency in performing a set skill but understanding the process of how the skill is achieved is different. Hence, understanding the know-how process of skill acquisition and execution are achieved and produced at the latter stages of the LTAD model when players reach ages of 16, where movements and skills are performed automatically known as the autonomous stage (Schmidt, 1987). This autonomous stage directly links to the stage 3- Training to Compete Stage and stage 4- The Training to Win Stage whereby skills nurtured and developed from younger ages are put to test under various competitive environments of a 50:50 ratio of competition and training. However, the introduction of competition and playing to win at an early age may hinder the development of athletes rather than provide a competitive edge as today’s athletes mentality involves winning at all costs (Volkwein, 1995). Therefore, in Korea numerous youth academies train athletes with drills with the intentional outcome of success through attainable goals rather than just winning.

Contrary to the LTAD model which stresses the importance of timing and coaching within the stages of development, literature should be reviewed within the cultural and coaching differences. Countries such as Holland and Spain hire highly experienced and qualified coaches for training sessions and monitoring the development of individual athletes. (Salmela, 1995). Furthermore, the coaches from Holland are also a force mentionable with some of the best coaches in the world. Not only did Rinus Michels receive the coach of the century award in 1999 by FIFA, in 2006 World Cup there were four Dutch coaches present. Although in England the youth academies do consist of former professional players as coaches at youth level, Korean professional academy coaches are not as qualified with the vast majority of coaches only holding the equivalent of level 1 coaching badges. This results in the coaches targeting training sessions with the view of minimal technical knowledge and drills catered for elite level athletes rather than providing attention to individual young athletes’ requirements. This virtually ignores the development of late bloomers or developers as individuals develop both physically and technically at different ages (Kolb, 1984). In addition, failure to cater individual requirements is detrimental as individuals’ knowledge of the concept of motor skills and performance vary and higher skilled athletes demonstrate qualities such as maximum certainty, minimal energy expenditure, and minimum movement time which are crucial criterions that showcase the quality of elite athletes (Guthrie, 1972). In addition, (Snow, 2004) also concluded that when younger athletes are allowed to play in the optimal environment that caters the individual’s age group, the performance will also match.

However, Brazil obtain some of the most technically gifted players in the world and this was due to the lack of structure at a young age but more so on the free play aspect without instruction. Such unstructured play can encourage creativity and confidence whilst (Balyi, 2003) suggested that such play with minimal instructions could possibly be difficult to grasp. Thus, an incorporation of structured and non-structured activities could return positive results in the younger athletes’ development. Yet, the current English and Korean clubs show less stress on such activities and provide a stronger emphasis on constant guidance from a younger age. Moreover, the Korean counterparts training at U-17 level is more rigorous in terms of quantity of training sessions a week than professionals. (KFA, 2001)

Conclusion

The creation of the ‘Five Stage Model of Late Specialization in Sports’ was originally directed at producing high performance Alpine Skiers over a eight year cycle and hence a direct use of such development model could possibly be unsuitable for football which questions its validity with the use in a football environment. Furthermore, a scientific interrogation of the model is virtually impossible as it refers to minimal science and includes no research data. This shows that in spite of such model being widely across sports governing bodies as guidelines and powered the way forward for big projects within sports development, it lacks creditability in a scientific point of view.

However, with such wide acceptance of the model and for the purpose of this research, a conclusion can be drawn that with Balyi’s change of the model in 2001 to suit different sports, and the modification made by The FA and KFA the respective models do not identically copy but partial overlapping features do occur. Balyi’s model although aimed at long term athlete development has a final stage known as the Retirement/ Retraining stage but this feature is a transition and not that of the athlete development to produce elite athletes. Hence, there could be questions raised whether it is a performance development model or retention of players for participation.

A final conclusion of any data collected is impossible due to time constraints, as a third year student with only a given time period to collect data it was impossible to review all literature available on youth-set up of different countries and LTAD models. Hence, research and review could be biased. Furthermore, due to the development of athletes taking ten years and 10,000 rule, it is only possible to criticize the LTAD development model through extensive scientific experiments that are impossible due to time and budget restraints. Further investigations should be conducted to put-to-practice the LTAD model not just in Alpine Skiers but other relevant sports to discover the relevance and validity of such model in the respective sports. Therefore, without such tests The FA and KFA’s LTAD model could be a unreliable source to base youth development schemes on.

Methodology

Research Question

Comparative study of two premier league football club’s in different countries analyzing the youth development process including LTAD structure/system and why one is more successful in developing young athletes.

Hypothesis

Due to the success and popularity of the English Premier League, the English youth developmental process will be better in producing more elite athletes measured in a percentage base (Number of athletes entering system and exiting as elite).

Introduction

A specially designed interview will be prepared during the course of this project regarding the current situation of the youth-setup and the links to the LTAD development model from Balyi. This interview will be conducted primarily on the phone as subjects are in Korea and in England that are working at elite football which results in a tight schedule. The interview key points will be recorded on paper and necessary translation will take place regarding the Korean interviewees whereas the English Interviewees will be straight forward.

This qualitative data gathered through an interview will provide an expert insight to the developmental process of young athletes within football in both countries and whether the LTAD model actually works within football. Moreover, with the collected data it will be possible to evaluate both countries systems and eventually answer the reasons why one system is more successful in producing elite athletes. In addition, a comparison between Korea, England, Holland and Spain will be made as the current system regarding talent development in the last two countries is viewed as the world’s best. This would provide a better scenario for further improvements that could be made for The FA and KFA and could use such data as a benchmark towards further initiatives and projects.

Method

This research design will be in the form of a case study that investigates through the use of a interview or test procedures. Data successfully collected will be through open questions and certain data will be in the form of interval data as even with figures and data such as percentage base comparison. Such methods will be an attempt to determine which country has a better system in developing talent.

The use of primary data collection will provide a unique set of data currently unavailable in literature and sources which allows a different perspective to provide new evidence to relate to the hypothesis and research question. To tackle the question an interview will be conducted through international calls to Korea with the use of specifically designed questions to retrieve relevant information. The information will then be recorded by text and used for data analysis. On the other hand, the interview with the interviewees in England will be conducted in an actual interview format face-to-face due to the proximity of the interviewees in relation to the researcher. The complete interview should take 25-30 minutes per person for completion, however there are possibilities that it may take longer as there are two elite level coaches who will be interviewed and further knowledge and data can be retrieved.

Data Analysis

Upon successful collection of results, an analysis of data will be conducted to enable the evaluation of the youth development set up in Korea and England. Individual interviewees’ opinions will be analyzed in regards to whether personal experiences within football suggest that the current systems in the respective countries need altering. However, due to some of the questions being in the form of open questions there could be an element of personal opinion which could lead to bias. However, the validity of the personal perspective is crucial as two elite level coaches in the highest level of football shows creditability in opinion. Due to the use of interview as the main qualitative technique, the interviewees’ emotions and motives of their opinions can be understood to the evidence provided. Furthermore, the questions could be asked in detail to specifically cater the research question, enabling access to information only applicable to the study with accurate and precise responses.

The main emphasis on the analysis of data collected will be to acknowledge the utilization of Balyi’s LTAD model for athlete development and whether it is suitable for use within football in developing talent. Also, questions regarding percentages and figures will be asked in order to perform a percentage base comparison between the two countries. However, due to the differences in variables including amount of player entering the system and exiting will be different in the two countries. Such qualitative technique could be crucial in contrasting the overall success rate of which system produces more elite athletes successfully.

Subjects

The interviewees’ that will be utilized for this interview will be four people working in elite football with two from Pohang Steelers Football Club and two from Fulham Football Club. These participants will be conveniently selected due to the difficulties in gaining access to further elite coaches for interviews. Each subject will have had at least 10 years work experience in professional top level football for validity measures.

Ethical Procedure

All research conducted should be through an ethical background understanding not only the researchers rights but also the rights and safety of subjects. Prior to the arrangement a consent form will be sent to the interviewees to agree upon as an ethical procedure. This procedure is set forth in order to agree on the purpose of this interview, its use and relevance to this project. The interviewees are all pre-selected which can be considered as convenience sampling as elite coaches and subjects with validity are extremely difficult to gain access to, yet due to former work experiences such subjects were available. However, all subjects will be treated fairly and equally with the same set of questions to ensure a fair investigation.

As there will be interaction between different people there is a strong responsibility to ensure that the researcher’s relationship should be of professional manner and that all questions and answers are kept confidential. This is because various interviewees may have conflicting viewpoints and beliefs in regards to the club’s or national governing body’s vision and philosophy and that failure to keep such information confidential could lead to current job commitment problems. Thus, the individual names of the interviewees will be undisclosed and will not be mentioned within this project. Careful consideration will take place when conducting the interview as ethically this interview should be conducted without bias yet the viewpoints of the interviewees will be biased as the answers will be catered towards not only facts but also personal opinions. Moreover, the relationship present will be unique in the sense that having worked together previously, there could be a closer relationship than if an interview was conducted with strangers. However, the beneficence outweighs the risks as data gathered would provide a thorough insight on the current systems from professionals that are currently working under the systems.

Results

Results will be in the presented in the format of a summary in text with bullet points highlight key data collected. This is the only method possible from such use of interview technique as data will be mostly opinions and analysis of the current development model. The limitation of such method is that the data collected will not be clear and easy for reference for the readers of this study yet it will be the only method for data presentation.

Possible Risk

There are a few risks involved with this study relating to the process of gathering data from subjects as interview questions will be done on the phone which does not provide body language or other hidden motives for analysis. Furthermore, the subjects will include two former elite level athletes turned coaches with two sports development officers that allows minimal viewpoints and opinions which could result in bias. However, due to the use of identical quantity of subjects and position at the football clubs, the data will still be relevant for a direct comparison between the viewpoints and current system of youth development at the two countries. Furthermore, data including person opinions from the subjects will be kept confidential as conflicts may arise between the philosophy and set of beliefs provided by the FA which maybe different to that of individuals opinions.

Interview questions
Describe the current state of the youth-set up in your country.
The FAs have utilized the LTAD model as the main source of data to base most initiatives on, however there is no scientific proof in the LTAD model set forth by Balyi, what is your view on this?
Therefore, based on your answer to question 2 do you think it is right for the FAs to use the LTAD model when it is not proven in football?
What changes must be made to ensure the development of younger athletes?
Which stage is the most important in the LTAD model? And why?
What is the percentage of athletes that exit the LTAD system successfully as professional athletes?
What percentages of young athletes enter the LTAD system?
Is the LTAD system catered for individual development or merely a model to relate to when setting out new initiatives?
How do you judge the success of the youth set-up? Is it by how many athletes become professionals?
What are the most important elements in developing young athletes?
How do you think the FA used the LTAD model in the set up of the whole system?

The benefits of polymetric exercises for soccer players and the importance of when in a training session these type of exercises should be implemented.

Introduction

The subject of exercise and physiology is a broad topic. Researchers have known for many years that exercise benefits the body in various ways and there is not a practicing physician anywhere that does not recommend it to his/her patients. But the actual effects of exercise on a person’s ability to perform an activity are not well understood. Whether the increase in ability to perform is due to what is known as “muscle memory”, increased muscle mass, or simply based on repetitive motion is hard to determine in a quantitative sense. In the next few pages a case will be made for what are known as polymetric exercises specifically for increased soccer playing ability.

In order to explore the subjects of exercise and kinesiology it is necessary to have an adequate amount of background information beforehand therefore before delving directly into the core subject matter, a few general principles will be discussed to provide a framework of thinking for the remainder of the paper. A few principles that are crucial to the understanding of the effects of polymetric exercise are muscle physiology, various exercise regimes, and finally the basics of polymetrics and why they work.

Muscle Physiology

The human body is made up of hundreds of muscles from the most minute (i.e. the muscles that close your eyelid) to very large conspicuous muscles (quadriceps, gluteus maximus, etc.). The large muscles are generally the ones that human beings “train” to become stronger and more adept, however all muscles have the same basic structure. Each muscle is made up of a series of strands of tissue known as muscle fibers. These fibers work together as one large unit to form what we know as muscle groups. The major muscle groups that most people know about and understand the location of are the bicep brachi(biceps),pectoralis major (pecs), quadriceps femoris (quadriceps), and rectus abdominas (abs). These groups are the major muscle groups that people tend to “workout or train” in order to lose weight or tone up and are the muscles with which the majority of the population is most familiar with.

While a working knowledge of the major muscle groups is sufficient for the everyday layperson going to the gym, to really understand what is involved in the build up of muscle mass and the accumulation of what is known as “muscle memory” it is necessary to understand what is going on at the cellular level. Muscle cells work together with the nerves to perform actions. The body’s nerves create an electrical impulse triggered by a potassium gradient which then stimulates the muscle cells into action. Even though this entire process takes much less than a second, there are still ways of maximizing the efficiency and output of the muscle cells. Some of the muscle cells are part of what are known as fast twitch muscle fibers and others are part of slow twitch muscle fibers. These concepts will be discussed more in the next section.

Fast twitch versus slow twitch muscles

Experts usually split muscles into two general groupings or types. The first type is called fast twitch muscle fiber. Fast twitch muscles are the muscles that react quickly to stressors (ie sprinting, jumping, or punching). The fast twitch fibers are usually what are termed the “shorter” muscle fibers. Even though the actual physical length of the fibers are no different from the “longer” or slow twitch muscle fibers, the term short refers to the type of energy they use and the types of activities that these muscle fibers are suited best for. Fast twitch muscle fibers are better suited for activities that require quick movements for short amounts of time. For instance, sprinters build up fast twitch muscle fibers, so do boxers, and to an extent soccer players do as well (Vannatta 2002). These muscle fibers are powered by “quick or fast” energy which is provided by ATPs produced by carbohydrates. In order to build up these fast twitch muscles specific types of exercises work best. General exercises (jogging, weight training, calisthenics) will build the muscle fibers up to a certain point, especially if this is the first activity in a while or ever for that matter. However, once a reasonable level of fitness is achieved it begins to get harder to realize increased fast twitch muscle enhancement. It is due to this new plateau of difficulty that researchers have developed different types of exercises to specifically address the fast twitch muscle fibers (Pollock et al 1998).

There are several different types of exercises that can be used to overcome fast twitch muscle fiber plateaus. These exercises employ techniques that capitalize on movements that require quick employment of energy. A few examples of exercises would be anything that requires jumping, dexterity drills, or footwork drills. All of these exercises increase the muscle memory of the fast twitch muscle fibers. Muscle memory is defined as the tendency for muscles to “remember” or acquire a propensity for the motions of a specific action. This is due to a muscle’s direct feedback mechanism connected with growth. Once a muscle is stressed and the stressor is removed, the muscle takes time to recover. Depending on the amount of stress, the muscle can take varying amounts of time to recover. Also, once the muscle is stressed it will not only recover to the original state of the muscle but it will increase its resistance to stressors to the point of the initial stress event (Rhea et al 2003). In other words, once the muscle fiber is torn by work (ie exercise) it will repair itself to a point where it can resist the same type of exercise stress again later and in the process builds up an increased muscle mass. It’s the accompaniment of muscle memory exercises and the increased resistance to stressors that leads to the abolishment of a fast twitch muscle fiber performance plateau.

While fast twitch muscle fibers rely on quick use of energy, slow twitch or long muscle fibers require the use of sustainable energy found in slower burning sources such as protein and fats. These muscle fibers are better suited for types of activities that require muscle endurance. Slow twitch muscle fibers are responsible for activities such as long distance running, rowing, and cycling. Long muscle fibers must be equipped with the stamina needed for endurance events, as well as be able to work in conjunction with the fast twitch muscle fibers for quick bursts of speed. No one has solely fast twitch or solely slow twitch muscles. Each person has a specific ratio of slow to fast twitch muscle fibers that determines what kind of sports or activities that they are better suited to (ie endurance vs. sprints). In other words, marathon runners have more slow twitch muscle fibers than do sprinters and boxers have more fast twitch muscle fibers in comparison to cyclists. Although the ratio of muscle fiber types plays a role in determining the types of sports and activities that a person participates in, it is not a completely “firm” method of deciding on the type of performance expected from an individual.

Some sports, like soccer, are activities that require a fair amount of both slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers in order to perform at the highest level, and this holds true for many sports (Ekblom 1986). Therefore the question is “how can athletes enhance the performance of both their slow twitch muscle fibers and fast twitch muscle fibers with one series of exercises?”. In the past there has not been a good answer to this question. Coaches and athletes have simply trained one set of muscle fibers on one day and then train the other muscle fibers on the next days. In this way all of the muscle fiber types were being trained, but not in a single training session, and thus the simulation of a game or competitive event was not accurately depicted. However, recently kinesiology has taken an interesting turn with regard to training multiple muscle groups at the same time. The next section will discuss a few of these techniques at length.

Exercises to train multiple muscle groups

Researchers have determined that there are sets or groupings of exercises that can effectively train both slow and fast twitch muscle fibers, as well as training multiple muscle groups, concurrently. This group of exercises is collectively known as polymetric exercises. The meaning of the word polymetric is just as its roots imply. These are exercises that employ techniques to train multiple (poly-) muscles at once using different movements (-metrics). There are several different types of exercises that are all considered polymetric exercises. These exercises include all non-isolationistic movement, or in other words, any exercise or movement that trains more than one muscle or muscle group at a time. These exercises can include plyometric exercises, isotonic exercises, polykinetic exercises , polytonic exercises or compound exercises. We will look at each type briefly as a preliminary procedure.

Plyometric Exercise

Plyometric exercises are a group of exercises that many organized sports teams and athletes are familiar with. Plyometrics are usually implemented in what are also known as “drills”. These can include such practices as box jumping, jump roping, line hops, etc. Basically, plyometrics serve to recreate certain situations that the athlete may encounter during a competitive event. This could be anything from jumping over a would be tackler, making a quick turn to avoid an opponent, or jumping over a hurdle. There are many plyometric drills that are employed by various coaches and one only needs to decide on the specific movements that are used in the activity that they are involved with in order for new drills to be designed. Plyometrics are very good at training the fast twitch muscle fibers to react with greater efficiency and at a higher rate than the original state of the muscle. Even though most polymetric muscles are good at training both types of muscle fibers, plyometric exercises in general do not do a good job of training the slow twitch muscle fibers and thus are considered an earlier stage of exercise development than other more advanced polymetric exercises.

Isotonic Exercise

Isotonic exercises are a group of exercises that stresses a constant load of resistance against the opposing muscle. These are most easily generalized as the weight lifting exercises that people perform in a gym such as: bicep curls, bench press, and standing barbell rows. Most experts agree that the use of free weights for these exercises is essential because free weights tend to employ more muscle groups at the same time in order to balance the weight. It is due to the act of balancing muscle groups that more muscle mass may be gained by using free weights instead of machines. Its important to realize that not all isotonic exercises can be called polymetric exercises. In most cases the use of isotonic exercises necessitates the employment of more than one muscle group or type of muscle fiber at a time and therefore may be classified as a polymetric exercise, however in some cases isotonic exercises may isolate a single muscle or muscle group in which case they can no longer be considered a polymetric exercise.

Polykinetic Exercise

Polykinetic exercise literally means multiple motion or multiple movement. Dancers and tennis players perform these exercises most frequently in order to increase their “spring” or vertical jumping height. Polykinetic exercises sometimes are misclassified as other polymetric exercises such as polymetrics. Polykinetics use multiple motion exercises to employ as many muscles as possible in one specific exercises. Again, polykinetics much like plyometrics are used mostly to train fast twitch muscle fibers, however if the exercises are performed for a longer period of time then these could also be used to train the slow twitch muscle fibers as well.

Polytonic Exercise

Polytonic exercise is not actually a separate division of polymetric exercise but is simply used interchangeably with polymetric and plyometric when discussing various sports training activities. Literally polytonic means “multiple tones” and was originally applied to Greek orthography.

Compound Exercise

Compound exercise is also simply another way to express the idea of an exercise which involves multiple muscle employment. However, most researchers acknowledge compound exercises as those that involve a great deal of balance as well as the actual movement of the exercise. There are now specific tools that are used in conjunction with compound exercises which include such items as balance boards, balance balls, posture correcting exercise balls, etc. All of these items are designed to force the person exercising to not only employ their muscles during the exercise, but also use them to balance themselves and the weight at the same time.

Why does polymetric training work?

The idea and principle behind polymetric training is to “get the most bang for your buck”. Exercise kinesiologists have developed methods to get the most muscle fatigue and consequent recovery in the least amount of time and energy expenditure. This age of technology is the fastest paced since the industrial revolution and does not appear to be slowing down any. Therefore it is imperative for today’s athletes to be able to train as many muscle groups as possible in one session, while still maintaining a high level of performance. Polymetric exercises allow this to happen and in some cases have been shown to provide the best possible training for the competitive event for which they are intended (Noda et al. 1998).

The Ins and Outs of Polymetrics

Polymetric exercises have been shown to improve the ability of many sports teams and athletes to perform at amazingly high levels when employed correctly. The types of activities that are performed are very important and should be specific to that particular sport.

For example, it has been shown that soccer players need the recruitment of both fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers. Soccer is a sport that requires not only stamina to last the entirety of the game while running almost constantly, but also demands small bursts of speed and energy in order to outdistance your opponent or to save the ball (Reilly 2005). In the case of soccer then, it is absolutely essential to not just train for endurance or for speed, but for a combination of the two. By utilizing polymetrics it is possible to not only train both slow and fast twitch muscle groups, but is possible to do this at the exact same time. The optimal conditioning program is the implementation of a holistic fitness approach as stated by Reilly (2005).

While the types of exercises are extremely important, another aspect of training which is often overlooked is that of the time of training. This is not referring to the time of day, but rather the time in the training regime. It is believed that the sequence in the exercise routine is linked to the overall performance of the participant later in a competitive event. Using the concepts of strength and endurance as potential results, it is possible to make a few generalizations concerning training.

First, an athlete will have the most energy during the beginning phase of an exercise or workout routine and will be able to produce the most power. We can say that this is when his/her strength is at its highest level throughout the entire routine.

Secondly, if an athlete wanted to increase his/her strength to the optimal level he/she should train their bodies at the point when their strength is the highest initially so that the amount of stress on the muscles is the greatest, leading to the most growth.

It would seem reasonable then to assume that in order to gain the most strength gains an athlete would do some sort of polymetric training early on in their workout routine. Since polymetrics would work multiple groups and the athlete is working these muscles early, the greatest increase in athletic ability would be in strength instead of endurance.

However, if we assume that at the end of a workout period an athlete’s muscles are at their weakest point or are the most tired/stressed, then it is reasonable to say that the opposite is true if the polymetric exercises are performed at the end of a workout session. If performed at the end of an exercise period, polymetric drills will increase the endurance of an individual since the muscles will not be exerting the most force (ie strength) that they are capable of, but will instead be utilizing the longterm energy sources in the body.

Conclusion

Polymetric exercise encompass a wide range of workouts, drills, and exercise regimes which all help to stress the body’s muscles in many different ways. In the case of soccer players it is of the utmost importance that these techniques be employed. According to Reilly (2005) today’s soccer players are enjoying an increased physical ability and game tempo compared to decades in the past. This is due not only to better medicine and technology, but also to the increase of high end research performed in the disciplines of physiology and kinesiology. It is an obvious assumption that the temporal aspect of exercise is extremely important in determining what muscles are stressed and how. This paper has shown that in order to increase strength, athletes should perform polymetric drills at the beginning of an exercise routine and to increase stamina or endurance one should perform polymetric drills at the end of a practice or exercise period. This claim is significant in that it implies that polymetrics may be more important to athletes as they increase their basal fitness level and approach loftier performance levels in an effort to perform at their absolute best. It is necessary for research to continue to be done in this area so that athletes may continue to increase their performance levels naturally and without pharmaceutical enhancement.

Fitness components in sport Health related components
Cardio-vascular endurance

Cardio-vascular endurance is how the body supplies oxygen to fuel the muscles when participating in sport or high endurance events and situations. It does this through the heart, blood vessels, blood and respiratory system. Footballers need cardio-vascular endurance when the play because they need to be able to run throughout the whole 90 mins. Oxygen to the muscles is what allows them to do this. Swimmers need cardio-vascular endurance when they do long distance races e.g. 1500m swimming race where their body need a descent supply of oxygen to the muscles from start to finish. Boxers need to have excellent c-v endurance to be able to compete at a strong pace throughout a fight. Their muscles need oxygen in order to work throughout a fight so that they can throw punch after punch and block after block. Both these motions need the muscles to contract, flex and tense.

Muscular endurance

Muscular endurance is the ability to perform repetitive or sustained muscular contractions against some resistance for an extended period of time. Muscular endurance allows athletes to do more strenuous work. Footballers need muscular endurance to be able to repeatedly use muscles throughout a match e.g. in sprinting a player uses the quads and caths over and over throughout the game. In swimming they use their muscles continually over the race e.g. in butterfly they use most if not all the bodies’ muscles to drag themselves through the water. Boxers need muscular endurance to be able to continuously throw punches from round one to round twelve because they need to be swinging away for the whole fight but if they cant then they wont be able to fight the whole twelve rounds.

Muscular strength

Muscular strength is the ability of an athlete to perform a sport at a sustained high tempo for a short amount of time. Footballers need muscular strength to be able to exert strength when they shoot the ball from a long distance so that it travels fast and with power towards their target. Swimmers use strength when they push of the back board after a length in order to start the next lap. This requires the use and strength from the quads, calfs and foot muscles for the push off. In boxing when a fight needs to dodge a shot they may use the tactic of leaning back to avoid the punch. This requires the use the abdominal muscles. These need strength to be able to support his upper body as he leans back.

Flexibility

There are two types of flexibility. They are static flexibility and dynamic flexibility. Static is when an athlete slowly stretch and hold the position for a period of time. Dynamic is when an athlete makes a quick movement in which they stretch. In football a goal keeper needs flexibility when he stretches for the ball e.g. when the ball is heading for the top corner. Swimmers need good flexibility to be able to stretch their arms out properly and have a good stroke length e.g. Michael Phellps showed good flexibility when he was waiting on the starting board by showing his arm span and stretching it to its relaxed max before the start of the race. Boxers don’t really need too much flexibility but the one time they do need is when they lean back. They stretch the back throughout this movement.

Body composition

Body composition is the amount of fat, bone and muscle in the human body. Athletes need different body compositions to perform different sports. Footballers need to have a slim body composition because they need to be able to carry their weight around the pitch. If a footballer is fat then it makes it harder to run for long periods and also makes it harder to carry their own body weight. Swimmers need to be slim so that they can travel through the water faster and smoother. Depending on a boxers weight class a boxer needs to big and heavy or thin and light. This is so they can perform fairly at their weight class.

Skill-related fitness
Balance

Balance is a skill that is naturally learnt after birth but can be developed further by an athlete so they can perform their sport properly. Balance is important because we must stay in a state of complete balance when performing are sports So that we don’t fall over when performing. Some athletes need more balance than others. Footballers need balance when they shot. They put their arms into a supportive stance for when they hit the ball so that they don’t lose their balance. Swimmers need balance when they are getting ready to dive in at the start of a race. A good balance can give them a good start allows them to get a head start. Boxer need balance so they can throw strong punches and put their whole body weight behind the shot also when they dodge shots they need to have good balance to enable them to recover into the stance quicker.

Speed

Speed is the quickness of a limb over a distance in time but it does not just affect the legs it involves all limbs and body parts from legs, torso to arms. Some footballers need to be fast this needs speed e.g. a winger needs speed because he is expected to run the lines to create the opposition with a problem. Swimmers need speed when they lash through the water to keep a good stroke per minute time. Boxers need speed when they throw a jab so that they can catch the opponent off guard and also so they can get out the way of any counter punches.

Power

Power is the ability to apply force quickly. “A simple equation for power is: muscular strength X speed = Power”. http://somatotype.net/nzfitness/pages/CompOFfit.htm . Power contains speed because in order to apply force you need speed. Footballers need power when shooting at goal. They need the quads and the calf’s to gather up power on their way to the ball so that the shot can be harder and faster. Swimmers need power to be able to pull them through the water at pace e.g. when they do the freestyle they need to have fast, strong and powerful stokes. Boxer throw punch after punch, these punches need to be fast and power full so that they are unseen and effective e.g. a hook needs to be fast and power full so that the opponent does not see it and even if he does block the shot it will still hurt.

Reaction time

Reaction time is the time it takes for an athlete to react to a situation that is happening very quickly (The time taken to react to any stimuli). A goal keeper in football needs to have fast reacting times to be able to react to shots coming from 50yds to 2yds. Swimmers need to be able to react to the starting alarm as quickly impossible so that they are not left behind and can establish a lead. For boxers to be able to dodge in coming punches they need to react to the earliest stimuli and duck and swerve out the way.

Agility

Agility is the ability to stop and change direction or movement quickly. Footballers need agility because the game can change so quickly e.g. the goalkeeper blocks a shoot but the ball lands right in front of the goal, the player with best agility should react quickest and move fastest in order to defend it or strike it into the goal. Swimmers don’t really need to be to agile but one place they do need it is when they are turning around for the next length because they need this switch of direction to be as quick as possible also being in water makes it harder because of the extra resistance. Boxers need to be agile unless they want to take hit after hit without getting out the way. When a boxer is be attacked by his opponent he will need the agility in his muscles to be able to move lightening quick to get out the way.

Co-ordination

Co-ordination is the ability to do something in a combination continuously. Footballers need co-ordination so that they can move the ball fluently between their legs because in football it’s not just putting on foot in front of the other it also about judging the speed of the ball and your own speed. Then when you shot you need to have placed your feet in the right places this takes co-ordination. Swimmers need co-ordination throughout a race. It quite easy but they need to co-ordinate when they should come up for oxygen so that they don’t lose their speedy pace for example in the freestyle the swimmers have a number of strokes that they prefer to do before they come up for oxygen. This is all quite simple but if you lose your count and co-ordination then you can do too many stroke or too few and lose your oxygen pattern.

Phisical activity for children

Outcome 1

Introduction

This report provides information about the key benefits of physical activity for children in two categories of age 2-6 and 6-11 years old. This report will present of areas of development of the above age stages, which contained: physical, intellectual, skill, and psychological/social/emotional.

Physical development is a process that begins in the human childhood and lasts until late adolescents focuses on the ability of gross and fine motor, and maturation. Physical development involves developing control over the body, especially the muscles and motor coordination.

Intellectual development is best defined as the child’s ability to think and understand the world. The way in which the child takes and processes information related to carers and experiencing the effects of the world in all areas of development.

Skill development

Stages of Development Children Aged 2-6
Physical changes

Physical development of children of preschool age is slower and more stable than in infancy, however remains dramatic. Some important factors affecting the physical development during the preschool include changes in the child’s brain, gross and fine motor skills and health. Toddlers soon acquire the leaner, more athletic look associated with childhood, as the children around age 3 begin to lose their baby fat. The child’s body and legs grow longer and make your abdominal muscles, tightening the abdominal appearance. However, even at this early stage of children life, boys have more muscle mass than girls. From age 2 to 6 physical proportions continue to change, as their heads are getting smaller, but they are still larger than the school children’s. Also, head proportion from large is changing to the body even out, what have an impact on the balance but that improve coordination.

The using of energy system is less efficient than adults, what can be notices during exercise that the children breath heavier, sweats more and also heart rate is faster than the adults. The hot or cold environment has a much bigger impact than on adults too. As they are suffer more from overheating, becoming too cold, but also dehydrating. The energy system is affected by not fully developed aerobic system, as the oxygen can be supply a fraction of required by the working muscles. Young children are not able to exercise in high intensity, because their anaerobic system is still not fully developed.

Intellectual development

At this stage, babies eventually enable to cope with separation from parents. Language develops as children grow into toddlers and their world expands. Symbolic understanding and appear pretend play skills there. Children begin to work on their experience, such as feeding a doll or a car.

In the preschool years, children expand their understanding of pre-academic skills. They learn to identify colours, shapes, numbers, and letters. They also begin to demonstrate phonemic awareness. Some children may even begin to read familiar sight words as they reach age five. Pre-schoolers also develop more elaborate symbolic and cooperative play. For example, peers work together to act out a theme such as playing house, with each player having a defined role.

Skill development

Motor skills are physical abilities or capacities. Gross motor skills involves the use of large body movements, and this includes running, jumping, jumping, turning, jumping, throwing, balancing and dance. Fine motor skills, which include drawing, writing, and tying shoelaces, involve the use of small bodily movement Motor fine skills involves the use of a small body movements, such as drawing, writing, and tying shoelaces, involve the use of a small body movements. Both above skills are develop and are refined in early childhood, but the motor skills develop more slowly in preschool. The comparison of the running abilities of a 2aˆ?yearaˆ?old and a 6aˆ?yearaˆ?old, will show the limited running skills of the 2aˆ?yearaˆ?old. But when compare the trying shoelaces of 2 and 6 year old the difference will be even more striking. The 2aˆ?yearaˆ?old has difficulty grasping the concept before ever attempting or completing the task.

Physical activity

For this age group, any physical activity is indicated, i.e. including both forms of light physical exercises, as well as, more vibrant and energetic suggestions. Providing children with adequate physical activity and game play is an important step to developing their physical fitness, which not only promotes the health of young children but significantly enhances their psychological development and social skills in the long run. It is evident that physical activity is essential to the whole-person development of young children. For young children, the amount of physical activity is more important than the intensity. Physical activity can enhance the development of young children’s gross motor and fine motor skills, and to foster their good health habits and self-care ability. Therefore, physical activity of any intensity level should be covered, e.g. daily activities of light intensity such as slow walking and packing school bags, activities of moderate intensity such as cycling, stair climbing or engaging in teacher-led large-muscle activity sessions, and even activities of vigorous intensity such as chasing and running around, dancing, swimming etc. engaged after school. Of course, activity of a higher intensity can enhance cardio-respiratory fitness and stimulate bone growth; it can also enhance their development of physical fitness and motor skills. For the maximum health benefit of young children, teachers can consider administering a suitable amount of higher intensity activity. As younger children’s leaders, teachers should give them ample opportunities to experience different kinds of physical activities within a safe environment. This is to train the young children’s fundamental motor skills, which are essential for them to cope with daily needs. Children may acquire better physical fitness and movement skills for participation in various sports activities in the future.

Stages of Development Children Aged 6-11
Physical changes

Children aged 6-11 experience many of physical changes occurring in their bodies. The coordination of arms and legs increases, also ability for use their fingers and hand in such things as crafts and writing improves. Furthermore, can be noticed the growth in interest in games with rules and organised sports.

Intellectual development
Skill development
Physical activity
References

LAM, P Y, 2011. Phisical Actvity. Phisical Actvity for Children Aged 2-6, [Online]. Available at: http://www.startsmart.gov.hk/files/pdf/02052012_physical-Eng-d.pdf [Accessed 13 March 2015].

Physical Development: Age 2–6.[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/psychology/development-psychology/physical-cognitive-development-age-26/physical-development-age-26. [Accessed 13 March 2015].

Babies and Young Children: Diploma in Child Care and Education – Jo Brewster, Pauline Jones – Google Books. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk [Accessed 14 March 2015].

Appendixes
Table 1 Benefits of physical activity for young children

BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Physical

Promoting the growth of muscles and bones • Promoting cardio-respiratory endurance • Enhancing immunity • Developing motor skills in preparation for engagement in sports activities in later years • Preventing chronic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Psychological

Building up self-confidence and self-esteem • Learning and building of sportsmanship • Enhancing willpower and perseverance • Shaping the sense of self-worth • Learning to control emotions • Relieving anxiety and pressure

Social

Strengthening communication and presentation skills • Promoting creativity and imagination • Developing a sense of responsibility • Learning to observe rules and respect others

Table 2 Physiological signs and examples of physical activity by intensities

Intensity

Physiological signs

Common activity examples

Light

Breathing rate and heart rate normal; able to talk as usual

Slow walking, playing toys, dressing up, grooming, packing school bag

Moderate

Noticeable increase in heart rate and breathing rate; able to talk in short sentences or word-by-word

Brisk walking, cycling, paddling, playing slides, swinging, circuit games, hopscotch, tossing balls

Vigorous

Significant increase in heart rate and breathing rate; difficult to talk with ease

Running, rope skipping, dancing, playing in park, playing football, swimming

1. Introduction

It is well known that physical activity, performed on a regular basis, is associated with significant positive physical and mental effects.

Physical activity plays an important role in the prevention of various chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke, hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, colon cancers and fall-related injuries.

The English Chief Medical Officer (CMO) advises that adults should undertake at least 30 minutes of ‘moderate intensity’ (5.0- 7.5 kcal/min) physical activity on at least 5 days of the week to benefit their health.

However, in England the prevalence of physical activity at recommended levels is low. Recent data (2005) show that only 37% of men and 25% of women meet the CMO’s physical activity recommendation.

It is clear that despite these well-known benefits of regular physical activity, sedentary or inactive lifestyle remains a common problem.

To emphasise, at least 60% of the world’s population does not meet the recommended levels of physical activity required to induce health benefits.

In addition, it has been shown that physical inactivity and over-nutrition are associated with a substantial economic burden.

These figures contribute significantly to the World Health Organization data which suggests that globally there are more than one billion overweight and at least 400 million obese adults.

Promotion of physical activity behaviour has therefore become an important objective for the promotion of health and crucial in the prevention of the increasing burden of chronic diseases.

There is a plethora of physical activity interventions in existence and yet there remains little strong evidence as to ‘what works’, particularly in terms of sustainable physical activity behaviour.

Therefore the purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the effectiveness of interventions for physical activity promotion in adults.

This is to enable Durham CSP’s to make informed choices about the provision and promotion of physical activity amongst the communities they serve.

Review of physical activity interventions

2. Method

A synthesis of published work was conducted using a systematic search strategy.

The search strategy employed two main sources to locate published studies of physical activity interventions and given the timescales for this review included meta-analyses and existing qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews of physical activity interventions.

1) Electronic searches of computerised databases (SPORTdiscus, PsychINFO, Medline, Scopus, Highwire Press and PubMed);

2) Citations in papers identified by the electronic searches.

Keyword combinations for the electronic database searches included: physical activity/exercise, physical inactivity, obesity/overweight, treatment, intervention, weight loss/reduction program, promotion, adult and healthy lifestyle program.

The summary report therefore accounts for the evidence detailed in previous reviews in it’s narrative.

2.1Review Process

Searchers yielded 6627 studies of which 904 were reviews.

Importantly, searchers revealed three previously relevant systematic reviews of physical intervention data up to and including 2004 (foster et al., 2005, Hillsdon et al., 2005 and Cavill et al., 2006).

Studies were then evaluated on the basis of abstract and title for suitability based on suitability to review topic and/or intervention design.

As a result 484 studies were identified. The studies were then scrutinised further using the following exclusion criteria, reducing the number to 75 of the most relevant:

primary aim of the study not focused on physical activity promotion

age groups of participants under 16

non-healthy population

non-English language

It was been beyond the scope of this review to provide details of the individual nature of studies.

Instead interventions have been categorised by more general intervention characteristics and where possible salient references to individual interventions have been made.

This report attempts to provide the most up-to-date recommendations regarding future directions of physical activity promotion where at all possible.

The information presented here is supported by a catalogue of pdf’s containing references to all pertinent studies within this review and reviews of a similar nature.

The following summary report outlines the main findings from the review process.

Review of physical activity interventions

3. Evidence for physical activity promotion
3.1 Types of intervention

The evidence for the promotion of physical activity in adults is multi-faceted and varies in terms of quality and intervention design.

Despite the literature growing exponentially there is still a limited resource of high quality effective interventions to promote physical activity.

Generally interventions can be categorised into thee main areas: A brief description of each can be found below with more detailed descriptions including comments on the effectiveness in table 3.1:

3.1.1 Informational approaches

Informational approaches are designed to increase physical activity by providing information necessary to motivate and enable people to change their behaviour, as well as to maintain that change over time.

The interventions use primarily educational approaches to present both general health information, including information about cardiovascular disease prevention and risk reduction, as well as specific information about physical activity and exercise.

Informational approaches aim to:

§ Change knowledge about physical activity benefits

§ Increase awareness of how to increase physical activity in the community

§ Explain how to overcome barriers and negative attitudes about physical activity

§ Increase taking part in community-based activities

3.1.2 Behavioural and social approaches

Behavioural and social approaches focus on increasing physical activity by teaching widely applicable behavioural management skills and by structuring the social environment to provide support for people trying to initiate or maintain behaviour change.

Interventions often involve individual or group behavioural counselling and typically include the friends or family members that constitute an individual’s social environment.

Skills focus on recognising cues and opportunities for physical activity, ways to manage high-risk situations, and ways to maintain behaviour and prevent relapse.

Interventions also involve making changes in the home, family, school, and work environments.

3.1.3 Environmental and policy approaches

Environmental and policy approaches are designed to provide environmental opportunities, support, and cues to help people develop healthier behaviours.

The creation of healthful physical and organisational environments is attempted through development of policy that lends itself to creating supportive environments and strengthening community action.

To affect entire populations, interventions in this category are not directed to individuals but rather to physical and organisational structures.

The goal is to increase physical activity through changing social networks, organisational norms and policies, the physical environment, resources and facilities, and laws.

Review of physical activity interventions

Table 3.1 – Table of types of Physical Activity Interventions (adapted from Kahn et al., 2002)
Intervention typeBrief description of interventionComments on effectiveness

Informational approachesto increasing physical activity

Point of decision prompts

Signs placed by lifts and escalators to motivate people to use nearby stairs.

Messages on the signs recommend stair use for health benefits or weight loss.

Signs are thought to be effective in one of two ways: by reminding people already predisposed to becoming more active, for health or other reasons, about an opportunity at hand to be more active or by informing them of a health benefit from taking the stairs

There is some evidence to suggest that point-of-decision prompts are effective in increasing levels of physical activity in the short term.

This is taken as a measurement of increase in the percentage of people choosing to take the stairs rather than a lift or escalator.

There is no long-term evidence for this approach.

Customising the sign to appeal to specific populations may increase intervention effectiveness

Community-wide campaigns

Community-wide campaigns involve many community sectors in highly visible, broad-based, multiple intervention approaches to increasing physical activity.

Campaign messages are generally directed to large and relatively undifferentiated audiences through diverse media, including television, radio, newspaper columns and inserts, direct mailings, billboards, advertisements in transit outlets, and trailers in movie theatres.

Messages are often communicated in the form of paid advertisements, donated public service announcements, press releases, the creation of feature items, or a combination of two or more of these approaches.

Over the short-term this type of intervention is likely to be effective across diverse settings and population groups.

Effectiveness is enhanced when community members are involved in developing their own ongoing local initiatives (such as walking groups, small community events and sports teams).

Community-wide campaigns require careful planning and coordination, well-trained staff, and sufficient resources to carry out the campaign as planned.

Success is greatly enhanced by community buy-in, which can take a great deal of time and effort to achieve.

Inadequate resources and lack of professionally trained staff may affect how completely and appropriately interventions are implemented.

Community-wide education campaigns may also produce other benefits that can improve health and build social capital in communities i.e. a greater sense of cohesion and collective self-efficacy.

Social networks may also be developed or strengthened to achieve intervention goals, and community members may become involved in local government and civic organisations, thereby increasing social capital.

Mass Media Campaigns

Mass media campaigns are interventions that address messages about physical activity to large and relatively undifferentiated audiences.

The campaigns are designed to increase knowledge, influence attitudes and beliefs, and change behaviour.

Messages are transmitted by using channels such as newspapers, radio, television, and billboards singly or in combination.

Mass media strategies have been found to result in increased knowledge and motivation but have little sustained effect on physical activity participation unless they are combined with other community based strategies.

Mass media campaigns might play important roles in changing awareness of opportunities for and benefits of activity.

Can be used to build support for environmental and policy changes that improve physical activity behaviour and fitness, or both.

Behavioural and social approaches to increasing physical activity

Family-based social support

Family-based interventions attempt to change health behaviour through the use of techniques that increase the support of family members for behaviour change.

Moreover, a supportive social environment has been shown to increase maintenance of behaviour change.

These interventions typically target factors in the social environment and interpersonal and behavioural patterns that are likely to influence physical activity behaviours.

Interventions may be targeted to families with children or to spouses or partners without children. Programs typically include joint or separate educational sessions on health, goal-setting, problem-solving, or family behavioural management and will often incorporate some physical activities.

Families have the potential to influence activity levels of all generations but there is currently limited evidence about the effectiveness of interventions that target families.

The family is a major source of influence for children in the modelling of health behaviours and is, therefore, an appropriate target for intervention. However, the applicability of this type of intervention on adult physical activity participation has yet to be determined.

Social support interventions in community settings

These interventions focus on changing physical activity behaviour through building, strengthening, and maintaining social networks that provide supportive relationships for behaviour change.

This change can be achieved either by creating new social networks or working within pre-existing networks in a social setting outside the family, such as the workplace.

Interventions typically involved setting up a “buddy” system, making a “contract” with others to achieve specified levels of physical activity, or setting up walking or other groups to provide companionship and support while being physically active.

They are effective in helping people gain the skills and confidence needed to start or

resume regular physical activity.

They are effective in increasing physical activity participation in the short term.

Social support strategies also enhance education and skill development by up to 44 per cent.

Social support strategies have been found to be particularly effective for women and

minority community groups

Individually-adapted health behaviour change programs

Individually-adapted health behaviour change programs are tailored to the individual’s readiness for change, specific interests, and preferences.

These programmes teach participants specific behavioural skills that enable them to incorporate moderate-intensity physical activity into daily routines.

Behaviours may be planned (e.g., a daily scheduled walk) or unplanned (e.g., taking the stairs when the opportunity arises).

Many or most of these interventions use constructs from one or more established health behaviour change models such as Social Cognitive Theory,119 A Bandura, Social foundations of thought and action: a social-cognitive theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (1986). the Health Belief Model or the Trans-theoretical Model of change These programs generally incorporate the following behavioural approaches:

setting goals for physical activity and self-monitoring of progress toward goals

building social support for new behavioural patterns

behavioural reinforcement through self-reward and positive self-talk

structured problem-solving geared to maintenance of the behaviour change

prevention of relapse into sedentary behaviours

The majority of these interventions are delivered face-to-face either individually or in groups.

Education and skill development programmes delivered either to an individual or in a group settings have been found to be effective in helping people increase and maintain physical activity in the short term.

They are most effective when they are based on an established theory of behaviour change and include social support strategies.

Structured interventions are resource intensive and rely on individual contact with programmes and practitioners. On their own, they do not have a significant public health impact because their reachis limited to the programme participants.

There is no evidence that more intensive counselling (up to 60 minutes) is any more effective than brief, opportunistic counselling (three to 10 minutes).

Brief advice from a health professional, supported by written materials, is likely to be effective in producing a modest, short-term (6-12 weeks) effect on physical activity

Environmental and policy approaches to increasing physical activity

Policy and environmental interventions focus less on individuals and more on the whole community and organisations (such as schools, workplaces and sporting clubs).

These strategies have considerable potential to increase community-wide physical activity levels by reducing social and environmental barriers to physical activity, and by ensuring the provision of facilities and resources for people to be active.

Policy approaches are needed to bring about changes in social and physical environments, and to act as catalysts for local decision making/makers to support physical activity development.

Characteristics of effective environmental and policy interventions include:

comprehensive long term strategies that focus on the social, physical, economic and policy environment

the involvement of multiple stakeholders from many sectors beyond health, including urban planners, local government, the transport sector, environmental protection agencies, criminal justice organisations, community organisations and special interest groups

the use of interdisciplinary teams and coalitions, including target groups and user groups.

multiple level interventions that focus concurrently on the social, physical, economic and policy environments – these interventions are most likely to be effective and have the potential to yield more sustainable change

the appropriate allocation of resources, given that considerable time is needed to establish policy and effect environmental change

evaluation that includes indicators for changes in attitudes and knowledge, as well as for changes in physical activity behaviour

the use of baseline, monitoring and long term follow-up measures.

Potential barriers to environmental and policy interventions include:

building new facilities is time and resource intensive

enhancing access to facilities requires careful planning, coordination and resources

success is enhanced by community “buy-in”, which takes time, resources and political commitment

in-adequate resources and lack of trained staff may affect the quality of the intervention and its evaluation.

Although limited evidence is available regarding the effectiveness of specific policy components, the literature indicates that a range of policy and environmental have considerable potential to increase community-wide physical activity.

Although the magnitude of change may seem modest compared with that produced by discrete programmes and individual behaviour change interventions, the number of people reached and the sustainability of change represents huge potential for a long term impact.

It is important to note that major infrastructure changes are expensive and can be only implemented gradually through planning and policy change.

The evidence suggests that responsibility must be shared across stakeholder groups, such as the health sector, the transport sector, decision makers in urban design, local government, environment groups and special user groups.

Smaller scale changes can be implemented with relatively low cost, such as strategies to address traffic and personal safety, walking trails, signage and access to walking maps.

There are still issues regarding what specific characteristics of a community are necessary for the optimal implementation of policy and environmental interventions.

It is also as yet undetermined whether creating or improving access to opportunities to be active is sufficient to motivate sedentary people to become active, give those who are already active an increased opportunity to be active, or indeed both.

Review of physical activity interventions

Case study 1: An active transport approach in Australia
4 Physical activity interventions

In general, current evidence suggests that the majority of programmes to promote physical activity in the UK can be sectioned into four categories.

NICE (2006) recently published a report that identified the most commonly used intervention strategies for increasing physical activity as:

§ physical activity referral schemes (PARS) and community based exercise programmes for walking and cycling

§ brief interventions

§ the use of pedometers to promote physical activity

The majority are delivered in or through healthcare/community environments and utilise specialist support.

Table 4.1 provides an overview of the evidence from the categories of interventions listed above.

4.1 What is the evidence like?

In general, despite the number and diversity of approaches to promote physical activity, current evidence presents a limited picture in terms of ‘what works’.

In a recent NICE review commissioned by the HDA (Hillsdon et al., 2005), reviewers concluded that whilst short term changes might be achievable based on current intervention design, long term change (represented by maintained physical activity participation) is much more difficult to achieve.

The review did however; identify key components of interventions that were deemed necessary to promote behaviour change. These were as follows:

§ interventions should be based on theories of behaviour change

§ interventions should teach participants skills relating to the control of behaviour

§ interventions need to tailor the content of the programme to the needs of the individual

§ interventions should seek to promote moderate physical activity and should not be solely focused on facility based physical activity

Interventions are most effective when participants receive regular contact with an exercise specialist, even in brief 3 to 10 minutes sessions. However, this does not represent a long term cost-effective approach.

Review of physical activity interventions

Table 4.1: Overview of the evidence of commonly used physical activity interventions in the UK
InterventionDescription of activitiesSummary of evidenceKey references

Physical activity Referral Schemes (PARS)

An exercise referral scheme typically directs individuals to a service offering an assessment of need, development of a tailored physical activity programme, monitoring of progress and a follow-up.

These programmes are typically 12 weeks in duration.

PARS are often local authority run and funded.

In addition PARS often share a community based physical activity programme element (walking or cycling groups). This is to say that individuals from local communities engage in physical activity together.

These additional (to PARS) community based programmes are often owned by the communities themselves but invariably run under the banner of PARS.

The Fitness Industry Association estimates that there are around 600 schemes in England.

A recent national survey reported that 89% of primary care organisations in England had an exercise referral programme.

It is common, but not exclusive, for PARS to include walking and cycling schemes.

These components are often defined as organised walks or rides and include national initiatives such as ‘walking the way to health’.

These elements of regular participation in moderately intense activity, such as brisk walking and cycling, are associated with health benefits.

They also represent activities that can become part of every day life, such as walking or cycling to work or school,

They are thus perceived more likely to be sustained than activities that require attendance at specific venues.

Despite the number of PARS schemes currently in existence, there is no solid evidence base for their effectiveness

Exercise-referral schemes have a small effect on increasing physical activity in sedentary people, but it is not certain that this small benefit is an efficient use of resources

Adherence to these schemes can be as low as 20-30%

Where increases in physical activity are evidenced these are rarely maintained

PARS also tend to focus on the needs of specific populations i.e. those referred for CHD risk factors, osteoporosis, arthritis, obesity, hypertension.

It is unlikely that these schemes will be of benefit to all individuals

One of the key assumptions with PARS is that individuals will be motivated to participate in physical activity as a consequence of receiving a prescription/advice from the GP

However, current evidence suggests that many individuals lack the lifestyle skills to be able to sustain behaviour change

The key challenges for future schemes are to increase uptake and improve adherence, perhaps by considering readiness to engage in behavioural change, or by considering individual differences in self-determination and behavioural regulation.

Stathi A., McKenna J., Fox KR The experiences of older people participating in exercise referral schemes . Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health , 2003: 123(1): 18-23.

Thurston, M., Green, K. (2004). Adherence to exercise in later life: how can exercise on prescription programmes be made more effective? health promotion 19: 379-387

Gidlow C, Johnston LH, Crone D, James D. Attendance of exercise referral schemes in the UK: a systematic review. Health Educ J. 2005;64(2):168-186.

Harrison RA, Roberts C, Elton PJ. Does primary care referral to an exercise programme increase physical activity one year later? A randomized controlled trial. J Public Health. 2004;27(1):25-32.

Riddoch C., Puig-Ribera A., Cooper A. Effectiveness of physical activity promotion schemes in primary care: A review . London: Health Education Authority ,1998.

Dugdill L, Graham RC, McNair F. Exercise referral: the public health panacea for physical activity promotion? A critical perspective of exercise referral schemes; their development and evaluation. Ergonomics. 2005;48:1390-1410.

McKenna J., Naylor P-J., McDowell N. Barriers to physical activity promotion by general practitioners and practice nurses. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 1998: 32: 242-247

Sowden, S L, Raine, R (2008). Running along parallel lines: how political reality impedes the evaluation of public health interventions. A case study of exercise referral schemes in England. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 62: 835-841

Johnston LH , Warwick J., De Ste Croix M., Crone D., Sidford A. The nature of all ‘inappropriate referrals’ made to a countywide physical activity referral scheme: implications for practice . Health Education Journal , 2004: 64(1): 58-69.

Department of Health. Exercise referral systems: A national quality assurance framework. London: Stationery Office, 2001.

Kirk AF, Mutrie N, Macintyre PD, et al.. Promoting and maintaining physical activity in people with type 2 diabetes. Am J Prev Med 2004;27:289-96

Lowther M., Mutrie N., Scott EM Promoting physical activity in a socially and economically deprived community: A 12 month randomized control trial of fitness assessment and exercise consultation . Journal of Sports Sciences, 2002: 20: 577-588

Lamb, S E, Bartlett, H P, Ashley, A, Bird, W (2002). Can lay-led walking programmes increase physical activity in middle aged adults? A randomised controlled trial. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 56: 246-252

Taylor A, Doust J, Webborn N. Randomised controlled trial to examine the effects of a GP exercise referral programme in Hailsham, East Sussex, on modifiable coronary heart disease ri

In the world of sports there is much competition. There is so much that many sport players try to cheat their way through by using performance enhancing drugs. The players use steroids, human growth hormones and many more. All performance enhancing drugs should be banned from sports.

The history of performance enhancing drugs goes back to the 1800s. There were two reported cases before the 1900s. The first known use was by a 24 year old cyclist named Arthur Linton in 1886. He died in a race from Bordeaux to Paris. The cause of death was said to be Typhoid Fever but he was believed to have taken trimethly which is a stimulant. The second known case happened in 1889. A French physician, Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard, extracted testicular fluid from dogs and guinea pigs and injected himself. At a scientific meeting in Paris he announced his findings saying that it made him feel younger and have more energy.

In 1935 German scientists, led by Adolf Butenandt, developed the anabolic steroid. Between 1940 and 1945 the Nazis began testing the steroids on humans. They used prisoners, Gestapos, and Adolf Hitler himself. They found that it causes aggression and with enough use it causes people to go crazy.

In 1954, the United States was given Performance- Enhancing drugs. When the Russians began to become good at powerlifting, a Soviet team doctor revealed his team’s use of testosterone injections to an American weightlifting doctor named John Ziegler. Ziegler then began to work on creating a refined synthesis that would produce a compound with muscle-building benefits of testosterone but without bad side effects such as a prostate enlargement.

The drug he created, called Methandrostenolone, was released by Ciba Pharmaceuticals under the name Dianabol.

In 1973, the German women’s swim team won 10 out of 14 gold medals in the inaugural swimming world championships in Belgrade. As a result, the Olympic committee in 1975 put anabolic steroids on a list of banned substances from the Olympics. Also, on the list, at that time, were any kinds of stimulants.

In 1983, the governing body of Pan Am stripped 3 gold medals from American weightlifter Jeff Michels and they took gold medals from 3 other Latin Americans for testing positive of anabolic steroids. Thirteen other members of the American track and field team withdrew from the Olympics. Overall 23 medals were taken, 11 of them being gold.

In 1988, sprinter Ben Johnson smashed the one hundred meter time by .14 seconds with a time of 9.79 seconds. He was then tested for anabolic steroids. He tested positive and his world record was deleted from the record books.

In 1990 the government stepped in and Congress passed the Anabolic Steroid Control Act which classifies steroids as a Schedule III controlled substance. This means that the trafficking of Anabolic Steroids is no longer a misdemeanor but a felony.

In 2000, Urinalysis tests are improved to detect EPO (erythropoietin). At this time though, blood doping was still undetectable. There are many dangerous risks around blood doping which consist of blood clots, strokes, and thrombosis.

After retiring from baseball in 2002, Kem Caminiti admitted that he used steroids in his 1996 National League Most Valuable Player award winning season. He is quoted saying “I have made a ton of mistakes. I don’t think using steroids is one of them.” In 2004 he died of a heart attack. He was only 41 years old.(Sports Illustrated)

The most recent major case of steroid usage is with Barry Bonds. He was an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants and was first accused of using steroids in 2003 but denied ever using any. The government accused him when they went to his trainer’s house and took papers saying that Bonds had been using an undetectable steroid. He was found guilty on obstruction of justice on April 13, 2011

Performance enhancing drugs should not be used in any sports. They can be harmful to the human body, gives players an unfair advantage, and it does not show true skill.

Many athletes, because of their drive to win, take too high a dose of Performance-Enhancing Drugs causing a high health risk. Both men and women can get bad side effects from them such as an increased risk of tendonitis, liver abnormalities and tumors, hypertension, heart and circulatory problems, prostate gland enlargement, aggressive behaviors, psychiatric disorders, and inhibited growth and development. Many of these are life threatening.

Taking these drugs could be considered cheating as well. While there may be many players in sports taking Performance-Enhancing Drugs, there are still many who do not. For the ones who do not use them they put in hours and hours of hard work to get stronger for the sport they play. Athletes that do take them get the same effect in a much shorter time frame and many of the drugs they take gives them more energy to work out harder and longer.

They also do not show the true skills a player may possess. For example, if a baseball hitter is a weak hitter but then takes steroids and works out while he is on them and gets really big and strong and starts crushing the baseball, he is showing the skills that the drugs helped him create. A Tuft University study showed that steroids can increase home run production by 50 percent showing that steroids are the reason why this weak hitter started crushing the baseball. Steroids help people get stronger a lot faster than if they did not take them.

There are also some good things that come of Performance-Enhancing Drug use in sports. More world records are set, if it was legal then less time and would be used to enforce the drug policy, and the focus turns away from the drugs and back onto the sport that is being played. All of these reasons can all make the sport be more entertaining.

Since these Performance-Enhancing drugs make athletes stronger, more records would be set. A study by a Tuft University physicist found that, on average, taking steroids increases the kinetic energy in a baseball player’s swing by about 10 percent, raises his bat speed by about 5 percent, and boosts the velocity of the hit ball by about 4 percent. These small increases all cause baseballs to travel farther and give players a 50 percent increase in homerun production which makes home run titles much easier to obtain. (Washington Post, Vedantam)

Performance-Enhancing drugs don’t only help baseball players break records, they help all sports. A sprinter by the name of Ben Johnson crushed the previous 100 meter dash record by .14 seconds with a time of 9.79 seconds. After the record breaking feat, he was tested for steroids and the results came back positive causing his record to not count. He would have had sole possession of the record if not for steroid bans.

A weightlifter by the name Jeff Michels won 3 gold medals in the 1983 Olympics because of his use of steroids. His medals were stripped because he tested positive for steroids but that helps to show that steroids do help athletes become stronger and provide for tougher competition. This tougher competition would make people work harder to strive for their goals that they want to achieve.

Money can also be saved if athletes could use Performance-Enhancing drugs. Instead of spending money on doctors to test players and investigators to investigate the players found using the drugs, they could just let it all go and save millions of dollars. With the money they save they could buy new equipment for each team. It would also give the leagues more time to decide on ways to make money.

The focus of league officials would come back to the sport being played. Instead of them worrying about who has been taking Performance-Enhancing drugs and how long they need to suspend that person for, they could worry about who hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th or who just won the gold in the Olympics all without worrying about what they did to get so good.

Performance enhancing drugs should not be allowed in any sport ever and the government should stay out of the entire struggle with these drugs in sports. The problems with Performance-Enhancing drugs has increased over the years but if the government stepped in and tried to deal with it, it would just give them another responsibility that they may not be able to handle. They may also be able to take steps that are too drastic such as throwing people in jail.

Performance enhancing drugs are very harmful to the human body and should never be used in sports. They cause many life threatening sicknesses such as heart attacks and heart disease. They also provide unfair advantages and do not show an athlete’s true skill. There are good sides to it as well such as the added strength it gives athletes causes better records, more home runs, faster people, if they were legal then less time would be used to enforce the drug policy, and they would turn the focus away from drugs and back to the sport being played. Even with the good that can come out of Performance Enhancing drugs they are not worth the fatal risks and being known as a cheater for the rest of an athlete’s career. Keep all Performance Enhancing drugs out of sports forever.

Should Performance Enhancing Drugs Be Illegal?

There are many different types of ‘performance enhancing drugs’. Athletes commonly use performance enhancing drugs to boost endurance, strength, adrenaline, energy, stamina and concentration. This essay will elaborate on reasons as to why performance enhancing drugs should be illegal in all codes of sport, specifically. These three main reasons include the effects performance enhancing drugs can have on an athlete’s person, integrity of athletes and sporting events or meets. As well as disadvantages other competitors, who choose not to use performance enhancing drugs, experience and are not creating an even playing field.

Sporting competitions and events are at their most competitive and entertaining when all athletes are using their naturally abilities and not relying on performance enhancing drugs to power their efforts. Sporting competitions are supposed to be a showcase of a person’s natural ability, their mental strength and how far they can push their bodies whilst performing against some of the best athletes in the world. Sporting competitions should not allow the use of performance enhancing drugs because they change the natural ability and make-up of the athlete and their performance, possibly awarding the athlete with untrue medals and prizes for their supposed achievements.

Athletes not using performance enhancing drugs, whether this is due to the athlete not wanting to risk their health by taking performance enhancing drugs, not being able to fund the taking of drugs or just because they think it is wrong, can be disadvantaged compared to athletes who do take the drugs. These specific athletes have the tendency to have higher achieving, performance enhancing drug using, athletes chosen over them for positions in teams and events. This then causes non-drug taking athletes to spend less time practicing their chosen sport, to lose money if competing in professional competitions, to lose mental and physical strength as well as compromise personal success. Also a majority of division one competitions involve teenagers as well as adults. Taking performance enhancing drugs for a teenager would have a worse side affect on their body than it would on an adult.

Sportsmen who use performance enhancing drugs may suffer physical effects including liver and kidney damage, baldness, skin discolouration, testicular shrinkage, a higher voice, infertility and breast growth. Women however, may experience liver and kidney damage, deepening of the voice, breast reduction, menstrual cycle irregularities and facial hair growth. As well as these physical effects, men and women both can be subject to emotional distress, severe mood swings, hallucinations and violence on and off the field. Performance enhancing drugs, if taken by an adolescent, can cause long term health problems and stunt the person’s further development. A recent study of high school students in America shows that statistics on students who used steroids rose from 1.2% of 40 kids to 1.7% of 40 kids in one year.

Therefore, performance enhancing drugs can cause complications on an athlete’s health, mentally and physically, are untrue to what sporting events are about and their ethics and disadvantage many athletes as well as imbalance the playing field. All of these reasons strongly indicate that performance enhancing drugs should be illegal in all codes of competitive sport.

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URL:http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/archives/archives3/jan01/012501/editorial.html

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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to provide information about the participation level of people of Scotland in Football. This report is based on the findings in the document from sportscotland: Sports Participation in Scotland 2007, Research Digest no. 108. Interviewing is done using the questions from the Scottish Opinion Survey (SOS) run by the TNS System Three. The results of the findings are based on interviewing about 1000 adults comprising approximately 480 men and 520 women and 250 children every month. This shows that there is a consistency in the sample size with age and sex of the people interviewed. Football has been one of the most popular and frequent participating sports among others both with children and adults of both sexes. This report will focus on a three year basis survey on the trends and the participation level in football.

PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN IN FOOTBALL

Football has been the most popular sports with children (8-15 years) during the survey years. According to the survey 52% children have participated in football at least once a month between 2005 and 2007. Swimming is ranked second with a participation level of 37% only.

PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN BY SEX

A more detailed approach can be made to explain the popularity of the sports considering the sex of the participants. With boys aged between 8 years and 15 years football has been the most popular sport with a very high participation level of 74.5%. Cycling is second to football with a participation level of only 36%. Popularity of the sport is considerably low with girls who are aged between 8 years and 15 years. Football participation is only 27% with girls of this age group who are more attracted to swimming (42.9%), cycling (34.8%) and dancing (31.1%).

FREQUENCY OF PARTICIPATION WITH CHILDREN

Frequency of participation refers to the average number of days participated in four weeks. With boys and girls aged between 8 years and 15 years the frequency has been calculated excluding the data from the peak months. The frequency of participation in football at least once a month for the three year period is 3.1 making it the most popular sport among the children. Average number of days participated in a month is 3.4 by boys of the age between 8 years and 15 years while with the girls of the same age group the number is 2.3.

FOR CHILDREN FOOTBALL IS NOT A SEASONAL SPORT

The findings show that participation of children in football remains the same all over the year both with boys and girls. Participation level in the peak months was found to be exactly the same as they were all over the year excluding the peak months. This suggests that football does not attract children only in the peak months. It is a sport where the children keep themselves engaged throughout a year hence not making it a seasonal sport.

NATURE OF PARTICIPATION AMONG CHILDREN

Participation in football has been in different forms. Children play their football in streets or gardens or wastelands where they are very relaxed and in a lesser competitive mood. They also participate in 11-a-side matches and 5-a-side indoor and outdoor matches.

Majority of the children (34%) participating in the sport played in streets or gardens or wastelands the survey being done in peak months. Only 17% of them participate in 11-a-side games out of which 26% are boys and 6% are girls.

Table 1: Participation of children (8-15 years) in different forms of the game by sex (at least once a month) 2005-07: peak months

All

%

Boys

%

Girls

%

In street/garden/wasteland

34

49

17

11-a-side games

17

26

6

5-a-side games (all)

17

26

6

5-a-side games (outdoor)

13

20

4

5-a-side games (indoor)

8

11

4

Notes:

Percentage of participation in football for children was 52. The figures in all participants’ column for street/garden/wasteland, 11-a-side games and 5-a-side games (all) sum up to 68, because of multiple participations. Similarly the figures of 5-a-side indoor and outdoor rows sum up to 21 instead of 17, because of multiple participations. This illustration holds true for the other columns also. Total participation for boys was 74% and for girls was 27%.

PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN THROUGH CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Participation in football in less competitive levels has resulted in low club memberships (28%). 31% of boys who play football are members of a club while only 16% of girls playing football have a club membership. This shows that boys were around twice as likely as girls to be the member of a football club.

TRENDS IN PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS (1998-2007)

Looking at the trends in participation in football for children (8-15 years) over the past 10 years on a 3 year basis survey it can be concluded that there has been a gradual decrease in participation level but it has been always above 50% making the sport most popular among others over the years.

PARTICIPATION OF ADULTS IN FOOTBALL

When it comes to adults (16+), the results are based on surveys during the peak months and in the same time frame participation level in football (10%) is only second to swimming (16%). This decline in participation is understandable as participation in sport is strongly age-related. The survey shows that participation in some type of sport is 96% with children aging between 8 years and 11 years (excluding PE). This figure goes down to 29% with the over 55 category.

PARTICIPATION OF ADULTS BY SEX

Considering sex of participants, football has been the most popular sport with men with a participation level of 18.9%. Results show that football loses its popularity with adult women considerably and the participation level is as low as 2.3%. These results are based on participation in peak months.

FREQUENCY OF PARTICIPATION WITH ADULTS

The frequency of participation of adults in football during the peak months is 1.6 and has not been among the most frequent sports with the likes of cycling (3.8), horse riding (3.2), etc. The average number of days when adult men participated in football is 1.6 while the figure is 1.5 with women.

NATURE OF PARTICIPATION AMONG ADULTS

Adult men and women have played their football in the different forms of the game. They have played in the streets, gardens or wastelands. They also have participated in 11-a-side and 5-a-side games.

Unlike children, adult men have taken part in more competitive games than those who have played in streets, gardens or wastelands. Women have very little participation in competitive games with less than 0.5% participating in 11-a-side games and only 1% in 5-a-side games.

Table 2: Participation of adults (16+) in different forms of the game by gender (at least once a month) 2005-07: peak months

All

%

Men

%

Women

%

In street/garden/wasteland

4

5

2

11-a-side games

3

6

*

5-a-side games (all)

6

13

1

5-a-side games (outdoor)

4

9

*

5-a-side games (indoor)

4

7

*

Note:

Percentage of participation in football for adults was 10. The figures in all participants’ column for street/garden/wasteland, 11-a-side games and 5-a-side games (all) sum up to 13, because of multiple participations. Similarly the figures of 5-a-side indoor and outdoor rows sum up to 8 instead of 6, because of multiple participations. This illustration holds true for the other columns also. Total participation for men was 19% and for girls was 2%.

The asterisk (*) indicates less than 0.5% participation.

PARTICIPATION OF ADULTS THROUGH CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Percentage of adult football participants who are the members of a club is 25. 27% of male football participants have a club membership while only 6% of female who play football are club members. This shows that men are four and a half times more likely to take a club membership as are women.

TRENDS IN PARTICIPATION OVER THE LAST 13 YEARS (1994-2007)

The trends in participation in football for adults over the past 13 years on a three year basis survey show a good consistency with the participation level ranging between 9% and 11%.

CONCLUSION

Club membership has been low in football for both children between 8 years and 15 years and adults over 16 years. Only a quarter (25%) of the adult participants in football is club members while with children the figure is just above the quarter mark (28%). This is mainly due to the nature of the participation. Around two-thirds (49% of the 74%) of the number of boys aged between 8 years and 15 years have played their football in streets or gardens or wastelands throughout the year. A major portion of the girls participating in football (17% of the 27%) have played in the same form of the game. This might also be considered as a reason for the gradual decrease in the trend of participation in football among children. Children might be encouraged to become members of different clubs by organizing free coaching sessions once or twice a week round the year for club members. Other attractions may include more competitive football matches between clubs in different forms of the game to ensure maximum participation. This might also encourage them to continue with participation at an older age.

Identify and evaluate the influences a parent can have on their child’s sport or physical activity.

A child’s involvement in sport or physical activity starts from a very early age and is

an important factor to their development in terms of their social skills, self esteem

and their level of health. Children who are physically active tend to be healthier and

reduce the risk developing health issues such as obesity and more serious health

issues in later life. The department of health (DOH) (2010) reports that current

recommendations for physical activity for children is that all children aged between 5

and 18 years old take part in 1 hour of physical activity every day. In 2006 70% of

boys and 59% girls were active for 1 hour per day. However, the level of physical

activity fell in girls over the age of 15 years to 45% (DOH, 2010). In terms of social

skills it can benefit a child psychologically by giving them a sense of well being and

increase self esteem. Healthy behaviours that are adopted from an early age will

hopefully continue throughout their adult lives. There are a range of influences that

impact on a child’s physical activity or sport involvement. A fundamental starting

point is parents, peers and teachers. Keegan et al (2009) states that parents play a

vital role in the influence of motivating their child to play sport . The role of the

coach/teacher focuses heavily on the instruction and assessment of the child, The

influence from peers is through competitiveness, collaborative and social behaviours. .

Role modelling has been suggested as a huge form of influence in relation to a

childs participation in sport. This is where children mirror the behaviours of their

parents, this is known as observational learning or modelling (Bandura, 1986).

Bandura argued that there is a four step process in observational learning these are

Attention, where the individual sees the behaviour being carried out. If the attention

is detracted this will have a negative effect on observational learning. Memory,

where the individual is able to store and recall the observed behaviour. Behaviour,

where the individual must have the skill to reproduce the behaviour, and motivation,

this describes the individual having the motivation to carry out the behaviour when

they have the opportunity to do so. Bandura’s research found that when someone

witnessed certain behaviour they were more inclined to adopt that behaviour of their

own for example active parents have active children (Freedson and Eveson, 1991).

However Trost et al (2003) suggested that parental role modelling may not be a

sufficient influence of sport. He reported that parental support was associated with a

child’s involvement in physical activity both directly and indirectly through positive

perceptions. Parental support includes parental enjoyment of the sport or physical

activity, the parents perceived importance and the parental behaviour towards sport

and physical activity. Parents cannot help their child develop skills, however parental

supportive behaviours for example travel, offering lifts to practice, buying equipment,

allowing practice time and observing activities (Keegan et al, 2009) increased levels

of confidence. Children whose parents exhibited positive beliefs and behaviours

about their childs competency reported higher levels of competence (Babkes and

Weiss, 1999). Parents who perceive their child to have ability are much more

likely to provide that emotional support. A parent’s level of physical activity is not

directly linked with their children, however active parents are more likely to have

active children through encouraging behaviour and providing them with more

opportunities.

In a study by Bois et al (2005) they also found that parents can affect their childs

involvement in sport and physical activity both direct and indirectly. This is through

role modelling and through beliefs of their child’s competence. Both fathers and

mothers are influential in different ways by different processes. Mothers adopt a

more indirect approach by giving love, praise and encouragement. Where fathers

have a very different approach and are more direct by giving specific advice on how

to improve their skills and saying if they performed good or bad. The more a

child perceived that they were competent in an activity the more likely they were to

engage in that activity (Laprinzi, 2010). Access to physical activity is an important

responsibility for parents. How parents perceive our parks and playgrounds is an

issue for children living in todays society and can often rely on after school activities

such as football and gymnastics.

Eccles theory focuses on parents shaping their child motivation through their own

beliefs and values . Eccles et al (1991) stated that parental beliefs form an important

platform in socialization behaviours. Parents who expect a child to be successful in a

sport will display behaviours that will influence a child’s motivation to pursue this

sport or activity. These behaviours are normally displayed in relation to their own

beliefs and the child’s beliefs are developed through the feedback in which they

receive from their parents. Parental values refer to how important a particular sport

or activity is to their child and the value it holds. For example how important is my

child’s participation in football as opposed to swimming .This would normally be

based on the parent’s beliefs and how they perceive their child’s competency at that

particular sport. More importantly children will adopt both parent’s beliefs and their

motivation will arise from beliefs originated by their parents. The Eccles model was

originally developed to explain socialized gender differences in children’s

achievement and motivational behaviours “it does not predict the nature of parent’s

involvement in sport in a competitive sport setting” .

Parents who stereotype gender roles influence the nature of socialization. Studies

have shown that parent’s perceptions of their child’s competency can be greatly

influenced by their child’s gender. Parents who believe that boys should play sport

will be encouraged to be more physically active than girls and work harder in sport

(Eccles and Harold, 1991).Parents may also be seen to encourage ‘gifted’ children

but de emphasise with less skilled children. However in a study by Kimmerick et al

(1998) they found that neither mothers or fathers had gender differentiated

perceptions of their child’s competence.

Important research is needed to explore the affects of parental involvement in sport,

as parents are highly involved and visible in sport, they can influence their child not

only positively but negatively . Although research is limited it’s important that we

gain a better understanding of a parent’s involvement and behaviour in competitive

youth sport. Low levels of pressure and less emotion and high parental satisfaction

and praise have all lead to a Child’s motivation and enjoyment of sport. However,

over parental involvement has lead to anxiety (Fredricks and Eccles, 2004). In other

research parents that are more involved in competitive youth sport has been

highlighted by sports organisations. Researchers are becoming more aware of the

type of behaviours that parents display in competitive youth sport and call for more

research on parent’s actual behaviours (Holt et al, 2008).

The manner in which a child perceives or interprets a message from their parents will

influence their psychosocial and affective outcomes (Eccles et al, 1991). If parents

provide positive comments and re enforcement following an activity this promotes

intrinsic motivation and has a positive affect (Babkes and Weiss, 1999). However,

negative comments and lack of re enforcement produces low intrinsic motivation.

Expectations and behaviours from parents are concerns which have been

acknowledged by coaches and the behaviours of the coach is often seen as

problematic by parents. Parents and coaches need to come to an understanding that

they both have important roles to play. Parents need to acknowledge that coach will

have goals and objectives and will need to critically evaluate their childs performance

in addition to offering experience and expertise, parents should support this role.

Cox (2010) suggested that the role of the coach and the parent should be

dual rather than independent, although we are able to differentiate between the

coach-athlete role and parent-athlete role. A coach displays behaviours of instruction

in response to skills thus increasing intrinsic motivation and self esteem this

perceives greater autonomy which relate to satisfaction and enjoyment of the sport.

Whilst it is important that parents have a level of involvement in their child’s sport or

physical activity it should be addressed that success will depend on the quality of

parental involvement. Over involved parents result in high levels of parental pressure

can lead to lowered self esteem. Where parents who lack interest in the child’s

activity they are unlikely to provide any emotional support resulting in their child not

taking part or seeking support from elsewhere for example teachers or coaches

(Wuerth et al, 2002). Parental involvement lies on a continuum and somewhere in

the middle would be ideal. Undoubtedly parents play a highly fundamental role in

their child’s sport or physical activity and can be identified through modelling,

support, direct in indirect help and by providing opportunities (Cox, 2008). Parent’s

beliefs, values and behaviours have a huge influence on their child. How a parent

perceives their child’s competence or ability can influence the level of emotional

support they provide thus determine how successful their child may become in sport.

References

Anderson, C.B., Hughes, S.O., Fuemmeler, B.F. (2009)’ Parent-Child Attitude Congruence on Type and Intensity of Physical Activity: Testing Multiple Mediators of Sedentary Behaviour in older children.’ Health Psychology. American Psychological Association 2009. 28 (4) pp. 428-438

Babkes, M. L., & Weiss, M. R. (1999). ‘Parental influence on children’s cognitive and affective responses to competitive soccer participation.’ Pediatric Exercise Science 11, pp.44-62

Bois, J.E., Sarrazin, P.G., Brustad, R.J., Trouilloud, D.O., Cury, F. 2005 ‘Elementary schoolchildren’s perceived competence and physical activity involvement: the influence of parents’ role modelling behaviours and perceptions of their child’s competence’ Psychology of Sport and Exercise 6 (2005) pp.381-397

Cox, M., Schofield, G., Kolt, G.S.’Responsibility for children’s physical activity: Parental, child, and teacher perspectives’ Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 13 (2010) pp. 46-52

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Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2005). ‘Family socialization, gender, and sport motivation and involvement.’ Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 27 pp. 3-31

Freedson, P. S., & Evenson, S. (1991). ‘Familial aggregation in physical activity. ‘Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 62 pp. 384-389

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Wuerth, S., Lee, M.J., Alfermann. D.’Parental Involvement and athletes’ career in youth sport’ Psychology of Sport and Exercise 5 (2004). Pp. 21-33