2017 – Page 6 – The Sport Journal

Contextualization of a Shifting Perspective Regarding the Steroid Era

Authors: Patrick Antinori and Rodney J. Blackman

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Rodney Blackman
United States Sports Academy
One Academy Drive
Daphne, Alabama 36526
Phone: 251-626-3303
Email: rblackman@ussa.edu

Patrick Antinori is Director of Global Sales for Phoenix Bats, a hardwood bat supplier for Major League Baseball. He is also a graduate student at the United States Sports Academy.

Rodney J. Blackman, is an Associate Professor and Chair of Recreation Management at the United States Sports Academy

ABSTRACT
To a young fan whose innocence is preserved, baseball can represent the very best of life. Adult fans support this in a variety of ways. But, the history of the game has a less-than-noble side. The steroid era in baseball has been widely considered as a blemish on the visage of baseball, leaving the people involved and the game itself open to disdain and disparagement. Until recently, the writers who elect people to the Baseball Hall of Fame have echoed these sentiments by holding to a very narrow view of that era, and the effects thereof can be likened to staring at their shoes. But a certain shift is appearing regarding perceptions about the steroid era – a view given to greater forbearance, in the larger context of the history of baseball, and how best to preserve the integrity of the game.

Over time, there has also been a greater societal demand for full disclosure. This has created a wealth of information about the steroid era in relation to the history of the game of baseball, including chronicled accounts of what people did and what they said, and did not say, at the time. However, ascertaining culpability was not the purpose of this study. Rather, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe historical accounts of pre-steroid and steroid era behaviors and their after-effects, as well as to contextualize these choices and consequences that shaped the steroid era within the historical past and coming future of the game. Moreover, the data effectively also yielded the presence and contextualization of a discernible shift in perspective regarding the steroid era.
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U.S. Sports Academy2017-07-20T16:04:02-05:00July 25th, 2017|Commentary, Contemporary Sports Issues, Sport Education, Sports History|Comments Off

Psychological Violence and Pressure Activities Experienced by Football Referees

Authors:
Ercan Polat
Ugur Sonmezoglu
Hasan Birol Yalcin

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Ercan Polat
Ömer Halisdemir University
School of Physical Education and Sports – Department of Sports Management
Bor Road, 9.km 51700, Niğde – TURKEY
E-mail: ercihanpolat@hotmail.com
Phone: +90 388 313 0012
Fax: +90 388 313 0014

Ercan Polat is an Assistant Professor Department of Sport Management at Omer Halisdemir University, Turkey; Ugur Sonmezoglu is a Research Assistant in the Department of Sport Management at Pamukkale University, Turkey; Hasan Birol Yalcin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Abant Izzet Baysal University.
Psychological Violence and Pressure Activities Experienced by Football Referees

ABSTRACT
The aim of this research was to determine the psychological violence and pressure faced by football referees in Bolu and Düzce and to disclose the reasons of the events. Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this research. Criterion sampling and easily accessible methods were used for sampling. Literature review was carried out and open-ended and semi-structured interview forms were obtained accordingly. Interviews were made with 4 different groups consisting of 17 participants by focus group discussion method. The content analysis method was used in the analysis of the obtained data.

In the research, it was found out that psychological violence and pressure elements faced by football referees in workplaces arise from the internal and external environment of the workplaces. The internal environment of the workplace of the referees was stated under subtopics such as social exclusion, lack of assignment, excessive number of assignments, and assignments below their capacities, etc. The external environment of the workplace of the referees was stated under the subtopics including physical violence, swearing and insults, pressure on the institution of the referee and threatening and creating pressure on the referee through public opinion.

In addition to the aforementioned results, the factors leading to the psychological violence and pressure faced by the football referees were found as legal gaps, incoherencies and frequent changes in directions and, regarding as a rival, nepotism, regionalism, jealousy, etc.
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U.S. Sports Academy2017-06-22T08:32:59-05:00July 20th, 2017|Contemporary Sports Issues, Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

Review and Commentary of the Nutritional Recommendations, Weight Management Regulations, Weight Management Practices, and the Potential of Disordered Eating Patterns in High School Age Wrestlers

Author: Chandler Knox, Graduate Student, Mississippi State University
Page Love, MS, RD, CSSD, LD NutriFit Sport Therapy Inc. Atlanta, Georgia

Corresponding Author: Terezie Mosby Ed.D, MS, RD, LD, FAND Mississippi State University
Mailing Address: Herzer Building Box 9805 Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762
Office: 662-325-3200
Email: ttm135@msstate.edu

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to review the nutritional recommendations, the weight management practices, and the weight management regulations of high school wrestlers. Serving as a commentary on how these influences coupled with the perceived demand for lean body composition for better performance can relate to disordered eating patterns in high school wrestlers. Wrestling creates a high caloric demand while at the same time wrestlers practice restrictive dietary behaviors. Extreme weight loss behaviors performed by wrestlers have been observed. Nutritional recommendations are primarily made by athletic coaches who are not properly trained in nutrition and weight management. This can lead to the acceptance by the wrestler to practice poor behaviors related to food and nutrition. There is a need to properly evaluate and educate the coaches and athletes on nutrition, and weight management. Such education is necessary for the health of the athlete as they progress through the season, and through growth and development.
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U.S. Sports Academy2017-06-21T14:45:16-05:00July 13th, 2017|Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Development Process of Adapted Physical Activities and Reviewing Attitudinal Levels of Turkish Sports Education Administrators towards Sports Activities for Individuals with Mental Disabilities

Authors: Huseyin KIRIMOGLU * (1), Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Turkey.

Corresponding Author:
Huseyin KIRIMOGLU, Assoc. Dr.
Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences Kotekli/Mugla, 48000
hkirim2005@gmail.com
002522111951

(1) Huseyin KIRIMOGLU is an Associate Professor in Sports Exercise Science at the Mugla Sitki Kocman University studying intellectual disabilities and self-concept in sports.

ABSTRACT
The current study focused on reviewing attitudinal levels of academic and administrative team of Faculty of Sports Sciences (FSS) and School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) who teach physical education and sports science in Turkish State Universities towards sportive activities for individuals with mental retardation (MR) in terms of various variables in relation to development process of physical activities adapted to disabled individuals. As data collection tools, “Personal Information Form” designed by the researcher and Attitude Scale of Individuals Having Mental Disabilities towards Sports Activities (ASIHMDSA) designed by Ilhan, Esenturk, and Yarimkaya (2016) were employed. Attitudinal levels of the participants were compared in relation to gender, academic title, administrative service, duration of academic service and whether or not receiving sports education for the disabled during their education. Besides, the literature was screened and development process of adapted physical activities and what kind of effects it had upon participants’ attitudinal levels were discussed. The population of the study was composed of academic staff (deans, school directors and deputy directors and heads of academic departments) who executed administrative services for FSS and SPES of state universities (36 Universities) during 2016-2017 academic year and sample of the study was consisted of a total of 151 academic administrators (17 female and 134 male administrators) who volunteered to join the study. For the assessment of the data and exploration of calculated values; SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used. Whether or not the data followed a normal distribution was tested through Levene’s (variance-ratio) test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and non-parametric tests of Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests were used for those data that did not follow a normal distribution according to normality test. As a result, as far as the results of the current study was concerned, it may be suggested that academic and administrative team of Faculty of Sports Sciences (FSS) and School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) of who serve in physical education and Sports science in Turkish State Universities had a high and positive attitudes towards supporting establishment of Exercise and Sports Departments for the Disabled and participation of the individuals with mental disabilities in sportive activities.
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U.S. Sports Academy2017-06-07T13:25:29-05:00July 6th, 2017|Commentary, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off

What Delivers an Improved Season in Men’s College Soccer? The Relative Effects of Shots, Attacking and Defending Scoring Efficiency on Year-to-Year Change in Season Win Percentage

Authors: Louis R. Joslyn, Nicholas J. Joslyn and Mark R. Joslyn

Corresponding Author:
Mark R. Joslyn, PhD.
1541 Lilac Lane
Lawrence, KS 66045-3129
mjoz@ku.edu
785-864-9046

Mark Joslyn is a political scientist and graduate director at University of Kansas.
Louis Joslyn is a graduate student at University of Michigan in Bioinformatics
Nicholas Joslyn is a student at Simpson College majoring in Mathematics and Physics.

ABSTRACT
In NCAA division 1 men’s college soccer, what performance measures determine improvement in win percentage from one season to the next? Though systematic research of college soccer is uncommon, using available team box scores we were able to construct robust models for year-to-year improvement in win percentage. For teams that improved win percentage greater than 5%, attacking efficiency – ratio of goals scored and shots taken – was the most important predictor followed by defending scoring efficiency – ratio of goals against and shots against – and total shots ratio – total shots for versus total shots against. We also find that efficiency measures are the most difficult to repeat from one season to the next. In short, the key performance measure for improved team win percentages is converting chances into goals, the most challenging team variable to sustain across seasons.
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U.S. Sports Academy2017-06-07T11:38:29-05:00June 29th, 2017|Sports Coaching|Comments Off