Latest Articles

Psychological Violence and Pressure Activities Experienced by Football Referees

July 20th, 2017|Contemporary Sports Issues, Research, Sports Management|

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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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

July 13th, 2017|Sports Health & Fitness|

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

July 6th, 2017|Commentary, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|

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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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

June 29th, 2017|Sports Coaching|

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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The Leadership Techniques and Practices of Elite Collegiate Strength and Conditioning

June 22nd, 2017|Sports Coaching|

Authors: Mike Voight, Ann Hickey, Michael Piper

Corresponding Author:
Mike Voight, Ph.D.
PEHP Department
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Drive
New Britain, CT 06050

Dr. Mike Voight is a professor in the Physical Education and Human Performance Department at Central Connecticut State University where he teaches graduate courses in leadership, sport psychology, and sport sociology. His email is voightmir@ccsu.edu, and his website is www.drvleads.com

Dr. Ann Hickey is an associate professor at Whittier College (CA) where she teaches sport psychology.

Michael Piper is assistant strength coach at Central Connecticut State University.

ABSTRACT
Leadership development has been given more attention in the field of strength and conditioning. Particular topics of interest have included how important a training ground and learning laboratory the university strength and conditioning space is for leadership development, the styles of leadership among strength coaches, leadership behavior, roles, job responsibilities and analyses of NCAA Division 1 strength and conditioning coaches, becoming a more valuable asset to the athletic program, and improving buy-in and leadership (Brooks, Ziatz, Johnson & Hollander, 2000; Feldman, 2013; Magnusen, 2010; Massey, Vincent, & Maneval, 2004; Voight, 2014).

The purpose of this investigation was to interview elite strength and conditioning coaches on their use of “best practices” leadership techniques and practices designed to improve player motivation, communication, commitment, and personal/team leadership. To this objective, participants were not only asked about their use of leadership techniques, but what they do to improve the leadership skills of whom they lead. This study used a semi-structured, exploratory interview design, which revealed numerous subthemes which fit into four major themes: leadership behaviors, leadership development, motivational techniques (buy-in), and relationships-communication. Results of this study can be used by current and up-and-coming strength and conditioning professionals to get the most from their own leadership skill sets as well as developing leadership among the teams they train.
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