Sports Studies Commons^™

Soft Power Played On The Hardwood: United States Diplomacy Through Basketball, Joseph Bertka Eyen

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis demonstrates the importance of basketball as a form of soft power and a diplomatic asset to better achieve American foreign policy, which is defined and referred to as basketball diplomacy. Basketball diplomacy is also a lens to observe the evolution of American power from 1893 through present day. Basketball connects and permeates foreign cultures and effectively disseminates American influence unlike any other form of soft power, which is most powerfully illustrated by the United States’ basketball relationship with China. American basketball diplomacy will become stronger and connect with more countries with greater influence, and exist without relevant competition, …

The Perceptions Of Nsaid Use Among One Midwestern Diii Athletic Department, Katherine L. Cialella

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used amongst athletes for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this research is to compare the usage of NSAIDs among different athletic teams and to gain insight on Division III athletes’ views and opinions of NSAIDs. The population participating in this study would include one Midwestern DIII athletic department. The goal of this research was to identify statistically significant behaviors, perceptions, and knowledge of NSAIDs between various athletic teams and determine if the athlete’s’ perceptions and actions align with the appropriate use of NSAIDs.

Of the 77 athletes that took the survey, 47 …

Patient-Reported Outcomes In Male And Female Collegiate Soccer Players During An Athletic Season, Johanna M. Hoch, Beth Druvenga, Brittany A. Ferguson, Megan N. Houston, Matthew C. Hoch

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: Clinicians are urged to document patient-based outcomes during rehabilitation to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) from the patient's perspective. It is unclear how scores on patient-reported outcome instruments (PROs) vary over the course of an athletic season because of normal athletic participation.

Objective: Our primary purpose was to evaluate the effect of administration time point on HRQOL during an athletic season. Secondary purposes were to determine test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change scores of 3 PROs commonly used in clinical practice and if a relationship exists between generic and region-specific outcome instruments.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Athletic facility. …

Patient-Reported Outcome Measures In Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability: A Systematic Review, Megan N. Houston, Johanna M. Hoch, Matthew C. Hoch

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: A comprehensive systematic literature review of the health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) differences among individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI), ankle-sprain copers, and healthy control participants has not been conducted. It could provide a better indication of the self-reported deficits that may be present in individuals with CAI.

Objective: To systematically summarize the extent to which HRQOL deficits are present in individuals with CAI.

Data Sources: We searched for articles in the electronic databases of EBSCO Host and PubMed Central using key words chronic, functional, mechanical, coper, instability, sprains, and patient-assessed. We also performed a hand search of reference lists, authors, …

Perceptions Of Support Networks During The Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer Experience, Stephanie M. Mazerolle, Stephanie Clines, Christianne M. Eason, William A. Pitney

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: The graduate-assistant position can be a highly influential experience because it is often the first time novice athletic trainers (ATs) are practicing autonomously.

Objective: To gain an understanding of how graduate-assistant ATs (GAATs) perceive professional socialization and mentorship during their assistantships.

Design: Semistructured phone interviews. Setting: Graduate-assistant ATs in various clinical settings.

Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-five GAATs (20 women, 5 men) studying in 1 of 3 academic tracks (postprofessional athletic training = 8, athletic training-based curriculum = 11, non-athletic training-based curriculum = 6). Median age was 24 years.

Data Collection and Analysis: Phone interviews were digitally recorded and …

Weight-Bearing Dorsiflexion Range Of Motion And Landing Biomechanics In Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instablity, Matthew C. Hoch, Kelley E. Farwell, Stacey L. Gaven, Joshua T. Weinhandl

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: People with chronic ankle instability (CAI) exhibit less weight-bearing dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM) and less knee flexion during landing than people with stable ankles. Examining the relationship between dorsiflexion ROM and landing biomechanics may identify a modifiable factor associated with altered kinematics and kinetics during landing tasks.

Objective: To examine the relationship between weight-bearing dorsiflexion ROM and single-legged landing biomechanics in persons with CAI.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Laboratory.

Patients or Other Participants: Fifteen physically active persons with CAI (5 men, 10 women; age = 21.9 ± 2.1 years, height = 168.7 ± 9.0 cm, mass = 69.4 …

Pericyte Nf-Κb Activation Enhances Endothelial Cell Proliferation And Proangiogenic Cytokine Secretion In Vitro, Katherine E. Labarbera, Robert D. Hyldahl, Kevin S. O'Fallon, Priscilla M. Clarkson, Sarah Witkowski

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Pericytes are skeletal muscle resident, multipotent stem cells that are localized to the microvasculature. In vivo, studies have shown that they respond to damage through activation of nuclear-factor kappa-B (NF-κB), but the downstream effects of NF-κB activation on endothelial cell proliferation and cell– cell signaling during repair remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine pericyte NF-κB activation in a model of skeletal muscle damage; and use genetic manipulation to study the effects of changes in pericyte NF-κB activation on endothelial cell proliferation and cytokine secretion. We utilized scratch injury to C2C12 cells in coculture with human primary …

Water Treadmill Versus Land Treadmill Training Effects On Leg Strength And Cardiovascular Endurance, Michelle E. Hudson Ms.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Underwater treadmill running can be used as a means of reducing musculoskeletal loading while maintaining a training intensity equal to that of land running. A variety of cardiovascular benefits are seen in water running, such as greater increases in stroke volume and cardiac output than on land. Additionally, increased drag while water running can significantly improve force production. PURPOSE: To investigate if differences exist between underwater treadmill and land treadmill running on leg strength and cardiovascular endurance through a case study of two 22 year old sedentary males. METHODS: An 8-week aerobic training program was designed incorporating water …

Golf League Recruitment And Retention, Melissa J. Davies

College of the Pacific Faculty Reports

The purpose of this research was two-fold. First, the research sought to establish the primary information sources utilized by golf league participants prior to joining the league to determine participant recruitment strategies. The second purpose was to explore the relationship between participants’ basic psychological need satisfaction and the type of motivation the participant felt toward the golf league. Together, information obtained from this study provides golf associations and golf directors in Canada valuable information that could aid in designing golf leagues, which both attract and retain members. Increased participation can help to provide consistent financial gains for the golf clubs, …

Influences On Parents’ Decision Making Prior To Youth Sport Program Enrollment, Karl E. Zang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Current literature has previously reported on the potential benefits of sport participation (Dhurup, 2012; Tomik, Olex-Zarychta, & Mynarski, 2012), which are also some of the main motivations parents enroll their children in youth sport programs (Kurnik, Kajtna, Bedenik, & Kovac, 2013). Parents have also been reported as being both gatekeepers (Schwab, Wells, & Arthur-Banning, 2010) and supporters (Holt, Tamminen, Black, Mandigo, & Fox, 2009) in regards to their child’s participation. This study surveyed 135 parents enrolled in participation youth sport programs in order to identify the influential factors on parents youth sport program selection. Assessed influential factors were compared to …

Should Educators Be ‘Wrapping School Playgrounds In Cotton Wool’ To Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary And Secondary Students’ Voices From The School Playground, Brendon P. Hyndman, Amanda Telford

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Physical activity in school playgrounds has changed considerably over recent decades to reflect a climate of ‘surplus safety’. A growing culture of surplus safety can be attributed to a desire of parents and teachers responsible for children to protect school students from danger. The aim of this research was to examine students’ perceptions of playground safety influences on physical activity during school breaks from the perspectives of the ‘users’ of school playgrounds. Data collection consisted of seven focus groups (4 primary school & 3 secondary school) conducted across four schools (2 primary & 2 secondary). During this study, the focus …

The Effects Of Fatigue On Lower Extremity Kinetics And Kinematics In Subjects With Known Ankle Instability, Lindsay E. Clayton

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to evaluate biomechanical differences between healthy subjects and those with ankle instability during the gradual onset of lower extremity fatigue from a landing activity. An understanding of these differences is needed in order to prevent future injury to or further debilitation in individuals with ankle instability. A functional fatiguing activity was designed to focus fatigue on the quadriceps muscles, as those are the muscles most frequently fatigued during sport. Measures were taken throughout the progression of fatigue with a force plate and a motion tracking system and included vertical ground reaction force and lower …

The Development Of An Objective Multi-Dimensional Approach To Talent Identification In Junior Australian Football, Carl T C Woods

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Talent identification (TID) is a pertinent component of the sports science discipline given the considerable influence it may have within the pursuit of excellence. Thus, research has attempted to identify the determinants of a talented performance through the use of objective testing procedures. However, many of these ‘traditional’ approaches have been operationalised by mono-dimensional objective physical performance tests that do not inherently account for the multi-dimensional requisites of game-play, particularly within a team sporting context. This is problematic when attempting to identify talent, as a successful performance in team sports is often the combination of physical, technical and tactical elements. …

The Variation Of Center Of Mass Excursion Within And Between Innings And Its Relationship To Pitched Ball Velocity In Collegiate Softball Players, Leah Renee Embrey

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to measure the changes to excursions of the COM with pitch count and innings pitched in a collegiate softball game. Additionally, the effect of excursion on pitched ball velocity was investigated.

Twenty-six collegiate pitchers were recorded using a high speed video camera. The first three fastballs and the last three fastballs in each inning were used to determine the COM position during the stride foot takeoff, the lead foot touchdown, and the release. Ball velocity was also calculated from the digitization of each video. MatLab and Excel were used to calculate the excursions between …

Inter-Rater Reliability And Validity Of The Australian Football League’S Kicking And Handball Tests, Ashley J. Cripps, Luke S. Hopper, Christopher Joyce

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Talent identification tests used at the Australian Football League’s National Draft Combine assess the capacities of ath-letes to compete at a professional level. Tests created for the National Draft Combine are also commonly used for talent identification and athlete development in development path-ways. The skills tests created by the Australian Football League required players to either handball (striking the ball with the hand) or kick to a series of 6 randomly generated targets. Asses-sors subjectively rate each skill execution giving a 0-5 score for each disposal. This study aimed to investigate the inter-rater reliability and validity of the skills tests …

Youth Athlete Leaders' Use Of Transformational Behaviours And Relations To Trust In The Leader And Sport Outcomes, Amy M. Cubitt, Mark Eys

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Leadership is one of the most crucial factors determining whether a group succeeds or fails (Bass, 1990). Furthermore, leaders displaying transformational behaviours are thought to lift followers to higher levels of motivation to get them to perform beyond expectations (Bass, 1985), and they tend to have followers who are more committed and satisfied (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Another outcome of transformational leadership in organizations is that followers are more willing to trust leaders who show care and concern for the follower (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). The purpose of the present study was to determine if the use of full range …