Volume 40 (2024): Issue 5 (Oct 2024)
Volume 21 (2024): Issue 10 (Oct 2024)
Volume 46 (2024): Issue 5 (Oct 2024)
Volume 43 (2024): Issue 4 (Oct 2024)
Longitudinal Analysis of Race-Management Strategies in a World-Class 200-m Freestyle Swimmer: A Case Study
Camille Loisel, Robin Pla, and Ludovic Seifert
Purpose: To investigate race-management strategies over a longitudinal case study of one of the world’s best female swimmers of the 200-m freestyle to understand if only 1 race-management strategy allowed her to succeed or whether several profiles have been used over the 8 years of analysis. Methods: Different race-management strategies within and between 50-m laps emerged from cluster analysis. To better explain race management, additional characteristics described the level of adversity, the level of competition, the performance outcome, and the type of race. Results: Two strategies of race management between laps have been used, and both allowed her to succeed in her career. The first was characterized by a fast start and a greater decrease of the speed between laps, whereas the second exhibited a more stable speed management. When those strategies were examined in relation to the level of competition and the level of adversity, it appeared that the first strategy was used more in international competitions and associated with higher time intervals between the studied swimmer and the direct rivals, while the second one was used more in national competitions and associated with lower time intervals. Conclusions: Findings suggested that this top elite swimmer did not adhere to a single “ideal” race-management strategy. Instead, she demonstrated flexibility and the ability to adapt her race management to contextual factors throughout her career, effectively controlling adversity. This highlights the importance of including adversity analysis in race-management studies.
Volume 28 (2024): Issue 4 (Oct 2024)
Volume 18 (2024): Issue 2 (Oct 2024)
Bodily Uncertainty, Precarious Body: An Embodied Narrative of a Physical Education Teacher From an Autobiographical Perspective
Gustavo González-Calvo and Göran Gerdin
School physical education (PE) is influenced by different discourses that play a crucial role not only in the (re)production of PE practices but also in shaping teacher subjectivities. This paper aims to explore how a PE teacher responds to, lives, and negotiates his embodied professional subjectivity over time. To achieve this, we employ an autobiographical approach to delve into the first author’s life story of becoming and being a PE teacher over time, grappling with the unease generated by the knowledge that his body may have an “expiry date.” Through narrative analysis, we discuss and reflect on the complex experience of teaching a physical and corporeal subject such as PE, focusing on four themes: (1)reflecting his life as a PE teacher“the young, healthy and athletic body,” (2) “the uncertain body,” (3) “the precarious body,” and (4) “the shut-up and just-do-it body.”
Confidence to Return to Play After Concussion
Regan Crofts, Amanda J. Morris, David L. Quammen, Tessa L. Petersell, Spencer W. Liebel, Leslie Podlog, and Peter C. Fino
Context: The sequelae of concussion may have psychological consequences that affect an athlete’s ability to return to play (RTP). However, confidence of RTP readiness is rarely monitored after a concussion. Design: This study examined the acute and longitudinal implications of concussion on an athlete’s confidence to RTP, the relationship between self-reported symptoms and athlete confidence to RTP, and interactions between concussion symptoms, sex, sport type (contact vs noncontact), and confidence to RTP. Methods: Forty-six college athletes (65% female) sustained a concussion and completed the Injury Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport (I-PRRS) scale at 3 timepoints: within 72 hours of injury (acute), within 72 hours of beginning the RTP protocol (pre-RTP), and within 72 hours of being fully cleared to RTP (post-RTP). Results: Athletes reported acute low confidence after concussion (I-PRRS mean [SD] = 32.59 [18.45]), which improved over time (pre-RTP mean [SD] = 52.11 [9.60]; post-RTP mean [SD] = 57.45 [5.96]). Some athletes returned to competition (post-RTP) with lingering confidence concerns (ie, I-PRRS < 50; 95% CI = 0.03–0.26). Acute symptom severity was associated with worse confidence (P < .001). Sex and sport type (contact vs noncontact) had no relationship with confidence (P = .406, P = .3314, respectively). These results indicate that athletes lack confidence acutely (within 72 h) following concussion. Conclusions: Although confidence improves over time, those who report greater acute symptoms also exhibit decreased confidence, and some athletes are returning to play with lingering concerns about their confidence (I-PRRS < 50). This preliminary evidence of heterogeneous confidence following concussion encourages the assessment and monitoring of confidence throughout concussion rehabilitation.
Creating and Performing Educational Gymnastics Using Computational Thinking Skills
YuChun Chen and Lorraine A. Jacques
Purpose: This study examined how physical education majors used computational thinking (CT) skills in a movement concept course. Method: Twenty-two physical education majors were tasked to create two gymnastics routines (i.e., algorithm design), analyze their routines (i.e., decomposition and abstraction), create and follow a personalized fitness plan (i.e., abstract), revise the routines (i.e., debugging), and perform the routines at the end of the semester. Data were analyzed as a single case study with embedded units using structural coding. Results: The participants demonstrated strengths with debugging and algorithm design; however, they struggled with decomposition and abstraction, which was congruent with previous research regarding these two concepts as the most difficult and important CT skills to master. Discussion/Conclusions: The findings underscore the value of CT skills in a non-STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) course, expending the instructional appropriateness to expose CT to undergraduate students with little to no interest or previous experience in STEM.
