Aquatic experiences including structured instructional programs for young children have become extremely popular over the past two decades despite opposition and controversy. Surprisingly, this popularity and controversy have not given rise to extensive or sustained research efforts by exercise scientists or aquatic professionals. Most information available for assessing risks and benefits of aquatic experiences for young children must be gleaned from ancillary sources in medical and educational literature. This paper reviews important issues and questions in the medical, developmental, and pedagogical areas of early childhood aquatics. The need for basic and applied research efforts by teams of exercise scientists from physiologic, psychologic, medical, and aquatic backgrounds is apparent.
Search Results
Aquatic Experiences for Young Children: Evaluating Risks and Benefits
Stephen Langendorfer
Injury Risk of Supervised Exercise for Children and Youth with Chronic Diseases: 5-Year Experience
Ted A. Kaplan and Mary Helen Campbell
Little information is available on the safety of supervised exercise programs for children. This retrospective case review describes the experience over 5 years in a private, outpatient, physician-directed therapeutic exercise program. Observations were made on a total of 47 patients referred by their physicians or parents for exercise programs for diseases, including obesity (26), cystic fibrosis (10), cardiac disease (3), asthma (3), and others (5). Patients performed circuit training with an exposure that consisted of 2,646 total sessions (56.3 ± 63.3 sessions/patient), equivalent to 1,507.9 hours (32.1 ± 35.5 hr/patient) of exercise time. There were three minor accidents (1.9/1,000 patient hours). Physical examination by the attending physician was negative in all three cases: No treatment was indicated, and no patient missed any training time due to these incidents. No significant injuries or cardiorespiratory complications were observed in this exercise program.
Baseline Ability Makes a Larger Contribution to Race Performance in High-School Sprinters Than Race Experience or Training Exposure
Kristine E. Lynch, Alun Thomas, and Bryan Gibson
Purpose:
There has long been a debate regarding the importance of talent versus training in athletic performance. In this study we sought to quantify their relative contributions to the race performance of high-school sprinters.
Methods:
Using race results from the athletic.net website, we identified high-school athletes who participated in at least one race in both 9th and 12th grade in the 100 m, 200 m or 400 m. Athletes with a record of racing before high school were excluded from the analyses. Using separate linear regression models for each event and gender, we analyzed the effect of baseline ability, race experience and training exposure on race time in the 12th grade.
Results:
35,909 athletes, running a total of 1,627,652 races, contributed to the final analyses. The proportion of variance (R2) in 12th grade race times accounted for by baseline ability ranged from 40% to 51% depending on the event, and was consistently higher for females than males. Race experience explained 3.6–4.4% of the variance and training exposure explained 0.8–1.7%.
Conclusion:
Although race experience and training exposure impact high-school sprinters’ performance, baseline ability is the dominant influence.
Risks of Sports Participation in Children: The Peoria Experience
Edited by Thomas W. Rowland
Child Soccer Players’ Perceptions of Strength and Conditioning Training: A Multimethod Approach Using Write, Draw, Show and Tell
Ricardo Martins, Emma Eyre, Matteo Crotti, Rhys Morris, Will Pattison, and Michael Duncan
view, perceive, and experience strength and conditioning training, as their voices are still unheard and underrepresented ( 28 ). A more holistic and inclusive approach to each other’s differences is necessary, giving children the space and time to think and interact while reflecting on their
A Pilot Study of Exercise Training for Children and Adolescents With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Evaluation of Feasibility, Safety, Satisfaction, and Efficacy
Mila Bjelica, Rachel G. Walker, Joyce Obeid, Robert M. Issenman, and Brian W. Timmons
experienced minor flares during the study, this is not necessarily a contraindication to exercise. Given that IBD is a chronic inflammatory condition, it is expected that participants will experience sporadic exacerbation of disease symptoms regardless of what activities they engage in. Importantly, no
Surveillance of Youth Sports Participation in the United States: Strengths, Limitations, and Future Directions
Karin A. Pfeiffer and Kimberly A. Clevenger
the United States and highlight gaps in knowledge. Previously mentioned gaps in information include length (time frame) of participation, if previous experience exists, lack of information to determine other behaviors of interest, such as early specialization, lack of single definition of sport
Measurement of Cardiac Output in Children during Exercise: A Review
David J. Driscoll, Bruce A. Staats, and Kenneth C. Beck
Knowledge of cardiac output changes during exercise is helpful for understanding normal exercise physiology and the effect of disease upon exercise performance. There are four noninvasive techniques applicable to measurement of cardiac output in children: Indirect Fick, acetylene rebreathing, electrical bioimpedance, and Doppler. Each technique requires substantial operator experience to obtain reliable and reproducible results.
Stress and the Young Athlete: The Child’s Perspective
Daniel Gould, Charles Gene Wilson, Suzan Tuffey, and Marc Lochbaum
This article examines psychological stress in children’s sports by presenting results from a panel discussion held with four young athletes ranging in age from 11 to 16 years. The discussion focused on stress and its sources, consequences, and how to cope. Results validated existing research on youth sports stress by showing that most young athletes are not placed under excessive stress. Rather, certain children in specific situations experience high levels of competitive state anxiety. Consistent with previous research, the stress of sports competition was also found to be no more anxiety provoking than other childhood evaluative activities. Future research directions identified from the panel’s responses included the need to identify strategies for coping with stress and ways of teaching these to young athletes, as well as ways to educate parents and coaches on how to improve communication skills. Finally, based on the panel’s remarks, practical implications for facilitating the youth sport experience are discussed.
Knowledge of Repetition Range Does Not Affect Maximal Force Production Strategies of Adolescent Females
Jonathan C. Reid, Rebecca M. Greene, Nehara Herat, Daniel D. Hodgson, Israel Halperin, and David G. Behm
Purpose:
Contrary to adult force reserve strategies, it is not known whether adolescent females with less experience performing maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) have specific responses to a known or unknown fatigue endpoint.
Methods:
Using a counterbalanced random crossover design, fourteen inexperienced female adolescents completed three elbow flexor (EF) fatiguing protocols. Participants were randomly assigned to a control (informed they would perform 12 MVCs), unknown (not informed of the number of MVCs to be completed, but stopped after 12) or deception condition (instructed to complete 6 MVCs, however, after the sixth repetition performed another 6 MVCs). Before and during the interventions, EF impulse, force, and biceps brachii (BB) and triceps brachii (TB) electromyography (EMG) activity were recorded. Results: Participants exhibited decreases in impulse (10.9%; p < .05), force (7.5%; p = .001), BB (16.2%; p < .05) and TB (12.9%; p < .05) EMG activity between the pretest and the first repetition of all protocols. Knowledge of endpoint, or lack of it, did not change measures with the repeated MVCs. When informed about the final repetition, force remained depressed suggesting no physiological reserve.
Conclusion:
Adolescent females exhibited an anticipatory response to the task of performing repeated MVCs. A lack of change with knowledge of endpoint indicates that those lacking in MVC experience do not employ the same pacing strategies as in previous studies of participants with MVC experience.