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Skilled Interaction: Concepts of Communication and Player Management in the Development of Sport Officials

Ian Cunningham, Peter Simmons, Duncan Mascarenhas, and Steve Redhead

Communication and player management are integral to effective sport officiating, but most research has focused on physical performance and decision making. The few previous studies of officiating communication tended to use “transmission” conceptualizations of communication (e.g., decision communication, impression management). Eleven officiating-development managers and coaches from 7 peak Australian sport bodies were interviewed to explore conceptualizations of communication and player management, the way officials improve, and the role of the sport bodies in improvement. Four salient themes emerged in conceptualizations of effective officiating communication and player management: personal qualities of the official, 1-way-communication direction giving and impression management, situation monitoring (interpreting player and context), and skilled interaction (adapting communication appropriately for context). The findings highlight a mismatch between (a) interpretive and interactive communication skills perceived to be most important and challenging and (b) the training that is currently provided to officials. There was general commonality in practice and training issues across sport codes. The article makes theoretical contributions to the study of sport-official communication and practical recommendations for improving approaches to training skilled communication and player management.

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The Effects of Game and Training Loads on Perceptual Responses of Muscle Soreness in Australian Football

Paul G. Montgomery and Will G. Hopkins

Australian Football is an intense team sport played over ~120 min on a weekly basis. To determine the effects of game and training load on muscle soreness and the time frame of soreness dissipation, 64 elite Australian Football players (age 23.8 ± 1.8 y, height 183.9 ± 3.8 cm, weight 83.2 ± 5.0 kg; mean ± SD) recorded perceptions of muscle soreness, game intensity, and training intensity on scales of 1–10 on most mornings for up to 3 competition seasons. Playing and training times were also recorded in minutes. Data were analyzed with a mixed linear model, and magnitudes of effects on soreness were evaluated by standardization. All effects had acceptably low uncertainty. Game and training-session loads were 790 ± 182 and 229 ± 98 intensity-minutes (mean ± SD), respectively. General muscle soreness was 4.6 ± 1.1 units on d 1 postgame and fell to 1.9 ± 1.0 by d 6. There was a small increase in general muscle soreness (0.22 ± 0.07–0.50 ± 0.13 units) in the 3 d after high-load games relative to low-load games. Other soreness responses showed similar timelines and magnitudes of change. Training sessions made only small contributions to soreness over the 3 d after each session. Practitioners should be aware of these responses when planning weekly training and recovery programs, as it appears that game-related soreness dissipates after 3 d regardless of game load and increased training loads in the following week produce only small increases in soreness.

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Perspectives on Postmatch Fatigue From 300 Elite European Soccer Players

Valter Di Salvo, Daniele Bonanno, Mattia Modonutti, Andrea Scanavino, Claudio Donatelli, Fabio Pigozzi, and Lorenzo Lolli

optimal player management. Taken together, our study sampling characteristics and the concise nature of our research design maximized the practical value of our findings to address available knowledge on postmatch fatigue monitoring in this field limited to routinely collected data from one-off, small

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A Prospective Cohort Study of Load and Wellness (Sleep, Fatigue, Soreness, Stress, and Mood) in Elite Junior Australian Football Players

Timothy J.H. Lathlean, Paul B. Gastin, Stuart V. Newstead, and Caroline F. Finch

wellness at this level will help to optimize player management and has the potential to reduce the risk of adverse events, such as injury. Practical Applications 1. This study provides evidence for associations between training and match loads and elite junior AF player wellness. 2. Self-reported loads are

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An Updating Model of Salary Adjustments in Major League Baseball: How Much Is a Home Run Worth?

Morris B. Holbrook and Clifford J. Shultz II

The spectacular salaries paid to various baseball stars—and the ongoing player-management acrimony over those salaries—leads one to question the relationship between performance and compensation during what may someday be referred to as the “golden era” of free agency. After reading the available work on the determinants of ballplayer compensation, one may still wonder what effect today's hit, strikeout, assist, or error exerts on tomorrow's salary—or, more colloquially, “How much is a home run worth?” The present study addresses these questions from the vantage point of a salary-updating model. This model assumes no salary cap and posits that, according to an updating or ratcheting process, future salary depends on current salary and current performance.

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Developing an Understanding of Brand Associations in Team Sport: Empirical Evidence from Consumers of Professional Sport

James M. Gladden and Daniel C. Funk

This study broadens the understanding of brand management in sport by creating the Team Association Model, a scale that identifies dimensions of brand associations, a major contributor to the creation of brand equity. Utilizing Keller’s (1993) theoretical framework of consumer-based brand equity, a thorough review of the sport literature was conducted which identified 16 potential dimensions. These 16 dimensions are derived with reference to Keller’s categorization of brand associations into ATTRIBUTE (success, head coach, star player, management, stadium, logo design, product delivery, and tradition), BENEFIT (identification, nostalgia, pride in place, escape, and peer group acceptance), and ATTITUDE (importance, knowledge, and affect). In order to evaluate the applicability of each potential dimension, a scale is developed, pre-tested, and tested on a national sample of sport consumers. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis of provided support for this paper’s theoretical notion that 16 distinct constructs underlie brand associations in sports.

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Defining the Volume and Intensity of Sport Participation in Adolescent Rugby Union Players

Timothy B. Hartwig, Geraldine Naughton, and John Searl

Purpose:

Investigating adolescent training loads might help us understand optimal training adaptations. GPS tracking devices and training diaries were used to quantify weekly sport and other physical activity demands placed on adolescent rugby union players and profile typical rugby training sessions.

Methods:

Participants were 75 males age 14 to 18 y who were recruited from rugby teams representing 3 levels of participation: schoolboy, national representative, and a selective sports school talent squad.

Results:

Schoolboy players covered a distance of (mean ± SD) 3511 ± 836 m, representative-squad players 3576 ± 956 m, and talent-squad players 2208 ± 637 m per rugby training session. The representative squad recorded the highest weekly duration of sport and physical activity (515 ± 222 min/wk), followed by the talent squad (421 ± 211 min/week) and schoolboy group (370 ± 135 min/wk). Profiles of individual players identified as group outliers showed participation in up to 3 games and up to 11 training sessions per week, with twice the weekly load of the team averages.

Conclusion:

Optimal participation and performance of adolescent rugby union players might be compromised by many high-load, high-impact training sessions and games and commitments to other sports and physical activities. An improved understanding of monitoring and quantifying load in adolescent athletes is needed to facilitate best-practice advice for player management and training prescription.

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A Review of the Internal and External Physiological Demands Associated With Batting in Cricket

Aaron T. Scanlan, Daniel M. Berkelmans, William M. Vickery, and Crystal O. Kean

Cricket is a popular international team sport with various game formats ranging from long-duration multiday tests to short-duration Twenty20 game play. The role of batsmen is critical to all game formats, with differing physiological demands imposed during each format. Investigation of the physiological demands imposed during cricket batting has historically been neglected, with much of the research focusing on bowling responses and batting technique. A greater understanding of the physiological demands of the batting role in cricket is required to assist strength and conditioning professionals and coaches with the design of training plans, recovery protocols, and player-management strategies. This brief review provides an updated synthesis of the literature examining the internal (eg, metabolic demands and heart rate) and external (eg, activity work rates) physiological responses to batting in the various game formats, as well as simulated play and small-sided-games training. Although few studies have been done in this area, the summary of data provides important insight regarding physiological responses to batting and highlights that more research on this topic is required. Future research is recommended to combine internal and external measures during actual game play, as well as comparing different game formats and playing levels. In addition, understanding the relationship between batting technique and physiological responses is warranted to gain a more holistic understanding of batting in cricket, as well as to develop appropriate coaching and training strategies.

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Conservative Approach to Treating American Football Players With Medial Collateral Ligament Grade 2 Sprain During the Season

Lucas Bianco, Eden Jahn, and Shannon Renninger

Context: The medial collateral ligament is the most commonly injured ligament in the knee. The high-speed pivoting and agility movements that are common in the sport of American Football put participants at an increased risk for a valgus force stress from contact or noncontact injuries. Positional release therapy (PRT) also considered strain/counterstrain focuses on releasing the tension in a tissue through unloading the involved body part. Case Presentation: Two male student-athletes participating in football with a mean age of 20.5 years were diagnosed by a physician with medial collateral ligament grade 2 sprain. Both patients sustained their injuries in a regular season game with a contact valgus force from an opposing player. Management and Outcomes: After the initial 72 hours of compression, elevation, and cryotherapy, the patients were both treated with PRT followed by progressive loading exercises. Following 4 treatment sessions of PRT over the next 6 days, the patients started with quadriceps engagement exercises, single-leg squats to 60° knee flexion, side steps, triceps dips, slow controlled lunges, and toe walk. The patients progressed to full body weight squats, single-leg landing, step-up tri-extension, and sidekicks with a leg on table. Then, the patients completed function movements and sports-specific exercises. Conclusions: In this case series, 2 patients competing in intercollege American Football were treated with PRT and progressive loading exercises to facilitate return to unrestricted activities and improve outcome measures. Commonly, a grade 2 medial collateral ligament sprain is conservatively treated with return to sport taking 20 days on average. In this type 2 case series, the clinician found success utilizing PRT early in the recovery process, which in these 2 cases lead to restoration of function, outcome measure improvement, and an expedited return to sport. The expedited return to sport occurred at an average of 18 days for these patients.

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Esports Business Management

Bradley J. Baker

suited in Chapter 4 (esports stakeholders) or Chapter 13 (esports team and player management). Society views esports and esports players from a range of diverse perspectives. In Chapter 3, the authors outline both positive and negative perceptions of gaming culture and gamers. They begin with a general