Jogging not running: A narrative approach to exploring ‘exercise as leisure’ after a life in elite football

As research has shown, former elite athletes often struggle to adapt to aspects of their post-sport lives. This can include the management of their identities, dealing with the uncertainty of their new roles, and negotiating the changes that occur to their bodies. In this paper we discuss an under-reported challenge facing retired athletes: how to manage their ongoing relationship with exercise. To address this issue we adopted a narrative approach, based on the first author’s experiences as a former football player, to provide a socio-cultural reading of the various challenges involved in the transition from exercise as a vocation to a leisure activity. We suggest that these stories demonstrate that in retirement, former athletes’ docility, while seemingly advantageous, can also be a significant obstacle to developing alternative meanings for exercise, including as a potential re-creative or leisure activity that can become meaningful and important in its own right

Retirement from sport and the loss of athletic identity

The purpose of this study was to examine how a sample of elite athletes coped with distressful reactions to retirement from sport. As part of a larger research project, 15 former elite athletes were identified as having experienced severe emotional difficulties upon athletic career termination. Through use of a micronarrative methodology, it was determined that account making can be a significant moderator of distress during the career transition process. In addition, the quality of the account making was found to be related to present affect and overall success in coping with athletic retirement. Finally, changes in athletic identity were found to be significant determinants of adjustment for athletes upon career termination. Suggestions are presented for future research on treatment strategies for distressful reactions to retirement from sport

Parenting experiences in elite youth football: A phenomenological study

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of parents of elite specializing stage youth footballers. Method: A descriptive phenomenological approach guided the study design. Data from interviews with five mothers and five fathers of youth players registered to English football academies were analysed using descriptive phenomenological analysis (Giorgi, 2009). Findings: Three essences characterized the phenomenon of being a parent of an elite youth footballer: parent socialization into elite youth football culture; enhanced parental identity; and increased parental responsibility. Parents’ socialization into the football academy culture was facilitated by their interaction with coaches and parent peers, highlighting the social nature of parenting. Being the parent of a child identified as talented meant that parents experienced enhanced status and a heightened responsibility to facilitate his development. Although parents were compelled to support their son in football, their instinct to protect their child meant they experienced uncertainty regarding the commitment required to play at an academy, given the potential for negative consequences. Together, these findings illustrate that parents experienced a transition as their son progressed into the specialization stage of football. We postulate that formal recognition of a child as talented contributed to this transition, and that knowledge of sport and perception of the parent-child relationship shaped how parents adapted. Conclusions: This study provides a new way of understanding the psychological phenomena of parenting in elite youth football. Implications for practitioners working with parents in sport are provided

An In-depth Appraisal of Career Termination Experiences in Professional Cricket

This qualitative study explored the career termination experiences of 9 male, retired professional cricketers, between the ages of 28 to 40 (M = 34, SD = 4.65). The participants took part in retrospective, semi-structured interviews. Data from the interviews were inductively content analysed within three transition phases of the retirement process: reasons for retirement, factors affecting adaptation, and reactions to retirement. The reasons for retirement were multicausal with the majority of the participants highlighting contractual pressures and a lack of communication as important precursors to retirement. Three main themes accounted for the factors affecting adaptation: a limited pursuit of other interests, developmental experiences and coping strategies. In terms of reactions to retirement, all of the participants reflected negatively on the termination of their career, with a sense of loss and resentment characterising the post-retirement period. The findings illustrated the sport-specific nature of career termination in professional cricket, and added further support to the emerging consensus that the distinction between voluntary and involuntary retirement is, at best, unclear

The retirement experiences of elite female gymnasts: Self identity and the physical self

This study explored experiences of retirement from elite sport among a sample of retired female gymnasts. Given the young age at which female gymnasts begin and end their sport careers, particular attention was afforded to the role of identity and the physical self in the process of adaptation. Retrospective, semi-structured interviews were conducted and interview transcripts analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analysis indicated that retirement from gymnastics engendered adjustment difficulties for six of the seven participants. Identity loss was particularly salient, and for two gymnasts, physical changes associated with retirement were a further source of distress. The challenge of athletic retirement was intensified because the gymnasts had heavily invested in sport during adolescence, a period demarcated for the pursuit of an identity. Furthermore, their retirement coincided with a time when adolescents typically undergo profound changes physiologically. Practical suggestions to facilitate athletes' disengagement from sport are discussed

Magnetic Resonance-based Response Assessment and Dose Adaptation in Human Papilloma Virus Positive Tumors of the Oropharynx treated with Radiotherapy (MR-ADAPTOR): An R-IDEAL stage 2a-2b/Bayesian phase II trial.

Background Current standard radiotherapy for oropharynx cancer (OPC) is associated with high rates of severe toxicities, shown to adversely impact patients' quality of life. Given excellent outcomes of human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated OPC and long-term survival of these typically young patients, treatment de-intensification aimed at improving survivorship while maintaining excellent disease control is now a central concern. The recent implementation of magnetic resonance image - guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) systems allows for individual tumor response assessment during treatment and offers possibility of personalized dose-reduction. In this 2-stage Bayesian phase II study, we propose to examine weekly radiotherapy dose-adaptation based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluated tumor response. Individual patient's plan will be designed to optimize dose reduction to organs at risk and minimize locoregional failure probability based on serial MRI during RT. Our primary aim is to assess the non-inferiority of MRgRT dose adaptation for patients with low risk HPV-associated OPC compared to historical control, as measured by Bayesian posterior probability of locoregional control (LRC).Methods Patients with T1-2 N0-2b (as per AJCC 7th Edition) HPV-positive OPC, with lymph node <3 cm and <10 pack-year smoking history planned for curative radiotherapy alone to a dose of 70 Gy in 33 fractions will be eligible. All patients will undergo pre-treatment MRI and at least weekly intra-treatment MRI. Patients undergoing MRgRT will have weekly adaptation of high dose planning target volume based on gross tumor volume response. The stage 1 of this study will enroll 15 patients to MRgRT dose adaptation. If LRC at 6 months with MRgRT dose adaptation is found sufficiently safe as per the Bayesian model, stage 2 of the protocol will expand enrollment to an additional 60 patients, randomized to either MRgRT or standard IMRT.Discussion Multiple methods for safe treatment de-escalation in patients with HPV-positive OPC are currently being studied. By leveraging the ability of advanced MRI techniques to visualize tumor and soft tissues through the course of treatment, this protocol proposes a workflow for safe personalized radiation dose-reduction in good responders with radiosensitive tumors, while ensuring tumoricidal dose to more radioresistant tumors. MRgRT dose adaptation could translate in reduced long term radiation toxicities and improved survivorship while maintaining excellent LRC outcomes in favorable OPC.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03224000; Registration date: 07/21/2017

SBW Piping - Hervalidatie. C2 Schematisatiehandreiking watervoerende zandlaag

Het programma Sterkte & Belastingen Waterkeringen (SBW) is gericht op het invullen van belangrijke kennisleemtes bij het vij~aarlijks toetsen van de primaire waterkeringen. Die kennisleemtes betreffen zowel de belasting als de sterkte bij het toetsen. Het voorliggende project betreft het project 'SBW Pi ping - Hervalidatie Pi ping', deelonderzoek C, Het doel van het deelonderzoek C is het opstellen van een procedure voor het schematiseren van de doorlatendheid van de ondergrond ten behoeve van de pipinganalyse. Deelonderzoek C2 'Schematisatiehandreiking watervoerende zandlaag. Procedure voor vaststellen doorlatendheid' gaat in op de methoden van bepaling van de doorlatendheid en het schematiseren van de doorlatendheid voor de pipinganalyse. De rekenregel voor piping, de regel van Sellmeijer, geldt voor een homogeen zandpakket In de praktijk zal de pipinggevoelige zandondergrond echter niet homogeen zijn. Met de pipingmodellering in MSeep kan meer rekening worden gehouden met variaties in de geometrie, de grondlagenopbouw en de eigenschappen dan in de rekenregel Voor het toetsen van de dijkringen waar in het kader van VNK een database met pipingparameters beschikbaar is kan het beste gebruik worden gemaakt van deze database voor voornamelijk de wat diepere lagen (> 5 - 1 0 m beneden maaiveld). Verwacht wordt dat voordat de volgende toetsronde aanvangt de database is gevuld met de pipingparameters van alle dijkringen in Nederland.SB

Modellversuche an Dichtwandmassen zur Beurteilung der Korrosionseigenschaften, des Diffusionsverhaltens und der Langzeitbestaendigkeit von Einphasendichtwaenden gegenueber kontaminierten Waessern

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: DW 7777 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Modellversuche an Dichtwandmassen zur Beurteilung der Korrosionseigenschaften, des Diffusionsverhaltens und der Langzeitbestaendigkeit von Einphasendichtwaenden gegenueber kontaminierten Waessern

With 108 figs., 33 tabs.Available from TIB Hannover: RN5062(43) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Informieren - Anbieten - Verordnen. Wege zu hachhaltigen Konsummustern zwischen Konflikt und Konsens Schlussbericht/Forschungsbericht und Anlagen zum Forschungsbericht

Published in 2 volumesAvailable from TIB Hannover: F03B821: F03B822 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung, Berlin (Germany)DEGerman