An Exploratory Study in Non-Professional Football on the Perception of Stakeholders about the New Working Professional Profile of Sports Kinesiologist

In Italy, recent amendments to Legislative Decree n. 36 of 28 February 2021, on sports work, may have made the application of the reform by stakeholders unclear, with the risk of generating further confusion among them. One of the most critical points concerns the possible equivalencies to the professional profile of the kinesiologist, which would be illegitimately recognized even for a different level of education, contrary to the requirements of the European qualification framework. The aim of the study was to understand the perceptions of stakeholders in the world of non-professional football regarding recent legislative provisions. A survey, divided into two sections, was administered to 112 presidents and 112 trainers of non-professional football associations of the province of Salerno. The first section presents five items common for both presidents and trainers, which seek to probe stakeholders’ perceptions of the enjoyment, appropriateness, usefulness, and scientificity of kinesiologists. The second section presents five differentiated items. Validity and reliability were calculated. A chi-square analysis (χ(2)) was performed to test the independence within and between-subjects (trainers and presidents) on their perceptions about the new working professional profile of sports kinesiologist. From the results, it was possible to appreciate a discordance of opinion among stakeholders. Although the majority of presidents and trainers are in favour of introducing such a professional profile (p 0.05). The perceptual contradictions found among stakeholders’ responses demonstrate how the complexity of recent regulatory provisions regarding possible equivalencies to the title of kinesiologist have inevitably generated further confusion among stakeholders

Different explosive strength and physiological demands between male and female basketball teams.

Background. The several types of running in the team sports such as basketball, soccer and rugby, vary according to physical characteristics and sports. In particular, in the basketball the running is characterized by continuous acceleration and deceleration phases, which entails greater energy expenditure. This study aimed to assess the strength decrease of the lower limbs and energy expenditure at different running conditions (n=4) with/without the ball during Linear running and Shuttle run (180°) in two groups (male: n=15; female: n=15). Materials and methods. Experimental approach required the following tests/devices: Squat Jump to assess the strength of the lower limbs before/after each test, and a portable Metabolimeter was used to assess the metabolic parameters. The T-test was used for independent samples and Two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess the significant differences for each variable between each running conditions. Results. Initial hypothesis has been confirmed, showing a significantly different strength decrease in different running conditions (Linear Running and Shuttle run with and without ball) and between the two teams considered (male and female). In addition, different energy expenditure between the two groups increases even more during the running with the ball compared to running without the ball. Conclusions. The results of this study could be useful for coaches to optimize training with different training load related to gender and to the running conditions (with and without the ball), but also to optimize the work load of young players in relation to the abilities, skills and experiences of players

Physical activity and sports science in Italian scientific research products

Purpose. This study aims to measure the number of scientific production of Italian researchers, as framed on academic disciplines of Physical training and methodology (code M-EDF/01) and Sports science and methodology (code M-EDF/02), afferents to the academic recruitment field of Exercise and sports science (code 06/N2) and Didactics, special education and educational research (code 11/D2). Material and Methods. The sample consisted of the entire population of full professors (n=30) belonging to the two academic disciplines of Physical training and methodology and Sports science and methodology, plus a proportional representation of the two academic recruitment fields with at least one associate professor per university, for a total of 124 researchers. The titles of the first ten scientific products in terms of more citations from the Google Scholar database were analysed for each researcher. The full consistency of the title with the scientific statement of the two academic disciplines was assessed, identifying the number of articles afferent to sports and physical activity, biomedical and Psycho-pedagogical domains. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the two academic disciplines of the two academic recruitment fields with the three domains. Results. The aggregate data showed a prevalence of the biomedical domain over the sport and physical activity ones in both the academic disciplines, in the academic recruitment field of Exercise and sports science. On the other hand, in the academic recruitment of Didactics, special education and educational research, there was a prevalence of the sport and physical activity domain over the biomedical ones. In addition, modest Psycho-pedagogical and biomedical scientific production were found in the academic recruitment fields of Exercise and sports science and Didactics, special education and educational research, respectively. Conclusions. The problem of the different coherence of the scientific profiles of the researchers concerning the relevant academic recruitment field and possibly also to the two academic disciplines was confirmed

The accountability of football as a form of public good on local communities: a pilot study

Study purpose. Football is a social phenomenon, especially due to the enormous use of the media and the economic and financial implications that derive from its complex sporting activities. Amateur sports associations (ASD) are part of this phenomenon since they represent socio-educational agencies that pursue the aims of sports training by adopting specific educational, social, and economic models. Individually, they have modest dimensions but considered in an aggregate manner, they present a significant and not negligible dimension in society. The purpose of the study is to try to understand the stakeholders’ perceptions concerning the issues of youth football and the accountability that football, understood as a public good, produces in local communities. Materials and methods. The study was conducted through a survey submitted to a sample made up by presidents and trainers of 112 amateur sports clubs in the province of Salerno, a city in Southern Italy. The survey includes two thematic sections. The first section presents 6 items, common for both presidents and trainers, about the various social and educational issues related to the practice of the sport. The second section presents 4 items, that analyse the contribution that the U.S. Salernitana 1919 football club, considered as a “public good”, brings to the territory in terms of economic and social return. Validity and reliability were calculated. The collected data were analysed using the Chi-square (χ2) test to check the correlation between the responses given by the stakeholders. Results.The results show a concordance of opinions among the stakeholders regarding the most relevant educational aspects related to the practice of football, and the major critical issues involving the youth academy of U.S. Salernitana 1919 football club. Conclusions. These results highlight the stakeholders’ full awareness of the potential positive social effects of the presence of football ASDs in the territory, even considering the limitations of the study sample and the territorially circumscribed objective of the research

Heuristic Learning as a Method for Improving Students’ Teamwork Skills in Physical Education

Transversal skills are the knowledge, skills, and personal qualities that are currently needed to meet the demands of the working world and everyday life. Schools have the task of equipping students with these skills, working not only on disciplinary goals but also on operational–behavioral goals. In 2018, the European Union adopted new recommendations on eight key competencies for lifelong learning and asked schools to implement new methods to develop these recommendations. To be successful, it is necessary to stimulate students’ development of these competences, which are also called soft skills, from the earliest years of the school experience. Physical education (PE) is called upon to make its contribution. In Italy, the two teaching methods used during PE classes are prescriptive teaching and heuristic learning. It is not clear which of the two methods is the most effective in improving soft skills, especially the skills involved in teamwork. The objective of this article was to compare the effects of these two teaching methods on students’ teamwork skills during PE classes in primary schools. After verifying the normality of the data, a Student’s t-test for dependent samples was performed to assess pre-test and post-test differences in each of two groups, while a Student’s t-test for independent samples was performed to compare the two groups after 3 months. Heuristic learning proved to be the most effective method for improving teamwork skills. The results may make an important contribution to future teacher training on the most effective teaching methods for developing students’ soft skills