Reliability of mechanical sprint profiles in state U16 female basketball athletes

BLUF: Mechanical sprint characteristics produce acceptable trial to trial reliability in state U16 female basketball athletes. INTRODUCTION: Sprint acceleration is a key component of basketball performance that occurs frequently during competition that is commonly measured over various distances using timing gates. Sprint profiling is a topical area of research that provides practitioners an insight into the underlying mechanical characteristics that contributed to the performance. These include theoretical maximal force, theoretical maximal velocity, maximum power, slope of the force velocity relationship, maximum ratio of force, decrease in ratio of force and max speed. This study aimed to investigate the reliability of mechanical sprint characteristics in state U16 female basketball athletes

Sprint acceleration characteristics across the Australian football participation pathway

The aim of this study was to compare the force, velocity and power profiles of a maximal sprint acceleration through different competition levels of the Australian Football (AF) participation pathway. One hundred and sixty-two junior AF athletes across five competition levels including State under 18’s (ST 18), State under 16’s (ST 16), local under 18’s (LOC 18), local under 15’s (LOC 15), and local under 14’s (LOC 14) participated in this cross-sectional study. Velocity-time data from maximal sprint accelerations were analysed to derive athlete’s sprint acceleration characteristics and split times. ST 18 showed a more force-orientated profile than the LOC 18 with moderate differences in relative theoretical maximal force (F0) (7.54%), absolute F0 (10.51%), and slope of the force–velocity relationship (Sf-v) (9.27%). Similarly, small differences were found between ST 18 and ST 16 in relative F0 (4.79%) and Sf-v (6.28%). Moderate to extremely large differences were observed between players competing in older (ST 18, LOC 18, ST 16) compared to younger (LOC 15, LOC 14) competition levels highlighting the potential influence of biological maturation. It is recommended that practitioners working with junior AF players to consider developing a force-orientated sprint acceleration profile to improve sprinting performance

Sprint acceleration force-velocity-power characteristics in drafted vs non-drafted junior Australian football players: Preliminary results

This investigation aimed to compare the maximal sprint acceleration profiles of drafted and non-drafted elite junior Australian football (AF) players. Nineteen players (10 drafted and 9 non-drafted) from an elite junior AF state team participated in this study. Instantaneous velocity was measured via radar gun during maximal 30 m sprints. The velocity-time data were analysed to derive individual force-velocity-power characteristics and sprint times. No significant differences existed between groups, however drafted players reached moderately faster maximum velocity (Hedges’ g = 0.70 [-0.08; 1.48] and theoretical maximum velocity (g = 0.65 [-0.13; 1.42]) than non-drafted players indicating a superior ability to apply higher amounts of force at increasing sprinting velocity. Further, drafted players produced moderately higher absolute theoretical maximum force (g = 0.72 [-0.06; 1.50]) and absolute maximum power (g = 0.83 [0.04; 1.62]) which reflects their moderately higher body mass (g = 0.61[-0.16;1.38]). Although not significant, in this sample of elite junior AF players, those drafted into the AFL displayed greater absolute sprint acceleration characteristics and maximal velocity capabilities than their non-drafted counterparts (moderate effect size). Whether force-velocity-power characteristics can be more beneficial in differentiating sprint performance of elite junior Australian footballers compared to the traditional sprint time approach warrants further investigation with a larger sample size

Monitoring and managing fatigue in basketball

The sport of basketball exposes athletes to frequent high intensity movements including sprinting, jumping, accelerations, decelerations and changes of direction during training and competition which can lead to acute and accumulated chronic fatigue. Fatigue may affect the ability of the athlete to perform over the course of a lengthy season. The ability of practitioners to quantify the workload and subsequent fatigue in basketball athletes in order to monitor and manage fatigue levels may be beneficial in maintaining high levels of performance and preventing unfavorable physical and physiological training adaptations. There is currently limited research quantifying training or competition workload outside of time motion analysis in basketball. In addition, systematic research investigating methods to monitor and manage athlete fatigue in basketball throughout a season is scarce. To effectively optimize and maintain peak training and playing performance throughout a basketball season, potential workload and fatigue monitoring strategies need to be discussed

Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: beyond education and training of practitioners

This is the accepted version of the following article: [Freeman, T., Edwards, T., Baum, F., Lawless, A., Jolley, G., Javanparast, S. and Francis, T. (2014), Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: beyond education and training of practitioners. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38: 355–361. ], which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12231. This item was under embargo for a period of 12 months from the date of publication, in accordance with the publisher's policy.Objective. There is little literature on health service level strategies for culturally respectful care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. We conducted two case studies: , one Aboriginal community controlled, and one state government managed primary health care service to examine cultural respect strategies, client experiences, and barriers to cultural respect. Methods. Data were drawn from 22 interviews with staff from both services, and four community assessment workshops, with a total of 21 clients. Results. Staff and clients at both services reported positive appraisals of the achievement of cultural respects. Strategies included being grounded in a social view of health, including advocacy and addressing social determinants, employing Aboriginal staff, creating a welcoming service, supporting access through transport, outreach, and walk-in centres, and integrating cultural protocol. Barriers included communication difficulties, racism and discrimination, and externally developed programs. Conclusions. Service level strategies were necessary to achieving cultural respect. These strategies have the potential to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing. Implications. Primary health care’s social determinants of health mandate, the community controlled model, and the development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce need to be supported to ensure a culturally respectful health system

Stories in a Beespoon : Exploring Future Folklore through Design

This paper explores the role and potential for design as process, artefact and experience to help frame and address societal problems. We consider this through examining a future folklore dialogical object, designed to stimulate conversation and question assumptions. Beekeeping is a particularly rich context with which to adopt this methodological approach, given the significance of global threats to insect pollination aligned with beekeeping’s extensive cultural heritage. By drawing on past narratives and contemporary knowledge and practices, the Beespoon, a small copper spoon representing the amount of honey a single bee can make, was codesigned as an experience that actively engaged people with concepts of work, value and pollination. Our design process oscillated across past, present and future stories – the Beespoon as future folklore artefact and experience reflects this complexity, operating across time and value systems to provide new ways to think about how we perceive and understand bees

Service providers' views of community participation at six Australian primary healthcare services: scope for empowerment and challenges to implementation

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Freeman, T., Baum, F.E., Jolley, G.M., Lawless, A., Edwards, T., Javanparast, S., & Ziersch, A. (2014). Service providers’ views of community participation at six Australian primary health care services: Scope for empowerment and challenges to implementation. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Early View, DOI: 10.1002/hpm.225], which has been published in final form at DOI:10.1002/hpm.2253. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Community participation is a key principle of comprehensive primary health care (PHC). There is little literature on how community participation is implemented at Australian PHC services. As part of a wider study conducted in partnership with five South Australian PHC services, and one Aboriginal community controlled health service in the Northern Territory, 68 staff, manager, regional health executives and departmental funders were interviewed about community participation, perceived benefits, and factors that influenced implementation. Additional data was collected through analysis of policy documents, service reports on activity, and a web-based survey completed by 130 staff. A variety of community participation strategies was reported, ranging from consultation and participation as a means to improve service quality and acceptability, through to substantive and structural participation strategies with an emphasis on empowerment. The Aboriginal community controlled health service in our study reported the most comprehensive community participation. Respondents from all were positive about the benefits of participation, but reported that efforts to involve service users had to compete with a centrally directed model of care emphasising individual treatment services, particularly at state-managed services. More empowering substantive and structural participation strategies were less common than consultation or participation used to achieve prescribed goals. The most commonly reported barriers to community participation were budget and lack of flexibility in service delivery. The current central control of the state-managed services needs to be replaced with more local management decision making if empowering community participation is to be strengthened and embedded more effectively in the culture of services