The Effect of Motivational Highlight DVDs on State Self-Confidence in Elite Female Hockey Players

Formal coach education programmes, driven by the national governing bodies of individual sports, have for many years been regarded as essential in the development of competent, qualified coaches. However, more recent opinion suggests that such coach education is actually ‘‘low impact’’ in comparison to the hours individual aspirant coach’s spend coaching, being coached or participating (Rossi & Cassidy, 1999: Learning and teaching in physical education. London: Falmer). It appears the literature is, in part, implying that experiential learning has greater significance over formal education programmes. The aim of this study was to investigate the educational journey of a sample of paddlesport coaches by addressing why coaches chose to enter formal coach education programmes

Assessing the metabolic demands of women's hockey

The metabolic demands for women hockey players (n=12) were estimated during real match play using heart rate analysis and time-motion analysis. An individual heart rate - oxygen uptake regression equation, established at steady state workloads on the treadmill, was applied to heart rates recorded throughout the match to estimate energy expenditure. A specific energy cost was assigned to each of nine discrete activities to give an energy cost for the whole match. The mean estimated energy cost for a complete match from heart rate analysis was 3873 +/-436 kj and from time-motion analysis, 2846 +/-284 kJ. In order to check the errors in these methodologies expired air was collected continually during 15 minutes intermittent activity on a treadmill (n=16) with the heart rates and work : rest ratios similar to those established in the earlier part of the study. The error in the use of heart rate to estimate energy expenditure was 3.7 +/-5.1% and for time-motion analysis was 16.6 +/-4.8%, when compared with the measured value from the analysis of expired air. It was concluded that heart rate gave a good estimation of energy expenditure during intermittent activity at workloads similar to women's hockey. In order to gain a greater insight into the metabolic demands of women's hockey both heart rate and time-motion analysis need to be applied simultaneously. The heart rate analysis suggested that the estimated energy expenditure was similar during the first and second halves, hi contrast the time-motion analysis established that less time was spent in high intensity activity during the second half. Women's hockey is played at greater intensities than previously reported with no differences in the metabolic demands when related to specific player positions

‘Priming’ exercise and O2 uptake kinetics during treadmill running

We tested the hypothesis that priming exercise would speed kinetics during treadmill running. Eight subjects completed a square-wave protocol, involving two bouts of treadmill running at 70% of the difference between the running speeds at lactate threshold (LT) and max, separated by 6-min of walking at 4 km h−1, on two occasions. Oxygen uptake was measured breath-by-breath and subsequently modelled using non-linear regression techniques. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were significantly elevated prior to the second exercise bout compared to the first. However, kinetics was not significantly different between the first and second exercise bouts (mean ± S.D., phase II time constant, Bout 1: 16 ± 3 s vs. Bout 2: 16 ± 4 s; slow component amplitude, Bout 1: 0.24 ± 0.10 L min−1vs. Bout 2: 0.20 ± 0.12 L min−1; mean response time, Bout 1: 34 ± 4 s vs. Bout 2: 34 ± 6 s; P > 0.05 for all comparisons). These results indicate that, contrary to previous findings with other exercise modalities, priming exercise does not alter kinetics during high-intensity treadmill running, at least in physically active young subjects. We speculate that the relatively fast kinetics and the relatively small slow component in the control (‘un-primed’) condition negated any enhancement of kinetics by priming exercise in this exercise modality

Interpretation of the physiological monitoring of an international swimmer

It remains contentious whether improvements in the swimming speed at various lactate concentrations coincide with improvements in competitive performances. A lack of longitudinal data exists to confirm this premise. This case study presents data for a world-class 200-m male breaststroke swimmer from a sports science support programme over a three-year period. Eleven (7 × 200-m) Step tests were undertaken during this period. Seven of the Step tests occurred within two-three weeks of a competition performance. Rank order correlation demonstrated that higher race speeds coincided significantly (P < 0.1) with higher speeds at blood lactate concentrations of 4 mM (? = 0.95), 6 mM (? = 1), 8 mM (? = 0.95). Data were observed to fluctuate following periods of overreaching, detraining and also due to poor nutritional practice. It was concluded that changes in the speed at various blood lactate concentrations can inform the coaching process, but only when measured alongside other parameters and where an in-depth knowledge of the swimmer's health and training status is available