Redemptive failure in contemporary American sports literature

This thesis explores America’s fascination with its own sports as purveyors of national identity. American literature has found unique inspiration in sporting competition, not only depicting professional athletes, but drawing from the experiences of fans and amateurs. While the athlete’s heroism and eventual fall has been analysed in previous discussions of this topic, my route of inquiry positions decline and defeat as more central and complex concepts. The focus of this thesis is on the remarkably diverse ways in which contemporary writers reimagine aspects of sporting failure both for their characters and within their own creative process. The centrality of failure seems an affront to the United States’ celebration of success and victory. However, the common strand in the most ambitious contemporary sports writing is to portray experiences of loss and failure as paradoxical routes to self-affirmation. Postmodern writing on sports has taken from the drama and narrative implicit in sporting contest, but uses this framework to question ideas of masculinity, ethnicity, memory and myth. The writers I discuss incorporate failure into these themes to arrive at points of redemptive discovery

'Drive to drink!'

This paper will examine children’s understanding of when to drink. The Natural Hydration Council (2017) proposed that children do not always recognise the early stages of thirst and this can mean that they are vulnerable to becoming dehydrated. Kenney and Chiu (2001) earlier found that children rarely exhibit voluntary dehydration for activities lasting 45 minutes or less. Therefore, it could be proposed that children will not often exhibit the ‘drive to drink’ or express themselves as wanting a drink after physical education lessons, as most physical education lessons in England and Ireland last approximately 40-45 minutes. Previous research has considered what children are drinking at mealtimes, (UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey) and focused on the water consumption of children during secondary aged children. A study in France (Bonnet et al. 2012) suggested that more than two-thirds of children aged 9-11 years were not drinking enough. This paper focuses on young children, and their understanding of when to drink in relationship to physical activity and physical education classes. It is hypothesised in this paper that children do not understand when to drink to remain hydrated, before, within and after physical education classes. This paper will examine the children’s understanding and make comparisons to how much children should drink according to the total amount of fluids recommended for the different ages according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The results will also make comparisons between ages, gender and location of the children and analyse if there are similarities or differences between the two countries. The paper will offer innovative perspectives on children’s understanding of when they are driven to drink or not and help practitioners and teachers to support the children’s physical activity, health and wellbeing allowing them to stay hydrated within, before and after physical education and physical activity

International comparison of children’s knowledge, barriers and reported fluid intake across the school day.

Background To date, no research has explicitly examined children’s knowledge and consumption of fluids at school, particularly during times of exercise (physical education (PE)). Methods Between May and July, 2018, 322 (213 females, 104 males; mean age = 8 years 5 months, SD ± 2 years 1 month) elementary school children from Ireland (n=237) and England (n=85) completed a questionnaire on their understanding of fluid intake and how much they perceived they drank on days when they did/did not participate in PE. Results Younger (<9 years) English children were most thirsty at the end of the school (68%), compared to younger and older (≥9 years) Irish children who were most thirsty after (38% <9 years; 39% ≥9 years) or during (21% < 9 years; 21% ≥9 years) PE. In both countries for <9 year olds, similar amounts were consumed on days when they did, and did not, partake in PE with 41% of all participants reporting intakes below daily guidelines. No child, of any age, was correct at predicting what their fluid intake should be on days when they took part in PE. Conclusion Young children in England and Ireland do not understand fluid recommendations, especially the increased need for fluid on days when they partake in PE. Further objective research is needed to ascertain whether actual fluid intake in children matches perceived intakes and whether the structure of the school day, and intensity levels of PE lessons, influence these intakes. Additional research needs to gauge the importance of the teacher and how they are a key influencer in supporting children in their learning of how, why and when to drink

The forgotten age group: The need for targeted physical activity and healthy lifestyle promotion for older adolescents

Introduction Globally, limited research has examined healthy lifestyle promotion for older adolescents (16–18 years), yet habitual healthy lifestyles can be developed at this time. Most initiatives have been aimed at adults or younger children and research has highlighted England to be up to ten tears behind other countries in prioritising health education (Berkman et al., 2010). This research aims to examine older adolescents’ knowledge and understanding of healthy lifestyle [nutrition and physical activity (PA)] recommendations and compare these to their self-reported PA, active transportation, active leisure and food intake. It will also ask their experiences of how healthy lifestyles are promoted to them. Method Ninety-three participants (39M; 54F) (M age=16.9, SD=.40 years), from 3 low socio-economic English high schools completed an online questionnaire on their self-reported: (1) daily physical activity (PA); (2) active transportation (AT); (3) active leisure time (AL); (4) food intake; (5) experiences of healthy lifestyles promotion; and (6) perceived healthiness. Questions were merged from both the validated Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) (WHO, 2004) and the Short Form Food Frequency Questionnaire (SFFFQ) (Cleghorn & Cade, 2017). To examine perceived healthiness, participants rated their overall health on a 5-point scale over the past 12 months. Daily PA, active transport, active leisure and how participants felt healthy lifestyles were promoted to them, were asked via open-ended questions. The SFFFQ was used to generate a food group score [via the Diet and Nutrition Tool for Evaluation (Cleghorn & Cade, 2017)], which were then added together to create an overall diet quality score (DQS). Data analysis was undertaken within SPSS 24.0 (IBM Corp, Armok, NY, USA). A multi-variance of statistical analysis (MANOVA) assessed group differences across multiple dependent variables of the food group scores and overall DQS. GPAQ questions were analysed individually according to demographics: sex, and perceived healthiness. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then undertaken for each question to assess the group differences per element of PA. Thematic analysis was used to analyse all open-ended questions. Statistical significance was set at <.05. Results Only 60% reached PA recommended guidelines. Yet, 92% (n=86) used active travel for a least 10 mins continuously; of these, 86% (n=80) undertook this at least 5 days per week. Over half (51%, n=47) undertook MVPA as active leisure. However, 66% (n=61) spent ≥5 hours sedentary and only 17% (n=16) met recommended nutritional guidelines for health. Males who rated themselves as having poor health had eaten the recommended intakes of fat (1.00±.00), compared to females who rated themselves as having poor health but ate more than the recommended intakes of fat (2.60±.89). Nearly all participants (90%, n=80) did not report school as a place that promoted healthy lifestyles. Discussion As a public health measure and an educational policy matter, it is recommended schools implement more targeted PA and healthy eating initiatives for older adolescents. Further research is also needed to examine male older adolescents’ health literacy to get a deeper insight into their understanding and application of information relating to their health. References Berkman, N. D., Davis, T. C., & McCormack, L. (2010). Health literacy: what is it? Journal of Health Communication, 15(S2), 9-19. Cleghorn, C., & Cade, J. (2017). Short Form Food Frequency Questionnaire. Available online: https://www.nutritools.org/tools/ World Health Organization (2004). Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland

Teachers' perceptions and understanding of children's fluid intake

No public health data exists on elementary teachers’ perceptions of both their own fluid intake and of their elementary school aged children’s fluid intake. A total of 271 (20 males, 251 females) teachers in developed areas of Australia, Belgium, England, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America completed an online questionnaire (Feb–Mar 2019) on: (i) their fluid intake, (ii) their perception and understanding of children’s fluid intake and (iii) barriers in the school day that they felt prevented school children consuming fluids. Overall, the data indicated that teachers consume considerably lower amounts than recommended themselves, but have a good awareness of children’s fluid intake and estimate children drink approximately half (1 litre (34% n = 93)) of what is recommended per day. The results were also similar to those reported by children previously. Yet, the data highlighted a lack of active encouragement of drinking water throughout the school day by teachers, with only 11% (n = 29) suggesting they actively encourage children to drink and 45% (n = 123) reporting no active encouragement at all. It is recommended as a public health measure that all school children consume an extra cup of water during lunch times in those schools where water intake was recognized as sub optimal. Furthermore, depending on weather conditions, a cup of water before, during and after Physical Education lessons should be encouraged by teachers. Water coolers or bottles may be used as a supplementary resource, provided that hygiene is maintained. From an educational perspective, more professional development needs to be provided to teachers on the importance of regular water consumption, and more time dedicated across the elementary curriculum to educational understanding of fluid consumption

Children's perceived and actual physical activity levels within the elementary school setting

To date, little research has longitudinally examined young children’s physical activity (PA) during school hours, nor questioned children’s perceptions of their own PA behaviours. This study investigated 20 children’s actual physical activity levels (APA) and their perceived physical activity levels (PPA) (10 infants, mean age 6.6 years; 10 juniors, mean age 9.5 years). APA was evaluated using accelerometers across 36 whole school days (371 min per day); 18 days included Physical Education (PE) lessons and 18 did not. A repeated-measures three-factor ANOVA analysed: type of day; age phase; parts of the day and sex. PPA was collected by an interactive handset and an adapted version of the PA Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C). Participants undertook 10 more minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) on PE days (53 ± 19 min) compared to non-PE days (43 ± 15 min) (F = 92.32, p < 0.05) and only junior boys reached daily MVPA recommendations (60 ± 13 min) on PE days. Juniors over-estimated, and infants under-estimated, their APA levels. Educators need more support to teach and embed different PA intensities into the school day to enable children to better understand the health benefits associated with varying the intensity of their PA during school hours

Student experiences of learning how to teach primary physical education during the Covid-19 pandemic

This paper offers a snapshot into the unexpected and yet positive results of a small-scale survey about learning to teach Physical Education within initial teacher education and school-based settings. It shares data from four institutions about how pre-service teachers explained their learning and teaching experiences within Physical Education during the COVID-19 pandemic, often working within a number of social and physical restrictions and teaching within enforced bubbles

Mesoscale observations of Joule heating near an auroral arc and ion-neutral collision frequency in the polar cap E region

We report on the first mesoscale combined ionospheric and thermospheric observations, partly in the vicinity of an auroral arc, from Svalbard in the polar cap on 2 February 2010. The EISCAT Svalbard radar employed a novel scanning mode in order to obtain F and E region ion flows over an annular region centered on the radar. Simultaneously, a colocated Scanning Doppler Imager observed the E region neutral winds and temperatures around 110 km altitude using the 557.7 nm auroral optical emission. Combining the ion and neutral data permits the E region Joule heating to be estimated with an azimuthal spatial resolution of ∼64 km at a radius of ∼163 km from the radar. The spatial distribution of Joule heating shows significant mesoscale variation. The ion-neutral collision frequency is measured in the E region by combining all the data over the entire field of view with only weak aurora present. The estimated ion-neutral collision frequency at ∼113 km altitude is in good agreement with the MSIS atmospheric model