The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training of athletes with disabilities in the 7-a-side football championship

This study had as its main objective to investigate the difference in training programs carried out in athletes with disabilities practicing 7-a-side football before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The two sporting seasons taken into consideration concerned the 2018/19 season and the 2020/2021 season. The study was conducted on ten disabled athletes belonging to a football school in Campania, Italy. The comparison between the two sports seasons is given in numerical terms by the statistical comparison of the results of the adapted motor tests concerning aerobic capacity and conditional capacities, which were administered to the athletes at the beginning and at the end of both sports seasons. From this comparison, in both seasons, minor improvements in the 2020/2021 season were found in athletes, between the entry and exit tests. It can be said that the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, concerning social distancing and the interruption of sports activities, have played a primary role in the decline in the improvement of athletes with disabilities for 7-a-side football in the 2020/2021 sports season

The educational value of the rules in handball

The game rules of team sports and the technical and tactical methods applicable to them are indispensable for practicing competitive sports. The correct competition arose from the automatic mechanism of the sanction following the infringement of a game rule which is also aided by the relational dynamics of the individual members of the group who demand the application of the rule to continue playing. The competition can also be self-regulated by the two groups who compete for the victory without even the decisive action of the referee as always happens in training activities. This phenomenon is found only in those contexts where the rule is necessary and alone sufficient to ensure the orderly development of activities. The objective of the study is to identify the significant elements of the handball game rules, and the related technical and tactical behaviours, to identify an inventory of significant behaviours. The method is documentary archival research for the analysis of the game rules of the team sport in question, and a subsequent comparative method between grids of indicators, descriptors and weights that classify rule, technique and tactics. The expected results will focus on the appropriate presence of the significant elements and the commonality or discrepancy between team sports. The data is useful for measuring the quantity of significant behaviours in order to qualitatively elaborate the value of each of them with respect to the other current behaviours of quantitative performance and establish the connections

Posture and skeletal muscle disorders of the neck due to the use of smartphones

The aim of the research is to verify some variables on the use of the smartphone, associated with musculoskeletal pain and any other data that amplify its dependence or use. Smartphones have become an integral part of many people's lives. Most of the kids spend their days sharing photos, stories, videos about their daily lives such as lunches, trainings, travels, shopping. In short, there is an endless list of reasons to be mentally and physically connected to smartphones. However, how much does the excessive use of smartphones affect your body? The widespread abuse of mobile technology can be translated into a physical condition harmful to the human body, known as "Text Neck". Incorrect posture due to incorrect use of the smartphone, flexing the head to send messages and excessive time spent in this position, over time can lead to the presence of musculoskeletal pain in the neck region. A questionnaire of 14 questions, prepared with Google Modules and disseminated through sharing on social networks and it, was submitted to 334 university students of different gender and age. Descriptive statistics was conducted to evaluate the responses obtained from the subjects. The percentage of responses for each question was calculated

Physical education in secondary higher school

Teaching of motor activities in secondary higher school imposes a prescriptive teaching through unidirectional methodological-didactic decisions: teacher directs and the student performs. Improving performance through skills improvement and the structuring of new skills through exercise requires the adoption of a less prescriptive methodology and allowing the student to express himself with greater freedom and awareness to facilitate heuristic learning according to the motor principle by Bernstein of executive variability. Physical education doesn’t have the scientific basis in knowledge as for other theoretical knowledge because the scientific paradigm of corporeality and movement is based on doing and acting. In agreement with the scientific pedagogical community, we ask ourselves about the most appropriate methodology to educate the body with the movement in a habilitative sense, the person through the body for a training of the person (life skills) and strive for the person's well-being through movement (soft skills). This vision seems to be tempered in the documents of physical education up to the first-grade secondary school and seems to change in secondary higher school, when a higher level of education is required. Alongside this prescription, reasonably useful for raising the levels of motor ability of individual services the problem of individual performance in groups arises to achieve the common goal (sports game), where along with significant skill levels, the best and fastest possible decision is also needed. For this necessity, the methodology of the "Teaching games for understanding" comes to the rescue, which contemplates the tactical part together with the enabling one

Vivere l’esperienza della “leggerezza”: uno studio qualitativo sulla percezione dell’acquagym in un gruppo di donne anziane

Literature has pointed out physical and psychological benefits of water based exercises (WBEs) for the elderly; however, few studies have investigated how old adults perceive those activities. This study was aimed at exploring the elder’s perception of WBEs, which brings the old adult to apply for an aqua-gymcourse and to successfully continue it. According to the aim, we opted for a Grounded Theory study, conducted in three swimming pools placed in the urban area of Milan (Italy) and in its suburbs. Forty women (age 72.4La letteratura ha segnalato i benefici fisici e psicologici dell’esercizio in acqua per gli anziani; tuttavia, pochissimi studi hanno analizzato come essi percepiscano questa attività. Questo studio si è proposto di esplorare le percezioni dell’anziano, cosa lo porta a iscriversi a un corso di acquagym e a continuare a frequentarlo. Coerentemente con la finalità della ricerca, abbiamo optato per il metodo della Grounded Theory. Lo studio si è svolto in tre piscine dell’area urbana di Milano e comuni limitrofi. Sono state intervistate 40 donne (età 72.

Removing the division into categories between cycling and para-cycling (Handbike category H) by designing a single performance and training activity

Cycling and all categories of para-cycling including Handbike are cyclical sports, that is, sports characterized using a specific skill, continuous skill. To separate competitions between cyclists and paracyclists, there is a classification system. The study in aims to design one activity performance and training, to eliminate the division into categories between cycling and para-cycling (Handbike), since this does not favour the integration and sporting inclusion of the two groups of athletes. The differences in performance will be identified between: cyclists and paracyclists with spinal cord injury or amputation of the lower limbs (H). Then will proceed to design and verify an activity capable of making the two categories compete and train together, eliminating the differences in performance through the use of a "counterweight" and using a mixed training, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and Endurance. The sample taken into consideration is composed of 5 cyclists and 5 paracyclists (H) aged between 19 and 38 years. To achieve the goal, the study was based on the method of analysing the scientific literature, detecting the various parameters in the race and using mathematical statistical methods, such as Multiple Regression and the T-Test for independent samples. The analysis of the results of this study shows that; between cyclists and para-cyclists who participated, there are substantial differences in performance, thanks to the data obtained from multiple regression, in which we find an R-squared value that is .999975008, also the only positive coefficient among the independent variables is that of power (6.760634791). This means that of all the reported values, it is the only one that directly affects performance

Physical education in secondary higher school

Teaching of motor activities in secondary higher school imposes a prescriptive teaching through unidirectional methodological-didactic decisions: teacher directs and the student performs. Improving performance through skills improvement and the structuring of new skills through exercise requires the adoption of a less prescriptive methodology and allowing the student to express himself with greater freedom and awareness to facilitate heuristic learning according to the motor principle by Bernstein of executive variability. Physical education doesn’t have the scientific basis in knowledge as for other theoretical knowledge because the scientific paradigm of corporeality and movement is based on doing and acting. In agreement with the scientific pedagogical community, we ask ourselves about the most appropriate methodology to educate the body with the movement in a habilitative sense, the person through the body for a training of the person (life skills) and strive for the person's well-being through movement (soft skills). This vision seems to be tempered in the documents of physical education up to the first-grade secondary school and seems to change in secondary higher school, when a higher level of education is required. Alongside this prescription, reasonably useful for raising the levels of motor ability of individual services the problem of individual performance in groups arises to achieve the common goal (sports game), where along with significant skill levels, the best and fastest possible decision is also needed. For this necessity, the methodology of the "Teaching games for understanding" comes to the rescue, which contemplates the tactical part together with the enabling one

Self-physical and emotional perception in water polo for drop out

To try to have a global view of the phenomenon of abandonment, we must ask ourselves what are the main reasons and psychological dynamics that convince a child to start any sport activity. In Italy, unfortunately, it is not always the children who choose the physical and sporting activity to practice, but often it is the parents and this is a serious mistake and could be one of the causes of abandonment at an early age. Sport activity in adolescence, especially practiced at a competitive level, is grafted on ground rich in interpersonal reversals and existential problems, going to affect intrapsychic dynamism and acting on the ability to control the ego and the unconscious dynamics that in this period undergo massive readjustments. The aim of the study is to study, in different groups of athletes (7-12 years, 13-17 years, 17-30 years) of water polo, how they deal emotionally and physically with the physical and emotional workloads and especially if you find physical and mental well-being. The method of the study is qualitative/quantitative and the administration of 10 questions: 5 to identify the physical self-perception and 5 for the emotional one, is done anonymously. The data shows that the self-perception for physical performance is on average positive and the self-perception for motivation performance is on average negative. This data is significant for the perceptive state of the athletes to whom it is necessary to refer in order to face the problem realistically. Given the data and their significance, the study must be deepened with a more significant and detailed sample of data

Effects of Musical Classes on Motor Creativity According to Age, Sex, and Weight Status in Young Students: A Music-Oriented versus Conventional Education Plan

Motor creativity can be influenced by the specificity of the school–class environments (music-based education plans) and individual characteristics. This study aimed to investigate the effects of music oriented and conventional education plans on rhythmic perceptive capacity, motor creativity, and skill- and health-related fitness components in young students according to age, sex, and weight status. One hundred sixty-three young Italian students from elementary (second and fourth grade) and middle school (sixth and eighth grade) were enrolled in the study according to their education plan (music oriented or conventional). All participants were tested for rhythmic perceptive capacity (Stambak’s test), motor creativity (Divergent Movement Ability test), skill-related (Körperkoordinationstest Für Kinder), and health-related (Multistage Fitness test) components. Individuals were also considered according to age (elementary and middle school), sex, and weight status. Significant age × education plan and sex × education plan interactions (p < 0.01) were found in motor creativity (locomotor and stability skills) and motor competence (balance and jumping-like activities). No significant weight status × education plan interaction was found. The predominant role of music in the music-oriented education plan appeared to foster the ability to enhance motor creativity in elementary and middle school students compared to the conventional plan. Moreover, music-oriented experience also seems relevant for expressing and exhibiting motor competence (i.e., balance) in relation to sex

Acute effects of a combat sport environment on self-control and pain perception inhibition: a preliminary study in a new ecological framework

Intense sports activities affect cognitive, perceptual, and physiological domains, possibly concurring in reducing pain perception and anxiety. Within a framework for a new socio-ecological narrative that considers opposition (such as fighting) and collaboration (cooperative learning) as carriers of self-control and pain perception inhibition, we investigated the acute effects of a judo-specific session on cognitive (inhibitory control and simple reaction time), perceptual (pain and fatigue), affective (anxiety) and physiological (hormone profile) domains. Eleven male black belt judokas (age 39.0 ± 13.9 years; training experience: 23.2 ± 14.4 years) were recruited and tested before and after judo randori and resting sessions. Inhibitory control and simple reaction time were assessed via the Flanker task and clinical reaction time test, pain and fatigue were assessed using Borg’s category-ratio scale (CR-10), and the state–trait anxiety inventory Y-1 test assessed anxiety. Glucose, insulin, cortisol, creatinine, and irisin levels were measured. Cognitive performance, perception of fatigue and physiological variables increased after randori bouts, while pain decreased. Inhibitory control, perception of pain, perception of fatigue and glucose, cortisol, and creatinine significantly differed (p &lt; 0.05) between randori and resting sessions. A high-intensity randori may induce acute beneficial effects on cognitive, perceptual, and physiological domains. Further studies should compare the results with the outcomes from a collaborative and non-agonist environment and confirm the socio-ecologic framework