The educational value of the rules in volleyball

The rules of team sports and the technical and tactical methods applicable to them are essential for competitive sports. The correct competition is triggered by the automatic mechanism of the sanction following the violation of a rule of the game which is also helped 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 that compete for the victory without even the direct action of the referee as always happens in training activities. This phenomenon can be found only in those contexts where the rule is necessary and alone sufficient to ensure the orderly development of the activities. The objective of the study is to identify in the individual team sports the significant elements of the rules of the game and the related technical and tactical behaviours and to identify an inventory of significant behaviours. The method is the documental archive research for the analysis of the rules of individual team sports, a subsequent comparative method between grids of indicators, descriptors and weights that classify rule, technique and tactics. The expected results will focus on the congruent presence of the significant elements and the commonality or discordance between team sports. The data is useful to measure 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 to establish the connections. Subsequently, self-perception requests can be given to practitioners (athletes and students) on the specific connections between the need for the rule and its application in order to be able to play sportively at the highest levels with gratification and satisfaction. The results are useful for possible reflections and focus on the reproducibility of the investigated mechanism to other social activities through educational and formative action

The formative value of soccer rules

The rules of the game of football and the technical and tactical methods applicable to them are indispensable for playing sports in a competitive way. The correct competition was born from the automatic mechanism of the sanction following the violation of a game rule, which is also favoured by the relational dynamics of the individual members of the group who claim the application of the rule to continue playing. The competition can also be self-regulated by the two groups that 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 sufficient on its own to guarantee the orderly development of the activities. The aim of the study is to identify significant elements of the game rules and related technical and tactical behaviours in football and to identify an inventory of significant behaviours. The method is documentary archival research for the analysis of the rules of individual team sports, 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 significant elements and commonality or discordance. The data are useful for measuring the amount of significant behaviours for qualitative processing of the value of each of them compared to other current behaviours of quantitative performance and for establishing connections. Subsequently, requests for self-perception can be administered to practitioners (athletes and students) on the specific connections between the need for the rule and its application in order to play sportily at the highest levels with gratification and satisfaction. The results are useful for any reflection and attention to the reproducibility of the mechanism studied for other social activities through an educational and training action

The effects of match-playing aspects and situational variables on achieving score-box possessions in Euro 2012 Football Championship

The aim of this study was to examine the independent and interactive effects of several match-playing aspects and situational variables on the probability of achieving score-box possessions in the 2012 European Championship. The non-clinical magnitude-based inferences method was used to interpret the true effect of the performance indicators on the response variable. The logistic regression analysis in univariate perspective showed that the probability of achieving score-box possessions was greater in the second half than in the first (OR: 1.23, P<0.05, very likely positive effect), but it was lower when a team performed a direct attack rather than a possession play (OR: 0.49, P< 0.001, most likely negative effect), when the possession started in the right path of the field than in the left (OR: 0.69, P < 0.01, most likely negative effect), and when a team played against highest ranked team (from very to most likely negative effect). In multivariate perspective, the negative effect of the direct attack to the probability of achieving score-box possessions was confirmed, and an interactive effect showed that this outcome was greater in the knockout phase of the tournament than in the relative group-stage (OR: 0.62, P< 0.05, very likely negative effect)

Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitors, Sport and Doping

Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i) (e.g., sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, and avanafil) are drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. PDE5i are not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) but are alleged to be frequently misused by healthy athletes to improve sporting performance. In vitro and in vivo studies have reported various effects of PDE5i on cardiovascular, muscular, metabolic, and neuroendocrine systems and the potential, therefore, to enhance performance of healthy athletes during training and competition. This suggests well-controlled research studies to examine the ergogenic effects of PDE5i on performance during activities that simulate real sporting situations are warranted to determine if PDE5i should be included on the prohibited WADA list. In the meantime, there is concern that some otherwise healthy athletes will continue to misuse PDE5i to gain an unfair competitive advantage over their competitors

Tactical Games Model as curriculum approach at elementary school: Effects on in-game volleyball technical improvements

Objective: To assess the effects of a tactical games model (TGM) instructional plan on technical volleyball performances of elementary school students by taking into account for sex. Method: Thirty-nine fourth-grade students participated in a 15-week unit developed according to TGM. Their improvements in technical in-game skills were assessed by means of Team Sport Assessment Procedure indexes: volume of play, efficiency index, and performance score. A 2(sex) x 3(time) ANOVA with repeated measure was used to verify the students’ improvements. Effect size measures were used to interpret main effects and post-hoc analysis. Results: An overall large improvement resulted at the end of the instructional period, and this improvement seems to remain at least until the end of summer vacation. In pre-post training comparison, the improvements had similar moderate to large effect for both groups, while outcomes ‘differences were negative between post-training and the end of summer vacation. Girls seem to achieve greater and well-established improvements throughout the instructional plan. Implications: Teachers have to take into account sex when designed their lessons because these factors can enhance student’s learning processes. Furthermore, the results suggested the need to design developmentally adequate learning experiences during summer vacation for avoiding detrimental effect on students’ learning scores

The proximate sources of genetic variation in body size plasticity: The relative contributions of feeding behaviour and development in Drosophila melanogaster

Body size is a key life-history trait that influences many aspects of an animal’s biology and is shaped by a variety of factors, both genetic and environmental. While we know that locally-adapted populations differ in the extent to which body size responds plastically to environmental conditions like diet, we have a limited understanding of what causes these differences. We hypothesized that populations could differ in the way body size responds to nutrition either by modulating growth rate, development time, feeding rate, or a combination of the above. Using three locally-adapted populations of Drosophila melanogaster from along the east coast of Australia, we investigated body size plasticity across five different diets. We then assessed how these populations differed in feeding behaviour and developmental timing on each of the diets. We observed population-specific plastic responses to nutrition for body size and feeding rate, but not development time. However, differences in feeding rate did not fully explain the differences in the way body size responded to diet. Thus, we conclude that body size variation in locally-adapted populations is shaped by a combination of growth rate and feeding behaviour. This paves the way for further studies that explore how differences in the regulation of the genetic pathways that control feeding behaviour and growth rate contribute to population-specific responses of body size to diet

Validity Analysis of Wii Balance Board Versus Baropodometer Platform Using an Open Custom Integrated Application

Abstract Standing balance tests represent the most common way to assess person's functional ability and they were realized by means of specialized and expensive platforms, especially in clinicians' environments. Wii Balance Board (WBB) is video-game based device that measures center of pressure (CoP) oscillations and it showed promising performance compared with 'gold standard' force platforms. In this paper we propose an open integrated custom application to define balance outcomes using WBB. These outcomes were used to execute a validity analysis of WBB performance compared with baropodometer platform (BP). Ten subjects performed two standing balance tests with open and closed eyes respectively on WBB and BP in separate occasion. Validity analysis was carried out using r-Pearson correlation coefficient, ICC analysis, paired-sample t-Test and Bland-Altman plots. Results confirmed that the WBB, although has a fraction of cost of other platforms, represents a tool suitable for some clinician analysi