Non-support for trainability of teammate recognition based on movement perception?

BACKGROUND: Accurate decisions are essential for successful performance in visually and temporally constrained sports environments such as water-polo. Visual cues (uniform and facial) can be obscured by other factors such as water splashes, or partial submersion, thus leading to misclassification of others as teammates and lost scoring affordances. Research suggests that like land gait recognition, swimming gait is also distinguishable from temporally occluded visual stimuli, thus allowing teammate recognition with high accuracy, though not devoid of some errors. To that end investigating the trainability of this perceptual ability has merit as increased recognition accuracy may result in more scoring opportunities. AIM: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess whether teammate recognition accuracy can be enhanced using a video-based training paradigm and, which factors affect this ability. METHOD: N=12 females (Mean age = 18.75years ± 2.5) completed a two-week video training intervention. RESULTS: Statistical analysis demonstrated that participant’s performance didn't change significantly after training (kick: p=0.814; stroke: p=0.939), nor was their ability dependent on experience in water-polo (kick: p=0.141; stroke: p= 0.169), skill level (kick: p=0.715; stroke: p=0.287), or training adherence (kick; p=0.536; stroke p=0.797). CONCLUSION: While some research suggests that recognition based on biological motion is trainable it was not corroborated in this study and thus requires further investigation as to the mechanisms that contribute to improvement

It's not the type of practice that matters, it's the attitude : the impact of playful practice on motor skill learning

The traditional approach to practice has focused on the physical structure of practice, manipulating parameters like duration, spacing, task variations, practice order, and whether tasks are practiced in parts or as a whole and physically or mentally. The emergence of the deliberate practice framework shifted the focus to the learner’s attitude or mindset toward practice. It argues that the most effective practice involves a consciously effortful, workman-like approach to remedying weaknesses in performance. In the current paper, we build on the notion of deliberate play that arose in response to the deliberate practice framework. Rather than view deliberate play as a forerunner to deliberate practice, we argue that a playful approach to practice can benefit the learning process at any stage of learning or skill development. We draw on contemporary research in motor learning and development, in developmental and evolutionary psychology, and in education to highlight the benefits of a playful approach to practice on motor skill learning. We end with practical suggestions for encouraging a playful approach to practice and learning

The Team-Mate Identification (TM-ID) Test: A Portable Apparatus for Collecting Decision Latencies for Players in Team Invasion Sports

Abstract. In team sports, effective execution of a pass depends on correctly and quickly identifying the intended receiver as a team-mate. The ability to make such identifications has been tested by showing players short video-clips of moving players. However, an apparatus is needed to enable researchers to collect latency data for these decisions at a standard that provides suitable accuracy for scientific research. For the TeamMate Identification (TM-ID) test, both identification times and response selections made by team players after viewing brief video-clips of moving athletes must be collected on response keys, for subsequent signal detection analysis. To do this, a timer is initiated when a light sensor fixed to the corner of a monitor screen detected a white square that had been edited into the video-clips. The observing player presses down on a home key, with six selection keys arranged in a semi-circular pattern. Decision time to release the home key and the selection key pressed ware then recorded. Using this apparatus participants view a series of randomly sequenced video-clips of the relevant locomotor skill, e.g., swimming or running performed by team-mates and unknowns. The apparatus designed and built for the TM-ID test is a compact and portable device, designed in this instance to work with a PC laptop system that provides a portable testing apparatus that could be taken to the athlete

Visual search strategies and game knowledge in junior Australian rules football players: testing potential in talent identification and development

This study explored video-based decision-making and eye-movement behavior as a complementary method to assess the decision-making skills and knowledge of elite junior Australian Rules (AR) Football players. Performance was measured twice over an 18-month period. This approach tested a practical and reliable assessment of decision-making and game knowledge that does not contribute to physical training load. N = 59 participants were categorized based on their training age groups, U14 (N = 38, Mage13.37 ± 0.47) and U16 (N = 21, Mage14.80 ± 0.39). Participants watched 14 brief video clips and provided action choices while wearing eye-movement recording glasses that captured visual search patterns (e.g., fixations). Decision accuracy and speed of decision-making were also recorded. Participants with accurate decisions made significantly faster decisions compared to less skilled players (p < 0.001). Further, skilled participants had significantly fewer fixations of shorter duration compared to less skilled participants at both the initial and follow-up testing sessions (p < 0.0001). This suggests that eye-movement characteristics, remain a relatively stable measure over moderate periods of time. With the ability to differentiate between more and less skilled decision-makers, this proof-of-concept study proposes that examining eye movements in relation to decision-making and game knowledge is a viable tool for Talent Identification and Development (TID) to complement current measures. We provide a platform for further development and research in the quest for efficient and effective talent identification processes

Interventions to Promote the Development of Motor Performance Skills in Primary School Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials

Background: The development of proficiency in motor performance skills (MPS) builds the foundation for the complex movement skills required to participate in a range of sports and physical activities throughout the lifespan. Objective: To assess the efficacy of different intervention approaches on developing MPS proficiency in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and examine the intervention factors that influence change. Method: Searches were completed in three databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science) up to March 2022. Only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled trials (CTs), that evaluated the effectiveness of interventions on overall MPS proficiency or specific MPS such as balance, running speed and agility, bilateral coordination, jumping, ball skills and push-ups in children (4–13 years old) were included. The DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model was used to compute the meta-analyses. The effect sizes were reported as Hedges’ g. Using a random-effects model, potential sources of heterogeneity were identified, including subgroup analyses (type of intervention), and single training factor analysis (total number of weeks, session frequency, total intervention time, total number of training sessions). In addition, a multivariate meta-regression calculation was performed for balance. The GRADE framework was applied to assess certainty of evidence. Results: Seventeen interventions (13 RCTs and 4 CTs) revealed significant differences among groups favouring the intervention group with moderate to very large effects. Significant (p 0.05) small-to-large effects of interventions were evident on overall motor performance skills (ES = 2.43), ball skills (ES = 2.95), jumping (ES = 1.89), bilateral coordination (ES = 2.21), push-ups (ES = 1.92), balance (ES = 1.56), running speed and agility (ES = 1.31). Multivariate meta-regression for balance revealed that total sessions, total intervention time and session frequency predicted (p = 0.009, p0.001, p = 0.036, respectively) the effects of interventions on change in balance performance. Conclusion: Structured interventions that explicitly teach traditional FMS or promote the development and learning of movement skills specifically associated with a type of physical activity or sport, effectively improve MPS in children with ASD. Education settings should implement ‘planned’ movement experiences or interventions as a strategy to promote MPS proficiency in children with ASD

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Is Mixed Practice More Effective than Physical Practice Alone for the Acquisition of Non-dominant Side Kicking Performance?

Perceiving and executing unfamiliar movements, such as left handed/footed movement skills in sports, places additional demands on the perceptual-cognitive system of players that may increase errors. The video self-modeling(VSM)method may provide an accessible solution to this issue, therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the VSM method on the improvement of a non-preferred side kicking task. N=28 participants engaged in one of three conditions; Mirror reversed/physical practice(PP), best-of/PP, or physical practice only. Though not significant, data analysis indicated improved kicking accuracy for all groups, with VSM groups showing the most improvement. However, qualitative data revealed the "best-of" group demonstrated more positive views toward their progress compared to other groups, and both VSM groups were more likely to attend to movement cues than target based cues. These trends may suggest merit for the use of VSM techniques, though its application and the source of mechanistic factors warrant further investigation