Sports competency

BACKGROUND: Injuries of the sagittal groove of the proximal phalanx (P1) in equine athletes are considered to predominantly occur due to chronic bone stress overload. OBJECTIVES: To describe the range of abnormalities that is present in the sagittal groove in a large group of horses diagnosed with sagittal groove disease (SGD) on low-field MRI. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional. METHODS: Medical records were searched to identify initial MRI images of horses diagnosed with SGD and these were blindly evaluated using a semi-quantitative grading scheme and novel SGD MRI classification system reflecting potential pathways of pathological progression and severity of stress injury...

Physical fitness (PF) includes various factors that significantly impacts athletic performance. Analyzing PF is critical in developing customized training methods for athletes based on the sports in which they compete. Previous approaches to analyzing PF have relied on statistical or machine learning algorithms that focus on predicting athlete injury or performance. In this study, six machine learning algorithms were used to analyze the PF of 1,489 male adolescent athletes across five sports, including track & field, football, baseball, swimming, and badminton...

In this paper, we analyze the subjective inclusion experiences of visually impaired (VI) adult tennis players from an ableism-critical perspective. The primary focus of this research is the inclusive potential of blind tennis from the perspective of VI individuals. Episodic interviews were conducted to capture subjective perspectives. A qualitative text analysis revealed that the interviewees were confronted with multiple ability assumptions by sighted people in their everyday lives. Deficit notions on the performance of VI people included sports, work, and general activities...

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this investigation was to determine which factors were associated with symptoms of sleep and mental health disorders in former athletes. METHODS: Former athletes (N = 173, 50% women) who retired from any competition level within the last 20 years participated in an online survey. The survey consisted of the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ), Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult (PWI-A), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Revised (CESD-R), and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7)...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this prospective cohort study was to investigate the influence of types of motivation, basic psychological needs satisfaction and of a coach-created motivational climate on continued participation in youth sports across types of sport, competitive levels, ages, and gender. METHODS: Participants were 7110 adolescent (age 12-20 years) members of leisure time club organized in basketball, handball, football, badminton, and gymnastics in Denmark...

INTRODUCTION: Gymnastics consists of several different disciplines, whereof TeamGym is one. TeamGym is a young discipline with sparse research. The aim of the study is to investigate the injury characteristics in Swedish elite gymnasts competing in TeamGym including training load and other physical and psychological factors associated with injury. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Swedish TeamGym Injury Cohort is a longitudinal prospective cohort study for 52 weeks that includes the junior (15-17 years) and senior (≥18 years) Swedish female and male national teams in TeamGym...

BACKGROUND: In Paralympic sports, classification ensures fair competition by grouping athletes based on their impairments. The International Paralympic Committee has provided scientific principles to guide evidence-based classification procedures. In Paralympic Powerlifting (PPO), athletes compete in one class, divided by sex and bodyweight categories, overlooking impairment impact on performance. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to establish a consensus among international PPO experts regarding classification and performance issues to guide future research...

The field of medicine continues to advance as new technologies emerge. These technological advancements include the science of sports prostheses and wheelchairs, in which there have been significant advancements over the past decades. The world of adaptive sports continues to expand, largely due to a combination of the increase in awareness, inclusion, and technology. As participation in sports for people with impairments increases, there has been an associated demand for new, innovative adaptive sporting equipment designs that help accommodate the physical deficits of the individual...

Annual age grouping is a common organizational strategy in academics and sports. This strategy could promote the relative effects of age, which refers to the (dis)advantages that subjects who were born in the first or last months of the year may suffer. The consequences could be minimized, resulting in better physical and/or academic results. The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of the quarter of birth and examine the correlation between physical condition variables and academic performance...

Warm-up is a standard component of exercise preparation, intended to lower the risk of injury and improve performance. Comprehensive evidence-based guidelines per discipline are missing. This scoping review aimed to describe the physiological effects and strategies of active warm-up in horses according to different equestrian disciplines. The search strategies identified 479 papers for review. After application of selection criteria, 23 articles published from 1996 to January 2024 were included of which 12 discussed the effects of warm-up on physiological parameters and 11 discussed warm-up strategies in different disciplines...

An increasing number of studies have linked engagement in sport or increased physical fitness with improved cognitive performance. Additionally, studies have employed physical activity as an intervention to help with cognition in aging individuals. Despite this, the underlying mechanism (or mechanisms) by which benefits occur remain unclear. We investigated whether improved trainability for individuals engaged in sport or fitness training might underlie such benefits. Specifically, we assessed motor skill performance and learning rates in young adult runners, baseball players, and "control" individuals who did not regularly engage in sport or exercise using an implicit motor sequence learning task...

This study aimed (1) to investigate the effect of a brief 9-week bike program on preschool motor competence levels and (2) to know the effects of the intervention program on gender. A total of 98 schoolchildren (3.86 ± 0.91 years) from La Coruña (Spain) participated. A pre-post-test quasi-experimental design was used with a control group (CG) made up of 39 students (18 boys) and an experimental group (EG) made up of 59 students (29 boys). Data were gathered using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2)...

The purpose of this study was three-fold: (i) to compare total distance, high-speed running (HSR) distance, and sprint distance covered per 5-minute epoch by players acting as both starters and substitutes; (ii) to compare the locomotor demands between the moments the players entered the match (45-60, 60-75 and 75-90 minutes); and (iii) to compare the locomotor demands of the players between the variations of the within- and between-playing positions. Twenty-one male professional soccer players competing in the Professional Premier League of one of the European countries were observed over sixteen official matches...

BACKGROUND: Youth with intellectual disabilities experience disparities in physical activity and diet quality. Physical and food literacy are hypothesised to support adoption of healthy lifestyles; however, few such interventions have been developed for this population. METHOD: Participants with intellectual disabilities ages 12-16 years were recruited for a 12-week online sports skills and nutrition education intervention. Feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy were assessed by attendance, satisfaction, and pre-post measures of motor skills, perceived competence and motivation for physical activity, classifying foods, making healthy choices, and food consumption...

Coursing is a canine sport discipline invented for sighthounds. The dogs chase the mechanically operated lure on an open area at the track that consists of straight lines as well as turns. Thus, the dogs must rely mainly on their sight in order to chase the lure and to compete. Whippets are the most popular sighthound breed in Poland and more and more dogs practice lure coursing on professional level. Several ocular disorders are known or presumed to be inherited in Whippets, so we decided to check how often they occur amongst competing dogs and if they have any impact on the results during competitions...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the injury rate and characteristics in Japanese male professional ice hockey players. METHODS: This study involved an inclusive cohort of male ice hockey players from a Japanese professional team competing in the 2010-2011 through the 2019-2020 seasons. An injury was defined as the 'time-loss and medical attention' definition of the International Ice Hockey Federation. All injuries that occurred during games and practice sessions were recorded daily on injury charts by the team athletic trainers and/or physician...

BACKGROUND: Adherence to injury prevention programmes may improve with greater end-user involvement and application of implementation frameworks during development. We describe the cocreation, initial dissemination and feedback from programme early adopters (coaches), to develop the first evidence-informed injury prevention programme for women playing community Australian Football (Prep-to-Play). METHODS: We used a pragmatic seven-step process for developing sports injury prevention programmes to (1) gain organisational support, (2) compile research evidence, (3) consult experts, (4) engage end-users, (5) test programme acceptability, (6) evaluate against theory and (7) gain early adopter feedback...

BACKGROUND: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction has been the standard surgical intervention for elite male athletes with UCL insufficiency. Recently, UCL repair and augmentation with an internal brace has been increasingly performed. PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical and functional outcomes as well as return-to-sport rate after UCL repair in female athletes. STUDY DESIGN: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. METHODS: Included were 15 female athletes (mean age, 16...

This study investigated the recovery responses to the Total Quality Recovery (TQR), Well-Being questionnaire (WBQ), and Heart Rate (HR) responses to Submaximal Running Test (SRT), and the influence of salivary testosterone concentration (TEST) on these responses in 25 elite youth (U15) male basketball players. TQR, WBQ, and HR measurements were assessed after 48 hours of rest (T1), 24 hours after the 1st day of training (T2) and 24 hours after the 2nd day of training (T3). Salivary sampling was conducted at T1 and T3...

While literature suggests that youth physical activity (PA) behaviors are affected by network influences, less is known about network influences on perceived skill competency, a component of physical literacy and self-efficacy. This study aims to provide an understanding of potential network characteristics which are associated with youth PA skill competency. Youth ( n = 158) between the ages of 8 and 12 years recruited from two summer care programs (i.e., Boys & Girls Clubs) participated in researcher-administered surveys...