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Purpose: To evaluate the pacing strategy, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and mood during a 78.1-km solo ultra endurance open-water swim. Methods: Before and after the event, anthropometric parameters, cortisol, and the profile of mood state (POMS) of 1 male athlete (age 48 y, height 172 cm, body mass 68 kg, body fat 7.2%, athletic achievement: Italian record holder of the Channel Swim) were ascertained. Every 3 h during the event, average swimming speed (SS), stroke rate, stroke length (SL), and RPE were recorded. Results: The athlete completed the event in 23:44 h:min. Compared with the first 3 h of swimming, decreases in SS (-33%) and SL (-25%) were observed between 18 h and 21 h. Thereafter, the athlete increased SS (+41%) and SL (+17%) between 21 h and the end. RPE steadily increased from the beginning to the last 6 h of swimming. Cortisol showed a 23-fold increase. After the event, POMS showed a 500% increase in fatigue, 44% decrease in tension, and 77% decrease in vigor. Conclusion: For the first time ever an athlete crossed the Adriatic Sea. This case study shows that the athlete adopted a variable pacing strategy to complete 78 km. Despite the athlete perceiving his effort at maximum during the last 6 h, the observed increases in SS at the end of the event might substantiate his high potential motivation to accomplish this challenging and unique event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The assessment of internal training load (ITL) using the session rating of perceived exertion (session RPE) has been demonstrated to provide valuable information, also in team sports. Nevertheless, no studies have investigated the use of this method during youth water polo training. Purpose: To evaluate youth water polo training, showing the corresponding level of reliability of the session-RPE method. Methods: Thirteen male youth water polo players (age 15.6 ± 0.5 y, height 1.80 ± 0.06 m, body mass 72.7 ± 7.8 kg) were monitored during 8 training sessions (80 individual training sessions) over 10 d. The Edwards summated heart-rate-zone method was used as a reference measure of ITL; the session-RPE rating was obtained using CR-10 scale modified by Foster. The Pearson product-moment was applied to regress the Edwards heart-rate-zone method against CR-10 session RPE for each training session and individual data. Results: Analyses reported overall high ( r = .88, R2 = .78) and significant (P < .001) correlations between the Edwards heart-rate and session-RPE methods. Significant correlations were also shown for each training session (r range .69-92, R2 range .48-85, P < .05) and individual data (r range .76-.98, R2 range .58-97, P < .05). Discussion: The results confirmed that the session-RPE method as an easy and reliable tool to evaluate ITL in youth water polo, allowing coaches to efficiently monitor their training plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To anticipate outstanding athletic outcomes, the selection process of elite athletes simultaneously considers psychophysiological and technical parameters. This study aimed to investigate whether selected and nonselected athletes for the Italian national taekwondo team could be discriminated by means of sport- specific performances and psychophysiological responses to training. Participants: 5 established Italian national athletes and 20 elite Italian taekwondo black belt athletes (9 women, 16 men; age 23.0 ±3.1 y; body mass 67.0 ± 12.1 kg). Methods: To update the Italian national-team roster, the 20 elite athletes participated in a 1-wk selection camp (7 training sessions). Selected athletes (n = 10) joined established national athletes during the following 3-wk national training period (7 training sessions/wk). During the 1-wk selection camp, differences (P < .05) between selected and nonselected athletes in performances, heart-rate responses, blood lactate accumulation [La], subjective ratings of perceived exertion (session RPE), and mood were examined. During the 3-wk national training period, differences (P < .05) in mood between selected and established national athletes were investigated. Results: With respect to nonselected athletes, selected athletes responded better to training in terms of session RPE (P = .047) and [La] (P = .046). No difference in performance and mood between subgroups emerged. After the 3-wk national training period, differences (P = .035) emerged for confusion, with decreases in the established national athletes and increases for recently selected athletes. Conclusions: Session RPE and [La] seem to be more effective than psychological measures in discriminating between elite taekwondo athletes. Evaluation of mood could be effective in monitoring athletes' response to national training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a solo ultraendurance open-water swim on autonomic and nonautonomic control of heart rate (HR). Methods: A male athlete (age 48 y, height 172 cm, body mass 68 kg, BMI 23 kg/m²) underwent HR-variability (HRV) and circulating catecholamine evaluations at different times before and after an ultraendurance swim crossing the Adriatic Sea from Italy to Albania. HRV was measured in 5-min segments and quantified by time and frequency domain. Circulating cat-echolamines were estimated by salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) assay. Results: The athlete completed 78.1 km in 23:44 h:min. After arrival, sAA levels had increased by 102.6%. Time- and frequency-domain HRV indexes decreased, as well (mean RR interval, -29,7%; standard deviation of normal mean RR interval, -63,1 %; square root of mean squared successive differences between normal-to-normal RR intervals, -49.3%; total power, -74.3%; low frequency, -78.0%; high frequency, -76.4%), while HR increased by 41.8%. At 16-h recovery, sAA had returned to preevent values, while a stable tachycardia was accompanied by reduced HRV measures. Conclusion: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study reporting cardiac autonomic adjustments to an extreme and challenging ultraendurance open-water swim. The findings confirmed that the autonomic drives depend on exercise efforts. Since HRV changes did not mirror the catecholamine response 16 h postevent, the authors assume that the ultraendurance swim differently influenced cardiac function by both adaptive autonomic and nonautonomic patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyse the effects of two factors (number of players and training regimes) on players’ physiological and technical demands in basketball ball-drills. Twenty-one young basketball players performed four different ball-drills (two levels for each factor). The number of players involved was 2vs2 and 4vs4, while ball-drill regimes were continuous and intermittent. Physiological demand was assessed using the percentage of maximal heart rate (%HRmax), Edwards’ training load and rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Furthermore, the following technical actions were collected: dribbles, steals, rebounds, turnovers, passes (total, correct, wrong and % of correct pass) and shots (total, scored, missed and % of made shot). A 2 × 2 (number of players × regime) two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was applied for physiological parameters and technical actions. The 2vs2 condition showed higher %HRmax(P < 0.001), Edwards’ training load (P < 0.001), RPE (P < 0.001), number of dribbles (P < 0.001), rebounds (P < 0.001), passes [total (P = 0.005) and correct (P = 0.005)] and shots [total (P < 0.001) scored (P < 0.001) and missed (P < 0.001)] than 4vs4. Moreover, the continuous regime revealed higher %HRmax(P < 0.001), Edwards’ training load (P < 0.001), RPE (P = 0.006) and dribbles (P < 0.001) than the intermittent regime. This study showed that both number of players and regime are useful variables able to modify basketball ball-drills workload. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The present study aimed to investigate motivations for the dual career of European student-athletes living in countries providing different educational services for elite athletes: State-centric regulation–State as sponsor/facilitator (State), National Sporting Federations/Institutes as intermediary (Federation) and Laisser Faire, no formal structures (No Structure). Therefore, the European Student-athletes' Motivation towards Sports and Academics Questionnaire (SAMSAQ-EU) was administered to 524 European student-athletes. Exploratory Factor Analysis, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were applied to test the factor structure, and the reliability and validity of the SAMSAQ-EU, respectively. A multivariate approach was applied to verify subgroup effects (P ≤ 0.05) according to gender (i.e., female and male), age (i.e., ≤24 years, >24 years), type of sport (i.e., individual sport and team sport) and competition level (i.e., national and international). Insufficient confirmatory indexes were reported for the whole European student-athlete group, whereas distinct three factor models [i.e., Student Athletic Motivation (SAM); Academic Motivation (AM); Career Athletic Motivation (CAM)] emerged, with acceptable reliability estimates, for State (SAM = 0.82; AM = 0.75; and CAM = 0.75), Federation (SAM = 0.82; AM = 0.66; and CAM = 0.87) and No Structure (SAM = 0.78; AM = 0.74; and CAM = 0.79) subgroups. Differences between subgroups were found only for competition level (P < 0.001) in relation to SAM (P = 0.001) and CAM (P < 0.001). For SAM, the highest and lowest values emerged for Federation (national, 5.1 ± 0.5; international, 5.4 ± 0.5) and State (national, 4.5 ± 0.9; international, 4.8 ± 0.7). The opposite picture emerged for CAM (Federation: national, 3.3 ± 0.7; international, 3.5 ± 0.9; State: national, 5.0 ± 0.8; international, 5.0 ± 0.9). Therefore, despite SAMSAQ-EU demonstrated to be a useful tool, results showed that European student-athletes' motivation for dual career has to be specifically investigated according to social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the individual and team time-motion analyses of Italian elite women's basketball games. Topics include low- and high-intensity activities (HIAs) in basketball, such as running and jumping, respectively, the evaluation of players’ movement patterns during HIA, sprint activity, and repeated sprint events (RSEs), the analyses of live time (LT), stoppage time (ST), and half- and full-court actions in teams, and the frequency at which changes of activities occurred.

Copyright of Kinesiologia Slovenica is the property of Faculty of Sport and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses research which was conducted to define the technical and tactical profiles of official youth taekwondo competitions played under the most recent rules of the International Taekwondo Federation. Researchers evaluated the fighting styles of 50 taekwondo athletes. They found that tournament winners were more efficient in terms of technical and tactical variables and tended to adopt an offensive fighting strategy.

The article discusses the tactical and technical aspects of losing and winning teams in unbalanced and close women's water polo games, suggesting that water polo can be analyzed according to margins of victory. Topics include training, notational analysis, offensive even arrangements, and lost possessions.

The article presents information on the changes caused to jump, sprint, and coordinated performances of a player after a senior soccer match. Topics discussed include the impact of regular physical activity of moderate intensity on the quality of life of the players in later years, and association between the need for acceleration and deceleration during a soccer match and high energy cost and momentary fatigue in players.

The article discusses research investigating the time-motion structure of combat phases, including fighting (F), nonfighting (NF), and stoppage time (ST), during semifinal and final matches of the 2010 Italian Taekwondo Cadet Championship. The authors compared the time-motion structure of official youth Olympic Taekwondo (TKD) combats in relation to the athletes' gender and weight division. Differences for frequency of occurrence of combat phases are discussed.

Copyright of Kinesiologia Slovenica is the property of Faculty of Sport and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reports on research conducted to investigate the technical and tactical aspects of young athletes during official taekwondo competitions. Researchers evaluated 43 male and 16 female athletes. They found that there were no differences for gender and match outcomes, that all athletes engaged more frequently in offensive actions and that kicks with the rear leg were performed more frequently than kicks with the front leg.

The article discusses aspects of official 5-a-side youth soccer matches played on two pitch surface conditions such as the clay and artificial turf. It focuses on the level of heart rate (HR) responses and the analysis of the match including the number of players, shot precision, and lost balls. It reports that the youth soccer training program should use a multidisciplinary approach which include technical-tactical, psychological, and physiological contributions.

Abstract: Firefighters perform many tasks which require a high level of fitness and their personal safety may be compromised by the physiological aging process. The aim of the study was to evaluate strength (bench-press), power (countermovement jump), sprint (20 m) and endurance (with and without Self Contained Breathing Apparatus – S.C.B.A.) of 161 Italian firefighters recruits in relation to age groups (<25 yr; 26–30 yr; 31–35 yr; 36–40 yr; 41–42 yr). Descriptive statistics and an ANOVA were calculated to provide the physical fitness profile for each parameter and to assess differences (p < 0.05) among age groups. Anthropometric values showed an age-effect for height and BMI, while performances values showed statistical differences for strength, power, sprint tests and endurance test with S.C.B.A. Wearing the S.C.B.A., 14% of all recruits failed to complete the endurance test. We propose that the firefighters should participate in an assessment of work capacity and specific fitness programs aimed to maintain an optimal fitness level for all ages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]