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Maturation-related changes in body dimensions and performance can lead to physical mismatches and drop out from youth sport. Here, we propose a new method termed ‘discreet performance banding’ (DPB). We aimed to determine if dividing youths by actual physical performance of a discreet skill or ability (‘change or direction’ [COD] ability) could discriminate between the most and least skilled players better than a marker of implied performance, such as an assessment of biological maturation. 182 male academy Spanish soccer players (age: 13-18 years height: 143 to 188 cm; mass: 32.3 to 81.4 kg) were divided into maturation groups (Tanner stages 2 through 5) and COD groups (‘fast’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘slow’). Players’ skills (passing, shooting, ball control) were evaluated on a six-point scale with a value of ‘1’ considered ‘very bad’ and a value of ‘6’ as ‘very good’. When divided by maturity status, analyses revealed no significant differences between groups in soccer skill. However, when divided into COD groups, the analyses revealed significant differences between the fast and intermediate players ([p

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic has swept across the United Kingdom (UK). Given the ever-evolving situation, little is known about the repercussions of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdow...

Drop out and attrition rates in youth sport are well-documented in the literature. Research has found that children overwhelmingly state that enjoyment, fun, and positive experiences are the primary reasons to participate in sport. Competitive Engineering (CE) is a structurally-based competitive climate process designed to create a more positive experience in youth sport. CE encompasses changes to league structures, equipment, pitch-size, and game rules. For example, rule changes that stipulate greater involvement (e.g., playing time) or action (e.g., increasing scoring opportunities) are designed to improve engagement. Despite this, few studies have examined whether CE-based rule changes influence factors known to influence drop out from sport. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a rule change in youth rugby whereby any player selected as part of a match day squad must play at least half a game or equivalent (i.e., the ‘Half-Game Rule’). To achieve this, we studied the influence of the rule change on player reported outcomes throughout the 2017/2018 playing season. Players who “always or almost always” experienced playing at least half a game more often than other players; reported higher enjoyment, than those who played less regularly ( F = 35.6, P

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterised as a neurodevelopmental disorder that has continuing deficits in communication skills and social development. Utilising techniques known as mirroring and rhythm, Dance and Movement Therapy (DMT) has shown beneficial effects in the autistic population reducing these deficits. However, no review to date has investigated these individual techniques outside the practice of DMT. This systematic review of studies published between 1975 - 2020 aims to evaluate the effectiveness of both mirroring and rhythm as interventions that target communication skills and social development in children with ASD. Out of 1369 relevant articles, 11 of these met the inclusion criteria. All studies showed beneficial effects of mirroring and rhythm on communication skills and social development in children diagnosed with ASD. Therefore, incorporating these into new interventions and practices may offer substantial therapeutic benefits for children diagnosed with ASD.

This topic of research moves the field of dance and movement therapy (DMT) into an area of clinical and social relevance by investigating the most beneficial features of rhythm and music for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current literature suggests that rhythm, used both inside and outside of DMT, can improve communication skills and social development in children with ASD. However, the optimum features of music and rhythm are ambiguous, consequently limiting the integration of rhythm-based interventions into practice. To answer the research question “What are the most common features of music and rhythm used by registered dance and movement therapists for children with ASD?”, we surveyed 113 registered dance and movement therapists, regarding the most common features of music and rhythm they used within their sessions with autistic children. Most dance and movement therapists used music that had a 4/4 time signature (64%), was moderato tempo (45%) and had lyrics (76%). Qualitative findings validated why these were the most common features of music and rhythm. These musical elements could regularly be integrated into new music and rhythm-based interventions targeting communications skills and social development for children with autism in order to improve their therapeutic potential.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterised by profound deficits in social communication and social interaction, and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities. Currently, few therapeutic interventions successfully target some of the functionally impairing symptoms associated with autism without limitations. New research suggests that instead of combating all symptoms associated with ASD with a single solution, scientific research should focus on providing therapeutic tools that alleviate specific functionally impairing symptoms. Owing to the nature of physical activity, sports, and dance (coordinated movement) these activities could provide opportunities to enhance communication skills and social development in children diagnosed with ASD. Therefore, this paper gives a narrative overview of the literature surrounding communication and coordinated movement; outlining what is meant by communication deficits, exploring the benefits of coordinated movement; including physical activity and dance, for symptoms associated with ASD, and delineating how coordinated movement elicits positive outcomes for autistic children.

Growth and maturation affect long term physical performance, making the appraisal of athletic ability difficult. We sought to longitudinally track youth soccer players to assess the developmental trajectory of athletic performance over a 6-year period in an English Premier League academy. Age-specific z-scores were calculated for sprint and jump performance from a sample of male youth soccer players (n = 140). A case study approach was used to analyse the longitudinal curves of the six players with the longest tenure. The trajectories of the sprint times of players 1 and 3 were characterised by a marked difference in respective performance levels up until peak height velocity (PHV) when player 1 achieved a substantial increase in sprint speed and player 3 experienced a large decrease. Player 5 was consistently a better performer than player 2 until PHV when the sprint and jump performance of the former markedly decreased and he was overtaken by the latter. Fluctuations in players' physical performance can occur quickly and in drastic fashion. Coaches must be aware that suppressed, or inflated, performance could be temporary and selection and deselection decisions should not be made based on information gathered over a short time period.

This topic of research moves the field of dance and movement therapy (DMT) into an area of clinical and social relevance by investigating the most beneficial features of rhythm and music for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current literature suggests that rhythm, used both inside and outside of DMT, can improve communication skills and social development in children with ASD. However, the optimum features of music and rhythm are ambiguous, consequently limiting the integration of rhythm-based interventions into practice. To answer the research question “What are the most common features of music and rhythm used by registered dance and movement therapists for children with ASD?”, we surveyed 113 registered dance and movement therapists, regarding the most common features of music and rhythm they used within their sessions with autistic children. Most dance and movement therapists used music that had a 4/4 time signature (64 %), was moderato tempo (45 %), and had lyrics (76 %). Qualitative findings validated why these were the most common features of music and rhythm. These musical elements could regularly be integrated into new music and rhythm-based interventions targeting communications skills and social development for children with autism to improve their therapeutic potential.

We examined whether anticipation is underpinned by perceiving structured patterns or postural cues and whether the relative importance of these processes varied as a function of task constraints. Skilled and less-skilled soccer players completed anticipation paradigms in video-film and point light display (PLD) format. Skilled players anticipated more accurately regardless of display condition, indicating that both perception of structured patterns between players and postural cues contribute to anticipation. However, the Skill×Display interaction showed skilled players' advantage was enhanced in the video-film condition, suggesting that they make better use of postural cues when available during anticipation. We also examined anticipation as a function of proximity to the ball. When participants were near the ball, anticipation was more accurate for video-film than PLD clips, whereas when the ball was far away there was no difference between viewing conditions. Perceiving advance postural cues appears more important than structured patterns when the ball is closer to the observer, whereas the reverse is true when the ball is far away. Various perceptual-cognitive skills contribute to anticipation with the relative importance of perceiving structured patterns and advance postural cues being determined by task constraints and the availability of perceptual information.

We identified the important micro-relations that are perceived when attempting to recognize patterns in stimuli consisting of multiple dynamic objects. Skilled and less-skilled participants were presented with point light display sequences representing dynamic patterns in an invasion sport and were subsequently required to make familiarity based recognition judgments in three different conditions, each of which contained only a select number of features that were present at initial viewing. No differences in recognition accuracy were observed between skilled and less-skilled participants when just objects located in the periphery were presented. Yet, when presented with the relative motions of two centrally located attacking objects only, skilled participants were significantly more accurate than less-skilled participants and their recognition accuracy improved further when a target object was included against which these relative motions could be judged. Skilled participants can perceive and recognize global patterns on the basis of centrally located relational information.

We used a novel approach to examine whether it is possible to improve the perceptual–cognitive skill of pattern recognition using a video-based training intervention. Moreover, we investigated whether any improvements in pattern recognition transfer to an improved ability to make anticipation judgments. Finally, we compared the relative effectiveness of verbal and visual guidance interventions compared to a group that merely viewed the same sequences without any intervention and a control group that only completed pre- and post-tests. We found a significant effect for time of testing. Participants were more sensitive in their ability to perceive patterns and distinguish between novel and familiar sequences at post- compared to pre-test. However, this improvement was not influenced by the nature of the intervention, despite some trends in the data. An analysis of anticipation accuracy showed no change from pre- to post-test following the pattern recognition training intervention, suggesting that the link between pattern perception and anticipation may not be strong. We present a series of recommendations for scientists and practitioners when employing training methods to improve pattern recognition and anticipation.

© 2012 The Experimental Psychology Society We present three experiments to identify the specific information sources that skilled participants use to make recognition judgements when presented with dynamic, structured stimuli. A group of less skilled participants acted as controls. In all experiments, participants were presented with filmed stimuli containing structured action sequences. In a subsequent recognition phase, participants were presented with new and previously seen stimuli and were required to make judgements as to whether or not each sequence had been presented earlier (or were edited versions of earlier sequences). In Experiment 1, skilled participants demonstrated superior sensitivity in recognition when viewing dynamic clips compared with static images and clips where the frames were presented in a nonsequential, randomized manner, implicating the importance of motion information when identifying familiar or unfamiliar sequences. In Experiment 2, we presented normal and mirror-reversed sequences in order to distort access to absolute motion information. Skilled participants demonstrated superior recognition sensitivity, but no significant differences were observed across viewing conditions, leading to the suggestion that skilled participants are more likely to extract relative rather than absolute motion when making such judgements. In Experiment 3, we manipulated relative motion information by occluding several display features for the duration of each film sequence. A significant decrement in performance was reported when centrally located features were occluded compared to those located in more peripheral positions. Findings indicate that skilled participants are particularly sensitive to relative motion information when attempting to identify familiarity in dynamic, visual displays involving interaction between numerous features.

We document, for a new dataset, the existence of daily seasonality in the 19th Century. The dataset consists of the trades in 4 equities and 2 bonds in the Dublin stock exchange for the mid 19th century (1850-979). The end of the week shows significantly greater returns than the start of the week. The evidence also indicates that the returns were not independent, and that daily seasonality in variance also exists, the overall impression being one that is not favourable towards the efficient markets hypothesis.

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