United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of elite individual athletes in NCAA Division I-A football on undergraduate admissions applicants to their respective institutions, an examination of what the media has labeled as the “Flutie Factor”. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, a statistically significant time-by-group interaction effect was found, with universities realizing a 6.59 percent increase in undergraduate applicants for admission in the year following having a football player finish among the top five vote recipients for the Heisman Trophy .

Abstract

Stress and anxiety can adversely affect athletic performance across all levels of athletic ability and types of sports. The researchers wanted to determine if progressive relaxation techniques (PRT) would improve sports performance in a group of female recreational golfers. The study was conducted over a 3-month period during which the experimental group (n=9) regularly engaged in PRT. Both the experimental group and the control group (n=9) played their regular golf game; recording their scores, putts per round, and number of greens hit in regulation. Preintervention measures were recorded and compared with post intervention measures. Both groups recorded significant improvement on all three measures. The amount of improvement observed for the experimental group was more than that observed for the control group. The between-group differences were not, however, significant.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence Korean teens’ athletic footwear purchase. Four hundred and fifty-six teens participated in the study. Throughout the review of related literature and the conduction of a pilot study, seven characteristics were considered; price, color, style, brand name, comfort, quality, and celebrity endorsement. ANOVA procedures indicated that gender played a significant role in the purchasing behavior of Korean teens. Male teens stated that comfort and quality are the most important factors while female teens revealed that style and color are more important factors than any other factor. Marketers and advertising managers of athletic shoes companies should utilize the findings of this study to communicate with teen consumers more effectively.

All across the United States each year many individuals make the conscious decision to try out for interscholastic athletic teams in the hopes of being part of something great. These individuals also understand that prior to the last cut; they will need to sacrifice time, energy and social gatherings to make the team successful. However, what many of these individuals do not recognize and understand is that try-outs don’t always end when the last cut is made and the final team list is posted. In recent years, an old, but very much alive problem has begun to resurface in sports, and that is the issue of humiliating and victimizing rookie athletes through hazing rituals. These horrible acts leave victims debilitated in many capacities, and such practices break down the institution of sport which has been noted for building such positive character qualities as strength, discipline, and a strong work ethic.

ABSTRACT

Accurate kinematic analysis of human movement is a significant factor for the improvement of movement performance and for the reduction of injuries. A polynomial method for 3-D analysis was implemented to determine the knee kinematic parameters during level and 9% downhill grade running. The knee kinematic parameters for the level and downhill running were: 20.9 o and 17 o degrees for the flexion angle in foot strike, 36.2 o and 43.1 o for the peak flexion angle in stance phase, and 7.1 rad.sec -1 and 7.4 rad.sec -1 the peak flexion angular velocity respectively. The knee kinematic characteristics, determined using a polynomial method, were within the range of the respective values reported in previous studies, indicating that the polynomial method used is adequate for accurate 3-D kinematic analysis. The results indicate that the knee extensor muscle group is worked over a greater range during downhill running than in level running and furthermore, during the footstrike, the knee flexion angle, in level running is higher than in downhill running, which probably could be affected to the magnitude of the compression forces applied to knee during downhill running

Abstract

Teaching physical education and sports activities are among the indispensable occupations of our time. Sports, apart from being an occupation of entertainment and free time, have also a function that develop health and contributes joy and happiness to the participants’ daily lives. Physical education and sports activities have become signs of contemporariness. In Turkey, the average beginning age for children’s participation in many or team or individual sport activities is between ages 8 and 12. This is also the average age level that most children start to participate in school Physical Education and Sport courses. Physical Education is not an elective course. It therefore is a core course and Turkey has a national physical education teaching program. Despite the fact physical education teachers are educated in various public and private physical education programs, the core of the curriculums are very similar. All of the Physical Education Teacher Education programs for the eight-year mandatory elementary schools are monitored and constituted through the ministry of education. While entire P.E. curriculums for education teachers are administrated centrally and monitored by the ministry of education, there are few special programs that training and preparing quality physical education and sports teachers to teach high level physical education and sports courses at 8-year compulsory basic education institutions. The effectiveness of the current programs that applied at most of compulsory basic education institutions of eight years is a significant concern of this study. The purpose of this research is to determine to what extent the physical education teacher training programs that are currently used by those universities are effectively and successfully training preparing physical education teachers to teach at compulsory eight-year elementary schools.

The XIX. Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City 2002 seemed to be a great success for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC). Consequently, Research Team Olympia from the University of Mainz/Germany had favorable conditions for an empirical investigation of the spectators at the biathlon venue “Soldier Hollow”.

The Origin of the Idea of Peace in the Modern Olympic Movement

The Olympic Games took place in ancient Greece 293 times from 776 B.C. up to 393 A.D., i.e. over a period of almost 12 centuries, in contrast to modern times without interruption.

The book is well structured. It presents a valid historical description of the history of track and field and the evolution of multi-event contests followed by the biographical sketch of twenty-two of the greatest All-around athletes.

How To Raise a Successful Athlete is a great text for the ‘layman’ interested in expanding his or her knowledge of basic sport-related topics. It is easy to comprehend the information regarding nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, strength training, sport psychology, as well as coaching and medical topics. The book describes the common occurrences of injury, appropriate treatments and home care information so the parent or guardian recognizes the importance of proper therapeutic remedies.