Unit 5 – Literacy Review – Scott Goodman

Unit 5 – Literacy Review
The purpose of this topic is to write up reviews of all my abstracts and other sources within my research project. These include articles from websites, journals and other reliable sources. I will reference each abstract and source using citation. All the abstracts and other sources include the variables, measure and population of my aim. However not all three of these points need to be included in each individual abstract for my research project. My aim is to investigate whether height and optimal jumping height of an aged 17-18 male performance level centre back, affects the amount of headers they win to gain possession.
I am reviewing the literature to aid my research aim to show that it is relevant and purposeful. I can use abstracts and other sources to find similarities and differences in my research and find other people’s research identical to my own. The criteria that I used to determine whether the source was applicable to my research or not was dependent on whether it included either a variable, the population or the measure.
Teymouri etal. (2011) is a detailed abstract analysing the relationship between bio mechanical-anthropometrical parameters and the force exerted on the head when jumping in heading free-kicks in soccer. The research consisted of a pressure gauge being placed on players’ foreheads. Each participant was asked to defend a free-kick three times using the skill of heading. A camera was used to record the movements of players in terms of jumping. Specifically to my aim, this abstract aimed to investigate whether age, height or weight affected the jumping height and the amount of force the head could put on a moving ball when heading it away. Statistics shown that 17.9% of the participants headed free-kicks without jumping. On the other hand, 43.6% headed them from a standing jump and 38.5% of them headed the ball by jumping forward. This abstract relates to my aim in my research well as it includes height and jumping as my variables. My aim consists of investigating height and jumping in relation to heading. Although this investigation includes other variables such as age, body mass, body fat and neck muscle, the distance of the header was affected by these factors in relation to a standing jump or a forward jump.
Zonalmarking (2012) is another abstract analysing the factors that contribute to being good in the air (heading). These factors consist of height, jumping and heading. The abstract focusses on a range of professional players including Peter Crouch, Didier Drogba, Per Mertersacker and Michael Owen. All these and more have different heights, jumping abilities and heading techniques. Each professional falls into one of the categories depending on which they have an advantage over the other. This abstract relates to my aim in my research strongly as both variables of height and jumping are matched along with the heading. Being good at heading might not mean you are tall or good at jumping high. The investigation suggests that mastering all three of these variables assist to good heading. A disadvantage of this investigation to my aim in my research is that all the professionals being analysed are strikers except Per Mertersacker. Per Mertersacker is the only individual in the investigation that relates to the position I am researching; a centre back.
Ludwig (2001) is an abstract investigating whether players that head the ball more often than others have a specific technique compared to those that don’t head a ball that much. The investigation is aiming to find out how possession is gained from heading from those that use a technique or those that rarely head a ball. This abstract relates to my aim strongly as a group of players that frequently head the ball where asked to complete ten maximal jumps when heading the ball. This was described as analysing their jumping technique when heading the ball along with their execution. Data showed that jumping enhanced the technique of heading when attempting to regain possession. Jumping enhanced ball velocity making headers more successful. A survey showed that women that used a technique to heading also had the same effect meaning that it made no difference between genders. In addition, the ages were varied meaning that my population could relate to this abstract as one of the candidates was 18 years old.
Glennerster etal. (2008) is an abstract investigating how soccer players head the ball in terms of their reaction time and jumping. The abstract recorded that the reaction time of a player reacting to the flight of a ball was a trigger to an autonomous movement of jumping. This technique had been well trained to perform it repetitively. When this method of jumping was used, the direction of the ball changed the most from impact of a players head. This abstract links to my aim as it includes variables such as heading and jumping. Although this type of jumping is a result of reaction time, this jumping technique can be trained for my population to use when heading. This abstract has a disadvantage to my aim as it does not include any of my population specifically. However it does match what I am looking to measure.
Sorenson etal. (2007) is an investigation into the benefit of segmental movements within a jumping header and the extent of the result in terms of velocity, accuracy and possession reattainment. The movement of the head when heading all falls under the category of technique. In a nutshell, this abstract aims to find out whether the technique of heading from head movements affects the succession of a jumping header. This relates to my aim in my own investigation as it includes a jumping header. My variable includes a jumping header due to my population. My population is a centre back specific to the position in football. Centre backs need optimal jumping height to win headers against opponents. Therefore, investigation head movements when jumping is a necessary investigation that links to my aim well. The abstract indicates that head movements should be limited to reduce the risk of injury. However, on the other hand, head movements suggested to have a successful header, the head must move as a free non-restricted segment when jumping.
Shergold (2013) is an additional source analysing Cristiano Ronaldo’s optimal jumping height when heading in a a game of football. The trigger for investigating this was his mesmerizing leaping header in the champions league v Manchester United for Real Madrid. His incredible jump was due to the amount of G-Force he creates in preparation to jumping which gives him an automatic advantage over his opponent. Due to his height and G-Force, he is able to reach an optimal jumping height that is on average, identical to an NBA basketball player. His G-force is 5 times the amount of a cheetah in full flight. Bio mechanical tests were run on Ronaldo to gain all necessary data available including his body fat, body mass, height, diet, practice and muscular capabilities. This source relates to my aim well as i aim to investigate how much jumping can affect the succession of a header. Both variables including heading and jumping are investigated in this research. Although this investigation is calculating Ronaldo’s optimal jumping height, i can use this as a link to my research that optimal jumping height can contribute to a successful header.
Moharrami etal. (2011) is a source that aimed to investigate the effect of vertical jumping to head a ball by male students that suffer from flexible flat foot. The more effective the jump is, the better connection of header is the main result gained from the investigation. Students had to record their height, weight and age and complete a foot jump using a box mirror recognition plantar. The students would complete the test repetitively over a certain amount of days and relate their results to a header in football. The same procedure was carried out with the exact same variables with students without flat foot. A patter was calculated which showed values of ground reaction force vertically are higher in individuals with flat foot compared to those with normal foot. This enabled comparisons to be made when applying it to a header in football. This relates to my aim well as the variables of optimal jumping height are being researched as well as students in my population. This investigating focussed solely on the effect of jumping height and not the skill of heading. The fact that it is applied to header in football but not actually tested using a header makes the investigation relevant and supports my aim.
In my literacy review, there are a number of similarities and differences within the abstracts and other sources i have used. Every investigation has involved the importance and jumping. Even though my investigation focusses on football, the abstracts and other sources are football related or not sportingly stated. The major difference in the investigations compared to my own is my population. All of the abstracts and other sources research elite performers or lab candidates and not performance level players of which i am researching. Furthermore, another disadvantage is that most of the abstracts are primary research of which they go out and investigate the data themselves.
Involving the strengths and weaknesses of my chosen abstracts and other sources, some of them included an un-detailed write up that is cut from its full write up. Some of them are absent of a method where as some are absent of results. in addition, some research i have chosen are very detailed and well educated. It was difficult to understand the purpose of the investigation and the method they were using. Neither of the abstracts and other sources provided statistical analysis of world games such as the world cup or the premier league. Only the source of Cristiano Ronaldo was a sporting example relevant to my aim.
One key question that arose in all my abstracts and other sources were does heigh affect the optimal jumping height of an individual in football. Some sources related height to heading or jumping to heading. None of which made a link from height to jumping, from jumping to heading. In my research, there is not a clear triangular relationship between all three of the variables but it is clear that all the abstracts and other sources have the investigation to determine whether one of the variables affects heading in a game of football.
Glennester etal, (2008), How soccer players head the ball [online] available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18472123

Ludwig, (2001), Kinematic analysis of soccer heading technique [online] available at:
https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/3901

moharrami etal, (2011), comparison of GRF in vertical jumping for heading the football in flatfoot and safe male student [online] availabe at:
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/66384722/comparison-grf-vertical-jumping-heading-football-flatfoot-safe-male-student

shergold, (2013), why cristiano ronaldo can jump higher than everyone else [online] available at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2278671/Cristiano-Ronaldo-Why-Real-Madrid-player-jump-higher-else.html

sorenson etal, (2007), optimizing segmental movement in the jumping header in soccer [online] available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14763140408522840?journalCode=rspb20#.VPDFNuasWSq

teymouri etal, (2011), The Relationship Between Biomechanical-Anthropometrical Parameters and the Force Exerted on the Head When Heading Free Kicks in Soccer [online] available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3955941/

zonalmarking, (2012), what constitutes being good in the air [online] available at:
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/02/02/heading-good-in-the-air/

unit 27 task 2 Ryan McKeon last hand in

unit27task2strengthsandweaknesses-141208153154-conversion-gate02

UNIT 5 – LITERACY REVIEW – SAM MURRAY

I am a student at Worthing College currently studying Sport and Exercise Science and carrying out my own research project. This is my literacy review where I look into detail abstracts and other sources and summarise them and look at how they link with my own research. The aim of my research is ‘to investigate whether speed affects the amount of crosses a winger at the participation level of football can put into the opposition box’. The abstracts will link to my population (youth players at participation level), measure (speed) and variable (crosses). These abstracts and sources will help support my research as they will help prove that the results I obtain are as accurate as possible and that my research is carried out in the correct manner.

Vecer (2014) studied if crossing in football had a negative impact on scoring. He was hoping to find out whether the amount of crosses put into the opposition penalty area affected the rate of scoring goals. They looked into information from the English Premier League and German Bundesliga as well as data from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Statistics showed that 23% of all goals in recent seasons of the English Premier League came from crosses, however 8% of this is from set pieces so only 15% of goals were from open play crosses. After looking into statistics from these three competitions it became clear to Vecer that there was data showing that there were a higher number of goals in matches that had fewer open crosses. Vecer also concluded that the net effect of crossing is negative for all teams. The method used by Vecer (2014) will support my research design as it shows that not many crosses at the elite level of football are accurate (only 1 open cross in 4.87) so this could be similar for me when conducting my research.

Milenkovic (2011) looked at how important speed is as a component of football. The aim was to determine the relations between motor speed and the situational-motor speed in football. There were 60 participants that were tested- all from football schools. The age group was between 13 – 14 + 6 months. Motor speed as a predictor system consisted of eight sprint and segmentary speed tests. These tests included running speed at 20m, 50m, 60m, 100m and 200m to measure sprint speed and foot taping, foot tapping on the wall and rotation of the foot to measure segmentary speed. The participants tested situational-motor speed was measured by dirbbling speed with obstacles, dribbling speed at a distance of 20m, dribbling speed with a change in direction and dribbling speed by a semicircle. The results showed a high correlation of motor speed and situational-motor speed in football showing that speed as a basic motor ability is very important for technical elements. The method used by Milenkovic (2011) relates to my research as it shows that there are different aspects of speed to look into that can affect my research, therefore suggesting that I should carry out more tests to find speed of players.

Williams (2005) looked at the specificity of acceleration, maximum speed, and agility in professional football players hoping to find out whether these factors relate to each other. The study took place on 106 professional football players who had to undertake various tests which included a 10m sprint (to find acceleration), a flying 20m sprint (to measure maximum speed) and a zigzag agility performance. The results of what Williams (2005) found is that acceleration, maximum speed and agility are ‘specific qualities and relatively unrelated to one another’. Williams also mentioned how he suggests that specific testing and training procedures for these speed components for elite players should be made effective use of. This study links to my research as speed is my measure. As it states that the three components tested in the study done by Williams are unrelated, I won’t have to worry about any other factors affecting my results such as a players acceleration impacting the accuracy of crosses.

Muniroglu (2008) set out to examine the effects of the speed function when dribbling. In Ankara, Turkey 177 football players were taken from the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd league, amateur and two youth teams who had their performance observed and analysed. All of the participants completed the test procedure which included a test for sprint, slalom, dribbling as well as an agility test. After testing the correlations between sprint, slalom and dribbling it was seen that there was no relation between the sprint, dribbling and slalom values, however there was a positive correlation between slalom and dribbling. This links to my research project as the players will be running at full speed whilst dribbling down the wing to put crosses in so it helps look at the relation between the two.

Kumar (2014) studied the effect of speed endurance training on crossing accuracy in football. Kumar, Kaur and Sharma set out to develop a training programme that minimises the fatigue outcome as it may hamper the coordinative ability of a player. The 30 participants used in this experiment were between the ages of 17-22 and were all provided with 2 months specifically designed speed endurance training. A self-designed test was used to measure the crossing accuracy of participants. The method included the participant starting in a cross area, when the test begins the participant would run towards the ball area to get the ball then run back to the cross area and kicks the ball into the marked penalty area. They found out that speed endurance training resists the fatigue of football players. Kumar (2014) research relates to mine as it has a very similar aim of looking at the accuracy of crossing in football related to speed, however this research is using players aged 17-22 whereas mine is 17-18, age could be a factor that affects results.

Coverdale (2013) was looking at the English Premier League crossing statistics from the 2013/14 season and found that David Silva had the best overall cross completion rate of all players in the league with a rate of 42.5%. He was ahead of players such as Mesut Ozil, Steven Gerrard and Juan Mata. He also looks at the top completion rate of crosses from open play where James Ward-Prowse topped the charts with a completion rate of 42.86%. It relates to my research as it is looking at the same variable as I am- crossing. The cross completion rates are high as these players are at the elite level of performance, whereas I will be looking into players from the participation level who’s technique will not be as good as the elite players. Therefore I can expect a much less completion rate of crosses when conducting my research.

South (2014) was looking at the speed of players that were involved in the 2014 FIFA World Cup by clocking them when running at full speed. He wanted to look into this as it was apparent that Arjen Robben clocked in with the fastest time running at an incredible 37kph in the Netherlands historic 5-1 victory over Spain. After doing some research it was found that Robben actually ran at a speed of 31.03kph and that Rafael Varane of France was actually recorded as the fastest running at a speed of 32.33kph. This study relates to my research as my measure is speed and looking at the different speeds. This shows the top speeds of players at the highest level of the game and as these are professional athletes I should expect a much lower speed from my participants who play at the participation level.

In my literature review there are a fair amount of similarities and differences between the sources I have used. A big similarity is that most of the sources focus on football as the sport. There is one that focuses on a variety of sports however. A big difference is the level of sport that the participants from the sources are playing at. Information gathered from the FIFA World Cup, which is the highest level in the sport, is being used alongside information from amateur players from a certain school for example. Another difference is that some sources do primary research where they go out and get the information themselves by carrying out tests for example, and then other research is using information that was already there and bring it all together to get results- such as the source by Coverdale who used statistics available.

There are some clear weaknesses about my sources such as some of them only include a short abstract and don’t include a full write up including a method for example which would make it easier to understand how the researcher went about their study. Another weakness about my sources is that in some cases it was hard to pin point the exact method as some were incredibly detailed with the highest knowledge shown and using tests that I may not be able to use as the equipment available is limited. In the research done by South (2014) I realised that he conducted all of it before the World Cup was actually over, this means that another player could have recorded an even higher speed in the later stages of the competition making his research seem unreliable.

One key question that arose from doing my literature review was that do I need to look into different parts of speed and break it down into motor speed and the situational-motor speed for example, that was what Milenkovic (2011) looked into when researching speed as an important component in football. I personally believe that acceleration may have an impact as if a player has good acceleration they may be able to get into better positions with amounts of space quickly to buy themselves time to be able to put a successful cross into the box. I believe there will not be a correlation between speed and successful crosses as I believe it is all down to technical ability of the player and their vision to spot the right player to cross to.

Vecer (2014) Crossing in Soccer has a Strong Negative Impact on Scoring: Evidence from the English Premier League the German Bundesliga and the World Cup 2014 [online] available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2225728  (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Milenkovic (2011) Speed as an Important Component of Football Game [online] available at: www.actakin.com/PDFS/BR0501/SVEE/04%20CL%2012%20DM.pdf  (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Williams (2005) Specificity of acceleration, maximum speed, and agility in professional soccer players [online] available at: www.researchgate.net/publication/8028017_Specificity_of_acceleration_maximum_speed_and_agility_agility_in_professional_soccer_players (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Bloomfield et al. (2007) Effective Speed and Agility Conditioning Methodology for Random Intermittent Dynamic Type Sports [online] available at: www.fmh.utl.pt/argon/cpfmh/docs/documentos/recursos/112/BloomfieldV_JDC.pdf  (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Muniroglu (2008) The Effects of the Speed Function on Some Technical Elements in Soccer [online] available at: www.thesportjournal.org/article/the-effects-of-the-speed-function-on-some-technical-elements-in-soccer/  (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Kumar (2014) Effect of Speed Endurance Training on Crossing Accuracy in Soccer [online] available at: www.dews.net.in/ijmess/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/20-Vijay.pdf  (Accessed 10/02/2015)

Other sources:

Coverdale (2013) Leaderboard: Crossing accuracy in the Premier League [online] available at: https://www.bsports.com/extratime/leaderboard-crossing-accuracy-in-the-premier-league#.VPCHBbezUdU (Accessed 26/02/2015)

South (2014) World Cup 2014 fastest players [online] available at: http://www.givemesport.com/476864-top-8-world-cup-2014-fastest-players/page/5 (Accessed 26/02/2015)

Tommy Dennis- Literacy Review

Detailed references

This literature write up is used to describe all of my abstracts, most being journals and some being other sources such as articles on websites or graphs drawn up by research experts to display information on penalty saving variables by goalkeepers. By referencing these abstracts by using a citation I will be using other people’s research to help with my own.

I am reviewing the literature for the purpose of backing my own research up and showing my research project is relevant and has a purpose. I have also researched into other abstracts etc to see if there is already identical research to mine out there already available.  This gives me elements that I can compare these certain journals or studies to, so that I can use them to draw certain conclusions from and use them as an anecdote.

The criteria that was used by me to decide whether or not I would decide to use them as a source, it had to include one of my measures, variable or population, such as height, a factor causing goalkeepers to save a penalty for example. An example of a piece of research I have used is on how the position stance of a goalkeeper affects the amount of penalties they concede in a season. I included this as although it doesn’t talk about height it is talking about factors affecting the amount of penalties saved.

Van der Kamp (2007) studied about how a goalkeeper’s posture can influence how tall they look when facing a penalty. He goes on to say about if they use a posture which makes them look like they take up more of the goal this results in the penalty taker to become more nervous and can result in them being more likely to miss the penalty. He was hoping to find a correlation between the two. His research showed that visual illusions from goalies can work in favour to the goalkeeper y making them seem bigger and putting the penalty taker off. The method of this research was mainly desk related analyzing penalty from the past. A downside to this research in relation to my own is the van der kamp didn’t just concentrate on football goalkeepers he did it on keepers in handball as well for example. The reason this research has met my criteria is the fact it is on the same population as me which is goalkeepers and also strongly relates to my measure which is how many penalties the goalie lets in. This research has benefitted my own as it shows that factors of a goalkeeper can affect the ability for the penalty taker to score.

Mcmorris (1996) studied about how different footed players affect the ability for a goalkeeper to save the penalty.  His study included goalkeepers watching film of the penalty taker about to take the penalty and stopping the footage 2-3 frames before contact and the goalie has to judge which way he is going. The study aimed to see whether it was easier to guess for a right or left footed player. This met my criteria as it relates to my population of pro goalkeepers and the measure of the amount of penalties saved. The method included a goalkeeper sitting at a computer and choosing which way the  player will go. The research showed that goalkeepers can assess what direction the penalty will go when watching at a slow speed however their wasn’t much difference between right and left footed players. This can help with my own research as it shows once again that variables that can affect the ability to a goalkeeper to save penalties.

Greenless et al (2008) studied how the pre gaze of a striker can affect the ability of a goalkeeper to save their penalty. They studied whether a 90% gaze at the keeper compared to a 10% gaze makes the goalkeeper feel less confident in saving the penalty. The results showed that goalkeepers who faced players with a 90% pre gaze stare felt a lot less confident in saving the penalty. When goalkeepers face a player who only stares 10% of the time they feel a lot more confident in saving th penalty. The method of this test was to place a camera in the center of the goal and observe video footage for the camera.  A downside to this research is that the results are based on semiprofessional footballers rather than professionals like I am studying. The reason this has met with my criteria is that is has the same measure as me which is the variables that enable a goalkeeper to successfully save a penalty. This research has benefitted my own research as it has shown that there is lots of research on different variables but not on the height of a goalkeeper affecting the success rate of a goalkeeper.

Navaro et al (2013) studied on how the mere presence of a goalkeeper affects the success rate of the penalty. The method of the research is to put a target zone in the top corners of the goal and get the intermediate standard player to have goes at hitting the target without a goalkeeper, with the presence of a goalkeeper, and with a goalkeeper trying to save the ball. The outcome of the research showed that with the mere presence of a goalie, the penalty taker centralizes the kick missing the target more often. This research can be related to mine as it’s on a similar population which is intermediate goalkeepers compared to mine which is professional goalkeepers. It also shows variables that affect the accuracy of the penalty kicks which is the presence of a goalkeeper. This heavily relates to my own research as the taller a goalkeeper is the bigger their presence in the goal is. Therefore this research has helped me to believe that there will be a correlation between the height of a goalie and their ability to save a penalty.  This piece of research therefore heavily relates to my own and will be used in reference.

Dicks (2011) studied how goalkeepers can anticipate where the penalty kick is going. They used desk research by viewing video footage from a player taking a kick and the goalie got a score out of 10 for a long run up, a short run up and no run up. They searched how different length run ups and different styles can mean that a goalie can tell easier where the player is going. The result of the research showed that a longer run up meant that goalkeepers can choose which way to dive more successfully. The aim of the research is to find a variable that makes it easier for goalies to save a penalty kick which is how it is very similar to my own. It is the variable out of the three which is why I have included this in my literacy review.  Once again this research shows how there is research out there on variables affecting the ability of a goalkeeper to save a penalty however not factors that we can’t help such as height. This research has influenced my own in the fact it is suggesting that even if you have the tallest goalkeeper in the world it may be up to the run up as to whether they miss or not, not because of the height of the goalkeeper.

O’Callaghan writes in this news article about how the odds of scoring a penalty are heavily in in the penalty takers favor. He goes on to use the world cup as an example where he says 6 out of  6 penalties were scored in the group stage and out of every penalty taken in the 2013/14 premier league season only 14/87 penalties were miss or saved by the goalkeeper. The overall gist of the article is saying how a goal is as big as a cargo container and from 36 feet it should be criminal for a premier league footballer to miss.  It explains the science behind why the player should never miss as it says the average speed of a penalty is 70 MPH which gives the goalkeeper 700 milliseconds to react. This relates to my own research as I am trying to find out whether a variable can affect the ability for a goalkeeper to save a penalty and this article is basically saying how nothing can help the goalkeeper to save the penalty and that the penalty taker should always score.

Benjamin speaks in his coaching book about techniques on how to save a penalty and uses a quote said by premiership goalkeeper Brad Freidel ‘I think of them [penalty kicks] as no-lose situations for a goalkeeper. All the pressure is on the field player, who is supposed to score’. This quote from a top goalkeeper speaks volumes as he is saying that he feels it isn’t his responsibility to save the penalty and that the penalty taker should always score. This relates to my research project as this shows that from the viewpoint of a goalkeeper they do not expect to save a penalty so my research project could be irrelevant to some people’s viewpoint. They think that it is down to the striker to miss the penalty regardless as to whether the goalkeeper is tall or not.

Muller has written an article on the bizarre tactics implemented by Louis van gal in Holland’s quarter final encounter at the world cup. LVG decided to take his first choice keeper Cillesen off and replace him with Tim Krul in the 120^th minute. The article explains how no one knows why LVG did it not even Tim Krul himself who talks in the interview. This unknown factor is the sole reason I have included this source in my literacy review as I think his reasoning could be my aim in my research project. Cillisen is only 6’1 and the keeper that replaced him Tim Krul is 6’4. LVG may have believed that because Tim Krul is 3 inches bigger than Cillisen he had a better chance at saving the penalty. This is speculative however and cannot be confirmed as LVG has not said why he changed the goalkeeper. This has influenced my own project and can be talked about at some point during.

Dr Wilson explains how penalties are a lot harder to score when under more pressure. He says the mere presence of a goalkeeper results in accuracy being worse and in a knock out the last penalty ‘the decider’ is the most pressure any penalty taker will take. From a study of 300 penalties less than 60% of the deciding penalty was missed and this is down the pressure felt by the taker. This is stats for when a miss will send their team out the competition. In comparison to this when in a situation where a goal will win the shoot-out 92% of penalty takers will score. This relates to my own study as it shows that the more pressure a goalie can create for the penalty taker, the more likely it is for them to miss. Height comes in to this as a bigger goalkeeper instantly creates more pressure as the penalty taker has less of a goal to aim at.

Throughout the 10 sources there have been many similarities and differences.  Firstly all of the sources I have used show statistics and facts about football goalkeeper’s par one source which also mentions handball keepers. This is good as it shows I am getting information that is valid to my own research. Another similarity between many of my sources which differs them to my own is that it is talking about other factors that can affect penalty taking rather than the height of the goalkeeper. Many of the sources use factors that are about the penalty taker rather than the goalkeeper such as which footed they are and what kind of run up they take. The majority of the sources I have used use factors such as these. A difference between many of the abstracts and the articles is that the abstracts which include primary research are talking about variables that can affect the ability for a goalkeeper to save the penalty whereas the articles are more talking about how a penalty taker has no excuse but to core the penalty and if they don’t it is their own fault rather than the keeper doing well.

One major weakness I had with a few of my sources is that their research isn’t based on pro footballers like my own is going to be based on. A lot of them have been based on primary research done at school and college level football which wouldn’t be very valid when using it to help with my own as school kids are going to be more likely to miss a penalty than professional footballers. Another weakness of my sources is that a few are a bit outdated such as one was published in 1996. This is a weakness as this may have been valid for this time but there may be newer research available since this was uploaded which I could’ve used instead. Especially in recent years when football has changed with penalties being given a lot more easily than back in 1996.  The majority of the conclusions I have made from the sources I agree with as there is evidence to back it up however a few of them I was a bit unsure of.  Such as one of my sources talking about how the color of the players kit can affect the goalkeepers ability to save the penalty. I think this may have just be a coincidence.

One key question that has arose from most of my sources is that although what a goalkeeper does and acts has an impact on the players’ ability to score a penalty at a professional level the player should always score the penalty. Another question it has made me think is that height affecting penalties hasn’t been researched before so my research could be quite useful for people to use. There is lots of research on other factors affecting penalties but not height. In my research I don’t aspect a clear correlation between the height of the goalkeeper and their ability to save penalties but I expect the correlation to be slightly positive.

Benjamin, Jeff (JB goalkeeping), 2014, Penalty kicks chapter on his goalkeeping book.

http://www.jbgoalkeeping.com/pks.html

Dicks, M et al, 2011, visual anticipation in goalkeeper penalty saving.volume 6, 28^th september

http://multi-science.metapress.com/content/q3734k66312h5jv2/

-Greenless, I et al, 2008, Soccer penalty takers’ uniform colour and pre-penalty kick gaze affect the impressions formed of them by opposing goalkeepers. Volume 26 pages 569-576 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640410701744446#tabModule

– Mcmorris,T et al, 1996, Anticipation of professional soccer goalkeepers when facing right and left footed penalty kicks. Volume 82 pages 931-934. 3^rd June http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3.931

Muller, Nick (The guardian), Hollands world cup penalty tactics.6^th July 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jul/06/netherlands-keeper-tim-krul-intimidation-tactics

Navarro, M et al, 2013, the mere presence of a goalkeeper affects the accuracy of penalty kicks. Volume 31 pages 921-929. 29^th January http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2012.762602

O’Callaghan (daily mail), J, 2014, odds overwhelmingly in a shooters favour, news article 18^th June  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2661383/The-science-penalty-kicks-Size-goal-reaction-times-game-theory-odds-overwhelmingly-favour-shooter.html

-Van der kamp, J,2007, the human Muller-Lyer illusion in goalkeeping, project on different variables that help goalkeepers to save penalties. perception volume 37 951-54 .18^th December http://www.perceptionweb.com/perception/editorials/p6010.pdf0

Wilson, Dr Mark (BASES), How pressure causes penalty missing. 2013, December

http://www.bases.org.uk/Psychological-Preparation-for-Football-Penalty-Shootouts

unit 27 task 2 Ryan McKeon last hand in

A performance profile helps to build a relationship in sport

unit 5 Literacy review Ryan McKeon

The topic for my literary review is to look at any abstract relates to leg length

Unit 5- Literacy review- Georgia Short

Literacy review

The topic that this literacy review is looking into is based on my research project on lower body flexibility the affect it has on speed of young female athletes. The athletes will play either football or rugby at participation or performance level and aged between 16-19. This literacy review will include 10 pieces of research, 5 abstracts and 5 other sources. I will be reviewing previous research in order to gain an idea of the results I am looking to achieve in my own project and whether there have been any significant results previously. It will also enable me to look at the methods used and may be used as support in my final conclusions. Each abstract or other source will be related to my project aim by relating to one or more of the following; the population: females aged between 16-19; the measure: flexibility; the variable: sprinting speed

Chandler et al. (1990) studied the difference flexibility of junior elite tennis players compared to other athletes. They conducted the research by obtaining measurements from tests that included a sit and reach flexibility, quadricep flexibility, hamstring flexibility, gastrocnemius flexibility, shoulder internal rotation, and shoulder external rotation. Their population was 86 junior elite tennis players and 139 athletes who were involved in other sports. Chandler et al. found that the flexibility differences in tennis players suggest adaptations to the musculoskeletal demands of their sport. The method used by Chandler et al. will support the research design of my project as it looked at a range of lower body flexibility as well as younger athletes which are both specific to my research.

Bauman et al. (1991) studied preseason strength and flexibility imbalances that have been associated with athletic injuries, in female college athletes. They conducted their research by administering preseason strength and flexibility tests and monitored for any injuries obtained during their sports seasons. Strength was measured as the maximal isokinetic rotation of the right and left knee flexors and knee extensors and flexibility was measured by the range of motion of several lower body joints. The population for this research was 138 female college athletes, participating in eight weight bearing sports. They found that athletes experienced more lower extremity injuries if they had: a right knee flexor 15% stronger than the left knee flexor at; a right hip extensor 15% more flexible than the left hip extensor; or a knee flexor/knee extensor ratio of less than 0.75 at 180 deg/sec. The research by Bauman et al. has indicated that when I compare lower body flexibility to speed I will need to take into account the differences between the left and right side; and bear in mind whether the athlete is left-side or right-side dominant.

Leite et al. (2014) researched into the influence of strength and flexibility training, combined or isolated, on strength and flexibility gains. The research was conducted by dividing the participants into four equal groups; strength training, flexibility training, combination of strength and flexibility, and combination of flexibility and strength. All groups were assessed before and after training for the Sit-and-Reach test, goniometry, and ten rep max (10RM) in both bench press and leg press exercises. Each group had a training programme which included training sessions on alternate days and was made up of eight exercises which were performed at different intensities. The flexibility training consisted of dynamic stretching which lasted for 60 minutes. The research was conducted on 28 trained, middle aged women. The results showed significant strength gains in all groups in the leg press exercise. All groups except the flexibility improved in bench press strength, and there was found to be no significant differences in flexibility with in any group, in any of the comparisons. The method used by Leite et al. will inform my research design as I should take into account, what positions they play within their chosen sport and whether they need flexibility or strength.

Bruce et al. (2004) Conducted research in order to see if there was an effect of static stretching in a warm-up on hip flexor and quadriceps flexibility and foot speed at impact in kicking a football with maximum effort. They used 16 Australian Rules Football players in their research, who each performed two different warm-ups on different days. The first warm-up involved five minutes of sub-maximum running and seven practice kicks, the second also included four and a half minutes of static stretching of the hip flexors and quadriceps after the running. A modified Thomas test was conducted before and after each warm-up, and then players were videotaped to determine the ROM of the kicking leg and foot speed at impact with the ball. Bruce et al concluded that stretching had no influence on kicking ROM or foot speed. They based this on the complexity of the kicking skill; flexibility had no effect as well as the Thomas test not being sensitive enough. The conclusion found by Bruce et al will inform my research that I need to ensure that the tests I conduct are accurate and sensitive enough in order for me to gain reliable and valid results. The method also has informed me that all participants will need to take part in the same warm up and stretching. I will also need to conduct my flexibility tests either all before or all after exercise.

Ramiz (2008) want to see the affect that lower-limb massage had after a warm up. He conducted research in order to study the acute effects of pre- performance lower limb massage after warm-up on explosive and high-speed motor capacities and flexibility. Each participant was assigned each a massage, stretching and rest in a randomized order. Before and after each of these the participants was asked to complete a 10 meter acceleration, a flying start 20 meter sprint, a 30 meter sprint from standing position, a leg reaction time, a vertical jump and sit & reach test. There were 24 participants involved in the study, all male of Caucasian ethnicity. Results indicated that after stretching and massaging there was significant improvement in the sit-and-reach test, however had a negative effect on speed. The method used by Ramiz will inform my research design as it contains tests I am looking to use and has achieve significant results using these.

Sifferlin (2013) has written an article on why stretching may not help before exercise. The article looked into and explains that static stretching before exercise doesn’t prevent injuries, and can impair strength and speed in some athletes. The writer of the article has found various research that support her theory including research conducted by University of Zagreb. This study reviews 104 studies of people who only practiced static stretching as their warm-up and found that stretching reduced muscle strength by 5.5%. This article by Sifferlin indicates that flexibility may decrease their speed.

O’Donovan (2009) has written an article about stretching. I am interested in the section based on the effects of stretching before exercise and flexibility training on endurance performance. There were results that found static stretching did not significantly reduce endurance performance. This was based on a study of 11 students who were physically active. It did however reduce running economy and endurance performance in a study of 10 trained distance runners. Another study of 34 international-standard distance runners found that the least flexible runners were also the most economical.

Geriatr et al. (2004) has written an article based on vibration training. The athletes were split between a vibration group 13 athletes who trained three times a week for eight weeks and a control group of 11 athletes. At the end of this time they were tested on: countermovement jump, leg extension strength, horizontal leg press, and flexibility. The researchers discovered that the vibration group displayed a significant improvement in leg extension strength, countermovement jump performance and flexibility.

Conclusions

There were similarities across selected articles that mainly agree that if flexibility is improved, speed is decreased. A lot of these articles used a sit and reach test; this is beneficial as this is one of the test I plan to carry out and therefore will be able to compare my research to this.

There were many differences across the articles and this makes them hard to compare them against each other. Some studies were carried out over a few weeks whereas others were longitudinal and based over a longer amount of time. The types of sports that the athletes competed in were also different, this means that they athletes require different aspects in their training and there body types; I can’t compare a tennis play to a weight lifter because they are training for different goal. Another aspect which varied across the groups is their size. There were also different ethnic groups in the various studies which makes it hard to rule out cultural differences.

One of the weaknesses of many of the sources was that they only linked to one of my criteria whether this is the population, variables or measurement. They are not specific enough to the research that I want to carry out of and therefore affect the amount that I can use these when backing up my own research. It was hard to find the specific participation/performance level for my chosen sports and therefore I will need to bear this in mind when relating back to this research.

Another weakness is that the sources didn’t always use sensitive enough tests, therefore any significances that were minute may not have been picked up on.

After completing my literature review I found that I need to look more carefully at what I’m measuring and how outside factors will affect my results. I need to make sure that I take into consideration that all my results may be affected by the different positions that my athletes play in their chosen sports. This is because difference positions require different aspects within the sport. My research has shown that athletes that require more strength rather than speed will be less flexible and I will need to consider this when I gather participants as I will need a fair range of positions from the two sports. I need to consider whether I am doing the lower body flexibility of both legs or just the dominant leg and how I am going to define this. I will need to ensure that all the participants warm up and stretch, if this is required, in the same manner. After conducting the research I understand that my project doesn’t require a control group as I am not testing the athletes over time but based on how they are in the present.

A key question that I need to look into more is why when flexibility is increase; stability may decrease as I feel it will be important to my research.

Before conducting this research I thought that the more lower body flexibility a person had the faster they would be however, after researching into this further my hypothesis is that the more flexible a person the slower they will be.

 

Bauman et al. (1991) Pre-season strength and flexibility imbalances associated with athletic injuries in female collegiate athletes, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 19 (1) pp. 76-81

Bruce et al. (2004) Acute effects of static stretching on hip flexor and quadriceps flexibility, range of motion and foot speed in kicking a football, Journal of science and medicine in sport, 7 (1) pp. 23-31

Chandler et al. (1990) Flexibility comparisons of junior elite tennis players to other athletes, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 18 (2) pp. 134-136

Geriatr et al. (2004) Potentiation and vibration training [online] available at <http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/vibration-training-to-enhance-speed-power-and-flexibility-39279> [Accessed 15^th February 2015]

Leite et al. (2014) Influence of strength and flexibility training, combined or isolated, on strength and flexibility gains, Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research

O’Donovan (2009) Stretching and endurance performance [online] available at<http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/warming-up-the-latest-research-into-stretching-42328> [Accessed 10^th February 2015]

Ramiz (2008) Acute Effects of Pre-Event Lower Limb Massage on Explosive and High Speed Motor Capacities and Flexibility, Journal of sport science and medicine, 7 (4) pp. 549–555.

Sifferlin (2013) Why Stretching May Not Help Before Exercise [online] available at<http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/08/why-stretching-may-not-help-before-exercise/> [Accessed 10^th February 2015]

 

 

 

 

UNIT 27 – TASK 2 – Cameron McIvor

1) Performance profiling wheel – Copy of unit-27-player-profiling-tool-task-2paulwork

2) Performance strengths and areas for improvement – Unit27-task-2-strengths-and-weaknesses

3) Coaching log – Unit27task2coachinglog

Unit 5- Literary Review- Catriona Phillips

The purpose of my literature review is to review and credit the previous research I will use to support my own. I will be looking at research that relates to my aim- find the main reasons for post 16 female drop out from sport or physical activity. I will use my findings to create my questionnaire of the most commonly occurring issues. To be selected as a source it must be relevant to one of my aim (population, variable and measure) and have been conducted in the last 10 years. There should be a vast amount of research on this topic due to relevance of the research with campaigns such as This Girl Can. Many national governing bodies are also looking at increasing female participation in general. For my research I am using five abstracts and five articles and other sources.

Slater and Tiggermann (2010) researched the reasons of adolescent girls withdrawing from physical activity. The aim was to find the reasons girls give “for ceasing participation in sports and other physical activities” and “for why they do not participate as much boys”. The method for this experiment was 6 focus groups aged 13-15. This study was conducted in Adelaide in Australia. This age group is just younger than the group I will be looking at and based in Australia but the information is good to use as it is looking at a very similar issue in a similar, though not identical population. The results of this are not completely given in the abstract however it is given that lack of competence and insufficient time are reasons. It is also interesting to see what they gave as the reasons for not participating as much as boys (although not linked directly to my research). They were concerned about crossing traditional gender boundaries as some sports are traditionally seen as masculine. Concerns were also raised about appearance when playing sport. This is inline with the reasons raised in my other sources.

Thompson (2015) is an article on the Association of Colleges website. It is to go with the launch of Sport England’s campaign ‘This Girl Can’. It talks about the representation of women in sport in England. 30.3% of female population aged 14+play sport once a week it then goes into details specifically to do with colleges. This meets my population and the figures is one of the main reasons I have chosen to look at this issue 25% of sports students are female and only 30% of students participating in sports activities were female. It is relevant to my research as it gives me links to other research and campaigns that try to combat falling participation rates among female college students.

Sport England (2006) compiled research into participation among 15-19 year old women. The research aimed to understand the detriments of physical activity participation among women aged 15-19. It had three objectives- 1-the influence of key transitions in young women’s lives upon levels of sport and physical activity, such as leaving school etc. 2-The influence of the environment upon participation in sport and physical activity.3- The influence of social and psychological (referred to as psychosocial) factors upon levels of sport and physical activity, such as attitudes and perceived pros and cons of participation. The method was a short screening questionnaire to find out the levels of participation of 15-19 year old girls. There were then focus groups and individual interviews with 75 young women. This research meets all three of my aims as the population, variable and measure are the same. The research identified that there are clear differences between those who do sport and those who don’t regarding issues like role of family, friends and the awareness of sporting opportunities. This is a good source for my research as it gives a number of potential reasons to include in my survey.

Kay (2006) this research looks at the influence of family among young Muslim girls who have participated in sport. It looks at the girls understanding of their parents views in relation to their family participation in physical education. They interviewed girls and reasons they gave included the effect being a minority in Britain and the effects it has on their participation. This is relevant to my research as it could be a potential reason for many girls not participating in sport and physical activity. Both ethnicity and family influences should be included in my survey.

Eime et al (2012) conducted research into the decline in participation in sport and physical activity on adolescence especially girls. A survey of 489 year 7 and 243 year 11 girls looking at overall participation rates. The results found that less than half of respondents met the recommended amount of exercise. There was no found difference between the two groups apart from there was a shift in the type of exercise the girls were doing. In the younger group the girls participated in more structured sport were as this changes to unstructured activities like going running or to the gym. The purpose of the research was to be able to implement policies that create programmes to promote PA in adolescent girls. This is very similar to my research; only it compares the differences from the youngest end of school to the oldest age.

Tinsley for Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation. Comprised a presentation of research regarding drop out of 16-24 year olds. It talks about the NGBs that have identified female participation as an issue they want to work on. They all report that the drop off occurs in girls during their teenage years. The report gives the feelings of the girls who don’t give up and they talk about a sport being a passion and a release. They also report on many reasons girls do give up. There is a huge range of reasons given that they found. I am going to use these reasons in my survey as the cover the widest range and is based on research done in a similar age group. It goes into details around body image giving this as one of the big reasons girls don’t participate.

Hughes (2012) wrote an article on making PE more attractive to girls. The article is based on the Women’ Sports and Fitness Foundation saying that girls are put off by PE and that schools should make it more appealing to girls. Research conducted at the University of Loughborough found a difference in attitudes to sport between girls and boys. Girls and boys at age eight have similar activity levels, 60% said they took part in at least 1 hour of exercise five times a week. Where as with 14 year olds the figure had halved (31%) where as boys the figure was at 50%. The research found that girls wanted to do physical activity but were put off by PE classes and some said they did not like the idea of exercising in front of boys. This is important for my research as it gives statistics suggesting that perhaps the drop off begins as girls enter secondary school and go through puberty as apposed to around the time of GCSE and A-level exams.

Mundasad (2014) wrote an article surrounding possible reasons for women not wanting to participate in sport. This was based on a report by MPs which suggest that sexist attitudes, boring lessons and “gratuitous derogatory remarks” put women off sport. The article talks about lack of funding among school age females reduces the amount of them who will take part in sport later in life. They MPs found that many girls are put off by school sports lessons. From this report there was money put into Sport England to improve grassroots sport for women and girls. This article is relevant to my research as it shows how relevant the topic is with money going into improving participation rates among women and girls.

Martinson (2014) wrote an article for The Guardian regarding the representation and reporting of female sporting success. Research from Birmingham University found that a year on from the London Olympic games six of the national newspapers had less reports on female sport than before the games. 97% of sports coverage the year after the Olympics (2013) was of male sports. The research believes there is a link between the female representation levels in the media and the low levels of participation among women (29% meet the recommended minimum). This report is important to my research as it raises another issue that my impact 16-19 year old girls participating in physical activity.

Commons select comity (2015) this report highlights that no matter age, ethnicity or income levels women and girls are less likely to participate in sport. There are more problems to do with accessibility and availability for females wanting to participate in sport. The report makes recommendations of what to do within school to increase participation including increasing the range of activities for girls, better training for teachers and a more even split of funding between girls and boys sport. This is important for my research as it highlights the things already in place to combat lower participation rates in girls.

The key trends that are in all of my articles are that across all groups of society girls have lower participation rates than boys. One of the issues that occurs most often is the concern with how they look while doing exercise or body image. Because of this I would expect this to appear in my findings. I would also expect the lack of opportunity to be a common thing to come back from my survey.

One abstract that is a slight anomaly is Eime et al where it was found that actually girls did want to and many do continue with physical activity through out teenage years however the move away from the traditional competitive structured sports that can be seen as masculine. The age ranges across all of this research changes with some meeting my sample and some not however most mention that the decline begins to occur during in the teenage years and while still in school.Most of my sources are valid however some do not have exact reference of where the data came from. Some of the reports from the organisations such as Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation is presented as if a presentation so the data is easy to read and nicely laid out but doesn’t reference who did the original research. However as it comes from well-known and respected sources I feel it is valid.

I feel that the sources I have used above will support my research and validate my findings as I fully expect them to be inline with the research above. The reasons found especially from the WSFF will be the base of my survey, which means that the reasons I am testing, will have come from prior research into the area. It also means that the reasons will have come from focus groups and interviews with young women within my sample. I suspect that the reasons that will come up from my research as most common are: Body image, opportunities and lack of confidence in abilities.

Amy Slater and Marika Tiggermann. 2010. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Volume 11. Adelaide, Australia.

Donna Thompson. January 2014. “Girls in college can play sport… but do they want to?” Women’s sport and fitness foundation. 2007-2011.

Sports England. January 2006. Understanding participation in sport: What determines sports participation among 15-19 year old women?

Tess Kay. 2006. Family influences on Muslim young women’s participation in sport. Daughters of Islam.

Rochelle Eime, Jack Harvey, Neroli Sawyer, Melinda Craike, Caroline Symons, Remco Polman, Warren Payne. Understanding the Contexts of Adolescent Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity. Research quarterly for exercise and sport. Volume 84. Issue 2.

Tinsely. Sport England. Investigating reasons for sport drop-out amongst 16-19 year old girls.

Unit 5 – Literature Review – Maddy Burnage

Unit 5 –  Literacy Review

I am a sport science student currently carrying out my own research project. To determine whether  aerobic capacity is affected by BMI and skinfold measurements and to find the relationship between them in female rugby union players who are currently apart of a college AASE team who are between the ages of 16years old – 19 years old. This review is to help me find similar research which has been completed, to identify similar methods to use when conducting my own research to ensure that my research methods are reliable and valid, also by using similar methods means that my results used has a possible connections with other research. The literacy review helps myself to find evidence to support my study and results but will help to show my work is innovative and different to others. The way in which research and other sources have been found is by using the population, variables and measurements of my own research, to identify common links with other researchers. The population of my study is women rugby union players in college, the measurements will be aerobic capacity completed by a yoyo test and the variables consist of BMI and Skinfold tests. When deciding if the external source is suitable to my research I will ensure that there is 2 or 3 links in common with my research. I will also pick the most recent research to ensure that the data has not been outdated and can be trustworthy data.

NM Hene (2011) aimed to investigate changes in physical fitness of elite women’s rugby union players over a competition season. They investigated 32 elite women’s rugby players, subdivided into 17 forwards and 15 backs over a pre, mid and post season. The began by taking 7 Skinfold measurements of each player alongside a physical performance test including a vertical jump. They found no significant change in sum of skin folds and fitness tests, but sprint times increased and decreased between early pre, mid-season and mid-post season. Results by NM Hene (2011) found that athletes need to train at higher loads especially in the predatory phase which relates to my research as I am research a women’s rugby team also investigating the amount of skin fold a person has affecting their fitness levels. Research by NM Hene (2011) will support my research as in my research I will be looking at skinfold measurements and how the skin fold results of an athlete may affect their results. NM Hene (2011) method of skinfold helps to support my research design as it includes the same method of testing body composition.

DG Higham (2013) researched into anthropometric, physiological and performance qualities of elite level rugby sevens players and quantified relationships between these characteristics. 18 male international rugby sevens players undertook anthropometric(body mass, height, sum of 7 skinfolds, acceleration and speed, muscle-power, repeated sprint ability, and endurance. They found relationships between measurements by correlation analysis. They found 7s players had anthropometric characteristics (body mass 89.7 kg, sum of 7 skinfolds 52.2 mm) their results in all sevens players was every similar to backs in internal 15 players rugby union. They found acceleration, speed, muscle power and endurance were very similar or better than those professional 15 a side players. They also found relative VO2 Max was correlated with yoyo distance and moderate correlation with 40 m sprint times. They concluded international rugby sevens players require well-developed power, speed and endurance to make sure they can keep up with opposition when in competition, they also found very similar results between all of the rugby sevens players and all need similar physical performance standards compared to 15 a side players. This relates to my research as I am conducting tests by using the yoyo intermittent test, skin fold and BMI scores, by using the same tests helps to support my research in the methods that I use to get results. It also helps to support my research as I am investigating these results upon rugby players, whereby players have had experience in both 7s and 15s rugby.

Clarke Et al.2014) investigated into critical velocity as a measure of aerobic fitness in women’s rugby sevens. They completed both a laboratory VO2 Max test and a field based test (yoyo intermittent test) in 7s players. This research involved 22 female Australian rugby 7s national team members. In their results they found critical velocity was highly correlated with the yoyo test and critical velocity is an appropriate fitness test and correlates well with 7s rugby data. This research works well with mine as it involve elite performers in women’s rugby and so results are similar but also states the results of a yoyo test which will be a test that I used to measure the aerobic capacity in my research therefore I will be able to compare results to see if there is a relationship between mine and Clarke et al (2014) research.

Scott AC et al.2003) researched into aerobic exercise physiology in professional rugby union team. They researched elite rugby players in 2 groups of forwards and backs so once tested they could see the difference between the 2 groups.  They underwent many tests; cardiopulmonary exercise testing, lung spirometry,a 3 km timed run and body fat measurements. They found peak oxygen uptake was higher in backs with no difference in peak respiratory exchange. However forwards were found to be taller and heavier with a higher fat content and forced expiratory volume in 1s and a negative correlation between peak VO2 and timed 3 km run for all. Overall they concluded these results could be due to 2 groups different body structures, being shorter, lighter and having a lower percentage of body fat, differences which are likely to be resulting of selection for specific roles in the game should always be taken into account when testing aerobic fitness in a rugby team. This related with my research as I am investing a women’s rugby team but also to find a relationship between the aerobic capacity which relates to this study as it is heavily based upon testing aerobic capacity and VO2 Max. Also throughout this research as they have tested using body fat percentage links into the BMI and skinfold tests.

Saint Maurice Pf et al.2014) studied the impact of body mass index on the agreement between aerobic capacity estimates from different progressive aerobic cardiorespiratory endurance run (PACER) equations a the mile run test. They completed the research by 2 aerobic fitness tests on a large group of data including young children in 2 suburban districts. Difference estimates between the mile run test and PACER equations were computed. To help identify the implication of discrepancy between tests they used FITNESSGRAM which gives standards for the BMI tests. Results found discrepancy between tests was higher in participants with higher BMI scores. BMI explained 30%-34% of the disagreement between the mile and different PACER equations of aerobic fitness. PACER data which was used in the fitness gram program had a better agreement than PACER equations that included BMI. Saint Maurice PF et al. research correlates to my own study as I am investing the effects of aerobic capacity which 2 types are used and the effect with BMI which is also involved in my research. The other factor relating to my research is the aspects of aerobic capacity which in this research are not the same tests as mine, therefore could be a possibly thought to have as to which aerobic that is most beneficial.

G. M. Duthie et al.(2006) researched into the utility of practical measure of lean mass for monitoring changes in the body composition of athletes. In his study he use 72 rugby union players, 40 forwards and 32 backs, who were assessed on several occasions to develop a mean score. They took the measurements of 7 skinfolds in different areas and recording these scores to help prove a lean Max index formed of mass/skinfolds and seeing changes throughout the season. They found that forwards had a small decrease in skin fold between preseason and competition phases and a slight increase during club season. After 1 year and overall small increased occurred in all players whereas increases for forwards because substantial after 3 years. Individual variation in the body within a season was very small. They concluded that an index of lean mass based on body mass and skinfolds was an effective way of assessing body composition. Like G. M. Duthie el al (2006) I am assessing body composition of elite rugby players using skinfold tests, by other researched being completed by skin folds and elite rugby players helps to support my research and the method that I am using to determine body composition by using the skinfold test.

Warren Rosenberg (2015) article based upon BMI affecting VO2 Max has concluded and summarised that people with high BMI measurements have a relationship with reduced levels of physical fitness including a lowered VO2 Max. Within the article they consider VO2 Max as a fitness indicator and is has the ability to include all aspects (respiratory capacity, cardiovascular health and muscle fitness) and how a possible decline in these areas will lead to a reduced VO2 Max. It also considers how high BMI scores are linked to lower VO2 Max scores which relates to my research as it is a relationship that I hope to discover. This research has many factors which go along side my own research — aerobic fitness and VO2 Max. As it is also an article whereby I am looking for similar findings it helps support my researches and possible results.

FitnessGram(2011) article based upon the relation between BMI and aerobic capacity standards, whereby a table has been devised to show the correlation between the 2 variables of BMI and aerobic capacity and what I deemed to be in a healthy fitness zone dependent on the persons BMI and results from either a mile run, or a PACER. This goes alongside my research as it shows how BMI changes the aerobic capacity levels, which is what I hope to show throughout my research.

Stephen J. Atkins(2006) assessed the performance of elite rugby league players by using the yo-yo intermittent recovery test. He used 50 players who had been classified as a professional or semi professional player, meaning they fall into the participation and elite categories. The total distances gathered was taken as a performance index. Results showed that professional players in the yoyo tests achieved a greater distance than those who were semi professional. The test was considered a useful measure of intermittent high intensity performance for rugby league players. This research helps support the use of yoyo intermittent test within my research and the method that I am using, it also correlates with my research as their results were completed upon rugby players at an elite level of performance.

Inigo Mujika (2010) article was based upon the assessment of match fitness in team sports through the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test. Whereby in the article he discusses the way in which team sports should test cardiovascular and metabolic demands of sports, and how the nature of the sport should be taken into consideration and intermittent performance tests such as the yoyo test.These intermittent tests are most like match games therefore are best predictor of match fitness. This relates to my research as I am looking for the best way to evaluate aerobic capacity / VO2 Max in the athlete, and by being a yoyo intermittent tests means it best replicates their match performance results giving myself more accuracy when finding a relationship in my results and being related to match fitness gives me an insight to their fitness upon a game giving me more validity.

Conclusions –

Throughout all sources there were a few common trends. First with research that took part on athletes, 6/10 were known to be in elite categories of performance with only very few being of a lower participation standards, showing that research has only been done on the elite end of sporting performance therefore research may not be similar to people of a lower participation standards and when looking into results they have to be careful when extrapolating to wider populations. Another trend which occurs is the use of rugby players, 6/10 research was conducting upon rugby players, whereby only 1 of these was on league, and the rest on rugby union players. This will help support me in my research as my research is based around rugby union players, but can affect my reliability and validity as it does not investigate much into rugby league players as their results may differ to mine. The other positive for me is tests used throughout others research in all research, different researchers used BMI, skinfolds and yoyo tests helping to support my choice of research and they are considered reliable tests.

Similarities between resources also include; researchers finding out that intermittent yoyo test was one of the most beneficial ways to find out VO2 Max/aerobic capacity scores. With majority of the results found to have significant. This area also includes that majority of research was based upon a small sample sizes apart from research by Inigo Mujika (2010) and Saint Maurice PF (2014) which may impact results and affect the reliability and validity.

Differences in research include research being longitudinal studies which took place over 3 years and were followed up, whereas some research was completed within a couple of months, this is helpful to me as it gives me ideas on how different lengths of research can effect results and findings. Also there was many cultures within the studies meaning it gives me a wide variety of research which can be looked at, and can give me ideas if there is possible cultural factors which could play a part in research and if these factors may have a possible affect on my results.

Weaknesses – in some of the sources used may not be specific enough to my research to be able to support my results as much research focuses on many aspects in their research and focuses upon several different tests affecting the validity of the tests. Also a weaknesses is not all of the research studies used link to all aspects (population, variables, measurement) of my aim therefore affect the amount that i can use others findings to support my own. There are also no ages throughout research studies meaning these elite players could be of any ages.

I agreed to much of the research completed especially the article by Warren Rosenberg (2015) which I particular agree with as I also hope to find a research whereby BMI affects VO2 max of the athlete. Most of the conclusions have helped clarify what I believe my hypothesis to be.

Key Questions from the research

The main question from the research is there a direct correlation between BMI, Skinfolds and Aerobic capacity and many researchers have investigated it, but as there are also other variables within their research there is not definite answer. Also a question that has come about is do men and women have the same responses, as much of the research found was majority completed on elite mens rugby union teams, do females results have the same effect? Completing my research on women’s rugby still gives it an innovative design. The final question that I have is, does age affect the results? Because in this research there are no specific ages and only sports performance levels, and would be interesting to know as I am completing my research on teens, I would also like to find research into results which are based upon adults and young children.

From my literature review I have developed a hypothesis that I believe there will be a positive correlation between BMI and skinfold results affecting aerobic capacity.

References –

Clarke AC, 2014. Critical Velocity as a measure of aerobic fitness in womens ugly 7’s. Journal science medicine sports. 17 January.

D.G. Higham et al. 2013. Physiological, anthropometric, and performance characteristics of rugby sevens players. International Journal of Sports Physiology and performance. January.

G.M Duthie et al. 2006. Anthropometry Profiles of elite rugby players: quantify changes in lean mass. Journal sports medicine. March. pp. 202-207.

Iñigo Mujika, 2010. Assessment of match fitness in team sports through the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test. [online] Available at: <http://www.inigomujika.com/en/2010/09/assessment-of-match-fitness-in-team-sports-through-the-yo-yo-intermittent-recovery-test-i/1067#.VPCBrSkXfR0> [accessed 10 February]

FITNESSGRAM, 2011. The Relation Between BMI and Aerobic Capacity Standards. [online] Available at: <https://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/658.pdf> [Accessed 10 February 2015]

Livestrong 2015. How does BMI affect VO2 Max? [online] Available at: <http://www.livestrong.com/article/356265-how-does-bmi-affect-vo2-max/> [accessed on 10 January]

N.M. Hene, 2011. Physical fitness of elite rugby union players over a competitive season, Sajsm. June. Vol 25 No. 2. pp.47-49.

Saint Maurice Pf et al. 2014. Measurement agreement between estimates of aerobic fitness in youth: the impact of body mass index. Research quarterly for exercise and sport. March. pp. 59-67.

Scott AC et al. 2003. Aerobic exercise physiology in a professional rugby inion team. Journal of cardiology. 8 February. pp.87-173.

Stephen J Atkins, 2006. Performance of the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test by elite professional and semiprofessional rugby league players. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. March.