No description available.

The purpose of this project was to explore the injury experiences of female amateur British rowers located within a symbolic interactionist framework. The study intended to ascertain the major injury-risk factors and inform future practice. This follows the logic of previous researchers who have identified a culture of risk in sporting subcultures (Nixon, 1992) and have presented evidence of injuries related to participation in rowing (Bernstein, 1995; Edgar, 1999). A typology is presented identifying the key risk factors in rowing. A questionnaire was administered to rowers during the 1997 regatta season. The themes identified from this questionnaire were explored further through a period of participant observation in two rowing clubs, and semi-structured interviews conducted with members of both clubs and their coaches. The findings identified that it jury should be considered as part of a broader experience of illness in sport. The participants in the study had limited recognition of their vulnerability to illness and injury as a result of their involvement in rowing. The major risk factors appeared to be the high level of commitment expected of the rowers, pressures from significant others within the subculture (in particular the coaches), and inadequate medical support for amateur athletes. Illness and injury are considered to be embodied and emotional experiences, affecting the athlete's body project (Shilling, 1993). The stigma of such fatal flaws (Goffman, 1969; Sparkes, 1996) has the potential to disrupt the individual's sense of self as athlete andlor as female, which occasionally led to compensatory behaviour. It is suggested that coaching practice needs to be more humanistic than performanceoriented Furthermore, non-orthodox, complementary health care is recommended to offer women a more supportive environment for taking control of their own medical practice. Finally, it is believed that there is a need for greater dialogue between sociologists of sport and other sport scientists and medical professionals in order to develop a more holistic approach to working with sports participants.

Many scientific studies have considered physiological aspects of swimming, but largely in the areas of endurance or strength and power. This thesis includes six studies that attempt to provide more information about the metabolic responses to single and repeated sprint swimming and the physiological mechanisms behind the limitation to sprint swimming performance. The first experimental chapter describes the metabolic responses to single and repeated sprinting in male and female swimmers. Peak blood lactate (male 18.7 and female 14.4 mmol 1-1;P <0.01) and ammonia (male 232.0 and female 154.3 ýtmol 1-1;P <0.05) values following repeated swimming (8 x 50 yards) were almost double those measured during a single 50 yards sprint and were significantly higher in males than females. It is likely that differences in body dimensions and composition between male and female swimmers account for the majority of the -12% performance differences and higher metabolic response in males than females. Energy contribution to single and repeated tethered swimming sprints was examined in chapter V. Determination of energy contribution by an accumulated oxygen deficit test found estimated anaerobic contribution of -67% in 30 s sprinting and -74%, -53%, -51% and -47% during four 30 s sprint bouts. These were much lower than values estimated previously and recommended to coaches and swimmers in popular swimming texts. Energy contribution to 55 s maximal tethered swimming in chapter VI found anaerobic contributions of -30-40%. Metabolic responses to Controlled frequency breathing (CFB) have been studied previously in endurance swimming, but not in splint swimming (chapter VI). There was increased hypercapnia, but no significant reduction in performance during 55 s maximal sprint tethered swimming between self-selected breathing and breathing every 10 strokes. Differences in metabolic responses (higher extraction of oxygen from inspired air and lower ventilation, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production and respiratory exchange ratio) suggest a greater efficiency during swimming with CFB. Swimmers who can train to overcome the urge to breath should not compromise performance, but benefit from avoiding an increase in drag resistance while turning the head to breath. Active recovery following intense swimming has been suggested to increase the speed of recovery and improve subsequent performance. Chapter VII illustrates that the timing and intensity of active recovery is crucial when prescribing repeated sets of repeated sprint training. Lower blood lactate was matched by a tendency for poorer performance in the trial using active recovery between repetitions. This demonstrates that the blood lactate concentration does not reflect the metabolic state of the muscle and therefore the ability to perform subsequent sprint swims. Chapters VIII and IX consider the effects of creatine supplementation on sprint swimming. No differences in single sprint swimming performance were found, but creatine supplementation improve times in a typical training set of 8x 50 yards by -4 s. Faster times recorded in the creatine group support the hypothesis that increasing resting levels of creatine and phosphocreatine will enhance recovery during repeated sprints. Supplementing with 3g creatine day-' for 22-27 weeks had no additional benefit to race performance than just 'loading' before the training period and immediately prior to the major swimming race of the year. It is likely that any enhanced training adaptation would have to be from creatine supplementation allowing swimmers to perform more training rather than just supplementation per se. The studies in this thesis describe the physiological and metabolic responses of elite male and female swimmers to single and repeated sprint swimming in detail for the first time. By manipulating breathing frequency during sprinting, metabolism altered but without compromising performance. Active recovery was successful in reducing blood lactate concentration, but performance was poorer. The blood metabolite and respiratory response to sprint training following interventions of this type allow us to determine the mechanisms behind the limitation to swimming performance. Creatine supplementation enhances repeated sprint swimming performance, but not training for success in competition. Results of this thesis suggest that phosphocreatine availability or energy supply are not limitations to sprint swimming training performance.

No description available.

Public awareness about sexual abuse and sexual harassment in sport has greatly increased over the last 10 years. In England, the sport of swimming has been especially affected, first because of several high profile cases of swimming coaches being convicted of sexual abuse, and secondly because the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) has taken a proactive stance to protect children in swimming. Much of the previous research examining sexual exploitation in sport has been from the perspective of the athlete. This qualitative study was designed to examine swimming coaches' constructions of appropriateness about coach/swimmer sexual relationships. Nineteen coaches participated in either an elite, national, or county level focus group. Coaches discussed the appropriateness of coach/athlete relationships as presented in 7 vignettes. Analysis was conducted in accordance with the constructivist revision of Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 1990; Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and organised with the assistance of the software programme, QSR NVIVO. The coaches report that sex with an athlete below the legal age of consent is inappropriate. Coaches' perceptions regarding "legal" relationships vary according to whether the coach is talking about himself versus other coaches. The emergent themes influencing perceptions of appropriateness are: reducing opportunities for false allegations, the influence of public scrutiny, evaluating consequences of relationships, maintaining professional boundaries, and reluctance to judge fellow coaches. After completing the initial analysis, the emergent themes were further explored in individual unstructured interviews with three purposively selected coaches. One coach was in a long-term relationship with a swimmer, another served a prison term for child sexual abuse of a swimmer he coached, and the third had allegations against him dropped. The secondary analysis reveals that the themes about appropriateness relate to the broader issue of coaches' attempts to resolve perceived role conflict and role ambiguity that has arisen from increased awareness of child protection. This is examined with reference to how awareness of sexual abuse in sport has provoked coaches to question their roles and coaching boundaries. Results are discussed in relation to organisational psychology theories of role conflict and role ambiguity and directions for future research are suggested.

Bibliography: p. 213-218. / Originally presented as the author's thesis, (Ph.D.) in the M.I.T. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1978. / Prepared under Advanced Research Projects Agency Contract ONR/N00014-75-C-1183.

Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die methodischen Aspekte bei der Entwicklung mechanischer Simulationen zur Messung der Funktionalitäten von Handballschuhen systematisch zu untersuchen und aus den Ergebnissen allgemeingültige Aussagen zum Abstraktionsgrad abzuleiten. Die Untersuchungen der vier methodischen Aspekte Messgerät, Auswertemodell, Einfluss- und Eingangsgröße haben ergeben, dass insgesamt drei Aspekte einen Einfluss auf den Messwert hatten. Mit Ausnahme der Ergebnisse zum Aspekt Eingangsgröße besaßen die untersuchten methodischen Aspekte jeweils einen Einfluss auf den Messwert. Anhand der Ergebnisse konnte abgeleitet werden, dass der Abstraktionsgrad einen Einfluss auf die Messwerte besitzt. / The aim of the current work was to investigate systematically the methodological aspects used in the development of mechanical simulations, which are capable of measuring the functionalities of handball shoes, and to derive general conclusions about the proper degree of abstraction from the results. The investigations of the four methodological aspects, namely measuring instrument, evaluation model, influence quantity and input quantity, have shown that three aspects had an influence on the measurand. Except for the results on the aspect of input quantity, each of the examined methodological aspects had an influence on the measurand. Based on the results, it could be deduced that the degree of abstraction has an influence on the measurand.