This thesis explores the hybridity and distinctiveness of British American football. Sports have socio-historical links to specific nation-states, thus encoding them with culturally specific values. Despite a movement towards cultural convergence, especially of popular culture, aspects of sport have remained resistant to dominant globalization trends. My thesis reveals that the globalization of American football to Britain has been a process which makes concessions to the local, while still retaining many of its global characteristics. Through an ethnographic study of one team, I spent an entire season becoming an „insider‟ and understanding the British American football culture from the perspective of the participants themselves. Analysis of data collected through participant observation and interviews revealed a number of themes which defined British American football as a hybrid and distinctive sport. First, that British American football was distinctive within the domestic British sports space because of its unique combination of American characteristics. Second, that „glocalization‟ influences the structuring of British American football under the amateur code, in order for the sport to better fit within the British sporting habitus. Finally, that the two branches of American football in Britain, the NFL and the British grassroots, were found to be involved in a disparate relationship which involved each branch concentrating on their own separate agendas for the sport. In conclusion, the American football played in Britain is British American football and this study importantly demonstrates that while a sport can retain its roots in terms of its physical appearance and playing structure, in order for it to infiltrate a foreign sports space, concessions must be made to the local sporting culture. The single most important thread that ran throughout this thesis was that American football could, and has, taken on multiple meanings, which were dependent upon the national context in which it was being played. It emphasizes the idea of globalization as glocalization; that the local is important in the global aspirations of the sport of American football. British American football has placed a uniquely British stamp on an otherwise purely American pastime.

ix, 70 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The lack of minority head coaches at the Division I-A level is not a new trend, nor one that is improving. In a sport where less than 10% of head coaches are minorities, a survey was randomly sent out to several head and assistant coaches at the collegiate level. The survey showed most coaches believe there are discrepancies in the hiring process that impair minorities, there tends to be unfair favoritism towards nonminority coaches after a termination and minority coaches are less likely to be recommended for a head coaching position. To encourage the diversity among head coaches, recommendations should include diversifying the hiring search committee, adding a rule similar to the National Football League's Rooney Rule and adding additional graduate assistant positions. / Committee in Charge: Dr. James R. Terborg, Business Administration; Dr. Philip Collis McCullum, Educational Leadership; Dr. Renee A. Irvin, Planning, Public Policy and Management

With American football becoming increasingly popular in the United States, more efforts have been made on technology and advancements to reduce the number of injuries sustained by athletes. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate how the field type, field condition, and shoe type interact with each other to induce injuries. To fill in the gap in the literature, this thesis used epidemiological methods to investigate the effect of field condition and shoe type on lower extremity injuries, specifically knee and ankle injuries, using real player data from the 2008, 2009, and 2010 football seasons from The University of Iowa. Results showed that over three seasons, 189 athletes experienced approximately 38,000 football exposures in 312 days. The athletes endured 250 injuries, in which 129 (51%) occurred in the lower extremity. Of all injuries, 34 (14%) involved the knee and 30 (12%) involved the ankle. Most of the lower extremity injuries, specifically knee injuries and ankle injuries, were of the joint (non-bone) and ligament type. Practices contributed to 73% of exposures, 11% for games, and 16% for other over the three sessions studied. 65% of all exposures occurred on an artificial surface, compared to 36% of all exposures that occurred on a natural surface. Most games were played on a natural surface (56%), while most practices occurred on an artificial surface (56%). For surface condition, 89% of all exposures were categorized as a normal condition compared to the 11% categorizes as a not normal condition. Most athletes used shoes with 9-12 cleats compared to shoes with 7, more than 12, or no cleats. In addition, most athletes used shoes with a high top at the shoe opening compared to a low top and shoes with short cleat lengths compared to long cleat lengths. The field condition variable (not normal vs. normal) was the only unadjusted GLM with significant results for all lower extremity injuries (Chi-square p-value=0.0307) and ankle injuries specifically (Chi-square p-value=0.0253). When the predictor variables were adjusted for team activity (i.e., games and practices) only the playing surface model was significant for all terms, including team activity (Chi-square p-value=0.0018), surface (Chi-square p-value=0.029), and the interaction term (Chi-square p-value=0.0189). This model was further analyzed for practice and games separately, and it was found that surface was significant in predicting lower extremity injuries in a game setting (Chi-square p-value=0.005). For all lower extremity injuries, the odds of having a lower extremity injury on an artificial surface in a game setting was 2.89 times more likely than on a natural surface. For the condition, top height, and number of cleat models, only the team activity term was found significant (Chi-square p-value=0.0143, <.0001, and 0.0038, respectively). When these models were further analyzed for practice and games separately, only field condition was found to be significant in a practice setting. For all lower extremity injuries, the odds of having a lower extremity injury in a not normal condition in a practice setting was 2.04 times more likely than in a normal condition. The cleat length model was not found to be significant when adjusting for team activity. The results of this analysis provide a foundation for future studies to understand why several extrinsic risk factors may be associated with lower extremity injuries.

In this study, the aerodynamic effects on an American football are characterized, especially in a tumbling, or end-over-end, motion as seen in a typical kickoff or field goal attempt. The objective of this study is to establish aerodynamic coefficients for the dynamic motion of a tumbling American football. A subsonic wind tunnel was used to recreate a range of air velocities that, when coupled with rotation rates and differing laces orientations, would provide a test bed for aerodynamic drag, side, and lift coefficient analysis. Test results quantify effect of back-spin and top-spin on lift force. Results show that the presence of laces imposes a side force in the opposite direction of the laces orientation. A secondary system was installed to visualize air flow around the tumbling ball and record high-speed video of wake patterns, as a qualitative check of measured force directions.

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The aims of the present study were to characterize the typical volume (total distance) and intensities (high-speed distance > 75% of maximum speed for weekday practices, Monday through Friday and competitive games on Saturday; compare the daily practice volume and intensities to competitive games to determine if the targeted volume and intensities are achieved as part of the periodized strategies using GPS software; and examine the relationship among total distance, high-speed distance in the prediction of player-load . Thirty NCAA Division I Football players (187.9 ± 5.5 cm; 107.4 ± 24.6 kg) were monitored using GPS receivers with integrated accelerometers during the 13-week regular season during the 2016 season. Separate one-way repeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated that competitive game loads and intensity were significantly different than weekday practices (p-value ≤ 0.05). There were significant differences among weekday practices in terms of overall volume and intensities, however the overall training goals were not met. Stepwise linear regression revealed that total distance is a significant predictor of player load. The results of the present study indicated that total distance, but not high-speed distance, could best be used to describe and track the development of a periodization model for training in Division I Collegiate Football using GPS technologies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-280). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-280).

Bakgrund: Risken att få hjärnskakning är högst hos individer som deltar i kollionsidrotter. Det uppskattas att cirka 1,6 till 3,8 miljoner sport relaterade milda traumatiska hjärnskador/hjärnskakningar uppstår årligen bland idrottare i USA, de flesta inom amerikansk fotboll. Hjärnskakning är en skada som rapporteras frekvent inom rugby och det är idag den vanligaste skadan inom rugby i England med gradvis ökning av incidens. De flesta sportrelaterade hjärnskakningar är av mindre allvarlig karaktär och de flesta idrottare återhämtar sig inom några dagar eller veckor men det finns en mindre grupp som utvecklar långvariga progressiva symptom framför allt vid upprepade hjärnskakningar och en del utvecklar kronisk traumatisk encefalopati (CTE). Syfte: Sammanställa och kritiskt granska vetenskaplig litteratur som beskriver hjärnskakning inom kollisionsidrotterna amerikansk fotboll och rugby med avseende på prevalens, behandling och rehabilitering samt prevention. Syftet är också att presentera rekommendationer utifrån aktuell litteratur, speciellt med avseende på riktlinjer för rehabilitering efter hjärnskakning. Metod: Studien har genomförts som en systematisk litteraturöversikt. Artiklar har sökts i databaserna PubMed och PEDro under februari 2023 från åren 2010-2023. Artiklar har även sökts i framtagna artiklars referenslistor. Studiernas metodologiska kvalitet har bedömts enligt granskningsmall som används av statens beredning för medicinsk och social utvärdering (SBU). Det internationella GRADE-systemet (Grading of Recommendations, Assesment, Development and Evaluation) har använts för att säkerställa tillförlitligheten (evidensstyrkan) i de inkluderade studierna. Resultat: Det slutliga resultatet inkluderar tio studier. Utrustningens effekt med avseende på incidens av hjärnskakning visar inte något entydigt svar. Signifikant minskat antal hjärnskakningar på träning i samband med begränsning av fullkontakt träning ses. Kombinerad nackbehandling/rehabilitering och vestibulär rehabilitering leder till att signifikant fler får medicinskt godkännande för återgång i idrott. Preventiva rörelsekontrollprogram medför en tydlig minskning av hjärnskakningar och preventivt synträningsprogram resulterar i signifikant minskad incidens av hjärnskakningar. Konklusion och rekommendation: Initialt rekommenderas att följa de rekommendationer som hjärntrappan påvisar och vid eventuella kvarvarande symptom därefter rekommenderas kombinerad nackbehandling och rehabilitering tillsammans med vestibulär rehabilitering. De mest effektiva preventiva åtgärderna är rörelsekontrollprogram och synträningsprogram som minskar incidensen av hjärnskakningar signifikant.

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