Previous studies with college athletes determined that the shoulder girdle plays a vital role in a variety of athletic activities. The previous research showed that a decrease in shoulder range of motion (ROM) was associated with a higher risk injury. Decreased shoulder ROM was shown to be a primary reason that many athletes were unable to perform many overhead lifting variations within their strength and conditioning programs. The purpose of this research was to evaluate a group of athletes by means of a postural assessment using the overhead squat test. This study consisted of a pretest-post test control group design. The dependent variable that was observed was the goniometric measurement of the shoulder ROM in response to the independent variable, which was a specialized upper body stretching protocol. Current NCAA Division I male athletes from a university in the south, who competed in a variety of different intercollegiate sports, volunteered for this study (N = 27). For the purpose of the current study the athlete was asked to perform three trials of the overhead squat test. For each of the trials goniometric data were collected. After the data were collected the athletes were taught the joint-specific stretching protocol that was to be used as the intervention for this study. When the pretest and posttest data were observed, the intervention group had an average decrease of 14.7 degrees over the course of the study, while the control group only showed an average decrease of 1.6 degrees. A one-way ANOVA showed that the means of the two groups were not statistically different at the posttest but were significantly different at the pretest. To check the interaction between the grouping factor and the trial factor, a 2 x 2 ANOVA, at a p-value of 0.05, was used to determine the between measurement interactions. From the data that were collected it was determined that there was a statistically significant time factor as well as interaction effect when comparing the two conditions.

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Researchers have determined that college student-athletes are an underrepresented population when it comes to utilizing college counseling services. Traditional students have appeared for counseling services more so than student-athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between attitudes toward help seeking behavior and (a) expectations about counseling, (b) athlete status, and (c) gender of respondent among community college students. The study included 195 students at a central Florida community college, 74 student-athletes and 121 non-athlete students. The participants were asked to convey their counseling expectations by completing the Expectations About Counseling-Brief Form. Respondents were also asked to complete the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale to measure their attitudes toward help seeking behavior. Further qualitative data was accumulated during an interview with one student-athlete from each of the five intercollegiate athletic teams. For this study, two hypotheses were considered. First, it was hypothesized that a significant relationship existed between attitudes toward help seeking behavior and expectations about counseling and that expectations about counseling were expected to account for a significant amount of variance in attitudes toward help seeking behavior. Results of the data analyses revealed that respondents' attitudes toward help-seeking behavior correlated significantly with only two of the four counseling expectation factors. A positive correlation was discovered for the factor of Personal Commitment and a negative correlation for the factor of Counselor Expertise. Linear regression analysis supported that expectations about counseling were expected to account for a significant amount of variance in attitudes toward help-seeking behavior. The second hypothesis hypothesized that there would be no statistically significant difference in attitudes toward help-seeking behavior based on athletic participation (student-athlete versus non-athlete students) or gender of respondent. The results of a MANOVA indicated that gender of respondent did have a statistically significant effect on attitudes toward help-seeking behavior; therefore this hypothesis was only partially supported. Based on these findings, implications for counseling student-athletes and non-athlete students are discussed. Interpretations of data analyses are included and study limitations and delimitations are identified. Finally, suggestions for future research are identified and discussed.

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Anxiety is an intense feeling of worry or fear and can often be overwhelming, taking over someone’s everyday activities. Oftentimes, individuals who have feelings of anxiety or are in stressful situations that are anxiety inducing, they can get physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweating, fatigue and rapid breathing. Anxiety can also affect an individual’s quality of vision. In circumstances that are highly stressful, individual’s vision can start to diminish temporarily, affecting the peripheral vision as well as making central vision blurry. This study examines the effects of anxiety and vision quality on athletic performance among collegiate athletes. It compares the impact of being in stressful situations among athletes with and without vision disorder during athletic events. By conducting a study focusing on collegiate athletes at the University of Central Florida and comparing their anxiety levels, as well as any changes in their eyesight/perception, we can assess the association between stress and eyesight, and whether this correlation has an impact on their performance. The objective of this study is to assess a potential relationship between athletes’ performance, with and without vision-related disorders, during highly stressful situations. 31 participants, between the ages of 18-27, participated in this study. Using UCF Qualtrics and incorporating the State-Trait Anxiety Survey into an online modality, the survey was sent out to all student athletes. By comparing the data collected in SSPS and One-Way ANOVA, there was no significant difference in the mean anxiety scores between the tested variables, including the type of sport played, the type of refractive errors, and wearing corrective lenses. Future research can focus on assessing a larger athlete sample and perhaps assessing anxiety and vision during performance and competition to better understand the true relationship between anxiety and vision disorders among athletes.

<p> This study was designed to investigate possible changes in insulin sensitivity (IS) with cessation of training. Six endurance trained athletes were studied at 12, 60 h and 7 days following cessation of training. In-vivo IS was established by a glucose clamp technique (Greenfield et al. Diabetes 30, 1981) and expressed as the metabolic clearance rate of glucose (MCR) in ml. plasma cleared kg-1. min-1. At 12 h after the last training session the mean MCR was 15.6+1.8 compared with 7.8+1.2(p<0.01) in age and weight matched sedentary controls. The MCR decreased to 10.1+1.0 after 60 h and decreased significantly to 8.5+0.5(p<0.05) after 7 days of detraining. In-vitro IS was measured by determining the insulin binding of fractionated young erythrocytes by the method of Polychronakos et al. (Clin. Inves. Med.4,14B,1981). Insulin binding was 10.4+0.9% at 12 h and decreased significantly to 8.1+0.7%/4xl0^9 cells after 60 h of detraining (p<0.001). In conclusion: 1) detraining of endurance athletes resulted in a rapid decrease in IS. After 7 days, glucose MCR reached values indistinguishable from sedentary controls. 2) changes in IS observed may be partially mediated by alterations in insulin binding to receptors. 3) since the high IS observed with endurance athletes on the initial test disappeared shortly after cessation of training, it is probably an acute effect of the last exercise bout rather than a chronic effect of training.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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