Basketball continues to increase in popularity worldwide as a participation sport at all levels of play, from recreational to professional. Each year, more than 1.6 million basketball-related injuries are treated in hospitals, doctor's offices and emergency rooms in North America. In Rwanda, basketball and volleyball are the second popular sports, following football. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence, mechanisms, nature and management of basketball-related injuries in Rwanda.

The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of fictitious scoring updates on psychological momentum (PM) and athletic performance in a competitive basketball setting. The participants included in this study were 50 male undergraduate students who reported having played basketball previously and qualified by being able to make more than 24% (12 out of 50) of their 3-point shots in a pre-trial session. Participants were told that they were competing in a 50 shot, 3-point shooting competition against another individual, equal in ability. After every 10 shots, participants were given a fabricated score update and answered four questions used to measure PM. Results showed that the fictitious score updates significantly (p < .01) influenced participants’ PM scores, where those who were told they led had higher PM scores than those who were told they trailed. As for shooting performance, no significant differences (p = .76) were found between positive and negative PM states for participants who reported experiencing both during the competition. Together, these findings suggest that manufactured score updates can influence PM, but resultant performance differences may not exist. Results of this study lend support to the notion that PM is experienced by athletes. However, when examining basketball shooting performance, the momentum-performance relationship is statistically unsupported. Thus, although PM is thought of by many as a game-changing factor, this study would suggest that PM plays a negligible role in changes to individual performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine if team cohesion could be enhanced for 9th grade female basketball teams with the implementation of a 14-week intervention program. The intervention program was designed from cohesion building strategies proposed in the literature with the help of three coaches and a leading sport psychologist in the field of cohesion. 41 ninth grade female basketball players belonging to four teams participated in the study. The Group Environment Questionnaire was used to measure cohesion. It was administered on the third week of the season and again at the end. The data were analyzed using both the individual and the team as the unit of analysis. The findings varied according to which unit of analysis was used. When the team was used, no posttest differences were found, however, the effect sizes suggested that the intervention was effective for the task subscales of the GEQ. A lack of statistical power for the team analysis greatly reduced the probability of finding that the meaningful differences were statistically significant. When the individual was used, the intervention was found to be statistically detrimental for the task subscales. The effect sizes supported this finding. The qualitative data that was collected suggested that the coaches believed the intervention had practical utility, and was effective. While this study did not empirically show that the intervention was effective, it did demonstrate that the intervention is practical enough to implement. Furthermore, the qualitative data and the effect sizes for the team analysis provide some evidence that the intervention may have been effective for the task dimension of team cohesion. Therefore this study produced an intervention that can be used as a starting point for future cohesion building investigations. / Graduation date: 1997

Basketball continues to increase in popularity worldwide as a participation sport at all levels of play, from recreational to professional. Each year, more than 1.6 million basketball-related injuries are treated in hospitals, doctor's offices and emergency rooms in North America. In Rwanda, basketball and volleyball are the second popular sports, following football. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence, mechanisms, nature and management of basketball-related injuries in Rwanda.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-56). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Sociology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Report (M.S. Ed.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-73). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-181). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Diane Gill; submitted to the Dept. of Kinesiology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89).