Sports injuries in the adolescent are becoming more frequent as more athletes participate in sporting activity, and sport is the leading cause of injury in the adolescent. Appropriate physical conditioning of the adolescent which includes a warm-up session, endurance training, strengthening exercises and balance training have shown to reduce the rate of injury during pre-season and in-season training. The aim of this study was to establish the current knowledge of athletic coaches in the Johannesburg-North Education District, in the physical conditioning of high-school middle- and long-distance runners. There was no validated questionnaire available to complete this study, so a questionnaire was designed based on the most recent evidence regarding each item. Athletic coaches at each school were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: that they worked at high schools and/or secondary schools whose students participated in middle and long distance running, that they spoke and understood English, that they worked at private and/or public schools, and that they were either gender. There were 33 high schools in the Johannesburg-North Education District that completed the survey out of a possible 42 high schools, a response rate of 78 per cent. Following the statistical analysis of the results, it was found that the questionnaire had an internal consistency (reliability co-efficient) of 0.92. The coaches scored on average 67 per cent for the questionnaire, showing that they had a good knowledge of the physical conditioning concepts. The only significant relationship found was between the coaches’ scores for the use of balance and proprioceptive exercises and age. In conclusion it was found that coaches in both public and private schools have correct physical conditioning knowledge with regards to high school middle and long distance runners. Recommendations are made with regards to future policy, and the researcher suggests that future studies should involve testing the coaches’ practical application of their knowledge. / Dissertation (MPhysT)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Physiotherapy / unrestricted

The formation of the Football Academy in Malaysia was seen as the best possible way to develop young footballers, through a decentralized programme with the aim to provide a strong base for many players who are sound and strong and to produce an individual player who can reach world class standard. With the problem of performance of the Malaysia national football team, which has been considerably affected by problems relating to the knowledge of coaching and behaviour of the football coaches in the coaching process, the study of the academy football coaches in Malaysia was conducted to offer some possible ways to address the issues facing the coaching profession in Malaysia. It is significant to study the academy coaches since the football academies are expected to play a prominent role in producing quality players for the states, national and international teams. The study applied a qualitative methodology to explore the unique features and circumstances surrounding the football academy coaches and players in the context of this study and the major sources of data include the interview, observation and documentation analysis. Subsequently, the findings of this study revealed that i) the development of knowledge of coaching has taken place in the academy but constrained by factors involving the coach education programme at the academy level; ii) the weaknesses of the coaches in transferring important knowledge to the players showed a significant impact on the players' performance; iii) the coaches' behaviour that were seen in organizing the players and training them for competition has impacted on the players' performance; iv) the important relationship between coaches' knowledge and behaviour that play a significant role in the development of the players; and v) other factors which have impact on the coaches' behaviour during the coaching process.

Bakgrund: Tränare innehar en ytterst viktig maktposition då det gäller sina adepters idrottsliga utveckling och därmed är även tränares kunskapsnivå gällande såväl motivation, som träning och kost, som skadeförebyggande arbete av vikt. Eftersom en låg energitillgänglighet ökar skaderisken och då tidigare forskning visat att idrottare är beredda att träna och tävla med smärta såväl som skador, samt att skador är en av anledningarna till att en idrottare väljer att avsluta sin aktiva karriär, är en ökad förståelse kring hur idrottares hälsa påverkas av stödet från omgivningen av intresse. Syfte: Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka kvinnliga elitidrottares upplevelse av sitt hälsotillstånd och den egna förmågan till förändring, kopplat till sin idrott och sin tränare. Metod: Retrospektiv tvärsnittsstudie. Datainsamling skedde våren 2013 via on-line enkäten Motivation for Change Questionnaire (MCQ-idrott), vilken reviderats att riktas mot motivation och förändringsförmåga gällande idrottssituation i stället för arbetssituation. Resultat: Motivation är en viktig faktor för varje individ som vill förändra sitt beteende, oavsett om det rör idrott eller ej. Huruvida elitidrottarens upplevelse av sitt hälsotillstånd samt förändringsförmåga kan kopplas till tränaren är ett till viss del underforskat område. Tidigare studier indikerar att relationen mellan coach och idrottare kan ha såväl positiv som negativ inverkan på såväl den idrottsliga prestationen som den idrottsliga motivationen. Ingen statistiskt signifikant koppling mellan det upplevda stödet från tränaren och elitidrottarens upplevda hälsa eller förändringsförmåga observerades dock inom ramen för denna studie. Slutsats: En motsägelsefull inställning hos respondenterna gällande förmåga till förändring av träningsbeteende och till viss del även till förändring av ätbeteende observerades. För att med säkerhet kunna uttala sig om tränares eventuell påverkan på elitidrottares motivationsfaktorer och förändringsförmåga bör MCQ-idrott analyseras i sin helhet.

The purpose of this study was to assess and determine the current level of knowledge that National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Strength and Conditioning Coaches (SCCs) possess regarding exertional heat stroke (EHS) prevention and recognition and to determine if SCC certification type had any effect. Major findings of this study support the view that SCCs need more preparation, education and training to increase their competency in preventing and recognizing EHS. Research found that there was no significant difference in scores on the EHS scale based on SCC certification (CSCS vs. SCCC) after accounting for experience, education or division but the CSCS certified professionals scored higher on all the factors as compared to SCCs without the CSCS.. The major key finding was that SCCs lacked essential knowledge to prevent or recognize EHS. Furthermore, the study defines relevant EHS prevention and recognition competencies that an undergraduate curriculum, graduate curriculum and professional certification providers, should include and emphasize in their preparation programs.