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This study was to mechanically analyze the short forward pass and the long forward pass as used in football by a right-handed passer. The study will determine the basic mechanical movements utilized in executing each pass and present a comparative analysis of the two types of forward passes and illustrate the fundamental differences. It also will present a mechanical description of the forward pass that my be used by a quarterback for the purpose of improving his passing ability or by a coach as a teaching resource.

A stratified random sample of 400 head football coaches was surveyed in order to evaluate their professional preparation in regard to the prevention and care of athletic injuries, Of the 259 responding coaches, it was found that a significant number were not properly prepared when compared to the standards suggested by the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. It was recommended that individuals who desire to coach in Texas should be required to obtain an endorsement for coaching using the standards suggested by the American Association for Health, Physical Education., and Recreation as the minimum standards.

Football clubs have multiple stakeholders sometimes with different and conflicting objectives. If a club concentrates solely on achieving sporting success at the expense of its financial objectives, it risks jeopardizing its long-term stability, which may affect the sporting integrity of the league as a whole. The behaviour of one club potentially has externality implications for other stakeholders which cannot always be internalised. There is therefore the need for regulation of the pre-emptive type to avert such negative consequences for clubs. FIFA has requested all member associations to implement club licensing to improve upon professionalism in management and to ensure long-term stability of club football. This thesis picks up on this theme to review the financial regulatory system in Ghana, obtain lessons from other jurisdictions and develop an incentive-based context-specific Football Financial Clearinghouse framework that is applicable in Ghana. The thesis employs a mixed-method research approach to evaluate the financial disclosure, position and performance of professional football clubs in Ghana, utilising critical reviews, interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires to answer specific research questions. The empirical analysis in this thesis shows that financial licensing and monitoring needs to be complemented by the provision of incentives and support services to clubs to achieve optimal regulatory compliance. The key incentive in the specific case of Ghana is to ensure regulated access to credit. This thesis makes four significant contributions to knowledge by showing that: Ghanaian football clubs are in a difficult financial situation; there is an appetite for change amongst Ghanaian football’s stakeholders for a new financial regulatory framework; the existing financial regulatory frameworks, especially in Europe, are not applicable in the Ghanaian context as they were made for a different jurisdiction; and that the FFC framework would be an appropriate context-specific framework to deal with the financial regulation of Ghanaian football clubs.

The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of football players and officials on the provision of employee assistance programs by football clubs in South Africa. The study used interviews to collect data from ten football players playing for different football clubs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) of South Africa, two officials from the PSL and two officials from South African Football Players Union. The results of this study indicate that football players believe that employee assistance programs need to be made available by football clubs. Although football officials consider the provision of employee assistance programs to be significant, they shifted the responsibility for its provision to football clubs. The results led to the conclusion that South African clubs must provide EAPs to improve the morale and performance of players. Direction for future research could focus on investigating the provision of EAPs by football clubs in Africa and in Europe to compare the differences between clubs that offer EAPs and clubs that do not.

Sport le plus populaire de la planète, le football n’est pas un simple loisir permettant de se divertir ou de se dégourdir. Les historiens ont notamment rappelé comment, en Grande-Bretagne d’abord puis, dès l'entre-deux-guerres, sur le reste du continent, le jeu du ballon rond a conquis une place importante dans la vie politique des États-nations : les masses masculines ont notamment pu y voir un puissant vecteur d’intégration à la sphère publique. Cette dimension politique ne peut être ignorée dès lors que l’on s'intéresse au rapport des sexes dans le football. Les avancées sociales, économiques et culturelles dont ont bénéficié les femmes au cours du 20e siècle ne suffisent pas à comprendre les disparités observées dans le développement de la pratique féminine en Europe. Dans une étude statistique publiée en 2000, la Fédération FIFA souligne le retard de la Finlande sur la Norvège, le Danemark et la Suède alors que la condition féminine y est tout aussi avancée. De même, l'étude démontre que le taux de licenciées en Espagne est quatre fois supérieur à celui de la France ou de la Grande-Bretagne alors que la pratique s'y est implantée avec quinze ans de retard. En comparant l'évolution du football féminin dans les différents pays d'Europe, ex-monde communiste compris, de la première guerre mondiale à nos jours, nous tenterons de montrer dans quelle mesure le football a-t-il reflété la division des sexes dans la vie publique nationale et contribué à exclure les femmes de la gestion de la cité. Notre analyse s'appuiera, d'une part, sur des archives de différents ministères ainsi que des fédérations nationales et internationales de football et, d'autre part, sur la presse d’information et sportive européenne / Soccer - being the most popular sport on earth - is not simply recreation in order to entertain or to stimulate. Historians have reminded us how first in Great Britain and later, since the inter-war years on the whole continent, this sports has conquered a crucial place in politics of European nation-states: male masses have seen in it a powerful vector of integration into the public sphere. This political dimension cannot be ignored if one is interested in gender relations within soccer. Yet the social, economic and cultural progress of which women benefited during the 20th century are not enough to understand the disparities that have been observed in the development of women’s football in Europe. Actually, in a statistical study published in 2000 the International Football Federation (FIFA) underlines the setback of Finland over Norway, Denmark and Sweden even if the condition of women is as good as in its Scandinavian neighbours. The FIFA study also highlights that the number of licensees in Spain is four times higher that that of France or Great Britain even its practice developed fifteen years later. In comparing the evolution of women’s soccer in the different European countries including the former Warsaw pact countries from World War I until today this study intends to demonstrate how soccer has reflected the imbalance of genders in national public affairs and contributed to their exclusion. Our analysis is on the one hand based on archives of different ministries and national and international federations and on the other on European-wide sports press

Background: There is currently a lack of investigation of injuries in junior sport, compared to that of adult cohorts. Consequently, very few published studies have demonstrated the incidence of injuries among young participants of Australian football. The aim of this study was to determine the current rate of injury in junior Australian football, and describe the patterns and severity of these injuries across all levels of play, compared to those of McMahon et al. [1]. Methods: The Junior Australian Football Safety Study was completed during 2004 using teams from New South Wales and Victoria across nine levels of play (U9 to U18). Participation and injury data were collected prospectively from all games and training sessions by Primary Data Collectors. The region, nature and cause of injury were collected on injuries that were defined in accordance with a previous 1993 study. Injury severity was identified by the action of players immediately after the injury event. Results: Overall, 40,208 hours of exposure were recorded with an injury rate of 18.0 injuries per 1,000 player hours (95% CI=16.6-19.3). Hand/finger injuries were common among all players. The main causes of injury were body contact (67%), other contact (12%) and game movement (10%). There was an increase in the frequency of sprains and strains, and injury severity with level of play. Of the injuries where the player left the field of play, 63% were able to return to participation. The rates of injury for players who did not continue participation or were advised to seek further medical aid were low. Only 28% of all injured players were advised to seek medical treatment with few injuries taken to hospital (5%). Conclusion: An observed reduction of injury rate in the U15 level of play compared to a similar 1993 study (McMahon et al.), suggests that safe game development at the junior level is likely to have been effective over the past decade. Implications for future skill development include the introduction of incidental body contact skills with further ball-handling skill development in young players, and the introduction of proprioception exercises for players at higher levels of play.

Background: Sustaining a hydration state and energy status during competition is important for athletes, yet there is no current evidence in the literature that halftime hydration and snacking practices of basketball and football players have been assessed. Under ideal circumstances, proper hydration and food consumption practices should be followed by basketball and football players before, during and after practices and competitions because both sports involve fast rate of energy utilization with a concomitant increase in sweat production. Objectives: This study aimed to improve our understanding of the halftime hydration and snacking practices used by basketball and football players at the collegiate and professional levels. Methods: A total of 122 subjects filled out a halftime habit survey. The survey was completely anonymous to protect the identity of the athletes participating in the study. Athletic trainers and coaches of basketball and football teams, athlete agents, other athletic team employees, and players were contacted and provided with copies of a questionnaire to distribute to athletes. Data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18. Data for height and weight were analyzed using descriptive statistics and all remaining data were analyzed using crosstabs and included a Chi Square Test. Results: Of the beverages consumed by the 122 athletes surveyed, there was a statistically significant difference between sports in the consumption of Gatorade (n=89, p-.045), Powerade (n=41, p<.001), Powerade Zero (n=1, p=.020), and water (n=96, p=.049). There was a statistically significant difference between sports in the consumption of energy bars (n=62, p=<.001) and fresh fruit (n=41, p=.033). There was a statistically significant difference between sports in the purchase of snacks for halftime (p=.004) and the frequency of halftime snacking habits (p<.001). There is a statistically significant difference between sports in the halftime recommendations of teams for both hydration (p<.001) and snacking (p<.001). There is a statistically significant difference among sports in the influence of first half drinking practices on halftime hydration habits (p=.035). There is a statistically significant difference among sports in the extent of weight lost during a game (p<.001). Conclusions: The results of this study show that athletes have the time and resources to drink and snack a the halftime break to replenish glycogen stores and rehydrate for the second half of the game. Athletes, whether by recommendation or by habit, consume a variety of beverages and snacks during the halftime breaks of games. It is still uncertain as to whether or not these hydration and snacking habits actually replenish glycogen stores and rehydrate the athletes for the second half of games. Future studies should be done to determine whether the hydration and snacking habits are maintaining hydration and sustaining blood glucose for better performance.

This study was conducted using the Leadership Scale for Sports research instrument on 61 high school, 62 CEGEP, 86 university, and 34 professional football players to determine if these players' preferences for five leadership behaviours differed with respect to level of play, unit of play (offensive and defensive), and team success. The leadership behaviours investigated in this study are training and instruction, autocratic, democratic, social support, and positive feedback. In addition, the data collected was analysed to determine if differences were present between football players' preferences for and perceptions of their unit co-ordinator coach's leadership behaviours taking into consideration level of play, unit of play, and team success. Multivariate and Doubly Multivariate Analyses of Variance Tests were used to interpret the data. / No differences were found among the football players' preferences for coaching leadership behaviours at the various levels of play, units of play, and team success. Differences were however found between players' preferences for and perceptions of their unit co-ordinators in training and instruction, social support, and positive feedback coaching leadership behaviours.

Thesis (MPhysio)--University of South Australia, 1998