Tom Wills was the most important Australian sportsman of the mid-nineteenth century, but it is only in the first decade of the twenty-first century that he has grown in profile as a figure of cultural significance. Although Tom Wills is best recalled as the most important figure in early Australian Rules football, it was cricket that dominated his life. He rose to prominence in cricket during his time at Rugby school in England during the 1850s. When he returned to Australia he became the captain of the Victorian cricket team. On 10 July 1858 he penned what has become one of the most famous documents in Australian sporting history: a letter calling for the formation of a ‘football’ club. Only three years later his father was murdered by aborigines in central Queensland in what is recorded as the highest number of European settlers killed by aborigines in a single assault. Remarkably, only five years after his father’s murder, Tom Wills coached an aboriginal cricket team from western Victoria. Tom Wills’ life ended early, as did so many lives of colonial sportsmen, shortened by the effects of alcohol. Alcohol abuse led directly to the suicide of Wills at the age of 44 years. This thesis is the first academic attempt to uncover and then critically review some of the important parameters that shaped his life.

There is conclusive evidence that regular physical activity produces both physical and psychological benefits. People engaged in sedentary work who avoid physical activity, or have physical or psychological obstacles to being physically active, forgo the substantial benefits that being physically active provides. In Australia, many middle-aged women (45 to 59 years) are especially at risk of ill-health due to their physically inactive lifestyles. In this dissertation, I report on a mixed-method research approach that incorporated the LIFE: Live It Up (LLIU) intervention. Adopting a multi-theoretical perspective I drew on strategies from Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Self-Determination Theory. In the first study, participants (71, sedentary, mid-life women) were assigned to either an adoption (3-hour workshop), maintenance (3-hour workshop plus extra maintenance session at 9 months) or control (usual activity) condition. Physical activity levels, psychological well-being, and moods were assessed (pre, post and at 4, 40 & 44 weeks) using the Scottish Physical Activity Questionnaire (SPAQ); the Medical Outcome Survey (MOS) Short Form, (SF36); and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, (PANAS). Motivational messages (Treatment condition participants only) and reflective journals (all participants) tailored to conditions were delivered to participants across the intervention year. Quantitative analyses for the LLIU intervention study involved a series of Analyses of Variance (ANOVA). High attrition, however, across conditions resulted in only 27 participants remaining in the study at 52 weeks. No significant differences were from applying ANOVA to the SPAQ data for physical activity levels. Applying ANOVA to the vitality (SF-36 subscale) gain score data (SF-36) there was evidence of significant gains in vitality at 4 and 44 weeks for the treatment condition (TC) participants compared to the control condition. Feelings and emotions (mood) were measured with the PANAS (see appendix C). Applying ANOVA revealed positive affect was stable across the intervention for TC participants. Negative affect, however, was lowered at 52 weeks for TC participants. I interpreted all results cautiously, because of high attrition rates, particularly in the control condition, and a consequent loss in statistical power. Quantitative analyses for the LLIU intervention study involved a series of Analyses of Variance (ANOVA). High attrition, however, across conditions resulted in only 27 participants remaining in the study at 52 weeks. No significant differences were indicated from results of applying ANOVA to the SPAQ data for physical activity levels. Vitality, a construct assessing energy level and fatigue, was examined and applying ANOVA to the vitality (SF-36 subscale) gain score data (SF-36) showed evidence of significant gains in vitality at 4 and 44 weeks for the treatment condition (TC) participants compared to the control condition. Feelings and emotions were measured with the PANAS (see appendix C). Applying ANOVA revealed positive affect was stable across the intervention for TC participants. Negative affect, however, was lowered at 52 weeks for TC participants. I interpreted all results cautiously, because of high attrition rates, particularly in the control condition, and a consequent loss in statistical power. Qualitative analysis of the ejournals indicated that participation in the LLIU and elements of the ejournal were motivational for physical activity response. TC participants’ reported being encouraged through the workshops to focus on physical activity. Encouragement was associated with social aspects of the workshop, enjoyment, and the kind of information provided. In addition, TC participants reported that lack of time, family demands, and energy depletion were considerable obstacles to physical activity participation. In the second study, I conducted follow-up interviews with 11 of the intervention participants, between one and four months after their LLIU involvement ended. Using thematic content analysis I identified six themes expressed by the women within the treatment conditions. These were (i) commitment; (ii) change driving forces; (iii) positivity, “licence” to change, and guilt reduction; (iv) elements of choice, control, and capacity to follow through; (v) self-efficacy expectations; and (vi) social support issues. For instance, commitment involved participants in taking specific steps toward action and generated freedom from procrastination; change driving forces were internal and external with enjoyment greatly enhancing physical activity experiences; positivity led to a sense of licence to change, followed by guilt reduction. An additional three case studies drilled down into issues that mid-life women typically face when attempting physical activity change. Findings highlighted the frustration associated with wanting to change, being caught in an attempt-fail cycle, and being assigned to control condition; how change can happen (adoption condition) even when family values are highly prioritised and illustrated how the confidence gained through the LLIU developed sustainable efficacy for exercise (maintenance condition). Identification of “double benefits” such as engaging in physical activity while encouraging children to be active can be motivational for sustainable physical activity. Guilt metaphorically paralysed physical activity changes. Strategic thinking assisted with recycling through stages of change. Autonomous behaviour change in control participants who remained in the study raised key questions for future studies. In addition, my studies added to the evidence base that intervention research with sedentary participants requires additional strategies (e.g., overrecruitment, extra attention) to ensure sustained engagement. In conclusion, high attrition in the first study reduced the veracity of quantitative evidence for the effectiveness of multi-theory approaches for increasing physical activity. Findings reported for the second study have considerably expanded the evidence base concerning the debilitating effects of guilt and the usefulness of strategic thinking on motivation for physical activity. In addition, this study represents additional evidence for motivation for physical activity change being strengthened through workshops and reflective journals. Longitudinal research is especially difficult with sedentary cohorts especially in the context of recruiting and maintaining participant samples.

The types of kick that are performed in the football codes fall into two broad categories: punt kick and place kick. One type of punt kick is the major means of ball movement in Australian Rules football – the drop punt kick. Past studies have investigated the biomechanics of kicking. The pattern of segmental interaction during the kicking motion – known as the proximal to distal sequence (PDS) – is the most consistent finding that is reported in the biomechanics of kicking literature. In this sequence the proximal segment (thigh) initiates the forward swing of the kicking limb towards the ball and the forward rotation of the distal segment (shank) follows. PDS motions are also typified by a higher angular velocity of the distal segment (shank). Studies that have compared the difference between skilled and less skilled kickers in Australian Rules football have found that the difference in performance is the result of 1) the position of the shank at the end of the backswing is higher above horizontal (further in the clockwise direction) for the skilled than it is for the less skilled, 2) the maximum angular velocity of the thigh during the forward swing is greater for the skilled than it is for the less skilled and 3) the skilled kickers demonstrate greater mean maximum angular velocity of the shank at foot – ball contact. Apart from these findings there is inadequate information about the mechanical features of a skillful drop punt kick. The objective of this study was to quantify and compare the kinematics of skilled and less skilled kicking. A general profile of the drop punt kick and the reliability of the kinematic variables were also reported. The reliability study was conducted first. Six subjects were tested on two occasions to establish the reliability of the equipment and methods. Variables were deemed to be reliable if they demonstrated an ICC equal or greater than r = 0.80. Of the 95 variables that were analysed 42% had an ICC greater than r = 0.79 and 25% were classified as having questionable to moderate reliability because r = 0.50 – 0.79. Only reliable variables were used to compare the skilled and less skilled groups. Six elite skilled kickers and six elite less skilled kickers were used in the main study. All subjects used were AFL players at the time of the data collection. Two-dimensional video footage was taken of each kick using a high speed camera (200Hz). The camera was positioned so that its line of sight was perpendicular to the sagittal plane of motion. The video footage of each trial was processed through the Peak Motus motion analysis system. The start of the kicking motion was identified by the maximum cw angle of the thigh. The time of foot – ball contact was the end of the motion. There were two phases that were identified during this time; transition and forward swing. The duration of each was 50% of movement time. The results of the current study showed that the skilled kickers held the ankle in a more plantarflexed position than did the less skilled kickers (skilled 46.7 degrees, less skilled 39.21 degrees, r = 0.70, ES = – 1.06, p = .071) at the time of foot – ball contact. This result indicates that a common trait amongst skilled kickers is the presence of a taut instep at foot – ball contact. This is one trait of skilled kickers that is often referred to by skills coaches within the AFL. The maximum angular velocity of the shank (1402 degrees/second) was higher than that of the thigh (805 degrees/second). The mean knee extension angle at foot – ball contact was 50 degrees and the maximum knee extension angle occurred after foot – ball contact (150% movement time). There was no difference between groups in the magnitude of the angles or angular velocities (p &gt 0.2). There was a difference in the time between the maximum angular velocity of the thigh and the maximum angular velocity of the shank (p &lt 0.05). From this result we suggested that skilled kickers are distinguished from less skilled kickers based on the timing of the critical events not the magnitude of critical events.

There were three broad aims for this thesis. These included (1) an investigation of the relationships between the intensity and directional dimensions of trait anxiety, state anxiety and performance in sport, (2) a detailed exploration of mechanisms mediating observed relationships, using the theory of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) as a framework, and (3), based on the findings of this exploration, an assessment of the efficacy of a tailored REBT treatment as a means of modifying harmful trait anxiety directional interpretations, resulting in changes at the state level and ultimately changes in performance. A total of 189 competitors from the sports of freestyle skiing, athletics, and ten-pin bowling participated in Study 1. Each competitor provided general demographic information, information pertaining to their overall skill level, and also completed the Competitive Trait Anxiety Inventory version 2 – directional (CTAI-2-D), Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Competitive State Anxiety Inventory version 2 – directional (CSAI-2-D) just prior to a competition. Following competition they went on to rate their performance on a scale from very poor to excellent. The results of Study 1 revealed that measures of anxiety correlated as predicted, and provided further support to the utility of directional measures of anxiety as a more precise predictor of skill level and performance than intensity alone measures. In Study 2, six bowlers who obtained negative directional trait anxiety scores on both of the cognitive and somatic subscales of the CTAI-2-D, and six bowlers who obtained positive directional trait anxiety scores on both of the cognitive and somatic subscales of the CTAI-2-D were interviewed on two separate occasions. Interviews were designed to assess the presence and typology of cognitions associated with emotional responses based on the ABC framework adopted in the theory and practice of REBT. Findings from Study 2 provided insight into specific cognitive mechanisms behind directional measures of anxiety, and highlighted the value of REBT as a theoretical model for conceptualising various components of anxiety in sport. In particular, competitors with debilitative interpretive styles were found to endorse self-directed demands, and awfulising, and exhibited secondary emotional disturbance most frequently associated with somatic and behavioural interpretations. In the final study, a total of 60 ten-pin bowlers were allocated to either a six-week course of REBT, a six-week course of a more traditional treatment entailing imagery and relaxation, or a control condition entailing six weeks of befriending. REBT was found to significantly moderate negative directional interpretation scores of anxiety symptoms, and to reduce competitors’ endorsement of irrational beliefs (whilst concurrently increasing their endorsement of rational or non-judgemental thinking styles) to a greater extent than the traditional intervention (relaxation and mental imagery), and control condition. Further, although not statistically significant, competitors who underwent the course of REBT showed greater performance gains than the bowlers in the other two conditions. The main implications of these findings are that anxiety research and management practices should focus on the causal role of underlying beliefs, and the relationship competitors have with these beliefs, in the experience of anxiety. Further, the results of this study highlighted that REBT has a significant role to play in the theory and management of anxiety in sport.

This thesis explores the general public s experiences of sport related injury (SRI) as they utilise Sport and Exercise Medicine services in NHS England. It focuses specifically on: the treatment pathways to, and utilisation of, one Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) clinic in NHS England; the social and economic costs incurred as a consequence of SRI; and the extent healthcare utilisation and costs coalesce to structure SRI experience. The study employs a qualitative methodology based on a two phase research design that retrospectively maps the pathways of patients (n=19) up until their treatment at the SEM clinic (focusing on social and economic costs ), and prospectively, as a number of patients (n=4) continue their treatment at the SEM clinic, thus illustrating how pathways and costs feed each other in problematic ways. Findings demonstrate that patient pathways to SEM are relatively lengthy and inefficient due to a lack of knowledge of SEM initiatives for SRI treatment amongst both GPs and patients. This leads to indirect referrals, increased workload in primary care and the utilisation of general orthopaedic secondary care services. It further highlights a number of social and economic costs incurred through SRI, such as diminished social wellbeing, increased emotional labour, poor health behaviours and workplace absenteeism, which are exacerbated through inefficient patient pathways and patient dissatisfaction with general orthopaedic treatment. The thesis is the first study to shed light on the pathways of SRI patients in the NHS and the treatment experience of SEM clinics in NHS England. It demonstrates the extent SEM initiatives justified on the basis of improving the efficiency of pathways and satisfaction of treatment for SRI patients could be more effectively implemented and identifies a number of important implications for the future sustainability of physical activity health promotion policy and the wider social and economic productivity of exercising public populations.

This PhD thesis is concerned with sports tourism as a way of experiencing a sense of self, belonging and location in the social world. It is about how identity is developed, expressed and experienced when gymnasts interact within their specific sports community while travelling to take part in a non-competitive, international group gymnastics event. In particular, the research aim is to identify and make sense of the meaning participants attach to their involvement in sports event tourism in the context of the 2011 World Gymnaestrada in Lausanne/Switzerland, the purely non-competitive, official world event of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

This thesis describes a series of studies in which ultrasound was used to measure muscle activity around the shoulder. The preliminary studies used professional musicians as subjects because the chronic nature of their problems with shoulder muscles offered an opportunity to test the usefulness of ultrasound in a changing physical environment. Once protocols, reliability, validity and sensitivity to change were established, the main study focused on ?normal? subjects in order to explore ?normal? variability.

This thesis aimed to develop a running heat tolerance test (RHTT) to assess changes in heat tolerance and to investigate the mechanism and optimisation of heat acclimation (HA) for female athletes. The first study introduced a RHTT and assessed its repeatability. Results demonstrate good agreement, strong correlations and small differences between repeated trials. The typical error of measure values suggested low within-participant variability. Furthermore, the RHTT was effective in differentiating between individuals’ physiological responses, demonstrating that heat tolerance lies along a continuum. The second study examined the sensitivity of the RHTT to changes in heat tolerance and to evaluate individual responses to HA. Results demonstrate that the RHTT is sensitive to changes in heat tolerance and that the magnitude of adaptation is highly individual; supporting the use of the RHTT in future investigations. Reducing thermal strain through HA in not fully understood for a female population. The third study compared males’ and females’ temporal patterning to short-term HA (STHA; 5-d) and long-term HA (LTHA; 10-d). The RHTT was used to quantify changes in heat tolerance. The results confirm that whilst STHA may be effective in achieving partial adaptation in males and females, females require LTHA to establish reductions in thermoregulatory and cardiovascular strain. Improved thermotolerance following HA, reduces disruptions to cellular homeostasis principally, but not exclusively, by increasing basal heat shock protein 72 following transcription of its gene (Hsp 72 mRNA) as part of the heat shock response (HSR). The fourth study compared males’ and females’ Hsp72 mRNA response during STHA and LTHA. The similar transcription of Hsp72 mRNA observed in all participants suggests that there are no differences in the endogenous criteria to elicit the HSR between sexes. The fifth study assessed the effectiveness of preceding STHA with a passive heat exposure (HAsauna) in females. HAsauna resulted in reductions in thermoregulatory, cardiovascular and perceptual strain. The adaptation pathway was likely mediated in part, by plasma volume expansion and an improved thermoeffector and thermosensitivity response of the sudomotor function. Together, evidence in this thesis supports the notion that special considerations need to be taken when using HA to attenuate thermoregulatory strain in female athletes prior to training and competing in the heat.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Sport and exercise psychology practitioners work with military service members to enhance performance prior to and during active duty but have no clear role during military career exits. Given health and wellness concerns veterans face as they transition out of the military and reintegrate back into civilian life, it may be of benefit to establish non-VA practitioners as a transitioning resource. To determine sport and exercise psychology practitioner preparedness to address military to veteran transition needs, similarities and differences between transition experiences of former athletes and military veterans is needed. A mixed methods approach, known as a convergent design, compared the transition experiences of 42 athletes and 64 veterans (N=106) during the quantitative phase and 9 athletes and 15 veterans (N=24) during the qualitative phase. The quantitative phase consisted of independent sample t-tests to determine differences in outcome scores for four valid and reliable measures: Satisfaction with Life Scale, World Health Organization’s abbreviated quality of life measure, Career Transition Inventory, and Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale. The qualitative phase consisted of recorded semi-structured phone interviews, which gathered information regarding an individual’s career transition experience. Overall, athlete participants represented 14 sports from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics universities. Veteran participants came from each military branch and a variety of pay grades. Quantitative analysis revealed athlete and veteran participants scored similarly on each outcome measure or domain. Veteran participants had lower physical health and social relationship domain scores, but comparatively better transition control scores. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes: 1) the necessity of preparation for the transition process, 2) factors impacting the career transition process, 3) transitioning resulted in the loss of structure, and 4) establishing oneself outside of former career. Results indicate shared outcomes and perspectives between former athletes and veterans in regard to their career transition process. Transition process similarities indicate sport and exercise psychology practitioners may be qualified to effectively assist transitioning veterans in the same capacity they assist transitioning athletes.

The potential of music to facilitate superior performance during high to elite level gymnastics conditioning instigated this research. A team of seven gymnasts completed a fixed conditioning programme eight times, alternating the two variable conditions. Four sessions of each condition were conducted: without music (session 1), with music (session 2), without music (3), with music (4), without music (5), and so forth. Quantitative data were collected in both conditions through physiological monitoring of the gymnasts, and administration of the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS). Statistical analysis of the physiological data made it possible to quantify the presence as well as the magnitude of the musical intervention’s impact on various aspects of the gymnasts’ physiological functioning during conditioning. The SIMS questionnaire results were used to evaluate if their motivation towards conditioning was altered by the intervention. Thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through semistructured interviews revealed themes reflecting the gymnasts’ sentiments towards the data collection process. Gymnast-specific descriptions and experiences of the team as a whole were integrated with the quantitative data to facilitate greater dimension in establishing the impact of the intervention. The results showed positive physiological, motivational and emotional effects. In the presence of music, superior sympathetic nervous activation and energy efficiency, with more economic breathing, dominated the physiological data. Fatigue and arousal levels (emotional and physiological) were also conducive to improved conditioning outcomes compared to conventional conditioning (without music). Greater levels of positive affect and motivation emerged in analysis of both the SIMS and interview datasets. Overall, the intervention was found to promote psychophysiological coherence during the physical activity. In conclusion, a strategically constructed musical intervention, designed to accompany a gymnastics conditioning session for high to elite level gymnasts, has ergogenic potential. / Dissertation (MMus (Musicology))--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Music / MMus (Musicology) / Unrestricted