With a rise in wearable sensor technology and the desire to investigate head impacts in previously unstudied groups, wearable head impact sensors have reached nation-wide popularity for their promising benefits to consumers and researchers. However, there are risks in relying on such technology before proper validation of its performance has been completed. Preliminary tests have found that current sensors vary widely in performance. The objective of this work was to develop and implement a test method for evaluation of wearable sensors in an ideal laboratory environment. A custom pendulum was used to impact a NOCSAE headform mounted on a Hybrid III neck. Sensors were tested under helmeted and unhelmeted conditions, according to their prescribed use. The headform was impacted at four locations, each at four impact energies ranging from 25 g to 100 g. Peak and time series headform kinematics output by each sensor were compared to accelerometers and angular rate sensors inside the headform. Average and standard deviations of peak sensor error and normalized RMS error were evaluated at each test condition to describe sensor performance. Requirements were set in the slope and coefficient of determination from linear regressions constrained through the origin to describe adequate sensor performance under ideal conditions. Sensors that met the requirement in at least one kinematic variable will be further evaluated in more realistic on-field and cadaver tests. The combination of all testing phases will be used to provide an overall sensor evaluation for both researchers and consumers. / Master of Science

Ångermanland has at the last five years lost 420 hockey players. This is a qualitative study that focus on investigating the main problems of dropouts among young hockey players and how ice hockey associations in Ångermanland act to find solutions to the problem. The main questions of the study are: How can the dropout problems in Ångermanland be understood or explained in terms of youth operators' perspective and what are the potential strategies that the ice hockey associations are using to deal with the dropout problem and what approaches to youth hockey is reflected in the youth operators' statements? The study was based on semi-structure interviews with 6 different ice hockey sports clubs in Ångermanland. The results showed that the leadership programs ought to be more educational, and more oriented toward understanding the children instead of mainly technical learning objectives about how to shoot, dribble, and skate. The main reason that hockey players quit playing

A common reason for engaging in sport activities is because it’s fun and enjoyable. But what is it that makes a certain activity fun and enjoyable? The answer isn’t so obvious and may be different depending on who is answering it. This study aimed to increase the knowledge regarding what is fun about sports. More specifically, to examine youth sports and children engaging in youth sports. Therefore, a questionnaire containing 20 different statements were distributed to children who were asked to estimate in which degree these statements contributed to making their sport fun. Furthermore, this study wanted to compare the ratings of these statements between teams and individual sports. The study included 39 children who were active in teams and 32 children who participated in individual sport activities with a total mean age of 11,72. The results showed that intrinsic factors were most important and that trying your best was the highest rated statement. On the other hand, winning had the lowest overall rating. The tests also showed that children who engage in team sports values being with friends in a higher extent than those who are active in individual sports. The conclusion of this study was that children found intrinsic factors to be most important when it comes to having fun. Some of the most important factors were trying your best and learning new things. Extrinsic factors such as winning and competing against others didn’t contribute as much to having fun. Significant differences were found between the groups when it comes to being with friends, winning and having a crowd cheering for you

No description available.

Eighty percent of all adolescents in Sweden aged 13-19 years are physically active in sports associations growing up during their childhood, however, far from everyone continues as they get older. The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge about sports associations views and perceptions regarding why adolescents quit physical activities and how they work to prevent this to occur. Furthermore, this study will examine the perceptions and opinions these sport associations have regarding recruitment of adolescents for coaching and other positions within their association. The data in this study was collected from nine semi-structured interviews with representatives from sports associations in the county of Umeå. The results from the data analysis indicates that the sport associations seems to be aware of this drop out among adolescents and that the reason for this phenomena is complex and individual. Despite this, little action seemed to be taken among these sport associations in order to try to keep young individuals physically active within the club or with recruitment of these individuals as coaches, even if the sport associations considered it as a good solution to the problem. The main conclusion of this study is that if sport associations are in need of preventing youth drop out they have to increase their activities for preventing it. Furthermore they need to start seeing adolescents as resources to the sport association.

Sport specialization is defined as a year-round, highly structured commitment to training for and competing in a single sport. Children who begin the process of specialization at an early age are potentially susceptible to several undesirable outcomes, including an increased risk of orthopedic injury, psychological burnout, and limited social development. Despite these inherent risks, the practice of early sport specialization has become prevalent in the United States. This study uses a grounded theory methodology to examine the role of parents in early sport specialization practices. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twelve parents of adolescent soccer players, the study finds that parents are drawn to early sport specialization because of multiple perceived benefits for their children. The two most prominent of these benefits are positive socialization and the use of the sport as a lever for higher education. Parents act on limited information when making decisions regarding early sport specialization, relying on advice and information from coaches, soccer clubs, and other parents to make their decisions. In this manner, the parents themselves are socialized into the culture of early specialized sport, adopting the established values and beliefs of the practice, and furthering the advancement of the practice of early specialization in youth sport. / text

Syftet med studien är att belysa hur unga fotbollsspelande tjejer upplever sin idrott.  - Vad vill unga fotbollstjejer att träningarna och verksamheten ska innehålla och hur ska den organiseras för att de ska upprätthålla sitt intresse och stanna kvar? - Vad är viktigt i ledarens agerande för att tjejerna ska trivas? Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod och genomfördes med 17 tjejer i ett 14-års lag i fyra fokusgruppintervjuer. Resultatet visar att alla tjejer tycker att det roligaste med idrotten är att spela matcher och åka på cuper. De tycker att det är viktigt att vinna, men har de spelat bra och fått visa upp vad de lärt sig så kan de ta en förlust. Kompisarna är en viktig faktor och att ha roligt tillsammans är det som gör att de vill fortsätta att spela fotboll. De tycker att träningarna ska innehålla blandade övningar och att de även där får spela matcher i många olika varianter. Ledaren är en viktig person och hon/han ska peppa och pusha dem samt hjälpa dem så att de gör rätt. De tycker att  alla ska få vara med och spela, bli sedda och behandlas lika. Engströms prestations-, tränings- och upplevelselogiker blir här väldigt tydliga.

Ungdomarna är idrottsföreningarnas framtid och idrottsföreningarna skapar positiv utveckling för ungdomarna. Det ungdomarna gör på fritiden och i vilket socialt sammanhang som de vistas i har betydelse för deras utveckling. Trots dessa positiva effekter som idrottsföreningarna har så väljer många ungdomar att sluta med föreningsidrotten. Detta beror på olika aspekter såsom ekonomi, kompisar, föräldrapåverkan och nya fritidsintressen. Därför är det viktigt hur idrottsföreningar jobbar med att behålla ungdomar och det är också syftet till denna studie. Genom intervjuer med sex stycken föreningsaktiva personer har tre strategier tagits fram och blivit resultatet av denna studie. Det tre strategier som föreningar i Trollhättans Stad använder sig mest av och anser är mest lyckosamma är: Breddidrott-Elitinriktning, Engagemang och Mål och mening / Young people are the future of sports clubs and sports associations create positive development for young people. What the young people do in their free time and in what social context in which they are staying in is important for their development. Despite these positive effects that sport clubs have so many young people choose to end exert sports. This is due to different aspects such as finance, friends, parental influence and new hobbies. Therefore, it is important how sports clubs are working to keep young people and it is also the aim of this study. Through interviews with six club members have three strategies been developed and have resulted from this study. The three strategies that the unions in Trollhättan City uses the most and feel are most successful are: The widht in sport-Elite direction, Commitment and Goal and sense

Ungdomsinnebandyn i Jämtlands län har de senaste 10 åren tappat spelare. Precis som övriga idrottsverksamheter i Sverige upplever innebandyn ett tapp av ungdomar vid 15 till 16 års ålder. Forskningen pekar mot att en ungdomstränare är av betydelse för att ungdomar ska fortsätta med sin idrott. Syfte Belysa betydelsefulla faktorer till att ungdomar fortsatt att spela innebandy till seniornivå, samt betydelsen av ungdomstränaren. Metod Kvalitativ manifest innehållsanalys utifrån semi-strukturerade intervjuer (n=5) med unga manliga seniorspelare (=21,8 år; sd=1,6 år) från Jämtlands län. Respondenterna hade oavbrutet spelat tävlingsinnebandy från ungdomsnivå till seniornivå. Resultat Kompisar och upplevd framgång var de viktigaste faktorerna till att respondenterna spelar innebandy idag. I början uppskattades en lättsam miljö med mycket lek. Med ökad ålder ökade betydelsen av upplev utveckling och tävlingsmomentet blev viktigare. En ungdomstränare är av betydelse och bör vara positiv och skapa ett lättsamt klimat i unga år. Under senare delen av ungdomen bör ungdomstränaren vara mer auktoritär och ha mer fokus på utveckling. Konklusion Kompisar och upplevd framgång är de viktigaste faktorerna samtidigt som ungdomstränaren är av betydelse. Tidigare studier har påvisat liknande resultat. / Youth floorball in the county of Jämtland has shown a decreased number of players in the last 10 years. Floorball, like other sports in Sweden, also drops a lot of players at the age of 15 to 16 years. Earlier studies in the field have shown that youth team coaches are important for young athletes to stay in sports. Aim To highlight factors that have been important for youth floorball players to stay in the sport up to senior level, and the importance of the youth team coach. Method Qualitative content analysis from semi-structured interviews (n=5) with young male senior floorball players (=21,8 years; sd=1,6 years) from the county of Jämland. The respondents have played floorball from youth level to senior level without any break. Results Friends and perceived success has been the most important factors for the respondents. A friendly climate has been important in the early stage while progress and competition have been important in the latter stage of the youth level. A youth team coach is important and should be positive and create a positive and friendly climate. In later years the youth team coach should be focusing on progress and can therefore be more demanding. Conclusion Friends and perceived success has been the most important factors while a youth team coach is important. Earlier studies has shown similar results.

An important premise for the study is the pedagogic importance of sports, that children and youth via sports and its leaders consciously and unconsciously incorporate and teach themselves skills, habits and knowledge as well as norms and values. Another premise is that sports leaders, like other teachers and leaders, work in a time where new conditions prevail for children’s upbringing and for the role as a leader. What should be conveyed to children today is not obvious but seems to be dependent on the individual fosterer’s idea on what the role should mean. This is truer for sports leaders, for example, than teachers since the sports movement does not have a prescribed curriculum. The perspective of the study is cultural-sociological and gender-theoretical. In the analyses, Pierre Bourdieu’s key concepts, habitus, capital and field, performed the functions of research tools. A descriptive purpose of the study was to increase the knowledge of who the children and youth leaders of the sports movement are and their views of and valuation of sports, the task and the children. Through studying what the sports leaders are bearers of in terms of personified and symbolic capital, the purpose of the study was also to analyse what was encouraged in the sports environment where many children and young people spend a great deal of their leisure. The analyses were based on an empirical material consisting of questionnaire replies from 525 sport leaders and in-depth interviews with 18 leaders. In addition, more than 1,600 future teachers and youth recreation leaders replied to a questionnaire form. Who the sport movement’s child and youth leaders are cannot be generally answered. It is partly dependent on which sport it is, partly which gender the leader has. The sport leaders’ attitudes to differing aspects of the children’s sports activity varied and various leader groups confronted each other. The leaders primarily appreciated the relations with the children. However, they did not appreciate the parental intervention, children and youths who did not behave themselves and the high demands which leadership signifies. Through sports the leaders primarily wanted to give the children physical and social upbringing. They wanted to educate children to be creative and independent individuals but emphasized at the same time a conscientious ideal. The study showed that differing types of symbolic capital dominate in children and youth’s sports activity and that different leader groups emphasize various values. What is understood as valuable seemed more to be related to the logic of different sports than to gender and the fact that the activities were for children. It is not possible to tell in general how children are fostered and influenced through sports. The results indicate, however, that seriousness dominated over playfulness and that success and achievement are highly valued.