Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 94 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisors: Edgar Jackson, Jr.; Robert Aubrey Kent (co-chairs), Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Sport Management, Recreation Management, and Physical Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 14, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 116 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Tech.(Chiropractic))--Technikon Witwatersrand, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

Purpose: To determine the effects of acute caffeine ingestion on female soccer players repeated-sprint performance, time to exhaustion, heart-rate, and rating of perceived exertion. Additionally, to investigate if habitual caffeine consumption effects supplementation results. Methods: Using a randomised double-blind research design, 18 females from the Women’s National League ingested two-tablets containing either caffeine (400 mg) or placebo (lactose) 1 hour before completing an indoor multiple-sprint test (12 x 30 metre; separated by 35 seconds rest), and a multi-stage fitness test (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 2). Participants attended two-testing sessions 7-days apart and consumed either placebo or caffeine on the first session, and the opposite on the second testing session. Sprint-times were recorded using dual-beam photocells, time to exhaustion was measured in seconds and metres covered using interval recording on paper. Heart rate was monitored continuously, while RPE was measured after every third-sprint and every-minute during the multi-stage fitness test. Results: Sprint 3, 4, and 5 in the multiple-sprint test showed significant results (three sprints p=0.001, sprint 3: caffeine 7.58±1.36, placebo 7.61±1.33, sprint 4: caffeine 7.54±1.35, placebo 7.60±1.31, sprint 5: caffeine 7.56±1.36, placebo 7.60±1.32), while sprint 8 and 9 showed a tendency for faster times. Time to exhaustion was significantly improved with caffeine (p=0.0001, caffeine 428±209 seconds, placebo 345±122 seconds), heart-rate was not significantly different between trials as no interaction effect was found between trials (p=0.183), RPE overall wasn’t statistically different between trials (all values were p > 0.005) with sprint 12 providing the only significant different rating of perceived exertion score (p=0.003, placebo 16.3±0.8, caffeine 15.7±0.9). Finally, habitual caffeine consumption wasn’t statistically different between conditions (time to exhaustion p=0.92, rating of perceived exertion p > 0.005, heart-rate p > 0.01, and multiple sprints p > 0.004). Conclusion: Caffeine supplementation improves female soccer performance by means of increased time to exhaustion, tendency to improve multiple-sprint performance, and doesn’t affect heart-rate. Caffeine does not affect rating of perceived exertion, however, due to the increase in performance seen it is thought that unchanged RPE allows the body to work at higher intensities for longer. Finally, habitual caffeine consumption does not affect results as long as an abstention period of 48 hours is undertaken prior to matches. Take home message: Caffeine in a 400mg dose positively effects female soccer performance and minimal health risks or negative effects are associated with this supplementation. Caffeine produces a huge positive increase in endurance capacity, such as time to exhaustion, while also increasing the ability to perform at higher intensities for longer, reduced perception of effort.

ix, 70 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The lack of minority head coaches at the Division I-A level is not a new trend, nor one that is improving. In a sport where less than 10% of head coaches are minorities, a survey was randomly sent out to several head and assistant coaches at the collegiate level. The survey showed most coaches believe there are discrepancies in the hiring process that impair minorities, there tends to be unfair favoritism towards nonminority coaches after a termination and minority coaches are less likely to be recommended for a head coaching position. To encourage the diversity among head coaches, recommendations should include diversifying the hiring search committee, adding a rule similar to the National Football League's Rooney Rule and adding additional graduate assistant positions. / Committee in Charge: Dr. James R. Terborg, Business Administration; Dr. Philip Collis McCullum, Educational Leadership; Dr. Renee A. Irvin, Planning, Public Policy and Management

This thesis addresses relationships between art, aesthetics and men’s association football, and seeks to frame the latter as a source and locus of aesthetic variation and dissensus, in opposition to its typical presentation as a source of fleeting and purely physical pleasures. Its focus is the contemporary scene of global elite football, whose roots I argue can most effectively be traced back to the creation of the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League in 1992. Through four chapters encompassing multiple case studies, I examine some of the aesthetic conceptions that are embedded within contemporary discourses around football, before analysing artworks and aesthetic practices that reproduce the game in various forms. Throughout the study, I am interested in bringing into focus the border-line between the cultural fields of art and football. I frame all of the objects, practices and artefacts that I analyse as sites of inter-section between these two rival sets of discursive formations, as well as offering theoretical and methodological reflections on the cultural dynamics that lead to these formations being considered as distinct fields in the first place. My principal research questions can be expressed as follows: what intellectual processes come into play when objects in the field of contemporary football approach the field of contemporary art and vice-versa, and what forces are active in each field that prevent this rapprochement from achieving total fulfilment?In order to approach these questions, my thesis is effectively divided into two halves. In the first half I use concepts derived from the study of art and visual cultures to bring to light some of the aesthetic debates that occur within football’s interpretative community. In chapter one I consider the manner in which aesthetics and sporting ethics become intertwined around the controversial issue of “diving”, while in chapter two I demonstrate the ways in which the animated highlight GIF holds in suspension notions of novelty, boredom and individual genius. In the second half of the thesis I analyse a number of artistic projects which address football – Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno’s film Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait, Maider López’s participatory performance Polder Cup and Craig Coulthard’s landscape intervention Forest Pitch, among others – by reading their aesthetic propositions against some of those that are rooted in the game itself. Addressing the functions that these works apply to the popular expressive content that already adheres to football can, I argue, be instructive in considering the cultural politics of contemporary art more generally. Finally, I conclude that contemporary football is a prominent site of complex aesthetic negotiations that warrants greater attention from the inter-discipline of visual studies.

Orientador: Dagmar Cynthia França Hunger / Banca: Alexandre Janotta Drigo / Banca: Valdomiro de Oliveira / Resumo: O processo de formação de um futebolista de alto rendimento é longo e está diretamente relacionado com a capacitação dos profissionais envolvidos. O estudo dos saberes presentes na intervenção dos profissionais atuantes nos clubes com histórico na formação de futebolistas é fundamental para a compreensão das razões do êxito e das possíveis limitações encontradas na formação de futebolistas. O objetivo principal do estudo é investigar e explorar os saberes presentes na intervenção dos profissionais responsáveis (treinadores, preparadores físicos e treinadores de goleiros) pelo processo de formação de futebolistas no São Paulo Futebol Clube e o objetivo secundário é analisar como ocorreu o processo de apropriação dos saberes durante a trajetória dos profissionais que atuam junto às categorias de base do clube. A escolha do São Paulo Futebol Clube ocorreu pelo fato do mesmo apresentar histórico de formação de jogadores de futebol de alto rendimento, a partir da década de 1990 e pela instituição disponibilizar gentilmente os dados e o acesso aos profissionais necessários à pesquisa. Participaram do estudo dezesseis profissionais responsáveis pelo trabalho desenvolvido nas categorias de base da instituição. Para a investigação dos saberes presentes na intervenção dos profissionais foi utilizada uma classificação de saberes adaptada, a partir da proposta por Tardif (2002) e, foram empregadas como técnicas de investigação: a pesquisa bibliográfica, o questionário, a entrevista semi-estruturada, a pesquisa documental e a observação participante. O material coletado foi analisado mediante a utilização do método denominado Análise de Conteúdo. Para a apresentação e discussão dos resultados obtidos formularam-se dois eixos temáticos com respectivas categorias internas da análise. No primeiro eixo... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The formation process of an elite footballer is long and directly related to the competence of all professionals involved in such process. The study of the domains imbued in the interventions taken by the professional staff of clubs with tradition in formation of footballers is crucial to the understanding of the success in the process and its possible limitations. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the domains of professional staff (head coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, and goalkeeper coaches) working in the formation of footballers for São Paulo Futebol Clube, and the secondary purpose was to analyze how these professionals embodied these domains during their careers in this club. São Paulo Futebol Clube was chosen because of its known history in forming world-class footballers since the nineties. Sixteen professionals who were working in the youth teams of São Paulo Futebol Clube participated in the study as subjects. A classification of domains adapted from that proposed by Tardif (2002) was used to investigate the domains present in the daily work routine of the subjects. The investigation methods used were, as follows: questionnaire, semistructured interview, documental research, and participating observation. Collected data was examined by a method called "analysis of content". Results and discussion were presented based on two thematic lines with their respective inner types of analysis. In the first one, the domains relative to the professional formation, disciplines, institution, and work experience were broached. In the second one, the influence of the professional formation of the subjects on the embodiment of domains present in the work actuation was analyzed. The results indicated that domains relative to the biological aspects of human body were most noticeable among those... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This paper explores the correlation between the recruit ratings of football players coming out of high school and their future levels of success in the NFL. Specifically, I look at a player’s star rating, numerical rating, and overall rank within his high school graduating class, according to 247Sports’s Composite Rating system, as the key variables for a player’s recruit rating. I measure NFL success by a player’s position in the NFL draft specific to both round and overall pick, average games played per season over his NFL career, highest annual cash earnings during his NFL career, and average Approximate Value per season in the NFL. Results indicate a significant relationship between recruit ratings and NFL success only when considering NFL draft selection as the measure for success. Broadly, recruit ratings don’t appear to correlate with success in the NFL.

This thesis examines the status of six-man football in Texas high schools.

Over the past two decades, the relationship between political extremism and football fans has been the subject of academic, political and policing debates throughout Europe. At football stadiums, in Italy in particular, it is common to witness manifestations of racist intolerance and ideological statements referring to regional, national and international issues. Concurrently, there has been a rise in conflict between Italian police forces and hardcore football fans. The fan-protagonists of such episodes are often groups known as the UltraS; the capital S is a neologism of this study to define neo-fascist oriented supporters. The nomenclature differentiates them from the wider hardcore football supporters who are instead referred in this research as ultrá. Despite their presence among the Italian curve (football terraces), the UltraS have been the subject of very limited methodical ethnographic study. The present study seeks to correct this lacuna and is the result of ethnographic research conducted from 2003 to 2006 and updated from 2007 to 2009. This thesis seeks to evaluate the UltraS phenomenon via an examination of two nationally renowned groups located in the Italian capital of Rome. The groups, the Boys of AS Roma and the Irriducibili of SS Lazio, enact their performances on the respective curve of the city’s Olympic Stadium. This research considers the UltraS gatherings as a form of ‘ideological communitas’. In doing so, analysis introduces and explains the four essential elements of the UltraS logic: the principle of non omologazione (non-conformism), the concept of the ‘true’ UltraS; the opposition of Tradition versus Modernity in the UltraS condition, and finally the attempt by them to live up to the ‘Warrior Spirit’. Analysis further identifies the ideological and anti-system based alliance between the UltraS of Lazio and Roma and other similar gatherings throughout Italy. This phenomenon, together with an increase ideologisation of the Italian curve, incidents such as the death at the hands of the police gun of the SS Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri in 2007 (and the concomitant violent UltraS reactions against a variety of institutions) and the appearance in 2008 of the UltraS Italia, may signify the beginning of an UltraS collective identity, and a concomitant emergent status of the UltraS as a social movement, which stands in opposition to the perceived repressive Italian State and its media allies.