Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: [98]-108)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 266-274).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Temple University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-96). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Temple University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a historiographical study of popular rugby history covering the years 1948 to 1995. The aim of this study is to show how this sport is portrayed in popular history writing. This research will focus on the two forms of popular history during this time, namely general rugby history books and biographical works. In order to fulfil its goals, this thesis will identify tendencies and thematology in popular rugby history, as well as explore its development over the years. This work lies on the edge between a study of history and that of literature. By studying the content and literary aspects of the popular works, light will be shed on its ever changing tendencies and thematology. Throughout this thesis, there will be constant use of quotations in order to explain the development of popular rugby historiography over time. By exploring the aforementioned complexities, this study aims to make a contribution to the developing domain of South African sports history. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is ’n historiografiese studie van populêre rugby geskiedskrywing, en dek die jare 1948 tot 1995. Die doel is om te dui op hoe dié sport in populêre skrywes uitgebeeld is. Die fokus gaan val op die twee vorme van populêre geskiedskrywing in hierdie tydperk, naamlik algemene rugbygeskiedenisboeke en biografiese werke. Die manier hoe hierdie verhandeling te werk gaan, is om tendense en tematologie in hierdie werke te identifiseer en die verandering daarvan oor die jare, na te volg. Hierdie werk lê op die breekvlak tussen ’n studie van die geskiedenis en die letterkunde. Deur die gewilde rugby skrywes inhoudelik en letterkundig in fyn detail te bestudeer, gaan lig op die veranderende tendense en tematologie gewerp word. Aanhalings word deurgans ingesluit en bespreek om die ontwikkeling van die populêre rugby geskiedskrywing oor die jare te verduidelik. Deur op hierdie kompleksiteite klem te lê, poog die studie om ’n bydrae te lewer tot die steeds ontwikkelende veld van Suid- Afrikaanse sportgeskiedenis.

To enhance understanding of recovery and preparation in rugby union, the aim of this thesis was to examine the impact of competition on key parameters and investigate factors which may influence the recovery process from competition and training. The findings of study one demonstrate that movement patterns and thus the physiological demands of match-play vary considerably between different positional groups. Additionally, study two demonstrates that the movement characteristics which determine the extent of muscle damage post-match are position specific, and that movement characteristics may be used to prospectively tailor individual recovery and manage subsequent training. Recovery patterns may also be influenced by factors not associated with match-play such as sleep, which has important physiological and psychological restorative effects. The findings of study three suggest that sleep patterns may vary considerably within a squad with many players presenting evidence of sleep disruption, particularly post-match which may be detrimental to recovery. Recovery following exercise may also be modulated by the application of post-exercise recovery strategies such as cold water immersion. However, study four demonstrates that cold water immersion may impede adaptation to strength training in rugby union players. When no recovery intervention was administered during a five week pre-season period, isometric mid-thigh pull peak force and relative peak force significantly increased by 5.4 +/- 4.7 and 5.8 +/- 5.4% respectively. However when individuals were immersed in cold water post-training there were no significant changes in strength during the training period. These findings may have great implications for strength training, particularly during periods of physical development. The findings of the thesis have furthered understanding of the characteristics of performance and identified several factors which influence recovery from training and competition. This in turn may be used to inform best practice procedures in attempt to 'optimise' preparation and recovery in rugby union.

This study is a history of popular spectator sport in the city of Bradford between the years 1836 and 1908. Its major aim is to chart and analyse the experience of Bradford in relation to the national development of sport in the modern city and how spectator sport, in particular, helped shape personal and civic identities in a bourgeoning industrial community. This project builds on a growing body of work on the development of sport and leisure in British towns and cities during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it will both complement earlier studies on sport in Bradford and West Yorkshire and add to our understanding of how urban sporting and leisure cultures were forged through a combination of national trends and local economic and social peculiarities. The emergence of a national sporting culture ran parallel with an exponential acceleration in urbanisation, the adoption of the factory system, regularised working hours and growth in disposable income. Bradford’s sporting culture, however, was also a product of the city’s shifting social structures, which had been shaped by its unique economy. As a consequence, Bradford also played a significant role in determining the national sporting culture as well as reflecting wider trends. Bradford’s move from an essentially pre-industrial sporting landscape towards a recognisably modern one took place over a period of little more than fifty years. However, it will be shown that this was an uneven process. In challenging Malcolmson’s ‘leisure vacuum’ theory, it will be argued that Bradford’s sporting culture exhibited as much continuity as change. Pre-modern sporting practices, such as the game of knur and spell (presented here as a case study), for example, overlapped with the emergence of codified team sports. Nevertheless, the changes that were wrought in the second half of the nineteenth century were significant and lasting as an increasingly assertive working class had more time and money to spend on leisure. The thesis not only examines and charts how the development of cricket, soccer and rugby within the city were subject to changing economic and cultural contexts, but, especially through an analysis of the switch from rugby to soccer of both Manningham FC and Bradford FC, how agency was a crucial factor in bringing about historical change.

M.A. / In this study the high school youth and ethnic integration in South African socio-political and rugby context is explored. It is hypothesized that sport psychology can make a valuable contribution to the process of integration and transformation in the South African sporting context. The historical context of sport in South Africa and the role of rugby as mediator in the process of racial integration on the high school rugby field is explored, as well as social concepts influenced by transformation and integration such as prejudice, discrimination, racism and territoriality. In South Africa change in the political context has brought about transformation on the sporting field and a resurgence in articulations of sporting identities amongst the youth. For this reason attention is given to different aspects of the high school youth experience, including culture, identity, prejudice and integration. Affiliation with a group offers the individual security, and this is where high school rugby can play a pivotal role in the future. In the context of high school rugby, in South Africa’s culturally diverse society, adolescents are often confronted with opposing viewpoints, especially as pertains to adult influence and peer interaction. Contact theory proposes that experiencing social success in pluralistic settings can break down cognitive barriers. Negative experience of contact however can result in a negative attitude to other races. It is hypothesized that integration in the context of high school rugby may have a significant effect on team cohesion, stress, coping mechanisms, sport devaluation and withdrawal, and collective efficacy and competitive performance. Cohesion can be considered to be one of the most important small group or team variables in rugby. Cohesion is positively and strongly associated with success in sports teams. Stress, particularly acute stress, has been recognized as a major stumbling block to satisfaction and to continued participation among youth sport participants. Sources of stress have unfortunately not in general been widely examined in the sport psychology literature, and among the rugby playing youth in particular. It is suggested that investigating stress caused by integration is imperative to help prevent the high withdrawal rate in youth sport. Participating in sport can place specific technical, physical and psychological demands and constraints on rugby players in terms of coping. In the high school rugby context, coping with stress caused by integration is explored. Factors such as selection based on merit and the quota system contributes to determining the attitude of high school rugby players towards ethnic integration. The need for rugby skills identification and development and concomitant issues such as sport devaluation and withdrawal are tentatively explored. Emphasis on skill and merit on the sporting field plays an important role in the avoidance of sport devaluation. Devaluation is reflected in players developing a negative attitude toward sport wherein they stop caring about the sport and their performance and as a result withdraw from sport. The development of qualitative methodologies such as phenomenology and hermeneutics has played a vital role in especially cultural studies in developing grounded analyses. This includes analysis of the complex ways in which people come to understand identity and culture as dynamic social processes, as well as connecting the acted experience of individual and collective people to wider structures of power. Qualitative analysis deals with explaining meaningful action, as well as with the concept of culture as the result of the process of interaction. In this research project, a qualitative approach to psychological research was followed. Use was made of non- empirical and subjective phenomenological research methodology. The purpose of this study was to examine high school rugby players’ perspectives in order to identify points of sameness and difference between players’ perspectives. The goal was to gain insight into the phenomenon of integration in rugby at a high school level. Interviewing players provide a rich source of information, which can potentially shed insights on key facets related to the issue. The Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) expressed an interest in this study, and volunteered the use of their own research as well as high school rugby players as participants for the purpose of this study. Black, coloured and white GLRU players between the ages of 16 and 18 yrs participated in the study. Research took the form of an individual interview with the researcher. Written consent to record and transcribe the interviews were obtained from each participant. Participants were assured of confidentiality and anonymity. The interviews were taped, and the themes that emerged from this process as well as from the literature review was used as guide to determine, focus on and refine the final constructs. The participants in this study’s phenomenological experience of ethnic integration on high school rugby showed wide variations. The historical influence of South Africa’s past had a different effect on how the participants of the various races experience concepts such as prejudice, discrimination, racism and the influence of language on the high school rugby field. These areas all have an influence on how factors such as stress, coping mechanisms, group cohesion and the quota system is experienced, and this in turn affects on the one hand individual sport devaluation and withdrawal and on the other collective efficacy and the competitive performance of the team as a whole. The participants shared the vision that in the future rugby can play a positive role in the integration process of South Africa. In this respect rugby as a shared territory can provide an essential service in the process of integration and transformation in South Africa. This study may be exposed to several limitations that should be acknowledged for future research in this area. Examples, inherent in qualitative research, include the possible presence of interviewer bias, social desirability, and problems associated with self-report. Due to the paucity of exploration of the integration process in sport psychology literature, extensive use of the general (non-sport) psychology literature was needed to establish a conceptual framework. The researcher did not have the opportunity to present the participants with a final account to validate findings. A word of caution about this study concerns certain characteristics of the present sample. This study exhibited several strengths. Through the use of phenomenological methodology, the participants were given the opportunity to describe their experiences in their own words. The participants were also given an opportunity to voice their feelings about the process of integration on the high school rugby field. The study illustrated that in the South African context the fields of social- and sport psychology cannot be separated from each other. The adoption of a phenomenological stance allowed the researcher to become absorbed by the essence of the social and cultural construction of sport in general and the world of high school rugby specifically. The fact that the researcher is a woman added an empathic dimension to this study. In terms of recommendations for future research it is recognized that coaches and administrators have a wealth of experiential knowledge that can contribute to sport psychology knowledge. Quantitative research about the topic of ethnic integration on the high school rugby field needs to be undertaken. This type of research should ideally be done using longitudinal and cross-sectional methods in order to be able to report on the progress of the integration process in high school rugby. In addition, this type of research needs to be done on all levels of participation in South African rugby, from primary school- to national level. Future studies could also explore the possibility of developing therapeutic interventions to help the rugby playing youth of South Africa to deal with negative experiences of ethnic integration, to develop strategies to cope with stressful situations, and to increase high school rugby teams’ collective efficacy and competitive performance. It seems that sport in general and rugby in particular can be instrumental in the forging of a positive, integrated high school youth sport culture. Hopefully, this study will contribute to the further understanding of the phenomenological experience of high school youths of ethnic integration on the rugby field, and also have heuristic effect.

D.Phil. (Optometry) / Vision is a learned skill that implies an appropriate interpretation of what is seen and interpreted (Abel, 1999). Neural pathways are established as a result of learning, strengthened by achieving a task goal and grow stronger as practice progresses (Edelman, 1992). According to Davis, Kimmet and Auty (1990) it takes 500 hours of practice to change a skill and use that skill competently during competitions. Therefore, training sessions should be structured around learning the perceptual and cognitive skills needed for successful decisions in different environments (Vickers, 2007). Four elements - skill execution, concentration, response time and decision-making - were identified and are known to have a great effect on overall sports performance (Coffey and Reichow, 1995; Erickson, 2007 & Vickers, 2007). A reliable model that could be used to evaluate performance levels by applying these four cardinal elements of performance has been developed through this study. Twenty five rugby players participated in the study which was conducted over a period of three years. The sample was divided into four groups of which three were experimental and one was a control group. Two of the three experimental groups, who came from different regional teams, had specific visual training in the national side. The third experimental group had off-season visual training only and the control group had no visual training at all. Two methods were used to evaluate performance: in the first method three independent top class raters conducted the performance evaluation and the second was based on data collection. Both methods involved the Verusco© system. The results indicated a poor correlation among the raters: two of the three raters agreed that Group 4 (Regional team B, that played for the national side and had specific visual training) performed significantly better than Group 3 (Regional team B that had no visual training) in decision-making during season 1 and Group 1 (Regional team A) showed a significant improvement in skill execution from season 1 to season 2. Group 1 (Regional team A) had non–specific off-season visual training. Groups 2 (Regional team A, that played for the national side) and 4 (Regional team B, that played for the national side) received specific visual training and Group 3 (Regional team B) had no visual training at all.

Thesis (MSportwet)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a six-week plyometric training programme on the explosive power, speed and agility as well as certain physiological characteristics and the physical fitness of rugby players. Thirty subjects, that include the first and second rugby teams of the Paul Roos Gymnasium participated in the study. After a thorough evaluation of their medical history, their health status was confirmed as being “apparently healthy” and fit for participation in the project. The subjects were divided into two groups. The experimental group followed a specially designed plyometric training programme in addition to their conventional rugby training, while the control group persisted with the conventional rugby training for the season. Body fat percentage was measured and specific girth measurements were taken to assess physiological changes. Cardiovascular fitness was evaluated by means of the threeminute step test and muscle endurance by means of the push-up and sit-up tests in order to assess the physical fitness of the subjects. The explosive power, speed and agility of the subjects were assessed by means of the agility test [T-drill], ten-meter speed test, Sargent vertical jump test, depth jump test, standing triple jump and the medicine ball chest pass. All measurements and tests were taken before and after the six-week intervention programme of plyometric training. With regards to physiological changes the results showed that the plyometric training programme had a positive effect on the experimental group. The body fat percentage of the experimental group showed a significant decrease and the circumference of their thighs, calves, arms and waist increased. Their chest circumferences did, however, not increase, which might be due to the fact that the plyometric exercises were more specifically aimed at the lower body muscle groups. The results pertaining to physical fitness were mixed. There was a significant improvement (p<0,01) in the cardiovascular fitness of the experimental group while that of the control group stayed relatively constant (p=1,0). With regards to muscle endurance, the control group fared significantly better in the push-up test than the experimental group, while the experimental group fared significantly better in the sit-up test than the control group. The six-week plyometric intervention programme had a statistically significant effect on the performance of the experimental group as compared to the control group, when biomotor skills were assessed. It was concluded that the addition of the specific plyometric exercises to a conventional rugby-training programme would improve the speed, explosive power and agility of rugby players significantly. Beneficial anthropometric changes as well as improved cardiovascular fitness would be additional benefits of a plyometric training programme. The findings of this research suggest that the value of plyometric exercises to motor skills, specific physiological characteristics and physical fitness should not be underestimated and that the trainers and coaches should be informed in this regard. To establish the positive effects of plyometrics as a functional cross training regime for rugby players, more comprehensive research is, however, recommended. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die navorsing was om die effek van ‘n ses-weeklange pliometriese oefenprogram op die eksplosiewe krag, spoed, ratsheid asook sekere fisiologiese karaktereienskappe en die fisieke fiksheid van rugbyspelers te ondersoek. Dertig spelers, wat lede van die eerste en tweede rugbyspan van Paul Roos Gimnasium hoërskool ingesluit het, het aan die studie deelgeneem. Na deeglike evaluering van hulle mediese geskiedenis, is hulle gesondheidsvlakke goedgekeur vir deelname in die studie. Die spelers is in twee groepe verdeel. Die eksperimentele groep het ‘n spesiale pliometriese oefenprogram gevolg, saam met die konvensionele rugby-oefensessies. Die kontrole groep het slegs aan die konvensionele rugby-oefensessies vir die seisoen deelgeneem. Persentasie liggaamsvet en spesifieke omtrekmates is genoteer om die fisiologiese veranderinge te evalueer. Kardiovaskulêre fiksheid is deur middel van ‘n drie-minute opstaptoets geëvalueer en spieruithouvermoë deur middel van opstoot-en opsittoetse om sodoende die speler se fisieke fiksheid te evalueer. Die ratsheid, spoed en eksplosiewe krag van die spelers is deur die ratsheidstoets (T-drill), tien-meter spoedtoets, Sargent vertikale sprongtoets, diepte sprongtoets, staande driesprong en die medisynebal-gooitoets bepaal. Al die bogenoemde toetse en assessering is voor en na die ses-weke intervensie program van pliometriese oefening gedoen. Met betrekking tot die fisiologiese veranderinge, dui die resultate aan dat die pliometriese oefenprogram ‘n positiewe effek op die eksperimentele groep gehad het. Die eksperimentele groep se persentasie liggaamsvet het beduidend verlaag en daar was ‘n neiging tot toename in omtrekmates van die bobeen, kuite, arms en middel. Die borsomtrekmate het egter nie vergroot nie, en kan toegeskryf word aan die feit dat die pliometriese oefenprogram op die ontwikkeling van die spiere in die onderlyf gefokus het. Die resultate ten opsigte van die fisieke fiksheid was eenders vir die twee groepe. Daar was ‘n neiging tot verbetering in die kardiovaskulêre fiksheid van die eksperimentele groep, terwyl die kontrole groep konstant gebly het. Met betrekking tot spieruithouvermoë het die kontrole groep in die opstoottoets verbeter in vergelyking met die eksperimentele groep. Die eksperimentele groep het egter weer verbeter (p<0,01) in die opsittoets, terwyl die kontrole groep konstant (p=1,0) gebly het. Die eksperimentele groep het statisties betekenisvol in die biomotoriese vaardigheidtoetse verbeter na die ses-weeklange pliometriese oefenprogram. Die kontrole groep het geen verbetering getoon nie. Die gevolgtrekking is dat ‘n kombinasie van ‘n pliometriese oefenprogram en konvensionele rugby-oefening kan lei tot die verbetering van spoed, eksplosiewe krag en ratsheid van spelers. Positiewe antropometriese veranderinge sal addisionele voordele van die pliometriese oefenprogram wees. Die bevinding van die navorsing is dat die waarde van pliometriese oefening vir biomotoriese vaardighede, spesifieke fisiologiese eienskappe en fisieke fiksheid nie onderskat moet word nie en dat afrigters in hierdie opsig ingelig word. Om die positiewe effek van pliometrie as ‘n funksionele alternatiewe oefenmetode vir rugbyspelers te bewys, word meer intense navorsing oor die effek van die spesifieke oefenmetode aanbeveel.