Pupils today put high demands on their performance and getting good results is something that has become like an obsession. Stress in school and performance anxiety is something that is often addressed in television, social media and in newspapers. The purpose of this study is to examine students' experience of stress, performance anxiety and grading in the school environment, with the main focus on school sports. The thesis and the study are based on qualitative research method. The data collection method consisted of three semi-structured focus group interviews. Two of the groups consisted of four pupils in each group, with 50/50 gender distribution. The third group consisted of five students where two were boys and the rest were girls. During the focus group interviews, the students got to interpret and reflect on the three phenomena of stress, performance anxiety and grading. They also discussed and reflected on the influence of school sports. The pupils' perception of the various phenomena is largely reflected in the school environment and school sport. The stress is largely linked to the grades. The performance anxiety can be linked to the stress, but also to the grading rating and that the students have very high demands on their own performance and ability. The phenomenon is affected and also exists within the school sport. The influence of school sports on the phenomena is positive and negative. The pupils show clear links between the school sport and the three phenomena of stress, performance anxiety and grading.   Keywords: stress, performance anxiety, grading, school sports / Elever idag sätter höga krav på sin prestation och att få goda resultat är något som blivit likt en tvångstanke. Stress i skolan och prestationsångest är något som tidigare studier visat på. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka elevers upplevelse av stress, prestationsångest och betygshets i skolmiljön med främst fokus på skolidrotten. Uppsatsen och studien är baserad på kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Datasamlingsmetoden bestod av tre semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer. Två av grupperna bestod av fyra elever i varje grupp, med 50/50 könsfördelning. Den tredje gruppen bestod av fem elever där två var killar och resten var tjejer. Under fokusgruppsintervjuerna fick eleverna tolka och reflektera över de tre fenomenen stress, prestationsångest och betygshets. De diskuterade och reflekterade även över skolidrottens påverkan. Elevernas uppfattning av de olika fenomenen speglas till stor del i skolmiljön samt skolidrotten. Stressen är till stor del kopplad till betygen. Prestationsångesten går att knyta an till stressen men även till betygshetsen och att eleverna har väldigt höga krav på sin egna prestation och förmåga. Fenomenen påverkas och existerar även inom skolidrotten. Skolidrottens påverkan på fenomenen är positiva och negativa. Eleverna visar tydliga samband mellan skolidrotten och de tre fenomenen stress, prestationsångest och betygshets.   Nyckelord: stress, prestationsångest, betygshets, skolidrott

Övervikt och fetma är idag ett stort problem hos barn och ungdomar, i synnerhet på grund av fysisk inaktivitet och försämrade matvanor. Skolan är en viktig instans i främjandet av barn och ungdomars vanor av fysisk aktivitet. Skolidrott är också viktigt för barn och ungdomars vanor av fysisk aktivitet i ett livslångt perspektiv. Syftet med studien var att belysa ungdomars upplevelser av skolidrott som motivation till fysisk aktivitet. Kvalitativa intervjuer användes som datainsamlingsmetod, följt av innehållsanalys som analysmetod. Urvalet i studien var ett strategiskt urval, totalt nio elever från årskurs tre på två gymnasieskolor i sydvästra Sverige deltog.  Analysen av datainsamlingen resulterade i tre huvudkategorier med fyra underkategorier. Första huvudkategori var Kunskap som motivation, med underkategorierna Kunskap om fysisk aktivitet och Kunskap om hälsobegreppet. Den andra huvudkategorin var Delaktighet och bekräftelse med underkategorierna Att få känna sig duktig samt Att få vara med och bestämma. Sista huvudkategori var Bristande personligt intresse.  Övergripande tema av resultatet var Lärarna skapar förutsättningar för fysisk aktivitet. Detta då övergripande resultat i studien var att idrottslärarna hade en avgörande roll för informanternas upplevelser av idrottsundervisningen som motiverande och inspirerande till fysisk aktivitet. Fortsatt forskning inom området kan med fördel vara att undersöka idrottslärares attityder gentemot att skapa förutsättning till motivation till fysisk aktivitet även hos elever som inte är intresserade av ämnet i sin undervisning. / Obesity is currently a major problem in children and adolescents, especially because of physical inactivity and poorer eating habits. The school is an important element in the promotion of child and adolescent habits of physical activity. School sports are also important for children and adolescent´s habits of physical activity in a lifelong perspective. The aim of the study was to highlight adolescent´s experience of school sports as motivation for physical activity. Qualitative interviews were used as data collection methods, followed by content analysis method of analysis. The sample in the study was a strategic choice, a total of nine students from grades three to two high schools in southwestern Sweden participated. The analysis of the data collection resulted in three main categories with four subcategories. The first main category was Knowledge as motivation, with subcategories Knowledge of Physical Activity and Knowledge of the health conept. The second main category was Participation and acknowledgment, with the subcategories To get positive feedback/respond and To be involved in decison-making. The last main category was Lack of personal interest. Overall theme of the results was Teachers create opportunities for physical activity. This is because the overall result of the study was that the teachers had a crucial role in the informants' experiences of physical education as a motivational and inspirational to physical activity. Continued research in this area may advantageously be to also find out the PE teachers' attitudes towards creating conditions for motivation to physical activity among students who are not interested in the topic in their teaching.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-101). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL:http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ56203.

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

Fifty adolescent ice-hockey players, ranging from 13 to 15 years of age, were studied in order to determine whether high performance players differed from non-high performance players on measures of social cognition in the sport context. Two Divisions of Bantam hockey players were studied: (1) Division A or high performance players, and (2) Division B or non-high performance players. Participants were examined for differences on a measure which assessed level of Case's neo-Piagetian Central Social Conceptual Structure (CCS; Case, 1992) and for differences on three measures of elaborations on the basic structure. No differences were found between groups in a Multivariate Analysis of Variance, with participant's weight and Division of play as independent variables, on the four dependent variables. A Hotellings T2 analysis revealed no differences between high and non-high performance players of the same chronological age on Case's CCS. Univariate ANOVAs following the main analysis revealed no differences between the two groups of players in Concentration which is the ability to detect advance cues which would predict opponent's actions. High performance players demonstrated higher levels than non-high performance players in Flexibility, which is the ability to provide adequate solutions to social game problems. High performance players also demonstrated a greater orientation toward Intensity which is an orientation toward achieving Mastery goals (Dweck, 1992) than non-high performance players. Seven factors were obtained in an oblique Principal Components analysis of the Concentration scale. An ANOVA of Division of play on the first principal component revealed no significant differences between high and non-high performers. Number of words used in responding to the problem set assessing CCS were correlated with Structural Level (.56, p <.01) and Flexibility (.47, p <.01). The findings have the following implications for theory and practice in the area of high performance: (1) structural level, which is largely maturational, does not account for differences between high and non-high performers, (2) encapsulated abilities, which appear to have a high learning component, explain differences between high and non-high performers, (3) significant increases in performance will most likely occur as a result of efforts to develop the encapsulated component of development rather than the structural component.

The purpose of this study was to compare NCAA Division III male and female athletic administrators, coaches of men's and women's basketball, coaches of men's and women's tennis, coaches of men's baseball and women's softball, and athletes in those same sport regarding perceptions of gender equity in athletics at their own institution. Data on individual perceptions of equity attainment were obtained through a mail-out survey sent to 1895 individuals at a random sampling of 100 NCAA Division III schools.The results of the survey indicated that at least 70% of the respondents perceived there to be gender equity in 13 of the 20 items tested, while over 50% of the respondents perceived there to be gender equity in 18 of 20 items. Five null hypothesis were posited for the independent variables of gender, group affiliation, sport coached, and sport played. Each of the null hypotheses failed to be accepted (alpha = .05) in a multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA).Further, when a series of analyses of variances (ANOVAs) were performed, significant differences at the .05 level were found in 4 of the 5 dependent variables tested: program support, financial support, sports offerings, scheduling, and changes in the past 2-3 years. For the interaction of gender and group affiliation, a significant difference was found in program support only.Females perceived there to be less equity than males in all factors. Athletes perceived there to be less equity than athletic directors in program support, financial support and changes; and less equity than coaches in program support and scheduling.Coaches of women's softball and women's basketball perceived there to be less equity in program support than coaches of men's sports. Coaches of women's sports indicated less equity than coaches of men's sports in financial support. Women's team captains perceived less equity than men's team captains in financial support. Women's softball players perceived less equity than other team captains in program support, while women's tennis perceived less equity than men's team captains in program support.For changes in the past two years, each gender indicated the opposite was favored. For other dependent variables, when an advantage was registered, the advantagefavored the men. / Department of Educational Leadership

Professionalism in sport and the standard of world-class performance is on the rise. The development of a country's sporting potential therefore is crucial (Martindale et al., 2007:187). In South African schools, sport is widely regarded as the basis of elite sport (Rajput & Van Deventer, 2010:159). Teacher-coaches are in most cases responsible for the development potential of this sport. These coaches are often not properly trained, while the most knowledgeable coaches are used at elite level (SASKOK 2011b:12). The aim of this study was to determine the current state of teacher-coaches’ sport-specific training and playing- and coaching experience regarding sport coaching. Fifty four (54) schools om the Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province of South Africa were available for this study. Questionnaires by Vosloo (2007) and Camire (2012) were adapted for use in this study. One hundred and forty-four (144) questionnaires were used in the compilation of the results. The Epi-info program was used to capture the data. For analysing the data, frequency tables and cross-tabulations were used to obtain statistical (p≤0.05) and practical (Cramer’s V-value) significance. Only six (6) of the twelve (12) priority sports codes have a significant amount of sport-specific trained teacher-coaches. Most sport-specific training was completed more than five (5) years ago. In most sports codes the majority of teacher-coaches have less than 10 years’ combined coaching- and participation experience. The transfer of quality coaching knowledge between coaches is questionable. It is mostly teacher-coaches with less than 10 years’ experience that do not attempt to improve their coaching skills. Teacher-coaches in general also use few methods to improve their coaching skills. Sport-specific training is needed in all types of schools (especially township- and farm schools) and in all priority sports codes. These teacher-coaches also require quality coaching mentors as well as exceptional and current sport-specific information. / TheThesis (MSc (Sport Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.