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- Book, Robert T., et al.
(author)
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Towards investigating athletic talent developmentenvironments in underserved communities in the United States
- 2018
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In: The Science and Practice of Racket Sport for Improved Performance and Health: Special Focus on Table Tennis. - Halmstad : Halmstad University. - 9789163971297 ; , s. 69-70
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: This presentation will focus on the content of PhD project of the first author who has had extensive experiences of working in American schools within underserved (i.e., poor) communities. In spite of lacking resources, some of these schools are able to contribute into developing high performance athletes in various sports (including racket sports) and empowering them to achieve the success against the odds. These real life examples served as an inspiration to investigate such athletes’ career pathways and environments in which they had grown up.Aim and theoretical framework: The aim of this project is to acquire knowledge regarding the challenges and barriers faced by athletic talent development environments in underserved communities (UATDEs) and how successful UATDEs manage to help athletes achieve athletic and personal success against the odds. The study is based on the holistic ecological approach (Henriksen, 2010; Henriksen & Stambulova, 2017), and particularly on the athletic talent development environment (ATDE) model. The model was previously applied to study ATDEs in Scandinavia with its high social and economic equality. Conversely, in the United States, with its large income gap, many underserved communities struggle to produce elite athletes, and little investigation has been conducted surrounding such environments.Project design and method: The project will consist of three studies. Study 1will focus on exploring career pathways to athletic success and related environmental and personal factors in American athletes with low SES background through a series of interviews. Another series of interviews will be used in Study 2 to examine key stakeholders' perspectives on challenges faced and strategies implemented in UATDEs. In Study 3, the case study approach will be used to investigate two successful UATDEs within American communities and identify shared features responsible for their talent development success.Expected results: It is expected that Study 1 will reveal that athletes at the UATDEs were forced to deal with hardship and overcome a number of challenges that made them more resilient compared to those from affluent circumstances. From Study 2 it is expected to identify a spectrum of complicated issues (e.g., lack of funding, less access to practice time, lower moral, high stress and low levels of communication and support) that the UATDEs deal with. The anticipated results from Study 3 are that successful UATDEs have unique but also shared features that may form the basis for developing UATDE frameworks as an expansion of the holistic ecological approach.
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| 2. |
- Hertting, Krister, 1972-, et al.
(author)
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Ping pong health! : A table tennis intervention for improved health at the workplace
- 2018
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In: The Science and Practice of Racket Sport for Improved Performance and Health: Special Focus on Table Tennis. - Halmstad : Halmstad University. - 9789163971297 ; , s. 22-23
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Physical activity has a positive impact on physical and psychological well-being (Delisle, Werch, Wong, Bian, & Weiler, 2010), as well as social relations and skills development (Lamu & Olsen, 2016; Perkins & Williamon, 2014). Adopting a “healthy organization” culture through health programs, with strong senior and middle management support, and using interventions can promote health at workplaces (Rajaratnam et. al., 2014). We, therefore, consider it relevant to have physical activity, social relations and skill development as the starting point in a tabletennis intervention at the workplace.Aim: The aim was to develop, implement, and evaluate an intervention for improving health and wellbeing in the workplace by introducing table tennis.Methods and results: The intervention design consisted of two workshops and five table tennis sessions. Thirteen employees from a warehouse within the retail sector participated in the intervention. The participants had various backgrounds in table tennis and sport in general, different motives to participate, and came from different groups of employees (management and stock). After an introductory workshop, two table tennis coaches held one training session a week over the fiveweek intervention period. The employees were divided in to two groups and each group had a 45-minute session. The evaluation is in progress at present. Pre- and post-measurement has been conducted using health questionnaires Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). These will be analysed using a Bayesian paired t-test analysis. Based on the results of the questionnaire focus group interviews will be conducted with participants. Three focus groups of 4-5 participants in each group. The questions will focus on 24 experiences of the intervention and reflections on future directions for table-tennis and wellbeing activities at the workplace. Finally, there will be a workshop pointing out future directions for sport-based health activities at the workplace.
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| 3. |
- Sparf, Pontus
(author)
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Aerobic endurance test for Table Tennis : A correlation study between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test amongst Swedish-ranked players
- 2018
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In: The Science and Practice of Racket Sport for Improved Performance and Health: Special Focus on Table Tennis. - Halmstad : Halmstad University. - 9789163971297 ; , s. 60-61
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Table tennis is a complex sport, using different physical abilities where both aerobic and anaerobic endurance is important. Anaerobic endurance is vital during short-time intense periods, which occurs during ball rallies, while the aerobic endurance system is used in between helping the player to maintain active and fully focused throughout the whole match. The Swedish Olympic committee provides with a physiological profile where the aerobic endurance of the table tennis players is tested with Cooper’s test. The Cooper’s test is not sport specific and thereby a sport specific aerobic endurance test has been developed, since player performance should be measured precise and sport specific. The sport specific aerobic endurance test is named Critical frequency test and is performed with a mechanical ball thrower.Aim and theoretical framework: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the strength of the correlation between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test with the player’s national ranking. A second aim was to compare the strength of the correlation between Cooper’s test and Critical frequency test with the player’s national ranking.Method: 14 subjects participated in this correlation study. Their aerobic endurance was measured with two different tests. The Cooper’s test was performed on a treadmill where their time to complete 300m in seconds was gathered. The Critical frequency tests were performed at two different intensities, 48 and 56 balls/minute respectively, where their time to exhaustion in seconds was gathered.Results: A strong correlation was found between Cooper’s test and subjects group ranking, based on their national ranking (r=0.600 and r2=0.360, p=0.023. A weak non-significant correlation was found between Critf test and subjects group ranking at 48 respectively 56 balls/minute (48: r=-0.341 and r2=0.116, p=0.233) and (58: r=0.022 and r2=0.0005, p=0.940). A r-value of <0.4 was considered a weak correlation, 0,4 – 0,6 as moderate and 0,6> as strong.Discussion and conclusions/expected outcome: The results in this study showed a strong correlation between Cooper’s test and subjects group ranking. This means that in table tennis players ranked from 20-2700 in Sweden, the Cooper’s test could be used, in order to evaluate player performance. However, the Critf test could be questioned since a weak non-significant correlation was found. Future research is needed to evaluate the Critf test in this area, on a more homogenous group concerning the ranking list in Sweden.
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