PURPOSE This study assessed elite Taekwondo athletes’ physical fitness and developed reference standards for both their basic and specialized physical fitness. METHODS Data for analysis were collected from 870 athletes: from national teams, 123 elite Taekwondo athletes from the Performance Analysis and Assessment System (PAAS) administrator website (1999–2020); from regional sports centers, 731 collegiate and general division elite Taekwondo athletes (2015–2019); and from Y University, 16 elite Taekwondo athletes. Through measurement items’ selection and categorization, 20 physical fitness items were selected for the reference standards’ development, including 9 for basic fitness and 11 for specialized fitness. Taekwondo weight classes were divided into two: light + middle (fin, fly, bantam, feather) and middle + heavy (light, welter, middle, heavy). RESULTS Descriptive statistics for basic and specialized physical fitness items were categorized by gender and athletes’ fitness level. The reference standards’ development was aligned with existing standards, integrating the Cajori physical fitness 5-levels. It also introduced minimum physical fitness reference standards and target achievement reference standards for evaluating elite Taekwondo athletes’ physical fitness. CONCLUSIONS The reference standards proposed here can serve as objective indicators in selection of national representative athletes and also provide foundational data to establish fitness goals and evaluate future elite athletes’ physical fitness.
PURPOSE This study aimed to analyze the dynamic posture stabilization and kinematic variables between visual feedback and Y-balance training groups during jump-landing. METHODS Thirty-eight male players (age: 22.6 ± 1.12 years, height: 175 ± 3.54 cm, weight: 65.5 ± 5.11 kg) were included in this study, and chronic ankle instability was checked using Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) and Balance Error Scoring System (BESS). They were randomly assigned to the Visual biofeedback (Training group: TG, n = 19) and Y-balance groups (Control group: CG, n = 19) for four weeks. TG performed balance training using the Biodex balance system (BBS) and CG performed training using the Y-balance system. During jump landing, time to stabilization (TTS), force plate (COP, GRF); joint angle and moment were collected and analyzed. All analyses were performed with SPSS 21.0, and Bonferroni was used for repeated measured ANOVA and post-hoc. RESULTS The results indicated that there was an interaction between TG and CG in terms of AP and ML directions of TTS (p < 0.05). AP/ML TTS of the TG for the post-test was smaller than that for CG (AP: p = 0.000; ML: p = 0.046). ML TTS of the TG for post-test was smaller than at pre-test (p = 0.041), and AP TTS of the CG for ankle joint moment (p < 0.05). There was an interaction between TG and CG in terms of dorsiflexion (DF) and plantarflexion (PF) of joint moment (p < 0.05). Ankle moment of the CG for post-test decreased than at pre-test (DF: p = 0.040, PF: p = 0.032), and ankle dorsiflexion moment of the CG for post-test was decreased than at pre-test (p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS Balance ability was achieved more effectively through visual biofeedback training than Y-balance training. Therefore, we recommend balanced training with visual feedback on chronic ankle instability.
Purpose Soccer-related social media BigData includes complex information related to soccer players and is continuously and instantly generated. Text mining research is actively carried out for this kind of social media contents analysis, but it tends to be analyzed with limited linguistic characteristics such as understanding of language complexity and context, ambiguous terms, rhetoric, and new terms. This can be attributed to the fact that the tools commonly used for text mining use universal terminology dictionaries and packages that exclude the peculiarities of the analysis themes. The purpose of this study is to develop an Ontology model, which are representative tools for defining semantic ambiguity and relationships and systems between terms of text data. Methods In order to achieve the research objectives, we applied the 7-step development method of ‘Ontology Development 101: A Guide to Creating Your First Ontology’, which is useful for ontology development. Each step includes 1) Determine the domain and scope of the ontology 2) Consider reusing existing ontology 3) Enumerate important terms in the ontology 4) Define the classes and the class hierarchy 5) Define the properties of classes-slots 6) Define the facts of the slots 7) Create instances. In particular, the 3rd-step of this study, the glossary stage, is to extract core terms that make up he ontology, but since the goal of this study is to develop the ontology that can be used in social media contents analysis of soccer players, we conducted a social media text analysis related to actual soccer players and selected 484 core terms. Results The ontology which was developed in this research for social media contents analysis of soccer players consisted largely of four parts(General terms, performance results terms, common terms, and Characteristic term) and classified according to the content characteristics of the term. Conclusion Developed ontology in this study is object-oriented that defining classes and objects to define divisions and relationships between terms and also means a social media contents knowledge system of soccer players. In addition, it performs a function as a secondary tool which can be utilized for atypical data analysis.
The present study was conducted to determine the effect of contextual interference (CI) and motivational properties (MP) of Knowledge of Result (KR) in learning on relative and absolute timing. Participants (N=48) were randomly assigned to one of four practice groups, which differed in practice structure on CI (blocked, random) and KR on MP (good trial, poor trial). They performed temporal timing tasks in pre-exercise and acquisition phase and went through a retention test and 2 transfer tests after approximately 24 hours. The main findings showed that first, for the relative timing error there was no significant main effect of CI and MP in the acquisition phase, retention, transfer1, and 2 test. However, there was a significant interaction effect between CI and MP in the transfer 2 test. Second, for the absolute timing error there was no significant main effect of CI and MP in the acquisition phase, retention, and transfer test 2 while there was in the transfer test 1. Moreover, there was a significant main effect between CI and MP in the retention, transfer 1, and 2 test. The findings indicated that 1) there was a significant learning effect of absolute timing between KR_good group and KR_poor group on blocked practice in the retention test, 2) random practice schedule and KR_good condition resulted in enhanced absolute timing performance relative to blocked practice and KR_poor respectively at transfer test 1, 3) there was a significant learning effect of absolute timing between KR_good group and KR_poor group on blocked practice at transfer test, 4) KR_good condition could be an useful relative timing learning strategy relative to KR_poor on blocked practice schedule at transfer test 2, effector transfer test. KR-good condition resulted in learning superior to KR_poor group on blocked practice schedule as well. However, there was no significant difference between two conditions on random practice, and 5) there was no difference in the learning effect of absolute timing error between KR_good and KR-poor group in the blocked practice, while there was not in the random practice. It indicated that motivational properties would influence the learning effect of timing in the blocked practice.
The primary purpose of the study was to identify the characteristics of Korean national youth soccer players’ functional movements. The secondary purpose was to examine whether certain tests of Functional Movement Screen (FMS) meaningfully achieve goodness-of-fit for the soccer-specific movements. Korean national youth soccer players (30 male players, 18.37 ± 0.67 yrs, 178.7±7.09 cm, 70.2±6.46 kg), performed FMS tests [deep squat (DS), hurdle step (HS), in-line lunge (IL), shoulder mobility (SM), active straight leg raise (ASLR), trunk stability push-up (TSP), and rotary stability (RS)]. The mean (±SD) FMS composite score and each test score were calculated. Rasch analysis, which was used to determine the goodness-of-fit for the tests, was applied to examine the item difficulty of the FMS tests. The mean FMS composite score was 10.2± 1.79; the mean DS, HS, IL, SM, ASLR, TSP, and RS score were 1.13±0.35, 1.27±0.45, 1.4±0.56, 1.6±0.77, 2.07±0.69, 1.43±0.82, and 1.3±0.47 respectively. According to the results of Rasch analysis, 4 tests (DS, IL, ASLR, and RS) were shown to be within the acceptable range (infit & outfit > 0.5 ~ < 1.5). The other 3 tests (HS, SM, and TSP) were shown to be out of acceptable range. The additional analysis revealed the DS (logit = 2.08) as the most difficult test and ASLR (logit = -3.16) the least. The results of the study showed that the players’ FMS composite score was lower (< 14) than the cut-off points used by previous studies for different athletes. The further study is warranted to examine the relationships between the scores of the tests appeared to be soccer-specific in the present study and the level of performance variables.
Purpose The valuable impacts of exercise-intervention in diverse type of cancer patients were rationally well-prescribed, though many experimental and review researches already performed in this fields. Generally, cancer-related fatigue and pain remains one of the most prevalent problems for cancer populations. Therefore, exercise has become increasingly significant in cancer prevention and progression. The purpose of this recent study was to analyze the combined exercise program on cancer-related fatigue, pain, quality of life and cancer prognosis in diverse type of cancer patients. This study analyses the safety and feasibility of exercise intervention in diverse stages of cancer patients such as early stage, advanced stage and even metastatic periods in cancer populations. we also wanted to know the impacts of dose-response trial of aerobic and resistance exercise on quality of life in cancer survivors. Methods we conducted a comprehensive PubMed/MEDILINE electronic database from Jan 2015 to August 2020. The reference lists of eligible experimental research articles and relevant systemic review articles were checked. Inclusion criteria were adult cancer survivors from randomized controlled trials performing well-tailored exercise intervention programs to diverse type of cancer patients, Using predefined search items ‘exercise-intervention, cancer & immunology’. Based on reference search, more than 100 articles were identified whereas 30 research papers met the inclusion criteria and were well connected with exercise-intervention and cancer progression. we analyzed the connections between physical exercise and cancer intervention in the main text. Results Moderate to vigorous exercise (aerobic and resistance exercise) revealed to decreased level of cancer-related fatigue, pain, and cancer-related symptoms, however increased level of sleep quality, activities of daily living, exercise performance and health- related quality of life. Exercise intervention reduced pro-inflammatory markers and oxidative stress as well as insomnia, fatigue, pain symptoms whereas it enhanced the antioxidant systems and immune functions. In addition, home-based aerobic physical exercise might enhance muscular strength and quality of life in many types of cancer survivors. Psychological intervention also effective for reducing cancer-related fatigue and pain during and after cancer treatment. they might be the much better intervention than available pharmaceutical options. we believe that it is the related mechanisms of immune cell mobilization and activation such as NK cells which is induced by the activation of sympathetic system during and after physical exercise. Conclusion According to the aforementioned results, it was concluded that implementation of exercise intervention appear to be the best non-pharmaceutical interventions for cancer populations, and also revealed to be safe and feasible in early and advanced stages, although not in the metastatic periods. Sometimes, psychological intervention such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) might be useful in reducing anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain and enhancing quality of life, quality of sleep for cancer populations. we can conclude, exercise-intervention might not just be prevention effect but might be therapeutics, however more studies are urgently needed to confirm the exercise intervention on the NK-receptors activation and immune connection of cancer populations.
PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the effects of continuous exercise and the accumulation of short-duration exercise for 12 weeks on body composition, physical fitness, and lifestyle disease indices in overweight men in their 30s. METHODS Participants in the continuous exercise group (CE; n=13) performed a circuit exercise program of 30 min/session, 3 sessions/week for 12 weeks. Participants in the accumulation of short duration exercise group (ASE; n=12) performed the same exercise time of 30 min per day, divided into three sessions of 10 min. Body composition, physical fitness, and lifestyle disease indices were measured pre- and post-test and were compared by utilizing a repeated two-way ANOVA. RESULTS 1) Regarding body composition, body weight, body mass index, skeletal muscle mass, waist circumference, and fat mass decreased significantly, while hip circumference increased significantly in the CE group. Waist circumference and skeletal muscle mass decreased significantly, while hip circumference increased significantly in the ASE group. 2) Regarding physical fitness, right grip strength, sit and reach, sit up, and maximal oxygen uptake increased significantly in both groups. 3) Regarding hypertension indices, there were no significant differences in both groups, but they showed a tendency to improve. 4) Regarding hyperlipidemia indices, triglycerides (TG) decreased significantly in both groups, and total cholesterol (TC) decreased significantly in the CE group. 5) Regarding diabetes indices, there were no significant differences in both groups, but a tendency to improve was noticed. 6) Regarding arteriosclerosis indices: TG/high density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio decreased significantly in both groups, and the TC/high density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio decreased significantly in the CE group. CONCLUSIONS We concluded that both the accumulation of short duration exercise and continuous exercise can be effective in improving body composition, physical fitness, and lifestyle disease in overweight men.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 8-week aerobic exercise and polyphenol intake on body composition, cardiovascular response, vascular endothelial function, and physical fitness at rest and during exercise in prehypertensive men. METHODS The study included twenty-eight males in their 20-30 years of age with prehypertension. Participants in the aerobic exercise + polyphenol intake group (EX + PP; n = 14) performed aerobic exercise three sessions/week, 30 min/session, at 65% of the heart rate reserve, and consumed polyphenol (grape seed extract 300 mg) for 8 weeks. Participants in the aerobic exercise + placebo intake group (EX + PL; n = 14) performed the same aerobic exercise; however, they consumed placebo instead of polyphenol. All independent variables were measured at pre-test and post-test, and the data were analyzed. RESULTS The main results of the study were as follows: 1) SBP and MAP at rest decreased significantly in EX + PP, while MAP decreased significantly in EX + PL group. 2) In the EX + PP group, CO increased significantly, whereas DBP, MAP, and TPR decreased significantly during the hand grip exercise. In contrast, CO decreased significantly, while DBP and TPR increased significantly in the EX + PL group during the hand grip exercise. 3) Regarding vascular endothelial function, % FMD increased significantly in EX + PP group. 4) Sit-up increased significantly in both EX + PP and EX + PL groups; however, sit-and-reach in EX + PP group was significantly higher than that in EX + PL group at post-test. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study showed that the 8-week aerobic exercise would have positive effects on body composition, cardiovascular response, and physical fitness at rest and during exercise in hypertensive men. Additionally, polyphenol intake would contribute more towards reduction of blood pressure at rest and during exercise and improvement of vascular endothelial function.
PURPOSE This study aimed to apply a team-building program for preparing the national archery team for competition in the Olympics. METHODS To achieve the purpose of this study, six national archers (three men and three women) were included. The team-building program was applied for a total 6 sessions (one session per week). Group cohesion and efficacy were measured three times before, after, and at a later application of the program. The collected data were analyzed with the Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, which are nonparametric statistical techniques for data analysis. In addition, an in-depth interview for qualitative data was conducted for each archer to explore the effects and changes resulting from participation in the program. RESULTS The results of the study are as follows: first, the levels of team cohesion and efficacy in the national archery team increased after the implementation of the program compared to those in the pre-implementation state. Furthermore, high levels of team cohesion and efficacy were maintained at the follow-up measurement. Second, the archers recognized that closeness and faith in one another increased more between team members. Furthermore, there were positive changes in team communication, atmosphere, cohesion, and efficacy during team matches. CONCLUSIONS The team-building program applied in this study was found to have a positive effect on various factors related to team cohesion, such as team communication and team atmosphere. Therefore, future studies should consider developing a team-building program that can contribute to improving team sport performance for different sports and the effects of the program should be examined using various methods.
Purpose This study aims to investigate the experience of service yips in badminton players in depth through using grounded theory method. Methods We collected data from in-depth interviews with 14 participants in total, consisting of badminton players who experienced service yips, their doubles partners and coaches. The collected raw data were analyzed base on derive transcription, coding and paradigm models through grounded theory method. Results First, as a result, 59 concepts, 31 subcategories and 15 categories in regard to badminton service yips were deduced from open coding. Second, in axial coding, it was structured in a paradigm model by categories such as service yips, service mistakes, service proficiency, service anxiety, the imprinting experiences, the importance competition, the pressure of achievement, service practice, psychological control, tactical handling, support from partners, leaders’ coaching, advice from experienced ones, overcoming yips and persistent yips. Third, selective coding resulted in ‘Badminton service yips’ as the core category of this study. ‘Badminton service yips’ is a chronic performance impairment associated with badminton players making severe errors in swing motion on a service not intended by them that it is due to physiological or psychological symptoms such as hand tremors, overall body stiffness, arms stiffness, overstress, overanxiety, and concern over service mistakes. Conclusions We expect our study can be a theoretical foundation for understanding and explanation of ‘Badminton service yips’ and a useful reference for badminton players suffering from psychological difficulties caused by their service yips. The findings in this study should be considered for the development of potential strategies for overcoming the badminton service yips.
