Journal of Anthropology of Sport and Physical Education

3-10

Authors: Alexandra Szarabajko, Bradley J. Cardinal, Dakota B. Dailey, Nzubechukwu Emmanuel Ughelu, Jake D. Wambaugh

Strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches must employ psychological skills to optimally motivate athletes and promote their well-being. Yet, S&C coaches feel uncomfortable in their ability to apply such skills, highlighting a need for the development of science-based, practical tools. The purpose of this study was to examine the verbal language used by S&C coaches in publicly available YouTube videos through the Psychological Capital Model (PCM) lens. Coaches’ statements (N = 178) were transcribed verbatim and coded into one of the eight dimensions of the PCM. Significant differences were found in S&C coaches’ use of the eight developmental dimensions of the PCM, x 2 (7, N = 173) = 139.52, p < .0001, C = .67. Three PCM developmental dimensions were overused (i.e., standard residuals ranging from +2.76 to +7.10; i.e., experiencing success/modeling others [n = 54, 31.2%], building efficacy/confidence [n = 48, 27.8%], and implementing obstacle planning [n = 34, 19.7%]), while five were underused (i.e., standard residuals ranging from -2.23 to -4.18; i.e., building assets/avoiding risk [n = 11, 6.4%], persuasion and arousal [n = 10, 5.8%], affecting the influence process [n = 9, 5.2%]), goals and pathway design [n = 5, 2.9%]), and developing positive expectancy [n = 2, 1.2%]). To facilitate the use of a more diverse set of psychological strategies, this study offers a collection of 40 practice- and science-based motivational statements – five for each of the eight PCM dimensions – that S&C coaches may use and build upon to improve their own coaching language and practices.

15-18

Authors: Ljubica Cubrilo, Veljko Vukicevic, Slobodan Vignjevic, Nenad Njaradi

The aim of this research is to determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the anthropological status of young football players in relation to chronological age within one calendar year. The sample consisted of a total of 50 male respondents, Technical School “Mihajlo Pupin” students from the municipality of Indjija. The sample was divided into two subsamples according to chronological age (born by June 30, 2005; born July 1, 2005 and later). The students are also members of the football club in which they train. By examining the morphological characteristics, data were obtained in the following variables: body height, body mass and body mass index. Static and explosive power testing data were obtained in the following variables: standing long jump, bent arm hang and running 30 meters. It was concluded that there are no statistically significant differences between young football players of different chronological ages in anthropological status. No differences were found in the total space of tested and measured variables (MANOVA) nor in the individual space (ANOVA). The research included two anthropological spaces, morphological and motor, and none of them showed differences between young football players of different chronological ages. Out of a total of six measured and tested variables, the only variable that was on the border of the difference between the groups was running 30 meters, which may indicate that different explosive power of the lower extremities between the two tested groups, in this case, in favor of the younger group.

27-28

Authors: Te Bu, Bojan Masanovic, Huiqing Huang, Tao Fu

This short report discusses the current cost of the healthcare system in the United States. The affordability problems in the United States stem directly from insufficient competition of drug prices from the Medicare system. This report provided evidence about how the proposed Medicare reforms are skewed and would unlikely end the blank-check approach to pricing of Medicare that drives our healthcare spending and affordability problems.