Journal of Applied Sports Sciences

3-21

Authors: Xuan Pan

The outbreak of COVID-19 has spread worldwide and become the world’s leading health concern. Individuals are advised to stay inside and do exercise at home to avoid exposure to the disease and their psychological state is concerned. This study aims to investigate physical exercise behavior and psychological states during COVID-19, and to provide helpful suggestions for making right policies or designing effective intervention programs to help the mass respond to the pandemic.Methods: we tested the hypotheses by conducting a national survey among 542 individuals, the data covered 28 provinces in China. Information about physical exercise habits, psycho-logical states, perceived infection likelihood, perceived threat, attitudes towards exercise, and demographics was collected. A series of T-tests were applied to test the hypotheses.Results: The individuals who do exercise both before and during COVID-19 outbreak in-creased the physical exercise frequency and reduced the categories of physical activities during COVID-19. Individuals who perceive high-level threat increased future exercise time and consumption, whereas individuals surrounded by more confirmed cases (high-level objective threat) increased current exercise frequency and intensity. With the company of family members, individuals’ exercise intention, frequency, intensity and the possibility of future exercise time and activities was significantly higher.Conclusion: Under the threat of COVID-19, proximal defense (self-preservation) and distal defense (self-esteem enhancement) motivate individuals to increase exercise frequency. Individuals reduce types of physical activities and do exercise with family members to receive psycho-logical security. Terror management theory and behavioral immune system provide theoretical explanations on individuals’ exercise behavior and psychology.

39-45

Authors: Viktor Kostiukevych, Oksana Shynkaruk, Natalia Shchepotina, Valentina Voronova, Larysa Shevchenko, Olena Zmievska, Vadym Stasiuk, Halyna Gordiichuk, Galina Putiatina, Andrii Drachuk, Petro Danchuk

Introduction and aim. The problem of constructing a training process for highly skilled players at the special preparation phase is not researched well enough. The special preparation phase should involve the specificity of the competition calendar, development of the structure and content of the corresponding types of micro cycles, and scientifically based selection of methods of training. The aim of the research is to analyze the structure and content of the training process of highly skilled football players during the special preparation phase of the preparation period at the first macrocycle of the annual cycle. Materials and methods. 22 highly skilled football players of Kamianets-Podіlskyi National Ivan Ohiienko University aged 18-23 participated in the research. All of them are MA students and elite athletes. Methods of analysis of scientific literature, pedagogical observation, timing of training work, and mathematical statistics were used in the research. Results and conclusions. The special preparation phase consists of two mesocycles. The basic stabilizing (control and preparation) mesocycle - the volume and intensity of training sessions - was characterized by the widespread use of special-training exercises. In comparison with previous mesocycles, considerably more trainings were devoted to technical, tactical and game preparation. Technical and tactical training was carried out in the form of adaptive training exercises along with special physical training. Pre-competition mesocycle rolled up the preparation of the athletes for the competition period. The reparation in this mesocycle had an expressed “integral” character. In this mesocycle, one should not forget about maintaining the level of special physical fitness. Maintaining it throughout the mesocycle is one of the important prerequisites for the steady growth of athletes’ physical state, but the composition of the means significantly changed by increasing the proportion of special technical and tactical exercises being held. In this mesocycle, the largest number of control games, starts, competitions, etc. were carried out. A special place in pre-competition mesocycle was taken by tactical and psychological training. The proportion of theoretical training also increased.

64-76

Authors: Antonio Antonov, Dafina Zoteva, Olympia Roeva

The penalty corner (PC) is one of the most important game situations in hockey (both out-doors and indoors), which results in 30 – 40% of all goals. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the quasi-experimental methodology on the dynamics in the development of indicators characterizing the accuracy of shooting when performing PC in the potentially effective goal zones. Through the application of InterCriteria Analysis (ICrA), the research team sought to establish relationships and directions of dependencies between indicators reflecting the accuracy of zone shooting.Four elite female indoor hockey players from the team of the National Sports Academy in Bulgaria, participants in the European Indoor Hockey Clubs Challenge, were involved in the examination sessions. According to the requirements of the quasi-experimental “Push & Flick” methodology, the duration of the specialized training was set to 16 weeks. Each player per-formed 4,800 shootings, or approximately 300 shootings each week. Tests were carried out at the beginning (the first week) and at the end (the sixteenth week) of the experiment in order to determine the accuracy of the shooting – push/flick from a penalty corner spot (9 meters, central from the goal line). We used InterCriteria Analysis and Variance Analysis to analyze the results.The results of the study provide valuable information related to the training and specialization of elite hockey players profiled in the execution of a penalty corner.

87-98

Authors: Tatiana Yordanova

One of the characteristics of modern figure skating is the progressive complication of the competitive programs. This process develops, in particular, in the way of athletes’ mastery of complex coordination elements and compounds of a rotating nature, which appear to be a strong irritant to the vestibular analyzer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of anthropometric factors on the balance stability of female figure skaters. The study’s tasks, which are divided into three groups, as well as the subject and object of the study, are presented. The used methods are described. The methodology of the study is separated and detailed. Also, the different abilities of the body for balance resistance, in various motor actions are described. One of the main used methods is called Stabilometry. The design of the study is followed. The results are visualized in six tables, which are illustrated by five figures. In conclusion, the dependence of Anthropometric status is noted in accordance with the height and length of the lower limbs and the width of the pelvis. The dynamic retention of the balance in landing position is more effective than the static balance in the Romberg posture, which is explained by the specificity of the sport figure skating. There is a worsening of the balance in the increase of anthropometric parameters – height, weight and chest circumference. Balance fluctuations in the Romberg position are significantly dependent on the weight and chest circumference, while the height of the skaters affects the balance – with increasing amplitude there is also an increase in balance fluctuations in the landing position after a jump, i.e. the balance is unstable, which is explained by a higher placement of the center of gravity of the body.

113-124

Authors: Konstantinos G. Papageorgiou

Background: communication between trainer and athlete has been studied in terms of feed-back, but not in terms of codifying information for instruction; here implications for cognition and cognitive skills are also discussed.Purpose: to present a new tool, motowords, a tool for verbal codifi cation between athlete and trainer that also provides a number of incidental benefi ts: it helps adjust the Degrees of Freedom & Contextual Interference of a drill, it employs cognitive functions, fosters active par-ticipation of the athlete, and bridges the gap between serial and random practice. Moreover, we intend to theorize how the positive effects of motowords are multiplied when combined with drill-synthesis and drill-structure, in addition to differentiated (self)training, concepts that aim at increasing the ecological validity of training sessions. Method: the theoretical background supporting the effectiveness of these tools is dis-cussed.Leads: to a broader vision about the important role of cognitive and emotional skills within a holistic context, aiming at developing “literate” individuals rather than just motor experts, both of which are at the very core of the Distal Method for expertise attainment.