Bachelor of Science (Sport Science and Management)

The block/sprint start is an important component of sprint race performance in athletics. Improving sprint start biomechanics (SSB) and thus performance would result in faster race timings. Athletes tend to be overwhelmed when coaches do not communicate effectively and tell them to make many corrections. Simply changing an athlete’s visual gaze location (VGL) could be an alternative method to improve SSB. This study explored how changing an athlete’s VGL would affect his SSB. It was hypothesized that changing an athlete’s VGL would change his SSB. 5 male competitive sprinters were recruited to perform randomly sequenced block start (BS) trials looking at different locations in the set position. Three-dimensional (3D) motion analyses coupled with force platforms captured data modelled using the University of Western Australia (UWA) lower limb model and marker set to identify BS kinematics and kinetics of the push-off and first step. An eye-tracker quantitatively measured participants’ VGL. A change in VGL, when looking further, resulted in large effect decreases in participants’ pelvis heights from the ground in the set position, increases in pelvis horizontal velocities in the first step landing contact position and decreases in horizontal and vertical braking forces in the first step landing phase. There were also decreases in horizontal propulsion force and increases in vertical propulsion force in the first step push-off phase. The findings suggest that a change in VGL resulted in some SSB changes. Put together, changing an athlete’s VGL could be an alternative method to effecting change in BS technique.

Physical activity tracking devices are currently marketed and popularised as tools that would increase physical activity levels. However, many users stop using them after less than a year. This study aimed to explore reasons for using a physical activity tracker, discontinuation of usage of the device and for non-usage of the device. A total of 305 participants completed a self-reported questionnaire of which 160 participants were currently using an activity tracker, 58 were past users and 87 had never used one before. Older participants tended to use an activity tracker if it was given for free compared with younger participants (p = 0.010). Participants who used a tracker for more than a year before eventually stopping usage had a significantly higher score for device breakage (p = 0.030) or having experienced negative psychological impacts (p = 0.001) as compared to those who used a tracker for less than a year before stopping usage. There is a significant difference for the reasons people did not think that it would help them increase their physical activity level or they did not want to increase their physical activity level with p = 0.001 and p = 0.006 respectively when comparing between those interested and uninterested in using an activity tracker in the future. In conclusion, the most cited reasons for usage were that the tracker was free and the most cited reasons for non-usage of activity trackers were not wanting to increase physical activity levels.

The Australian Open (AO) is an international professional tennis tournament that is held annually in the month of January. It is a two-week long event and the first of four grand slam tennis tournaments of the season. The main aim of this study is to analyze the types and themes of posts on Facebook and Twitter AO official fan page and see if there are any similarities or differences in the proportion of posts across different categories. Content analysis was conducted on the content of posts to identify common emergent themes and categories. Six main themes were identified namely: Match, Athletes, Livestream/Talkshow, Promotion, Fans interaction and Casual/memes. Findings indicate that Twitter AO fan page is more active in terms of frequency of posts. The category with the highest proportion of posts for Twitter and Facebook is “Match” and “Athletes” respectively. To conclude, Twitter AO fan page is more casual, engaging and interactive while Facebook is more formal and business-centric. The findings of this study could help sports organization, teams, athletes and event administrators utilize Facebook or Twitter more effectively. Future research may examine fan participation and interaction during a major sporting event on various social media platforms by conducting content analysis on fans’ comments, likes and shares.

Background: Research has shown that lower functional Hamstring-to-Quadriceps (Hecc:Qcon) increases the risk of hamstring and knee related injuries. Long-term methods such as plyometric training can increase hamstring strength. However, short-term measures are needed for immediate improvements. Kinesiotape (KT) can provide that option, as research has shown its effects on muscle strength. Aim: To investigate effects of KT on effect of Hecc:Qcon ratio and on functional muscle performance. Methods: 11 female soccer players underwent 1 pre-test and 2 post test, 2 hours and 48 hours after KT application on their non-dominant leg, in a within-subject repeated measures study design. They had to be free from injuries in the past 6 months and have a Hecc:Qcon ratio at 180°/s less than 0.96 on the non-dominant leg. 4 dependent variables were measured, Hecc:Qcon ratio at 180°/s and 240°/s, the maximum distance for the single-leg triple hop jump (THJ) and the maximum height for the double-leg countermovement jump. Results: Significance was only observed in the Hecc:Qcon ratio at 240°/s, with an initial increase in the leg with KT and a drop in the leg without KT (p=0.010). It decreased further in the leg without KT after 48 hours. Conclusion: It may be possible that KT assists in acute recovery, allowing continued optimal performance. It also helps with recovery after eccentric workload, reducing the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness. KT seems to be able stimulate the muscles and increase activity, resulting in slight increase in performance. Keywords: Kinesiotape, Hamstring-to-quadriceps ratio, strength, recovery

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of Reflective Practice on developing badminton players. 16 semi-competitive badminton players (M = 8, F = 8) were subjected to a reflective practice intervention. A pre-test was conducted before and a post-test was conducted after the intervention, to test participants on two basic badminton skills, lob and serve. A semi-structured interview was also conducted. Using SPSS, the performance scores from the pre- and post-tests analysed through the administration of a Paired Samples T-Test. Results from the statistical test shows that The results (Table 4) show that there were significant differences in accuracy scores for lob, where t (15) = 2.210, p = 0.043; accuracy scores for serve, where t (15) = 4.652, p = 0.001; total scores for lob, where t (15) = 3.153, p = 0.007 and total scores of serve, where t (15) = 3.982, p = 0.001. From the interview, participants shared that reflective practice had enabled them to be more self-aware and confident, which is supported by other research findings. The current study has provided a greater understanding in the effects of reflective practice on young developing athletes. It shows that reflective practice enhances their performance, more specifically, their lob and service. Reflective practice also increases self-awareness and self-confidence.