Athletes born at the beginning of the year may present advantages in terms of physical characteristics, motor ability or cognitive knowledge that could increase their chances for selection against their peers. This circumstance could lead to the over-representation of older athletes in an age-defined competition, a phenomenon commonly referred to as relative age effect (RAE). Although, a number of studies have demonstrated that RAE is apparent in youth soccer, such studies rarely investigate the performance advantage that likely exists across the birth month of the athletes. The current study aims to determine the presence of RAE in the under 16 Asian Football Confederation Championship (AFC); investigate the effect of RAE on the team qualification success; as well as ascertain the existence of RAE in choice of playing position amongst the soccer players. Data for the 2018 AFC under 16 qualifications matches were obtained from the AFC. A total of 719 players from 32 countries participated in the qualification competitions. Chi-square for goodness fit is used to determine the existence of the RAE across the players’ month of birth while logistic regression is applied to analyze the differences of the quartiles’ distribution with respect to the quartile, qualification status (qualifier or non-qualifier) as well as the playing position of the players. The results demonstrate the presence of RAE in the AFC under 16 soccer tournaments [χ2(4) = 21.53; p < 0.001] with the largest number of older players dominating the qualified team. Likewise, a substantial difference is observed with regards to the quartile and various playing positions of the players at p < 0.05.
The accurate transfer of information on the athletes’ performance in any sport is
essential in enhancing the performance and overall coaching process. The provision of such
information is favourable only if it is reliable. A cost-effective golf putting monitoring device
namely the Putt.It.In was developed for analysing a golfers’ putting performance. Objectives: This
study aims to investigate the reliability of the instrument in measuring the backswing distance, front
swing distance, clubhead speed, ideal front swing distance and swing angle. Methods: A semiprofessional
golfer (30 years of age ± 5.0 years’ experience) executed four strokes repeatedly from
a distance of 2 m and 1 m using a Ram Zebra Mallet putter on a PGM golf mat. The intra-class
correlation (ICC) coefficient is employed to test the reliability of the device whilst the
Kolmogorov/Smirnov test was utilised to further reaffirm the reliability of the application in
measuring the aforementioned parameters over test re-test between first two strokes of 2 m distance
and the last two strokes of 1 m distance. Results: The ICC reveals 0.98 and 0.96 for both test 1 and
2, as well as a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.99 and 0.96, respectively suggesting excellent consistencies
in the overall observations. Moreover, the Kolmogorov/Smirnov test re-test indicates that there is
no significant difference between the first two 2 m strokes p > 0.05, and subsequent two 1 m strokes
p > 0.05 highlighting its ability to recognise the pattern of the strokes applied in the four successive
strokes. Conclusion: The Putt.It.In monitoring device is found to be reliable in measuring the
backswing distance, front swing distance, clubhead speed, ideal front swing distance and swing
angle. Professional and semi-professional golfers as well coaches could consider Putt.It.In device in
monitoring strokes related parameters to enhance their performance due to its effectiveness in
providing information on putting performance.
Cardiovascular endurance is considered the most vital aspect of fitness due to its direct impact on
human performance. For any uniform arm units to discharge their duties effectively, they need to
meet up to the requirement of highest physical fitness level in respective of their body characteristics.
This study aims to predict the relationship of physical characteristics and fitness variables on
cardiovascular endurance performance among armed uniform package unit of Universiti Sultan
Zainal Abidin. A total of 26 participants mean age and standard deviation of (±20.45 and 2.0)
randomly selected from the three co-arm units of the university took part in this study. Standard
physical characteristics measurement and fitness tests were conducted, and multiple linear regression
was applied to predict their cardiovascular endurance performance as the dependent variables on their
body characteristics and performance of physical fitness as the independent variable. A significant
regression equation was obtained F (9, 16) = 4.97, p < 0.05, R2
= 0.74 indicating that the model
accounted for approximately 74% variability of the whole data set. Sensitivity prediction analysis of
the contributions of each variable revealed that height, speed, agility, upper body strength and core
body strength are factors to cardiovascular endurance p < 0.05 while, weight, waist circumference,
neck circumference and flexibility were not predictors to cardiovascular endurance p > 0.05. To
improve the cardiovascular performance of uniform arm units, certain physical and fitness variables
have to be considered for an effective discharge of their duties.
The purpose of the current study is to explore the effectiveness of the
traditional games intervention programme in the enhancement of form one
school-age children’s motor skills. The quasi-experiment method is applied.
A total number of 40 Malaysian children with ages ranging from 12 – 14 were
randomly selected for the study, [boys (n=20) and girls (n=20)]. The children
went through the traditional games intervention which consisted of
performing selected traditional games for 60 minutes, three times weekly for
a period of eight weeks. Motor fitness performance tests were conducted three
times (pre, mid, and post-test) which included 30-meter sprint test, 505 agility
test, modified Bass test for dynamic balance and Nelson reaction times test.
The data were collected and analysed using MANOVA repeated
measurement. The results show that traditional games intervention was
effective in the improvement of motor performance [F (8, 29) = 1704.16, p <
.05]. Follow-up tests also show that the traditional games intervention is a
factor [F (12,105) =1.99, p < .05] to agility [F (3,36) = .50, p >.05], reaction
time [F (3,36) = .51, p >.05], speed [F (3,36) = 3.64, p .05]. The result from this initial study demonstrated that
Malaysian based traditional games could be efficient in improving the motor
skills of school-age children.
The purpose of this study is to determine spatial pattern recognition of school performance based on
children’s anthropometric and motor skills component. This study involved 94 primary schools with a
total 2237 male students aged 7.30±0.28 years in Pahang, Malaysia. The parameters of anthropometric
(weight and height) and motor component included lower muscular power (standing broad jump),
flexibility (sit and reach), coordination (hand wall toss) and speed (20 meter run) were selected. Cluster
Analysis (CA) and Discriminant Analysis (DA) under Multivariate Method and technique of Kriging
Interpolation in Geographic Interpolation Software (GIS) were used. CA revealed two clusters of school
performance. There are a total 34 high performance schools (HPS) and 60 low performance schools
(LPS). Then, the assigned groups were treated as independent variable (IV) while anthropometric and
motor parameters were treated as dependent variable (DV) in DA. Standard mode of DA obtained
95.74% correctness of classification matrix with three discriminated variables (height, standing broad
jump and 20 meter run) out of six variables. Meanwhile, forward and backward stepwise mode of DA
discriminated only one (standing broad jump) out of six variables with 96.81% of classification
correctness. The map output of Kriging interpolation has shown graphically the pattern of discriminated
variables that greatly influence school performance. It exposed the ability of children motor skills
development in particular region is higher than another region.
This study aims to examine the effectiveness of Tablet based application
(TBA) as a medium for feedback in real time at a half-time interval of a
competitive match in improving the performance of soccer players.
StatWatch application was installed on a tablet phone and used as a device
for data collection. Eleven performance analysts were recruited to assist in
the data collection such that each performance analysts covered a particular
player during the game. Players Performances were assessed based on
clearing, crossing, dribbling, heading, pursuing the loose ball, shooting, foul,
and through pass. Data were collected as the game progressed, and
information was transmitted to the controller of the analysis before being
relayed to the chief coach at the half time interval of every match. Matches
of the club for eight weeks were analysed. One-way repeated measure
ANOVA was used to assess the progress of the team in between the first and
second halves of the matches played. The result shows improvement on the
performances of the club at the second halves of the eight matches played (F
(1, 14.10) = 8.94, p < .05). A follow-up test demonstrates a significant
progress on the overall team performance from week1 to week 8, p > 0.001.
TBA appeared to be a useful medium for providing feedback at a first half
interval of a competitive match to improving the performance of soccer
players during the subsequent period.