Football Unit Research Articles

Digital technology in game-based approaches: video tagging in football in PE

ABSTRACT Background: The use of digital technology in physical education (PE) is widely debated. PE is influenced by children’s everyday lives and by changes in society, including the powerful presence of digital technology. However, there is little research on using digital technology in the context of invasion games in primary school PE. The possibility of combining video tagging and the didactic-methodical staging of PE to cover the content of football is investigated in the present study. Purpose: The study aims to (1) investigate student’s perspectives of the emerging role of a camera child (video tagger), and (2) assess how students interact with video products created in a game-based football approach in primary school PE. The focus is on the communication and interaction processes among students. Processes of movement education, general education and media education are all of interest. Method: In six Grade 4 classes in Germany, a football unit was taught over three lessons of 90 min each using the Teaching Games for Understanding method, preceded by one 90-minute media education lesson on various media pedagogical topics. In the lessons, the students were divided into teams of four and presented with football in the context of three-versus-three games. The fourth child on each team took on the camera-child role and tagged important game situations with an app on a tablet. The lessons were then evaluated based on the research approach of focusing on the students’ perspectives. For this purpose, 104 guided interviews with students were conducted and analysed using grounded theory. Findings: Based on the interview analysis, the phenomena that students experienced when using tablets were classified as: (1) ambivalent position of the camera child (with the subcategories of the camera child’s limited influence on the game and limiting and facilitating phenomena for the camera-child role), and (2) conserved and stored movements (with the subcategories of media-supported conflict management and slow-motion distorting reality). The results showed that physical activity was more important to students than using tablets. Conclusion: The use of digital media offers a greater variety of methods and allows children new and expanded access to invasion games like football. In the process, (sports) pedagogical and didactic goals also change and are expanded to include media pedagogical aims. Social learning is also important in this context. In orchestrating digitally enhanced instruction, new opportunities open up in terms of learning and experiencing movement and learning about media and the media products created.

Young People’s Perceptions of the Influence of a Sport-for-Social-Change Program on Their Life Trajectories

Sport-for-social-change programs focusing on enhancing young people’s personal and social development emerged in the early to mid-2000s. Children and adolescents who participated in early programs are now adults, providing an opportunity to examine whether these programs have had any influence on their life trajectories. The Football United program has been operating in Sydney, Australia, since 2006 and is used as a case study in this article. This qualitative study draws on 20 interviews conducted in 2018 with a diverse sample of past participants of the program. Key findings were that participants perceived that the relationships they formed at Football United have had a substantial impact on their life trajectories, including influencing education and career decisions. These relationships were found to increase participants’ social capital, creating diverse connections with people and institutions within and external to their geographical communities. This study also found participants embraced a long-term commitment to ‘give back’ to their local geographical, cultural, and ethnic communities, which they attributed to their participation in the program.

A study of teacher feedback that leads to skill performance of children in flag football unit

A study of teacher feedback that leads to skill performance of children in flag football unit

Heart Rate Profile of Professional and Amateur Football Athletes in Bandung

Routine physical exercise will provide a remarkable impact on the body,especially on cardiovascular system performance. This study aims to describe the heart rate profile of professional and amateur football athletes. This is a descriptive study with cross-sectional approach. Samples are taken through a total sampling approach in 34 athletes (17 professional football athletes from Persib U-19 team and 17 amateur football athletes from the Unpad Football Unit in Bandung). The average resting heart rate in professional football athletes is 70.29 times per minute while for amateur soccer athletes it is 88.47 times per minute. The mean post-step test heart rate in professional football athletes is 125.41 and in amateur athletes is 132.94. The average recovery time in professional football athletes is 2.06 minutes and in amateur athletes is 2.41 minutes. The study concludes that heart rate in the subject group of amateur soccer athletes is higher than the subject group of professional soccer athletes. Further research is needed to assess physical performance in both groups of athletes and evaluate the training programs that have been used.Keywords : amateur athletes, football, heart rate, professional athletes, recovery time, step test

Changes in Male Campers’ Goal Orientations and Motivation in Traditional Activities and a Sport Education Season in a Summer Camp

According to the American Camp Association (2013), more than 14 million children and adults attend camp in the United States each year. Many camps include physical activity and sport sessions and programs, some of which include program components known to contribute to positive youth development. One instructional model that seeks to contribute to positive youth growth through the development of sporting competence, literacy, and enthusiasm is Sport Education (Siedentop, Hastie, & van der Mars, 2011). The Sport Education model is designed to provide an environment conducive for students of all ability levels to be successful within gameplay. Furthermore, research suggests that amotivated students exhibit greater feelings of inclusion from peers and a positive environment of gameplay within Sport Education. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the motivational responses of campers participating in a Sport Education season of flag football to those participating in a flag football unit taught using traditional methods. The current study used a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent groups design in which the perceptions of students participating in a sport education season (n = 48) were compared to those who participated in a traditional instructional approach (n = 35) at a residential summer camp. The Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (Elliot & Murayama, 2008), was used to examine campers’ goal orientations, with campers’ self-regulated motivation quantified using the Sport Motivation Scale II (Pelletier, Rocchi, Vallerand, Deci, & Ryan, 2013). The findings suggest that campers participating in the Sport Education condition possessed higher mastery-approach and -avoidance orientations relative to those in the traditional condition following the intervention. While the educational context cannot explain why the campers in the Sport Education condition reported higher mastery goal orientations than those in the traditional condition at the beginning of the season, the observation that the Sport Education condition maintained significantly higher mastery-approach and-avoidance orientations throughout the season supports previous research indicating the capacity of the model to foster a task-involving motivational climate.Subscribe to JPRA

How effective are community-based health promotion programmes? Insights from realist evaluation

Background Community-based health promotion (CBHP) programmes can yield sustainable and transformational changes to complex problems such as intergenerational transmission of social exclusion. However, investments in these projects are held back by lack of evidence on their effectiveness. The realist evaluation (RE) framework is regarded as a promising approach to improve understanding of how programmes generate their outcomes and the way they interact with their context. We look at two CBHP programmes to reflect on how RE can help relate their interventions to their outcomes. Methods We applied the RE approach to: “Football United” a sports for development programmes aiming to support refugee and newly arrived young people and families in their transition into Australian society and to, “Together, health for all in Pays de Redon –Bretagne Sud” a French programme to improve local capacities in addressing the social determinants of health in decision- and policy-making processes. Analyses were conducted on the basis of data collected through semi-structured interviews, documents, observations, etc. Results In both cases, application of the RE perspective highlighted difficulties in identifying the context-mechanism-outcomes configurations that are at the core of the approach. We clarified the definition of mechanism that was initially repeatedly confused with that of intervention/activity. Whereas both programme theories were quite straightforward, they required a whole array of activities critical in shaping the conditions for the implementation of the interventions. Conclusions Our results echo other critics of the conceptual apparatus of the RE approach. While the RE has proven promising in linking CBHP interventions to their outcomes, practitioners still need better tools to grasp the complexity and the dynamic of changes brought on complex systems of actors. Key messages: CBHP programmes can yield sustainable transformational change to complex situations but current evaluation approaches often fail to bring evidence on their effectiveness For the sake of knowledge transfer, theory-based evaluation approaches such as RE also need to capture the broad array of supporting activities of CBHP programmes

Sport for development (S4D) as ‘core university business’? Modelling university participation in sport-based social development

ABSTRACTAmong the recognised strengths of the ‘Sport for Development’ (S4D) framework there is the capacity of sport to contribute to positive community networks, education and community participation. However, its relevance to tertiary education institutions is often under-appreciated. In this framework, the Football United® program was recently piloted in South Australia with an innovative approach offering significant opportunities for integration with university activities, including academic, extra-curricular and skill acquisition programs, as well as for community outreach. This approach is based around four key strategic areas of community engagement, student engagement, research and aspirations towards education. It aims to encourage university leadership and participation and it has a focus on awareness and aspirations towards tertiary education in educationally disadvantaged communities. While it is important to address considerations about the meaning of development and the role that sport can play to facilitate it, this paper argues that there is scope for universities to become increasingly involved with the delivery of sport-based social development programs.

Appearance- and competition-focused performance goals

We examined the utility of distinguishing between appearance- and competition-focused approach and avoidance performance goals to our understanding of motivation in physical education. Four achievement goals were tested composed of approach–avoidance and appearance–competition components. Three hundred and two pupils, aged 11–14 years, completed measures of appearance–competition approach–avoidance goals at the start of a football or gymnastics unit of work in physical education. Teacher-rated effort and National Curriculum attainment levels were recorded at the end of the unit of work as markers of performance in physical education. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the delineation of four goals in terms of the approach–avoidance and appearance–competition elements. Regression analyses subsequently revealed differences in the predictive utility of the four goals to performance in physical education. Thus, our understanding of motivational processes in physical education may be enhanced by utilising a more differentiated conception of normative achievement goals.

"We wouldn't of made friends if we didn't come to Football United": the impacts of a football program on young people's peer, prosocial and cross-cultural relationships.

BackgroundSport as a mechanism to build relationships across cultural boundaries and to build positive interactions among young people has often been promoted in the literature. However, robust evaluation of sport-for-development program impacts is limited. This study reports on an impact evaluation of a sport-for-development program in Australia, Football United®.MethodsA quasi-experimental mixed methods design was employed using treatment partitioning (different groups compared had different levels of exposure to Football United). A survey was undertaken with 142 young people (average age of 14.7 years with 22.5% of the sample comprising girls) in four Australian schools. These schools included two Football United and two Comparison schools where Football United was not operating. The survey instrument was composed of previously validated measures, including emotional symptoms, peer problems and relationships, prosocial behaviour, other-group orientation, feelings of social inclusion and belonging and resilience. Face to face interviews were undertaken with a purposeful sample (n = 79) of those who completed the survey. The participants in the interviews were selected to provide a diversity of age, gender and cultural backgrounds.ResultsYoung people who participated in Football United showed significantly higher levels of other-group orientation than a Comparison Group (who did not participate in the program). The Football United boys had significantly lower scores on the peer problem scale and significantly higher scores on the prosocial scale than boys in the Comparison Group. Treatment partitioning analyses showed positive, linear associations between other-group orientation and total participation in the Football United program. A lower score on peer problems and higher scores on prosocial behaviour in the survey were associated with regularity of attendance at Football United. These quantitative results are supported by qualitative data analysed from interviews.ConclusionsThe study provides evidence of the effects of Football United on key domains of peer and prosocial relationships for boys and other-group orientation for young people in the program sites studied. The effects on girls, and the impacts of the program on the broader school environment and at the community level, require further investigation.

Social cohesion through football: a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate a complex health promotion program.

Social isolation and disengagement fragments local communities. Evidence indicates that refugee families are highly vulnerable to social isolation in their countries of resettlement. Research to identify approaches to best address this is needed. Football United is a program that aims to foster social inclusion and cohesion in areas with high refugee settlement in New South Wales, Australia, through skills and leadership development, mentoring, and the creation of links with local community and corporate leaders and organisations. The Social Cohesion through Football study's broad goal is to examine the implementation of a complex health promotion program, and to analyse the processes involved in program implementation. The study will consider program impact on individual health and wellbeing, social inclusion and cohesion, as well as analyse how the program by necessity interacts and adapts to context during implementation, a concept we refer to as plasticity. The proposed study will be the first prospective cohort impact study to our knowledge to assess the impact of a comprehensive integrated program using football as a vehicle for fostering social inclusion and cohesion in communities with high refugee settlement.Methods/designA quasi-experimental cohort study design with treatment partitioning involving four study sites. The study employs a 'dose response' model, comparing those with no involvement in the Football United program with those with lower or higher levels of participation. A range of qualitative and quantitative measures will be used in the study. Study participants' emotional well being, resilience, ethnic identity and other group orientation, feelings of social inclusion and belonging will be measured using a survey instrument complemented by relevant data drawn from in-depth interviews, self reporting measures and participant observation. The views of key informants from the program and the wider community will also be solicited.DiscussionThe complexity of the Football United program poses challenges for measurement, and requires the study design to be responsive to the dynamic nature of the program and context. Assessment of change is needed at multiple levels, drawing on mixed methods and multidisciplinary approaches in implementation and evaluation. Attention to these challenges has underpinned the design and methods in the Social Cohesion through Football study, which will use a unique and innovative combination of measures that have not been applied together previously in social inclusion/cohesion and sport and social inclusion/cohesion program research.

Moving Beyond the “Lump-Sum”: A Case Study of Partnership for Positive Social Change

Based on a foundation of an integrated sport program for positive social change and health promotion, this paper presents a case study of the relationship between a corporate sponsor (JP Morgan), and a community-based health promotion/social change organization (Football United). The paper articulates the various issues that arise in management of such a program, and the involvement of sponsors in its operation. 
 
 Illustrated through the JP Morgan - Football United case study, the paper explores: the difficulties of maintaining a program that remains faithful to the expectations and demands of each stakeholder group involved; the challenges involved in harnessing support for a program when moving beyond the one-dimensional transfer of funds; the different needs and expectations of/for volunteers this type of complex health promotion intervention. 
 
 This case study has been written to propose that an “integrated partnership” between a corporate body and a social change organization can produce significant advantages beyond the scope of uncomplicated financial contribution
 
 The key feature documented is that corporate investment can move beyond abstract “lump-sum” social responsibility, towards targeted contributions to detailed outcomes through sustainable and meaningful involvement in a health promotion framework. This in turn equates to funding stability and a more empowering partnership for the health promotion/social change organization.

Effect of Tactical Games Approach Model

In this paper, effect of tactical games approach model in elementary school PE class was examined used with diagnosis and summartive evaluatlon and formative evaluation.In 2003, 34 elementary schools in all over Japan were asked to implement flag football unit based on tactical games approach model and given some material on the unit. Basic model for the PE lesson was offered to each school. Teachers in each school have made lesson plan and implemented flag football unit. From 28 classes, the result of diagnosis and summartive evaluation and from 22 classes the result of formative evaluation of the unit were returned.Effect of units was analyzed based on the result of these evaluation from the viewpoint of grade, length of unit, class size and number of player in games. Flag football unit was accepted so positively by pupils in general. There was no significant difference in effect from each points of view. This means that tactical games approach model was so effective in all domains in PE lesson. On the other hand, different evaluation between 2 classes, even so based on the same unit plan, was found.This shows the needs of developing properly PE teacher's education program for the instructing games.