No abstract

Technical actions performed by two groups of judokas who won medals at World Championships and Olympic Games during the period 1995-2001 were analyzed. In the Super Elite group (n = 17) were the best athletes in each weight category. The Elite group (n = 16) were medal winners who were not champions and did not win more than three medals. Super Elite judokas used a greater number of throwing techniques which resulted in scores, even when expressed relative to the total number of matches performed, and these techniques were applied in more directions than those of Elite judokas. Further, the number of different throwing techniques and the variability of directions in which techniques were applied were significantly correlated with number of wins and the number of points and ippon scored. Thus, a greater number of throwing techniques and use of directions for attack seem to be important in increasing unpredictability during judo matches.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of knowledge of results (KR) frequency and task complexity on motor skill acquisition. The task consisted of throwing a bocha ball to place it as close as possible to the target ball. 120 students ages 11 to 13 years were assigned to one of eight experimental groups according to knowledge of results frequency (25, 50, 75, and 100%) and task complexity (simple and complex). Subjects performed 90 trials in the acquisition phase and 10 trials in the transfer test. The results showed that knowledge of results given at a frequency of 25% resulted in an inferior absolute error than 50% and inferior variable error than 50, 75, and 100% frequencies, but no effect of task complexity was found.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the goalkeeper as an outfield player on defensive subsystems in the team sport of futsal. For this purpose, all sequences of play involving the goalkeeper (n = 65), and the sequences without a goalkeeper (controls) (n = 11), were selected from digital video footage of a futsal competition, and analysed using TACTO software. The defensive area, attacker-defender distance, and interception distance were used to examine players' coordination tendencies as a team in completion of successful and unsuccessful passes and shots. Results showed that each team reduced its defensive area as well as its variability in situations where the goalkeeper acted as an outfield player. This finding implies that it was an effective defensive strategy because it led to emergence of more unsuccessful passes. It was also observed that the goalkeeper acting as an outfield player was an effective strategy for attacking in terms of increasing shots at goal.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the tracking of gross motor coordination (GMC) and to profile children at 6 years of age who consistently showed higher stability patterns in different levels of GMC. The participants were 245 children (123 boys and 122 girls) who were assessed longitudinally from 6 to 9 years of age. GMC was assessed using the Korperkoordinationtest fur Kinder (KTK) test battery. Anthropometry, physical activity, and health- and performance-related physical fitness were also measured. Cohen's kappa (κ) was used to estimate tracking. Tracking was poor for all GMC tests (0.17 ≤ κ ≤ 0.38) and moderate for the GMC motor quotient (MQ) in both boys and girls (0.44 ≤ κ ≤ 0.45). Instability at the extremes was low in GMC tests and negligible for MQ. Children who consistently showed high GMC levels during the 4 years of follow-up were lighter, had lower body mass index and subcutaneous fat, and showed higher scores in physical fitness tests at 6 years of age than those who consistently had low GMC levels. In conclusion, GMC showed low-to-moderate tracking over time in childhood. However, children who consistently demonstrated high GMC levels over time had healthier profiles at 6 years of age.