Practice plays an important role in skill acquisition, although not all practice is of equal quality. We examined the types of team practice activities in four groups of youth cricket players. The groups were recreational- and elite-children (9 to 12 years of age) and recreational- and elite-adolescent players (13 to 17 years of age). Time motion analysis recorded the duration in two types of practice activities, namely, Training Form and Playing Form. Training Form is mainly drill-type activities, whereas Playing Form is mainly games-based activities. Training Form activity is thought to contain fewer opportunities to develop the perceptual, cognitive and motor skills required for successful performance in competition when compared to Playing Form. Session duration was a mean value of 95, s = 29 min. All players combined spent 69% of session time in Training Form activity and 19% in Playing Form, with the remaining percentage of time spent in transition between activities. Recreational-children spent around half of their time in Playing Form activity, whereas both elite and adolescent groups spent little or no time in this activity. Findings from this research highlight a gap between research and practice that may not be optimal for skill acquisition.

We examined the developmental activities that contribute to the development of superior anticipation skill among elite cricket batters. The batters viewed 36 video clips involving deliveries from bowlers that were occluded at ball release and were required to predict delivery type. Accuracy scores were used to create two subgroups: high-performing and low-performing anticipators. Questionnaires were used to record the participation history profiles of the groups. In the early stages of development, hours accumulated in cricket and other sports, as well as milestones achieved, did not differentiate groups. Significant between-group differences in activity profiles were found between 13 and 15 years of age, with high-performing anticipators accumulating more hours in structured cricket activity, and specifically in batting, compared with their low-performing counterparts.

This study was conducted to determine and compare the kinetics during step forward lunge (SFL) and jump forward lunge (JFL) in badminton. Fifteen university badminton players (mean age = 22.07 ± 1.39 years old) were recruited and were assigned to perform SFL and JFL while holding a badminton racquet using their dominant hand. For both dominant and non-dominant leg, all the force variables during JFL were significantly higher compared to SFL. Results also showed that time to peak force and stance time was significantly shorter during SFL compared to JFL. Besides that, all the forces variables were greater in the dominant limb compared to the non-dominant limb. Time to peak force and stance time were also shorter in dominant limb compared to the non-dominant limb. To conclude, coaches and athletes need to be aware of the mechanical demands during both lunge method and the assymetries that exist in terms of force production between both sites of limbs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between leadership style and performance of athletes and coaches in Malaysia. One hundred and thirty seven athletes and 47 coaches from 12 sports participated in the study. Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS) questionnaire was utilized to assessed athletes' preference, perceived and coaches' perception of their own leadership style. Result showed athletes most preferred coaching styles were training and instruction followed by democratic, positive feedback and social support.Autocratic behaviour was the least preferred. However coaches' self-evaluation showed majority were keen on autocratic leadership style. Overall, the results of the study proposed that coaches should emphasis on training and instruction and less autocratic leadership style.Coaches also need to practise more positive feedback which proven can enhance athletes performance.

This study was conducted to determine and compare the fascicle behaviour during forward lunge exercise with different loadings lifted. Thirty recreationally active, untrained men (mean age = 21 ± 0.83 years old) were recruited and were assigned to perform forward lunge with 30% 1RM (30FL) and 70% 1RM (70FL) with both their dominant and non-dominant leg. For both dominant and non-dominant leg, results showed that FLmax, FLmin, PAmax and PAmin were all greater during 70FL compared to 30FL, p < 0.001. However, lengthening and shortening velocity were found to be greater during 30FL compared to 70FL, p < 0.05. During both 30FL and 70FL, all the fascicle behaviour variables were found to be greater in the dominant limb compared to non-dominant limb. In conclusion, fascicles were shown to response differently across different loadings executed that might affect the muscle architecture adaptations.