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Purpose: To examine the associations between muscular fitness (MF) and body composition. Method: MF was assessed with three tests of FitnessGram test battery. Total body fat percentage (BF%), abdominal fat percentage (AF%) and fat-free mass (FFM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The IOTF body mass index (BMI) cut-offs were used to define healthy weight, overweight, and obesity. Results: MF was inversely associated with BF% and AF%. The children in the moderate and high MF groups had significantly lower BF% and AF% compared with the children in the low MF group within the same BMI category. After adjusting for cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), BMI and sex, the differences between the MF groups were significant for BF% but not for AF%. Conclusion: There were significant inverse associations between MF and DXA -measured adiposity. Within the same BMI category, total and abdominal adiposity were lower in children with moderate or high MF than in children with low MF.

We studied if and how gender, the histories of physical activity (PA) and success in physical education (PE) are related to pre-service class teachers' (PCTs) perceived strengths in teaching PE (PSTPEs). Various backgrounds were considered to be environments of teacher socialization. The six data based categories of PSTPEs used in this study were: sportiness, teaching skills, positive attitude, encouragement, empathy and set no stress. The data from 386 first year Finnish PCTs were collected before their formal PE studies. Cross tabulation and binary logistic analyses were executed to expose the relationships and effects. The main findings of this study showed that pre-service teachers with more team oriented physical activity histories enter the formal teacher education perceiving to possess disciplinefocused teaching skills as their asset. On the contrary, the respondents with more individually oriented PA backgrounds perceived pupil-focused set no stress as their strength. Suggestive findings, that physically active, successful and team oriented pre-service teachers perceive more discipline-focused strengths (especially sportiness) while their colleagues with opposite histories perceived pupil-focused strengths (especially empathy) were also discussed. This study adds the existing data to information of the effects of acculturative formation of perceived strengths before the influence of formal teacher education studies in PE.

Frequent forceful impacts, the unpredictable nature of the game, the long sticks and the sharp blades of the skates as well as high velocity of skating and shooting the puck make ice hockey an injury-prone sport. Most of the previous ice hockey injury studies have focused on traumatic injuries. In team sports, absence of one player may affect the team´s performance and chances of winning. This fact might create pressure for a player to decide to compete while injured or ill. The purpose of the study was to define the number, type, and anatomic location of overuse injuries in the high level Junior A and B (15-19-year-old) ice hockey players, and whether players report the injuries to coaching and medical staff. Players self-reported the injury data via online survey. The data was collected between September 2009 and March 2010. Out of 55 subjects, 33 players (62%) were injured. Of all injuries, 70.4% (45 injuries) were traumatic and 69.6% (19 injuries) were overuse injuries. Players reported 95% of the injuries to coaching staff and they reported 75% of the injuries to medical staff. Injuries that were not reported to coaching or medical staff were minor injuries. The estimated average probability of player sustaining at least one injury during the season was 62.2% (95% CI 0.49-0.75). Hip/groin was the most common site for overuse injury (7 injuries, 36.8% of all overuse injuries). Therefore, injury prevention focus should be placed on reducing the number of muscle sprains and especially hip/groin injuries. More knowledge is needed about the modifiable risk factors of these injuries. Injuries that were not reported to coaching or medical staff were all minor injuries.