lot from playing. They learn a lot from not being anxious. They learn a lot from not being counted. They learn a lot from not being judged. And they feel better. And they tend to stay on for longer.” Overbo was quoted as saying in the Time article.* He also noted that coaches do not weigh athletes to try and negate eating disorders, and that athletes don’t receive prize money or bonuses – which may lead to decreased motivation. It was also noted in the article that Norway may value sport psychology. Given that, I decided to ask individuals to respond with their interpretation of Nor-way’s success. I contacted individuals from Canada, Germany (who were next in line in terms of medal count) and also from the United States. All of these individuals have extensive experience dealing with elite and Olympic athletes and I hope their varying opinions will spark some conversations with our readers.

The results are in and Norway domi-nated. The final medal count from the

2018 Winter Olympics was Norway-39, Germany-31, and Canada-29. The USA followed with 23, Netherlands-20 and the Republic of Korea with 17. The record is very impressive if you consider Norway sent only 109 athletes, while the U.S. sent 242. Writers at Time Magazine conversed with Tore Ovrebo who is the director of elite sport for Olympiatoppen (The Norwegian Olympic Training Centre), an organiza-tion consisting of scientists, trainers, and nutritionists. He noted that Norway has the advantage of snow, a history of doing well in the Olympics and free health care that helps keep young athletes healthy. “In Norway, organized youth sports teams cannot keep score until they are 13. We want to leave the kids alone,” says Ovrebo. “We want them to play. We want them to develop, and be focused on social skills. They learn a lot from sports. They learn a

Kinesiology TodayKinesiology TodaySpring Issue 2018 Volume 11, No. 2 www.americankinesiology.org

Click on the KT button at the end of each article to return to the Table of Contents

Commentaries on Norway’s Success in Winter Olympics

Table of Contents

Commentaries on Norway’s Success in Winter Olympics. 1How to Be a Star Parent of a College Athlete . . . . . . 9

President’s ColumnAKA Leadership Institute Planned for 2019 . . . . . . . 12To Rock or Not: Does Music Motivate or Hold us Back? 14Modifying Curriculum Based on the AKA Core . . . . . 16Breaking Barriers in Synchronized Swimming . . . . . . 18All Abilities Play Ball at Springfield College . . . . . . . 19European Football (Soccer) Proves Good for Girls and Women in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21A Gut Feeling: Study Suggests Exercise Affects Our Core Microbes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23NPAP Quarterly Update– Education . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Executive Director’s ReportThree Priorities for Continued Growth of AKA . . . . . . 26AKA National Scholar Award Winners . . . . . . . . . . 27

By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D., KT Editor

Continue on Page 2

Page 2

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

of Sport Science (1998-2012). Previously, he was a professor of Sport Psychology in the Department of Kinesiology at the Univer-sity of Illinois for 25 years (1973-1998). His research has focused on the motivational determinants of achievement and he has been particularly concerned with the moti-vation of children in the competitive sport experience. He is the Norwegian Principal Investigator of EuroFIT (2013-2018). Dr Rob-erts is a certified consultant of AASP, was a consulting sport psychologist for the United States Gymnastic Federation for 10 years (1983-1993). Anne-Marte Pensgaard is a professor in the Department of Coaching and Psychology at the Norwegian University of Sport Sciences and also a professor at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center (Olympiatoppen) where she is head of research in Sport Psychology and also works as applied sport psychologist for several Olympic teams, both winter and summer. She has been accredited sport psycholo-gist at five Olympic Games and numerous

Germany – Urs Granacher, Ph.D. Urs Granacher is a full professor and head of the division of training and move-ment science at the University of Pots-dam. His research focuses on exercise

science/physiology, movement sciences and biomechanics. More specifically, he is interested in the assessment of neuromuscular capaci-ties (e.g. muscle strength/power, postural control), the development, evaluation and implementation of exercise programs to improve motor and athletic performance in diverse settings (e.g. health centers, elite sport schools, sport clubs) and in different populations (e.g. young and elite athletes, general population). He is Chairman of the German “PotAS-Commission” to reform the German Elite Sport System. https://www.potas.de/

Canada – John Dunn, Ph.D. John Dunn is a profes-sor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta. In addi-tion to teaching

and conducting research, he has been heavily involved for the past two decades in the provision of mental training support to elite performers including Olympic and professional teams. His research typically focuses on a wide variety of personality-, cognitive-, and emotional-constructs that are frequently associated with performance in elite sport (e.g., perfectionism, worry,

anger).

USA – Dan Gould, Ph.D. Dan Gould is director of the Insti-tute for the Study of Youth Sports and a professor of kinesi-ology at Michigan State University. His area of expertise is

mental training for athletic competition and sport psychology. His research interests include the stress-athletic performance relationship, psychological foundations of coaching, athlete motivation, youth lead-ership and positive youth development through sport. He has been a consultant for the U.S. Olympic Committee, the United States Tennis Association and numerous athletes of all ages and skill levels.

Norway – Glyn Roberts, Ph.D) and Anne-Marte Pensgaard PhD. Glyn C. Roberts recently retired from the Professorial Chair of Psychology at the Norwegian University

Continue on Page 3

Urs Granacher

John Dunn

Dan Gould

Anne-Marte Pensgaard Glyn Roberts

Page 3

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

particular. But the fact is that the competi-tion is far tougher in summer sports than in winter sports. Although European foot-ball is the largest sport both among young boys and girls in Norway as a whole, cross country skiing is huge in two of our biggest cities (Oslo and Trondheim). But children up to the age of fourteen often compete in skiing during the winter and playfFoot-ball in the spring and summer. Most sports clubs offer both activities, which can make it easier to switch from one to the other. But the most visible and popular sport athletes are typically winter sport athletes. The say-ing that “Norwegians are born with skiis on their feet” illustrates the image we still like to be associated with! As Professor Dunn articulated, Norway gets most of its medals from the skiing disciplines (cross-country, biathlon, alpine, ski jumping) even though have had success in skating and curling. Norway does very well for a country of 5 million which spends half of what the U.S. does in supporting Nordic sports. The fact is that Nordic sports, skiing in particular, is part of the lifestyle of Norwegians. In the hills that surround Oslo, for example, there are approximately 500 kms of prepared ski tracks. Skiing, and skiing sports are a major recreational outlet for the Norwegian popu-lace. Little wonder that the Nordic sports are a major sport in Norway (as is hockey in Canada). Every child learns to ski, so the depth of talent is quite impressive.

World and European Championships. She was head of Sport Psychology services at the Olympic center from 2002-2016.

From your understanding of the Norwe-gian sport model as described above, do you believe the approach is a major contributing factor to Norway’s success? Does your country or other countries have similar models?

Norway: From our point of view, the obser-vations of Tore Ovrebo are broad brush comments and do not reflect the nuances; the devil is in the details! However, one aspect is indisputable, there are strong regulations regarding children’s rights in sport (see more here). These regulations are hotly debated from time to time and some sport associations argue that they are too strict. For example, the Football (Soccer) Federation especially, argues that we specialize too late. When one rec-ognizes that professional football clubs in Europe often “sign on” players when they are fourteen! However, interestingly, recently several of our young elite athletes have strongly defended the regulations and claim that it is important to regulate the demands and pressure put upon children who are recognized as prospective talents. It is a fact that many of our athletes have a diverse sporting background. Many start to specialize or choose their main sport when they leave middle school at the age of fourteen. For those identified to have talent,

they may attend specialized elite sport high schools and they are situated in villages where access to sports facilities and high level coaches are good. These schools are believed to play an important role in developing our athletes. These schools also are “schools for coaches” and several of our National Coaches are recruited from these schools. This has the added advan-tage that the coaches are familiar with the developmental focus.

One important feature of children’s sport in Norway is that parents are expected to contribute their time to help the local sports clubs to run sport programs. This free work-force (dugnad) makes it very affordable for children to be involved in sports in Norway. However, there has been a change over the last few years: Norway is developing a National “pushy parent syndrome”. More and more, parents are investing considerable sums to have high quality equipment even for quite young children. This has been noted and is not welcome among sport administra-tors. The traditional “socialistic” philosophy of Norway is slowly being eroded in children’s sport. On a more positive note, there is emerging support among the politicians to increase physical activity in elementary and middle school to one hour per day so it could be that we will have a high level of physical activity in spite of the increasing cost of being active in sports.

There is no doubt that Winter sports have a high status in Norway, Nordic sports in Continue on Page 4

Page 4

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Germany- The SPLISS study ( has previously shown that international sporting success is determined by factors at three levels: macro (environment), meso (policy), and micro (talent). Up to the 1980s, factors on the macro level (welfare, population size, political system) explained sporting success to a large part. Nations like Australia, Great Britain, and Norway clearly showed during the past 20 years that factors located on a sport policy level become more important for sporting success given that the number of nations competing for the podium steadily increases. The SPLISS study identified nine pillars as policy components of elite sport success. These pillars are: financial support, governance, participation in sport, talent identification and development, athletic and post career support, training facilities, coaching and coach development, interna-tional competition, scientific research and innovation in elite sport. Having these nine evidence-based sport policy pillars related to sporting success in mind, it becomes clear that Norway did a great job over the past decades in promoting young talents to successful elite athletes. Norway can be considered a best practice example on how they structured their elite sport system.

Canada- Let me preface my comments be stating that the success of Norway at the Winter Olympics in Korea was outstanding. It is clear that Norway is doing a fantastic job preparing its winter Olympians for podium

success, and my comments below are in no way intended to criticize or undermine the success of the Norwegian sport system. My intention is to present other factors for consideration that may further explain the apparent disparity in Olympic success between Norway and the USA that was noted in the Time magazine. Let’s start with the most obvious factor: Norway is a winter country whereas the USA is not. Would we have the same conversation if the Time article had compared the medal count between the USA and Norway at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio? If my information is correct, the USA was first in the medal count in Rio with 121 medals (46 gold, 37 silver, 38 bronze) whereas Norway was 74th in the medal count with 4 medals (all bronze). Would we now flip around all of the arguments and say that Norway should be copying the USA sport development model and high-performance programming? In part “yes,” and in part “no!” My point is this: we cannot conve-niently attribute success to a few factors in high performance sport without looking at the full picture.

I think you need to consider where Norway gets many of its medals. It tends to dominate the Nordic sports…cross country skiing, biathlon and to a lesser extent ski jumping (and Norway also did very well this year in Alpine skiing).Why? Because Norway is a Nordic country. The USA, for example, is NOT a Nordic country. Let’s ask a different

question. How did Norway do in the non-Nordic team sports like hockey and curling in Korea (where very few medals are available but lots of athletes compete)? Norway got a bronze in mixed doubles curling (an amaz-ing result for them), but how many medals did Norway get in the sliding sports (luge, bobsled, skelton, etc.)? What about figure skating and short track? With no intention of being disrespectful to the Norwegian sport system and the amazing accomplishment of its athletes in Korea, I would argue that Norway may have mastered specialization in a relatively narrow range of sports/disci-plines, and I would suspect that this is where the majority of their sport funding goes and where there is the greatest fan interest and participation rates (at developmental levels). So when a comparison is made between the 109 Norwegian athletes and the 242 USA athletes, I believe it is simply not a fair comparison. I do not have the figures in front of me, but I suspect that if you looked at the representation of Norwegian athletes across all Winter Olympic sports, it might be narrower/smaller than that of the USA. Norway had no teams in ice hockey, while the USA had a men’s team and women’s team. That’s almost 50 USA athletes com-peting for only TWO medals. And each country is only allowed ONE team in those sports. How many medals are available in the Nordic events, and how many athletes from a single country are allowed to com-

Continue on Page 5

Page 5

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

pete in these events? I think many of the Nordic sports allow up to 4 competitors from a single country to compete in a single event. It’s quite possible for one country to win all three spots on the podium in a single Nordic event (…but you can’t do that in hockey or curling, for example). Look at curling in Canada. Although Canada only won one medal in curling in Korea (mixed doubles gold), it has dominated the podium at the Olympics (men and women) for quite some time (relative to most other countries). Take a look at the world rankings for men’s curling. Canada has 5 of the top 6 teams in the world. How might the podium look if Canada was given 3 or 4 teams in the men’s curling event? I suspect that medal counts would look very different. What I am trying to say here is that it’s not a fair or legitimate comparison to look at the number of medals per athlete in Norway vs. the USA. I think there is a lot more going on here than the reasons cited in the Time article.

So many factors contribute to success in Winter Olympic sports. Let’s look at the World Cup circuits in cross country ski-ing, biathlon, and alpine skiing, etc. The vast majority of events are in Europe. Now let’s only look at Alpine Skiing. Canada, for example only has the Lake Louise world cup event to start the season and I think the USA typically only hosts Beaver Creek on an annual basis (right after Lake Lou-ise). So that’s two events in North America. Almost every other race on the Alpine World

Cup circuit is in Europe. So this means that North American athletes must travel exten-sively to Europe each year (which hugely increases financial costs), whereas many European athletes in the sport can almost go home for a few days between events whenever they feel the need for some home-cooked meals. This can have implications for the psychological and emotional health of athletes in the short- and long-term, and can ultimately impact performance. Now let’s flip that around and look at curling. Although there is a World Curling Tour with events throughout the world, all of the big-gest “money events” are in Canada…so this forces teams from Europe and Asia to come to Canada (…hence the reason why most European and Asian countries have a single-nominated/funded national team, whereas this is not the case for Canadian or USA teams). So there are many cultural, geographic, and environmental factors that must also be considered when we start to draw conclusions regarding the reasons why one country outperforms another country in different sports. Maybe the best example of this would be the success of the All Blacks rugby team. New Zealand has a population of only 4.7 million people, yet the All Blacks have been the dominant force in international rugby for decades. How can such a small country have such so much success rela-tive to much larger countries throughout the world that play the sport? No one factor can be attributed to the All Black’s success, but

culture, geography, climate, infrastructure, experience, talent, coaching, and tradition (to name but a few) will all play a part in answering this question.

All of the factors listed about the youth sport structure in Norway have strong merit, and I am sure they all contribute to making healthier and happier athletes, and this may ultimately contribute to lower burnout and better performance. But to single out any one factor is also unfair. For example, in Canadian hockey, teams keep score in U-10 competition (and even younger). How does Canada perform in hockey at the Olympics? Canada is almost always on the podium in men’s and women’s hockey. Does this mean that keeping score at younger ages is hurting the development of hockey in Canada? I don’t think so. As you well know, it is more about how we use the score and how children are coached and parented that makes the difference. In Canada, hockey is the main sport…it dominates the media…hence we have the most money and the most resources (i.e., hockey arenas) and the most qualified coaching and the most players and the most participation and the most public interest. These cultural and environmental factors tend to attract the best athletes at younger ages to the sport, so we ultimately send better hockey teams to the Olympics…I suspect this is the case for Nordic sports in Norway, and is almost certainly the case for men’s (international professional) rugby

Continue on Page 6

Page 6

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

model could be of benefit in your country, not only for developing elite athletes, but also for helping young participants stay involved in sport?

Germany - Definitely, the Norwegian sys-tem is a role model for several nations. Germany is just about to re-structure its elite sport system and of course we are closely examining what has been done in other successful sporting nations like Norway. Specifically with regards to long-term athlete development, Norway has established a system that corresponds to the current state of the art in terms of talent identification and development. There is ample evidence that late specialization (as practiced in Norway) is key to success in cgs (centimeters, grams, seconds) sports.

Canada - All of the features described in the Norwegian sport model are to be extolled and have merit in any youth sport system around the world. I think we do attempt to integrate many/most of them in the Canadian sport system. Try to let the kids have fun and experience a sense of play. Avoid early sport specialization (though I am not sure we do a great job of that here in Canada right now). Create a stress free environment. Create good coach/parent education sys-tems. Support and encourage mastery. Give kids access to high quality coaching that focusses more on the process of learning

in New Zealand. So I would argue that a lot of the medal success in each country is driven by the cultural importance and value that is placed on a sport in that country. You only have to look at the medal count for the Netherlands at the 2018 Olympics to identify a sport that is highly valued (and supported) in their culture: if my figures are correct, the Netherlands sent 34 athletes to the Winter Olympics in Korea, and won 19 medals (an incredible accomplishment)…but every medal was won in speed skating or short-track speed skating.

USA - Yes, I believe that the approach taken in Norway is an important factor related to their Winter Games success. I believe this because their approach is consistent with the research on athlete talent development which emphasizes that children play and sample multiple sports at younger ages which allows them to develop a broad base of fundamental motor and physical literacy skills. Most talent development models also emphasize FUNdamentals and learning to train in the entry years where the empha-sis is placed on having fun and creating environments where youth fall in love with sport while at the same time developing strong fundamentals. The base of strong fundamental skills and less emphasis on competition (and I assume more emphasis on creating a task oriented motivational cli-mate) also greatly increases the probability of children developing higher perceived

competence which is a variable consis-tently predictive of sport participation and withdrawal. For most sports, single sport specialization should not occur until at least 15 or 16 years of age.

The above being said, other factors would certainly come into play such as having a strong winter sports tradition, a winter cli-mate with plenty of opportunities for sport participation, mandatory and regular physical education, a fairly homogenous population without large sections of the population living in poverty and not having access to participation opportunities and high quality health care, and high quality trained coaches.

Finally, what is ironic about the approach taken in Norway is that what they are doing in the early years of sports participation not only provides an excellent pathway for athletic talent development but provides a strong base for all children to lead a healthy and active life style.

The Norwegian model is very different to what is going on in the U.S. where we have seen an increased professionalization of youth sports. This professionalization is characterized by an overemphasis on com-petition (especially at the younger ages), early single sports specialization and year round training, and for the most part coaches with little or no training. I believe this will cause major problems down the road.

The model in your country may be quite different. Do you think that the Norwegian Continue on Page 7

Page 7

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Norway- Even some Norwegian sport fed-erations in Norway might benefit from the “Norwegian Model” as articulated by Tore Ovrebo!

I invite you to examine the Norwegian website that describes Olympiatoppen. What are your impressions of how this organization which has been given the operational responsibility and author-ity to develop Norwegian top sport has some similarities and some differences compared to elite sport in your country?

Olympiatoppen WebsiteThere is an option for translating this site into English. The translate appears to work at times and at other times does not work. If this does not work you can to to this site: https://translate.google.com. Then enter the url from above and you can translate. Not all individuals had ready access to the translation and therefore did not comment.

Germany –Major differences between the two nations are how they deal with 1) long-term athlete development, 2) the systematic documentation of training and performance data, and 3) training facili-ties. While Norway primarily follows a late specialization path with early multiple sport experiences, Germany still focuses in many sports on early specialization. In addition, the systematic documentation of training and performance data for scientific evaluation

is still at the beginning in Germany while this is long established in Norway. Finally, Norway brings elite athletes of one sport together for certain periods of the training year no matter what part of the country they come from. Thus, they are challenged in every single training session with the best competitors in their sport. This has an impact on everyday training quality. This is still under debate in Germany.

Norway- When we consider the applica-tion of sport science findings in Norway, Norway benefits from being a relatively small country. One benefit is the fact that the Norwegian University of Sport Sciences shares a campus with Olympiatoppen. A second benefit, similar to Finland, Norway has many administrators and coaches that have had university education in the sport sciences, many through the Norwegian Uni-versity of Sport Sciences. Having coaches and administrators knowledgeable about the substance of research into sport science is invaluable. Not all coaches have this back-ground, but many do. As an example, the Olympiatoppen policy of trying to prevent eating disorders among our athletes can mainly be credited to the extensive work professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen and her research team at the Norwegian University of Sport Sciences have conducted. Based on their findings, there is an emphasis on collaborating with coaches and the sport

Continue on Page 8

and mastery than outcome and winning. Use and engage the support of the sport sciences whenever possible. I don’t think Norway is unique in this approach…but I do think they do it very very well, and we should all take note of their success!

USA- I think the U.S. could benefit greatly from incorporating elements of the Norwegian model. Focusing on fun and fundamentals in the early years of sports participation and holding off more intense competition until the high school years would really help not only develop athletic talent but help all kids stay involved in sport and physical activity. In fact, this is what the Aspen Institute’s Project Play is trying to do.

While elements of the Norwegian model could certainly be applied to the US, we must realize our context is different. Unlike most countries, the US have no govern-ment funding for sport and while the 1978 Amateur Sports Act puts the US Olympic committee in charge of sport for the US it is an unfunded mandate so most of their efforts are targeted to elite sports because that is where the sponsorship dollars are and they need those dollars to run their organization. We also have great economic disparity in the US which is growing and this has created a major gap in opportunities between middle class and poor communities. The decline of physical education and a lack of trained coaches are also major challenges.

Page 8

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

organizations when working with this impor-tant topic.

Please provide any other insights you would like to share about the develop-ment of high level athletes.

Germany - The most important part about a sustainable elite sport system is that the goals within elite sports are not solely focused on the podium. While the podium and gold medals are admittedly important factors for governments who invest in their elite sport systems, it is crucial to have a greater perspective on elite sports by providing marked arguments for parents, children, and the society as a whole that young athletes who devote large parts of their time to practicing their sport do not only benefit in terms of a structured per-formance development that may lead to the podium but also in terms of a healthy lifestyle that goes beyond the podium by educating our youth in physical literacy so that they are active for life even if they do not manage to make it to the podium.

Canada - Money, money, money! I am not trying to be cynical or facetious when I say this. Success in elite sport (especially at the Olympic level) is hugely dependent upon financial resources (as long as the funds are appropriately allocated and man-aged around a carefully developed [and valid] high-performance training plan). Go to Norway and take a look at the support

trucks they take on the World Cup circuit in biathlon. Although I have been away from biathlon for number of years, when I worked in the sport, Norway had their own waxing truck (not sure how many) that traveled the circuit…in comparison, most (if not all) other countries set up a temporary wax room at the race facility. I have no idea how much the Norwegian truck costs, but it has to be hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase, build, maintain, and staff…no other country has such equipment (or expertise in this area) to the best of my knowledge…I suspect that Norway is well ahead of almost every other country in terms of funding (and expertise) in this (critical) aspect of the sport. They have chosen to invest wisely in this aspect of the sport. (The same can probably be said for the Germans when it comes to the sophistication and costs of their bobsleds). Money can buy infrastructure. Money can help you travel to the best training facilities in the world (which may not exist in your own country). So the strategic allocation of money in any country towards different sports will almost always play a role in a country’s success. Money is required to be on the cutting edge of research and development in sport, where a technological advantage may give athletes the 1% marginal gain that puts them on the podium. Most importantly, money can give a country/sport access to great coaching. Great coaches can be found all around the world…and they will

often leave their country of origin for a better paying job in another country (if all other things remain equal). Obviously nothing will ever guarantee success in sport, and throwing money at something without a clear and sound plan will likely not see a return on the investment. And of course, you need a pool of talented athletes into which the money can be invested. On the day, athletes still have to perform (and there will always be examples of under-funded athletes who reach the podium in different sport). However, programs that have more money (relative to the number of athletes in their sport system) can generally do more things and provide better training opportu-nities. Programs with access to money can generally afford to go out and buy, hire, and/or train better coaches. Coaching (and all of the supports that come with Integrated Support Teams) come at a huge financial cost. If there is a willingness to invest in these supports, this will generally lead to superior athlete training, and ultimately to a better chance to reach the podium. Let me make a final comment on funding…and also let me state up front that I am not comparing the funding models or access to funding within or between countries. Although I do not have access to specific numbers, when Canada had its Olympic success at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, many Canadian winter sports had more access to money (and support) than dur-

Continue on Page 9

Page 9

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

ing any previous winter Olympic quadren-nial. The funding around the Vancouver Olympics for Canadian teams appeared to “pay off” in terms of podium results when Canada won more gold medals than any other country, and finished third in the total medal count behind the USA and Ger-many. Money makes a big difference. (I suspect we might get the same response if we asked Australia about their funding in the lead up to their success at the summer Olympics in Sydney). But even here, we must be cautious in attributing Canada’s medal success in Vancouver to money (or to Australia’s success in Sydney). We have to acknowledge that it was a “home Olympics” so Canada had so many other home-field advantages in terms of venue familiarity, accommodation, food, access to support staff, lack of jet lag, etc., etc., etc. (Again, I’m sure the Australians would say the same). As I have tried to articulate throughout my commentary, there are so many things that contribute to success in high-performance sport at the Olympic Games, and so we must carefully evaluate the “full picture” before we attribute success to a limited number of factors. USA- Our research on the psychological development of Olympic champions and highly successful professional athletes is consistent with what is going on in Norway. These highly successful athletes played multiple sports, learned fundamentals in a fun

atmosphere and had good coaching early. In essence, they fall in love with sports and that love affair fuels their motivation to train hard when they got to the more competitive and elite levels. It is also interesting that most parents of Olympic champions don’t start their children in sport with the hopes of being Olympians or professional athletes. They want their kids to be healthy, learn life skills and have fun or simply want something to channel all their excess energy. They support their child’s development and emphasize core values like finish what you start, work hard, be respectful of others but place little emphasis on winning in the early years.

Norway- We agree with Professor Dan Gould about the development of many elite athletes in that many have played multiple sports early. In Norway, they do two things reason-ably well. First, they do encourage multiple sports for young developing athletes. The concept is “training without knowing you are training”: By engaging in multiple sports, young athletes develop skills and develop attributes (e.g., hand eye coordination) that may serve them well in their major sport at a later date. This is what the advocates of specialization forget. By participating in multiple sports, children have more fun and it may negate the relative age effect in their chosen major sport, but more importantly, it delays the onset of specialization with all of its negative consequences. If it is one issue that has been resolved through

research in the sport sciences, it is that early specialization has more negative than posi-tive consequences. But the Tiger Woods example is so often cited as evidence of the need for early specialization, ignoring the fact that many super elite athletes did not excel as young athletes (e.g., Michael Jordan, Anika Sorenstam, Lionel Messi). The Norwegian Olympic Centre even has a site for parents on its official web page that champions the merits of multiple sports, not focusing on winning, emphasizing mastery criteria, and simply having fun.

The second issue has already been mentioned, Norway has many administrators and coaches that have had university edu-cation in the sport sciences, many through the Norwegian University of Sport Sciences. And having the Olympic Training Centre on the same campus as the university makes this transfer of sport science information more readily available. Indeed, some staff at the University have joint appointments with Olympiatoppen (e.g., one of the current authors, Anne-Marte Pensgaard).

KT Editor Response – I thank all the above highly respected individuals who have dedi-cated much of their careers not only to knowl-edge development, but also knowledge dissemination with a wide variety of athletes involved in sport at many levels. Their dedi-cation and passion is appreciated. Perhaps many in academia can use this article as a nice discussion piece in their class. *Time article

Page 10

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

How to Be a Star Parent of a College Athlete

Most of us know little about how to be a parent, until we become one. We did not

take “Parenting 101” in college, but somehow most of us survive and our children grow up. Similarly, parents of highly skilled athletes have little education and often struggle with how to best fulfill that role as their children move through childhood and adolescence. When highly skilled athletes are chosen to play at the intercollegiate level many leave home – sometimes moving far away. Thank goodness for the internet – we can now talk to them on video in real-time. If we live close enough – we may be able to make it to all their athletic events. But do we know how to support them in their (and our) new role? Well now there are some resources to help. Under the leadership of Dr. Travis Dorsch, an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science at Utah State University, an online parent educa-tion program has been developed. Travis is the founding director of the Utah State University Families in Sport Lab and his research focuses on the intersection of families and sport participation.

In filling a stated need, the resources for parents of intercollegiate student-athletes were developed through two grants from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). From 2014 through 2017, along with colleagues Katie Lowe (Harvard Uni-versity), Aryn Dotterer (Purdue University/Utah State University), Jeffrey Arnett (Clark University), and Miranda Kaye (Pennsylvania State University), Dorsch led the collection of interview and survey data from over 1000 administrators, coaches, parents, and student-athletes across universities at the NCAA Division I, II, and III level. Dorsch’s interdisciplinary research team drew on years of expertise in kinesiol-ogy, human development, family stud-ies, and interpersonal communication, and included three graduate students and five undergraduate students in the research and creation of the web resource. You can visit the parent education web site at http://ncaaparenteducation.com and register as a parent, an athlete, or administrator or a coach to gain access to the materials. There is also the option to enter as a guest so the materials are avail-able to everyone. The primary focus of the

website is parent education, and includes the following modules:

• Parent Support • Parent Contact • Academic Engagement • Athletic Engagement

In each of these modules, there are intro-ductory videos, text copy, audio vignettes, and reflective exercises, and each module is followed by a short quiz.

There is also a section for student athlete development. Here, visitors will find modules addressing desired outcomes for intercol-

By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D., KT Editor

Dr. Travis Dorsch presents a Tedx TalkPhoto by Breanna Studenka

Continue on Page 11

Page 11

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

legiate student-athletes, with a particular focus on academic self-efficacy, athlete satisfaction, well-being, and individuation. All useful topics for student-athletes.

Finally, there is a resource section that provides visitors a model and gives admin-istrators and coaches some ideas about how to create policies to address parent involvement at your particular institution.

Due to his expertise, Dorsch was recently invited to give a TEDx talk at Purdue Uni-versity in West Lafayette, Indiana. Most of you are aware of TED talks that started 26 years ago in California and invite world-leading thinkers to share their ideas in an 18-minute talk. TEDx events are locally organized programs that bring together people to share in a TED-like experience.

At Purdue, the program started in 2012 and “strives to nurture a culture of innovation by sharing state of the art ideas developed by Purdue students, faculty, and alumni.” Dorsch completed his undergraduate degree and was a student-athlete (football and baseball) at Purdue from 1998 to 2002). Upon returning from a professional play-ing career, he earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in Purdue’s department of Health and Kinesiology, studying with Dr. Alan Smith.

Travis speaks not only from his research base but also from experience. His talk was titled “Sport and the Commodification of America’s Youth.”

In his talk, Dorsch dives into the histori-cal role of youth sport in American society, how we’ve strayed from that vision, and the

subsequent impact on families and children. His primary thesis is that by infusing so much money into the sport participation of their children, parents now view that participation (and perhaps their children) as a commodity. Therefore, Dorsch argues, many well-intentioned parents expect some form of return on the “investment” they make in their children’s athletic lives – whether in the form of a starting role, a varsity letter, a college scholarship, or (gulp) a profes-sional contract.

The video of the talk is available on the TEDx PurdueU website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcxiKP8ONkg&feature=youtu.be

Page 12

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

AKA Leadership Institute Planned for 2019

In this issue of KT, I want to discuss a

bit more about the new AKA Leader-ship Institute that will officially start in Janu-ary 2019. Building upon the success of the AKA Leader-ship Workshop, the

AKA Leadership Institute will employ a mentoring model to provide exceptional training and networking for new department chairs, associate chairs, and emerging faculty leaders who aspire to advance toward administrative positions in the near future. This 12-month program includes: 1) two in-person, group sessions held in conjunction with the annual AKA Leader-ship Workshop, 2) bi-monthly webinars with other fellows and a facilitator to discuss a leadership topic, and 3) bi-monthly one-on-one calls with a senior mentor to discuss a case scenario relating to the prior month webinar (~30 min) and to seek input on local challenges and career development (~30 min). Key resource materials, often in the form of peer-review publications (i.e.,

Kinesiology Review, Quest, etc.) or case studies, will be provided prior to webinars and other sessions. All mentors will be assigned in consultation with each fellow.

The in-person, group sessions will focus on a number of key topics, including:

• Identifying and utilizing diverse lead-ership skills, and embracing the role of shared governance

• Distinguishing kinesiology the dis-cipline from kinesiology the depart-ment

• Preparing for the variety of university structures: Carnegie classification, regional/state nuances, union vs. nonunion environments, etc.

• Understanding various unit budget models: Traditional, RCM, hybrid, etc.

• Understanding national trends in kinesiology and higher education

• Transitioning to chair: Same institu-tion vs. new institution

• Hiring, managing, and evaluating faculty and staff

• Dealing with legal issues and avoid-ing legal pitfalls.

Bi-monthly webinars will be interactive and delivered by leaders throughout the field. Topics will include:

• History and challenges faced by kinesiology

• Developing, implementing, and assessing a department strategic plan

• Aligning degree programs with the AKA undergraduate core curriculum recommendations

• Embracing entrepreneurship and innovation in kinesiology

• Determining priorities and providing support for faculty, staff, and students

• Building and supporting diversity & inclusion

• Balancing your administrative and faculty responsibilities

To ensure high quality programming, we will limit the number of fellows to 10 per year and will maintain a ratio of no more than 2:1 fellows-to-mentors. Applications are due June 1, 2018, and application requirements are detailed below. Decisions will be finalized at the summer Executive

by Jason R. Carter, Michigan Tech University

Continue on Page 13

Jason Carter

President’s Column

Page 13

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Committee retreat (i.e., June), and the fellowship will officially begin at the 2019 AKA Leadership Workshop in January of 2019. For more details about the new AKA Leadership Workshop, and particularly the application process, visit the follow-ing website:

• http://www.americankinesiology.org/SubPages/Pages/Leadership%20Institute

I have the pleasure of co-directing the Institute with Dr. John Bartholomew, who is department chair at the University of Texas at Austin and an AKA Board of Directors member. If you have questions about the new AKA Leadership Institute, please do not hesitate to contact myself (jcarter@mtu.edu) or John (jbart@austin.utexas.edu).

2019 AKA Leadership Workshop“Hiring, Evaluating and Retaining Faculty in Kinesiology

January 24-27, 2019 Hilton Phoenix Airport

Phoenix, Arizona

Workshop Chairs: Dr. Jason Carter, Dr. Nancy Williams, Dr. Michael Delp

Page 14

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

That last quarter-mile, or that last rep, or the last few strokes on the rowing

machine are some of the hardest to get through.

A lot of athletes might say that the motiva-tion to push through is not in their muscles, but rather in their minds – and sometimes their ears. Anyone who has spent the extra time perfecting their own music playlist before an event knows the feeling of the perfect pump-up song coming on at just the right time. Whether it is a real or perceived performance boost may not concern a lot of athletes – it is part of the routine, and they wouldn’t think of a workout without the music. But as far as the science, different researchers have looked at the question in different ways.

Music can have a powerful effect on an athlete’s ability to perform in extremely high-intensity situations, according to Dr. Waseem Shami, a cardiology fellow at Texas Tech. He presented his research in March at the American College of Cardiol-ogy. Shami took a note from his personal routine in launching the study.

“The inspiration for this study was that I noticed that I would run less if I didn’t have music,” he told Kinesiology Today. “I

To Rock or Not: Does Music Motivate or Hold us Back?

decided to play music during stress tests, and I noticed patients really liked it. They seemed more relaxed. I then wondered if it had an effect on their exercise endur-ance.” He put that question to the test by recruiting 127 participants averaging 53 years old and subjected them to cardiac stress tests. The participants were randomly selected to either listen to music during the test or to listen to nothing at all. The playlist of choice for this particular test was up-tempo Latin-style music.

The stress test on a treadmill starts slow – at a walking pace during the first minute, and gradually increasing in speed and incline from there at regular intervals. The test becomes challenging very quickly, Shami said. Most people last around eight minutes before they find themselves con-templating whether they can go any farther. “The end of the test is typically fatigue and the patient lets us know that they need to stop,” Shami said. “Other times, the patient may have symptoms of chest pain, short-ness of breath, or dizziness. This is when we may stop the tests ourselves.”

The results: Participants listening to the upbeat music lasted on average 505.8 seconds – just less than eight and a half

minutes. Those who were not listening to music averaged only 455.2 seconds – a full 50 seconds less than their musically-motivated counterparts.

By Patrick Wade, Staff Writer

Continue on Page 14

Page 15

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

“During a cardiac stress test, the tread-mill goes higher in incline and faster in speed every three minutes,” Shami said. “Fifty seconds is a meaningful difference in this setting.” This result leads Shami to suggest that music can be a powerful force for an athlete.

“Music may have a motivational compo-nent in making an individual run longer,” he said. “There is also an uplifting component with music. Many runners claim to run in order to combat depression. This makes sense because the hormones released dur-ing exercise are found in the same medica-tions seen to treat depression. Music has been shown to have this same effect and therefore perhaps the two combined has a synergistic effect.”

But Shami is certainly not the only researcher to have asked the question, and others have found different results under different conditions.

For example, a University of Cambridge study published in 2017 found that putting the brain to work hurt performance among elite rowers. According to the Telegraph, the Cambridge PAVE (Phenotypic Adaptability, Variation and Evolution) research group

subjected 62 male rowers to a mental recall test and a power test on a rowing machine – first separately, and then simultaneously. Both the mental and power scores were hurt when the tests were conducted simul-taneously. The rowers’ mental recall fell by an average 9.7 percent, and their physical power was reduced by 12.6 percent.

“The observation that both tasks cannot be performed optimally at the same time suggests that a trade-off between mental and physical function does indeed exist,” they wrote in their paper. Particularly, they noted that the athletes were affected more physically than mentally. They call it the “selfish brain hypo thesis,” for which cogni-tive function will always win over physical output when the two are at odds.

It also means that podcast or the playlist in your headphones might be hurting your performance. The researchers acknowl-edged, though, that the study participants were all elite athletes. In high-level and high-intensity disciplines, they said, focusing on the task at hand will improve performance.

In a more average athlete, however, there is evidence that the ability to think about something else and dissociate from the

task at hand can distract from the physical discomfort it creates. Shami’s advice is to figure out what works best for you – if you’re a recreational athlete and you feel like your favorite song is pushing you a little farther, then go for it. “Everyone should try listen-ing to music during their exercise regimen and see if it makes a difference for them,” Shami said. “Clinicians conducting stress tests should also consider offering patients music during their scheduled stress tests in order to achieve more optimal results.”

Music boosts exercise time during cardiac stress testing. (2018, March 01). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180301094811.htm

Longman, D., Stock, J. T., & Wells, J. C. (2017, October 20). A trade-off between cognitive and physical per-formance, with relative preservation of brain function. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14186-2

Knapton, S. (2017, October 20). Why listening to a pod-cast while running could harm performance . Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/10/20/listening-podcast-running-could-harm-performance/

Page 16

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Modifying Curriculum Based on the AKA Core

In higher education, it is becoming increas-ingly necessary to be accountable. For

many disciplines, accountability is achieved through accreditation. Accreditation can occur at the university level where the entire university is accredited and it can also occur at the program level. Typically an outside agency develops standards for accreditation, the program does a self-study to address how they meet the standards and then outside experts review the program to determine acceptability. The goal is to ensure that universities and programs meet acceptable levels of quality.

There has been some discussion at the American Kinesiology Association workshop about accreditation for kinesiology but to date there has not been a strong move-ment to do so (see Templin & Blankenship, 2007). Some sub-fields have developed accreditation standards and some programs engage in this process. Kinesiology has developed as a very broad field over the last 50 years and programs vary widely. Even the name kinesiology is not used by all institutions and units are housed in many different colleges within universities ranging from science, public health, health

Continue on Page 16

By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D. KT Editor

sciences, education, arts and sciences and more. Because of this, programs look very different. Some are very broad based and range from the humanities, to behavioral and social sciences and life sciences as well as professional applications and some programs have heavy emphasis in the life science areas and barely touch other areas. Thus kinesiology programs are very different.

In 2009 the AKA sponsored a national workshop that examined the core curriculum in kinesiology. A summary can be found on the AKA website. “There was broad agree-ment that there is a need to achieve con-sensus concerning the essential elements of the undergraduate core in kinesiology. In essence, we need to agree on what it is that every undergraduate kinesiology major should know or be able to do.” As a department chair I referenced the AKA core and how our program met its standards in our five year review process.

After much discussion and a few revi-sions, a consensus was reached that the following four elements would serve as the core for kinesiology. It was felt that the elements were broad enough that most

programs would meet them and sample learning outcomes were developed to guide programs in adopting the core. The four elements were:

• Physical activity in health, wellness, and quality of life

• Scientific foundations of physical activity

• Cultural, historical and philosophical dimensions of physical activity

• The practice of physical activity

At the recent 2018 AKA Workshop held in January in Denver, Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, presented a paper reviewing the core. Following his presentation, Erica Taylor, Chair of the Department of Public

Erica Taylor with students and fellow faculty at DSU.

Page 17

Kinesiology Today Spring 2017 Volume 10, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

and Allied Health Sciences at Delaware State University shared how her program used the AKA Core to redesign their cur-riculum*. She has used free services pro-vided through the AKA Strategic Planning and Assessment Support Program to review their curriculum revisions and is now using the program to develop learn-ing outcomes and a strategic plan. I heard her presentation at the AKA workshop and wanted to follow up with Dr. Taylor. I was quite pleased that her program used the AKA core recommendations to build the curriculum and had a chance to chat with her about the process.

What prompted you to modify your current curriculum and how did you decide to use the AKA Core Curriculum as the basis for this change?Our program is fairly young. It started in 2006 and in 2008-2009 became its own department. There had been some tweaks in the program but as we started to add new faculty – they brought new interests and expertise. We had a faculty member (Patrice Elder) who had some experience with curriculum and recommended we use the AKA Core Curriculum. We contacted Gil Reeve at AKA and he helped us evalu-ate our current program and decide on future directions.

How much did you have to change?We made quite a few changes. We had two concentrations and collapsed them into one – now called Kinesiology. We, changed the capstone experience and added some laboratory components to some of our classes. We eliminated a few classes. It was a difficult transition because some faculty had to change the courses they were teaching and teach new courses.

Tell me some of the obstacles of approaching the curriculum change in this way and also some positives?We did have some opposition. Some of the faculty were focused on ACSM guidelines. Once they reviewed the AKA core, they saw that it was not sub-discipline specific and that we could align our program with the core while still including ACSM KSAs. The new curriculum was approved at the end of Spring 2017. Initially there were mixed reactions from students and how it might affect time to graduation. Students were assured that the current program offerings or comparable substitutes would be available until they graduated. Once they saw the new curriculum, they liked it. We also changed the program name from Movement Science to Kinesiology and the students liked that.

I see your department name is Department of Public and Allied Health Sciences. Now that you program is Kinesiology is there any conversation about changing the department name?We have a lot of our students who are interested in pursuing careers in Allied Health fields, and we have a Public Health major so the name works well for us. At this point we do not have plans to change the name.

Any other thoughts?

Gil Reeve reviewed our program. Using the services provided by the American Kinesiology Association was critical for us and very helpful in modifying our cur-riculum. Also, attending the workshop is very helpful in developing leadership skills and providing ideas for program change.

*A review article on this topic will appear in an upcoming edition of Kinesiology Review. Videos of both talks are available on YouTube at the links below:

Erica Taylor presentation   Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko presentation

Templin. T., and Blankenship, B. Accreditation in Kinesiology: The Process, Criticism, and Controversy, and the Future. Quest, 59, 2007, 143-153)

Page 18

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

When you think of synchronized swim-ming, your first image is probably of

beautiful young women swimming in unison and emerging from under the water with beautiful smiles on their faces. Well, that image may need to change!

Camron Maguire from Whitehorse, in the Yukon of Canada was the only male out of 445 competitors at the 2018 Canadian Artistic Swimming Qualifier competition. As the name suggests, the Canadian Qualifier is the opportunity for athletes to qualify for the final competition of the year, the Cana-dian Championships.

Jackie Buckingham, the CEO of Synchro Canada, noted that it has been a long time since a boy performed at this level and she is excited to see more males compete in the future. You can watch the video (see link below) of Cameron and see him swell with pride as he talks about his experience. You can also see that his mother Cheryl had a tremendous influence on him. She says:

“I’ve always taught my children… that equality and gender — it’s not about what girls can do, that boys can do, it’s about what you want to do and it’s about being true to yourself. Every

Breaking Barriers in Synchronized Swimming

time he goes out there, I’m just so proud of him,” she said while fighting back tears after his first performance of the week. “He’s just out there making his statement and I think he’ll do that his whole life.”

Good job Mum! Breaking gender barriers in sport has been a struggle for girls over the years and now seeing that boys are breaking gender barriers is great.

Well Camron is not the first boy to do synchro. If you check the links below you can see that boys/men have been after this for a while and even trying to make it an Olympic event for men. For many women who have been involved in sport, we know that the road is often a steep hill – but I say keep calm, carry on and maybe we will see this event at future Olympic Games. We will have to see how long it will take the men to meet the high standards already set by the women.

Some other folks are breaking barriers as well. Pictured below are 4 women ranging in age from 39 to 62. The women in the photo swim in the Master’s Competitive Division of the Burnaby Caprice Synchronized Swim Club in British Columbia.

(The woman on the left is my sister Anne-Marie – PMc)

https://fm96.com/news/4103095/yukon-boy-synchronized-swimming/

https://cisnfm.com/news/2176152/all-boys-synchro-nized-swim-team-takes-pointe-claire-by-storm/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dleLYhWIiEk

By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D. KT Editor

From Left to right: Anne-Marie North, Line Thivierge, Jilian Lang, Victoria Stafford. Photo provided by Photo-Team-ca. Official Photographer for Synchro BC

Synchronized swimmer Camron Maguire and his two sisters-Mia and Helene. Photo provided by Cheryl Maguire.

Page 19

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Springfield College has a strong his-tory of service and inclusivity on their

Springfield, Massachusetts campus. There-fore, when they decided to renovate the campus baseball field last year, President Mary-Beth Cooper, Ph.D., proposed add-ing an “ability” field into their traditional regulation facilities to provide a place for differently abled youth to play baseball. “I think it sends an important message to the special needs community. They deserve to have what everyone else has,” Cooper said about the opportunity to include the ability field on the college campus.

The administration worked with con-tractors, the Miracle League organization and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation on the unique design of the field. The ability field is incorporated into the right field area of the collegiate regulation baseball field. Special accommodations such as tighter turf make it easier for players with mobility challenges to maneuver on the field. The bases are also level to the ground to work well with players who use wheelchairs, braces or walkers and dugouts are easier to get in and out of. “Everything was done at the same high quality as the collegiate field,” said Cooper.

All Abilities Play Ball at Springfield College

According to Cooper, the school’s base-ball team was excited to get the new facilities, but they were just as happy to be sharing it with other-abled players. “It is so much a part of our mission. It fits right in with other opportunities,” she said. The school has hosted volleyball and basketball tourna-ments on campus for Special Olympics for years and hopes the new field can be used for practice and games with Special Olympic baseball teams as well.

The Western Massachusetts chapter of The Miracle League played the first game on the new diamond and have big plans for future use. The club’s executive director, Ernie Fitzell told Inside Higher Ed, “This field is a godsend. On this new turf, you pretty much glide across it.” What makes the field unique is not only that it is located on a college campus, but that it is integrated into the same space as a regulation field. The Cal Ripken Sr. Foun-dation donated $300,000 to the project and is hoping to incorporate what is being called the “Springfield-model” into additional fields. Steve Salem, President and CEO of the Foundation, says the foundation was happy to be a part of the project and it is part of their initiative to build regulation little

league fields and ability fields through-out the country. They have a goal to build 100 ball fields throughout the country by next year. They are currently up to 75. The Springfield College project were fields 70 and 71. According to Salem, 20% of those fields are ability fields, most of which are built alongside the regulation fields. “We respond to the needs of the community,” Salem said. “Many of our parks are built in urban, underserved areas. We try to pro-vide a safe place in unsafe communities.” He says it is the local community, parents and often the Miracle League chapter that really makes the ability field happen. The next phase of the development will include adding lights and bleachers to the ability field area.

Continue on Page 20

by Amy Rose, Staff Writer

President Mary-Beth Cooper and Cal Ripken Sr. at the Opening ceremony for the ability field at Spring-field College

Page 20

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

In the case of Springfield College, Salem gives much of the credit for the success of the field to the vision of Dr. Cooper. He said the organization usually doesn’t work with colleges, because many of them are unreceptive to sharing their facilities with the community. “She made sure it happened and did what it took to make it a reality,” Salem said. “She is a unique individual. It never would have happened without her.”

Dr. Cooper, of course, credits the dedi-cation of the college and its students for opening up their campus and their hearts to the community and especially those with special needs. The on-campus loca-tion will be idea for providing experiential learning opportunities for rehabilitation studies students at Springfield College as well. They are involved with the operation of the field and volunteer with the players

and organizations that use the ability field. Springfield College is also home to a newly opened Deaf Community Home, which provides a home, employment and social engagement for deaf and hard of hearing residents with intellectual disabilities. This program adds to the service opportunities for students and the campus community as well. As more ability fields are built, the hope is that more special needs athletes will experience the physical development, social camaraderie and excitement that can only be found on a baseball diamond during the days of summer.

Bird, Grace. “A Different Kind of Field of Dreams.” Inside Higher Ed. January 30, 2018. Accessed February 1, 2018. www.insidehighered.com.

All photos provided by Springfield College

Page 21

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

The Union of European Football Associa-tions is the umbrella organization for 55

national football association across Europe. UEFA objectives are “to promote football in a spirit of unity, peace, understanding and fair play without any discrimination on the part of politics, race, religion, gender or any other reason….” The development of women’s football is a prime goal of the organization with a goal of football being the number one sport for women in Europe by 2020. Check out the UEFA web-site to see some of the initiatives to promote female participation.

The UEFA commissioned a study to gather empirical evidence on the potential benefits of football for girls and women. The study was headed by Dr. Paul Appleton from the University of Birmingham. He along with a team of researchers from England, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Turkey conducted a three phase study. First they did an exhaustive review of the literature examining the benefits of playing football for females. Second, they collected survey data on over 4000 young and older players as wells as girls in other sports and non-sport participants. During the final stage

European Football (Soccer) Proves Good for Girls and Women in Europe

of the project they conducted qualitative interviews with 60 football players.

Some of the key findings were:

• 80% of young girls that played football had higher self-esteem and motivation than girls that did not play sport

• 48% of young girls who played foot-ball also had higher scores than girls who played other sports.

• The benefits of playing football extended beyond the game itself. Many talked about how playing helped them solve problems, deal with pressures at school and work, and made them feel empowered to overcome difficulties. They also talk-ed about the importance of friend-ships developed in football.

A summary statement in the report sums up the data. “The results make a compel-ling case: if you want teenage girls to feel more confident, get them playing football.”

I asked Dr. Appleton how his project reports, which was released in April of 2017, were being translated for public consumption and also if next steps in continuing the research was planned.

by Penny McCullaugh, Ph.D., Editor KT

The findings of the research have been used as the platform for UEFA’s Together #WePlayStrong social media campaign. The aim of this campaign is to promote the psychological and social benefits of playing football to girls across all Euro-pean countries, with a view of increasing participation rates.

This particular project was a one-off funded project in collaboration with UEFA. However, my own research, in collabo-ration with my colleague Professor Joan Duda at the University of Birmingham and other researchers in sport psychology is attempting to understand more about the predictors of sport participants’ psycho-logical well-being as well as the quality of their engagement in sport (and related con-texts), with a specific focus on motivational processes. Much of our work centers on Empowering CoachingTM , which is a family of theory-informed and evidence-based education programmes for coaches, parents and other leaders that have been proven to make sport more engaging, enjoyable and empowering for everyone involved.

Continue on Page 22

Page 22

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

and we plan to present our findings at an international conference in the next year.

Report on “The Psychological and Emo-tional Benefits of Playing Football on Girls and Women in Europe”.

I also asked him how difficult it was to put together such a huge research team from so many countries and how the research would be distributed in the academic community.

It wasn’t difficult at all. The researchers in each country have extensive experience conducting research in sport psychology and I have collaborated with many of them previously on other projects. We are cur-rently writing up the results from this project for publication in peer-reviewed journals

Call for Items for KTIf you have an interesting story that could be featured in KT, please send your idea along to KT Editor, Penny McCullagh at kintodayaka@gmail.com. I am particularly interested in featuring member departments, but other stories can also be featured.

Page 23

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

Aside from the things we can see, emerg-ing research suggests that exercise

may have a hidden benefit, and it is one that affects us to our very core.

Trillions of tiny bacteria and other micro-organisms in our gut are what hold many of our key systems in balance, like our metabolisms, immune systems and even how we heal. This environment of bacteria – known as our microbiome – is an integral part of how our bodies function.

As scientists come to understand the microbiome, how it operates and how it responds to outside influences, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are suggesting that exercise may play a big role in its composition and how it affects individuals’ core systems.

The nuances of the results varied from person to person in the small study, which involved 32 otherwise inactive people who were subjected to a six-week exercise regimen. At the end of the six weeks, the composition of the participants’ internal microorganic environment had been altered. When they returned to their normal routines deprived of exercise, their microbiomes reverted to their previous states.

A Gut Feeling: Study Suggests Exercise Affects Our Core Microbes

“There is high inter-individual variability in gut microbiomes,” said Dr. Jeffrey Woods, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urba-na-Champaign. “Each person is unique. Therefore, each person likely will respond differently to lifestyle interventions.”

The study, published in the journal Medi-cine and Science in Sports and Exercise in April, began as a follow-up to an earlier study in animals by the same team, Woods said. In that prior study, the researchers were interested in determining whether exercise would reduce inflammation and other symptoms of ulcerative colitis in mice.

The results were somewhat mixed. Forced treadmill running at moderate intensity for 40 minutes per day, five times per week, exacerbated symptoms of colitis in mice. But for other mice who had access to a wheel all the time and ran voluntarily, their symptoms were reduced.

Woods said these results generated his team’s interest in what kind of effect exercise would have in the human microbiome. To figure that out, the researchers recruited 18 lean and 14 obese individuals, none of whom were active prior to the study.

The team collected fecal samples from each person – a snapshot of their microbi-omes, if you will. Then they began a six-week exercise regimen consisting of supervised endurance workouts three days per week, ranging from moderate- to high-intensity. The participants were told not to change their normal diets during the course of the study.

Researchers collected another fecal sample at the end of the six-week training regimen, and the participants returned to their usual, sedentary lifestyles. After six more weeks of inactivity, they donated a third round of fecal samples.

“We found that exercise uniquely affected each person’s microbiome and that there were differences in the response to exer-cise,” Woods said, “especially between the lean and obese people because their microbiomes were significantly different from one another before the start of exercise.”

Specifically, the researchers found that the concentrations of various gut microbes changed in the volunteers, and then they

Continue on Page 24

By Patrick Wade, KT Staff Writer

Page 24

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

went back to normal after the six-week “washout” period when the participants returned to a state of inactivity.

As Woods suspected, unique changes were observed from individual to individual, but the kicker was the same: “Moderate endurance exercise training exerts an influ-ence on your gut microbes in a period of six weeks and that effect is lost if exercise is not continued.”

One finding in particular was consistent, however, for many of the participants. After six weeks of exercise, researchers found an increase in the bacteria responsible for creating substances known as “short-chain fatty acids.” These fatty acids are associated with a host of activities, including reducing inflammation and potentially warding off diabetes.

And, like the other microbial changes, these effects disappeared after those vol-unteers stopped exercising.

The increase in fatty acids was most prominent in the leaner participants, Woods

said, probably because of the fundamen-tal differences in the microbiomes of lean people compared to obese people.

Other researchers have entertained the idea of introducing the unique microbiomes of elite athletes into the more leisurely of us to help with inflammation and healing after strenuous activity – but this study makes Woods and his team the first to report that exercise can affect the human microbiome, independent of other factors like diet.

“Others had shown differences in the gut microbiomes of highly trained athletes vs sedentary people, but there could be many other things, including diet, that could account for those differences,” Woods said.

The team’s results give way to a host of other questions, Woods said.

For one thing, the team will want to verify their results in further studies. Additionally, he said he would like to understand whether exercise can affect the gut microbiota in individuals who have imbalances in their microbiome, such as elderly people or people with irritable bowel disease.

And this study only suggests that exercise does indeed affect the microbiome – but it does not give any clues as to how. Woods said he has questions about the mecha-nisms that link exercise and changes in the human microbiome.

Allen, J. M., Mailing, L. J., Niemiro, G. M., Moore, R., Cook, M. D., White, B. A., . . . Woods, J. A. (2018). Exercise Alters Gut Microbiota Composition and Func-tion in Lean and Obese Humans. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 50(4), 747-757.

Cook, M. D., Martin, S. A., Williams, C., Whitlock, K., Wallig, M. A., Pence, B. D., & Woods, J. A. (2013, May 23). Forced treadmill exercise training exacerbates inflammation and causes mortality while voluntary wheel training is protective in a mouse model of colitis. Retrieved April 4, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23707215

Reynolds, G. (2018, January 03). Exercise Alters Our Microbiome. Is That One Reason It’s So Good for Us? Retrieved March 7, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/well/move/exercise-microbiome-health-weight-gut-bacteria.html

Page 25

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

NPAP Quarterly Update – Educationby Jason R. Carter, AKA Board Member of the NPAP Alliance

In recent NPAP updates, we’ve taken a closer dive into two of the nine societal

sectors highlighted in the National Physi-cal Activity Plan (NPAP) – 1) Business and Industry, and 2) Community, Recreation, Fitness, and Parks. For this issue, I will focus on one that should speak to most, if not all, KT readers – the Education sector.

As detailed within the NPAP, there are ~12 million children in early childhood/pre-school programs, ~50 million in k-12 settings, and ~20 million in higher educa-tion. Sadly, many of these settings have been subject to cuts in physical education and/or activity at a time when childhood obesity is on a rampant rise.

The Education sector of the NPAP aims to bring increased attention to some key strategies that might positively impact physi-cal education and activity in educational programming. These strategies include:

1. States and school districts should adopt policies that support implemen-tation of the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program model.

2. Schools should provide high-quality physical education programs

3. Providers of afterschool, holiday, and vacation programs for children and youth should adopt policies and prac-tices that ensure that participants are appropriately physically active

4. States should adopt standards for childcare and early childhood education programs to ensure that children ages zero to five years are appropriately physically active.

5. Colleges and universities should provide students and employees with opportunities and incentives to adopt and maintain physically active lifestyles

6. Educational institutions should pro-vide pre-service professional training and in-service professional develop-ment programs that prepare educa-tors to deliver effective physical activ-ity programs for students of all types

7. Professional and scientific organiza-tions should develop and advocate for policies that promote physical activity among all students

I know discussing the value of physical education and activity to the readers of

KT is like preaching to the choir. However, here is something to think about – while all of us deeply subscribe to the values of physical education and activity, how many times have we been direct advocates within our own school districts, with our own state and local representatives, and on our own university campuses? I hope the answer to that is “a lot”, but I know in my own case I have been much better about serving as an advocate at the local level with my district schools and my own university, but I have not participated enough at the state level. Therefore, I can resonate with a couple of these strategies and will consider how I might become more engaged. Likewise, I hope each of you will think about how these seven strategies relate to your own local and state educational programs, and how you might promote some of the strategies.

http://www.physicalactivityplan.org/theplan/education.html

Please continue to join me for quarterly reviews of the NPAP societal sectors over the next several issues of KT, and attempt to incorporate applicable tactics into your individual, organizational, student service, and community outreach goals.

Full access to the NPAP can be accessed here.

Page 26

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

This column is my first as the AKA

Executive Director. I am honored and excited to take on this responsibility to serve the academic departments that are members of AKA and their administrators,

faculty, and students who represent the current and future of our discipline. Dr. Shirl Hoffman and Dr. Amelia Lee served as the first two AKA Executive Directors, respectively. Shirl worked to establish AKA as a significant national organization and Amelia oversaw a period of rapid growth of AKA membership and an increase in the number of programs to advance the discipline and to enhance the leadership training for our departmental administra-tors. For the past year, AKA reached its greatest number of departmental members and the 2018 AKA Workshop in Denver had the highest number of attendees of our 11 annual workshops.

As the third AKA Executive Director, I will continue to represent AKA in the same manner as done by my predecessors. They

established a high standard in represent-ing AKA as a quality organization which uniquely serves our academic departments and promotes kinesiology.

In addressing the duties and respon-sibilities as the Executive Director, I have three priorities for the coming years. The first priority is to contribute to the continued growth of AKA. There is a critical need to reach more kinesiology departments if we are to promote kinesiology as a unified field of the study of physical activity. AKA offers quality programs through our workshops and webinars on topics such as leadership development, faculty and student recruit-ment and support, improving diversity and inclusion in our departments and the disci-pline, budget management, undergraduate and graduate curricula development, and numerous other issues directly impacting our departments and discipline. But these programs primarily reach only those whose departments are members of AKA. Quality kinesiology departments enhance the rec-ognition and appreciation of our academic discipline throughout higher education. This will happen as more departments join AKA and benefit from our programs.

Three Priorities for Continued Growth of AKABy T. Gilmour Reeve, Ph.D., Executive Director

exeCutive direCtor Column The second priority is to strengthen our relationships with our affiliated organizations. AKA has formal agreements with numerous other professional and scholarly organiza-tions that represent various perspectives on physical activity. Unlike AKA, these organizations provide opportunities for faculty and students to focus on specific areas of study within kinesiology. AKA represents the broadest perspective for kinesiology in two ways: (1) AKA recog-nizes and encourages all areas of study that embrace the study of physical activity; and (2) AKA’s members are the academic departments, rather than the faculty and students. Because of our unique mission and members (the kinesiology departments), AKA will work with other organizations to collectively and collaboratively promote the study of physical activity and kinesiology’s various career opportunities.

The third priority is to develop and expand our partnerships with those businesses such as publishers and equipment companies that support the teaching, research, and service of academic departments and faculty. The attendees at AKA workshops are departmental administrators who man-age the budgets for their departments. The opportunity to formalize and strengthen our relationships with these businesses will benefit AKA, kinesiology administrators, and the businesses.

Continue on Page 27

T. Gilmour Reeve

Page 27

Kinesiology Today Spring 2018 Volume 11, No. 2

www.americankinesiology.org

AKA National Scholar Award Winners

To conclude, I want to thank the involve-ment and commitment of the chairs and faculty from our member departments for their support of the American Kinesiology Association. Although the AKA members are the academic departments, the accomplish-

ments of AKA are the result of the efforts from the administrators and faculty of those departments. More than 40 individuals serve on the AKA Board of Directors and its six standing committees. Additionally, our annual workshops now engage more

than 100 attendees in in-depth discussions focused on advancing our departments and the academic discipline of kinesiology. I encourage others to take advantage of these opportunities as we promote kine-siology as a unified academic discipline.

2018 AKA National Undergraduate Scholar AwardRecipient:Rafael Alamilla, California State University, San Bernardino

Honorable Mention:Lindsay Berg, West Virginia UniversityRachel Christensen, San Jose State UniversityCaitlin Lindquist, Auburn University

Rafael Alamilla

Shawna McMillin

Christopher Hill

Christina Hospodar

2018 AKA National Doctoral Scholar AwardRecipient:Christopher Hill, Michigan State University

Honorable Mention:Emily Miele, Springfield CollegeHunter Paris, Indiana UniversityBrooke Towner, West Virginia University

2018 AKA National Master’s Scholar AwardRecipient:Christina Hospodar, Oregon State University

Honorable Mention:Xiaoping Fan, California State University, ChicoHailey Parry, Auburn UniversityJeffrey Ruser, California State University, Fresno

2018 AKA National Graduate Student Writing AwardRecipient:Shawna McMillin, East Carolina University

Honorable Mention:Karen Constantini, Indiana UniversityBryce Muth, University of Delaware

Kinesiology Today KT Editor: Penny McCullagh, Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Writer: Amy Rose

Staff Writer: Pat Wade

Designer: Sean Roosevelt