ISSN: 1543-9518|Vol. 24

About U.S. Sports Academy

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited sports university created to serve the nation and the world with programs in instruction, research, and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare our men and women for careers in the profession of sports using modern technologies and traditional teaching methodologies.

The National Football League Combine: Do Performance Measures Predict Draft Status Among NFL Draftees

Authors: Raymond Tucker, Jr. 1,Willie J. Black, Jr.2

1Department of Kinesiology, University of Houston Victoria, Victoria, TX, USA.
2Department of Kinesiology, University of Houston Victoria, Victoria, TX, USA.

Corresponding Author:
Willie J. Black, Jr.
University of Houston at Victoria
3007 N. Ben Wilson
Victoria, Texas 77901
Blackw@uhv.edu
Phone: (361) 570-4298

Raymond Tucker, D.S.M., CFSC, CSCS * D, XPS, FMS, USATF, USAW is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Houston Victoria in Victoria, TX. His research interested focus on leadership skills used by coaches and program design and measure of performance used in strength and conditioning.

Willie J. Black, Jr. Ed.D.  is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Houston in Victoria, Texas. His research interests focus on leadership, physical education pedagogy, and social justice in physical education.

The National Football League Combine: Do Performance Measures Predict Draft Status Among NFL Draftees

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive ability of the performance measures used at the National Football League Scouting Combine to predict draft status from 2018 to 2020. Data were collected and analyzed from six performance measures used at the combine: 40-yd dash, 20-yd shuttle, bench press, three-cone drill, vertical jump, and broad jump. A total of 1,009 players were invited to the combine between 2018 and 2020. Several negative correlations were detected in the performance measures, which suggests that higher scores in the following performance measures faster 40-yard dash, higher vertical, elevated bench press and longer broad jump are associated with better draft position. For example, the correlation between vertical and draft position for WRs is -.286: this means that a higher jump is associated with better draft position. The results conclude combine performance is not a good predictor of draft position except maybe for the position of WR, but it is valuable at distinguishing between getting drafted or not. That results would suggest that once a certain level of physical performance is achieved, then a player will get drafted. Otherwise, there are probably other factors (e.g., the position they play, intangibles, etc.) that determine when they get drafted.

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2021-10-20T09:40:32-05:00November 5th, 2021|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off on The National Football League Combine: Do Performance Measures Predict Draft Status Among NFL Draftees
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Role stressors in sport: A comparison of role stress and job satisfaction among sport providers.

Authors: Chuck Provencio1, Daewon Yoon1, Tiara Rose Johnson2, John C. Barnes, PhD1

1Department of Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
2Department of Educational Psychology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Corresponding Author:
Chuck Provencio
126 Johnson Center
Albuquerque, NM 87131
cprovencio88@gmail.com
605-690-7035

Chuck Provencio is a Ph.D. Candidate and Research Assistant at The University of New Mexico.

Role stressors in sport: A comparison of role stress and job satisfaction among sport providers.

ABSTRACT

Role stress occurs when individuals’ responsibilities are ambiguous or in conflict with their role expectations. Purpose: Using the theory of role dynamics (37), this study explored role stress and job satisfaction among sport providers (n = 195). The purpose of this study was to determine whether commonly education, training, and other variables impacted role stress, and whether role stress impacted job satisfaction among sport providers. Methods: The researchers used Bowling et al.’s (10) role stressors scale to measure role stressors and Spector’s (57) Job Satisfaction Survey to assess job satisfaction, along with demographic information, length of time in the role, level of education, and job training. Results/Conclusions: Findings indicated that education and job trainings were not significant predictors of role stress or job satisfaction, but other variables were found to be significant. Implications and recommendations for future studies are further discussed. Applications in Sport: These findings indicate that newer and younger coaches may require some support from sport managers. Additional applications discussed in the manuscript.

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2021-10-20T08:58:38-05:00October 29th, 2021|Research, Sport Education|Comments Off on Role stressors in sport: A comparison of role stress and job satisfaction among sport providers.
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COVID-19 and its impact on student-athlete depression and anxiety: the return to campus

Authors: Peter J Economou, Victoria Glascock, Mark Louie, Polina Poliakova, William Zuckerberg

Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, USA

Corresponding Author:

Peter Economou
1 Scarlet Knight Way
Piscataway, NJ 08854
peter.economou@rutgers.edu

Dr. Peter Economou, the Principal Investigator holds a Ph.D in counseling psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology. He conducts research on mindfulness and meditation in sports.

Dr. Mark Louie, a research assistant and Postdoc to the PI, holds an Ed.D in Applied Exercise Physiology, and a Masters in Psychological Counseling from Teachers College, Columbia University. He is a licensed counselor in both New Jersey and New York.

Victoria Glascock, Polina Poliakova, and William Zuckerberg are research assistants for the GSAPP Performance Psychology Center.

COVID-19 and its Impact on Student-Athlete Depression and Anxiety: The Return to Campus

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the NCAA to abruptly cancel all sporting events, to help slow the spread of the virus. As such, measures such as social-distancing and work from home orders, were implemented nationwide. While effective, both safety measures are socially disruptive with the potential to cause psychological disturbances such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and other behavioral disorders. To date, there is no literature that examines the consequences of abrupt mid-season cancellation for student-athletes, and the subsequent return to campus in Fall of 2020 brought on by a global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore the mental health consequences of such termination and subsequent return to campus, student-athletes were surveyed on their experience with returning to campus amidst a global pandemic. Our results indicate that there were increased feelings of depression and anxiety upon returning to campus in Fall 2020.

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2023-11-10T14:24:44-06:00October 22nd, 2021|Research, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on COVID-19 and its impact on student-athlete depression and anxiety: the return to campus
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Evaluating the Impact of Concentrated Match Scheduling in College Volleyball during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors:  Mark Mitchell, Yoav Wachsman, and Monica Fine

Corresponding Author:
Mark Mitchell, DBA
Professor of Marketing
Associate Dean, Wall College of Business
NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR)
Coastal Carolina University
P. O. Box 261954
Conway, SC  29528
mmitchel@coastal.edu
(843) 349-2392

Mark Mitchell, DBA is Professor of Marketing at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.

Yoav Wachsman, PhD is Professor of Economics at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.

Monica Fine, PhD is Professor of Marketing at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC.

Evaluating the Impact of Concentrated Match Scheduling in College Volleyball during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Athletic conferences worked to lower the cost of delivering athletic programs while operating during the COVID-19 global pandemic. One strategy was the use of concentrated schedules for competitions. For example, the Sun Belt Conference focused on divisional play and a concentrated schedule for women’s volleyball for the 2020 season. Schools played three matches in a two-day period against the same team. This practice lowered travel costs and isolated player contact in the event of needed contact tracing as part of player safety protocols. This study evaluates the impact of this scheduling format on player performance and the overall quality of competition. Gathering data from the box scores from all Sun Belt Conference volleyball matches, the impact of player fatigue (daily and cumulative) is not present in the team statistics. Player performance and the overall quality of team play did not decline, even when playing three matches in a two-day period. Conference personnel and university athletic administrators may take comfort that their efforts to lower costs and ensure player safety during a global pandemic did not affect player performance and the overall quality of competition. It remains to be seen if this new scheduling approach will be used in the post-COVID period in women’s volleyball and possibly expanded to other sports. The need to control/lower operating costs will not disappear. This constraint may lead to the adoption of new conference scheduling formats in the future.

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2021-10-04T09:51:12-05:00October 8th, 2021|Sports Management|Comments Off on Evaluating the Impact of Concentrated Match Scheduling in College Volleyball during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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The Impact and Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Design of a Laboratory-Based Coaching Science Experimental Study: A Research Report

Authors: Sam Jermyn, Cian O’ Neill, and Edward K. Coughlan

1 Department of Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies, Munster Technological University, Cork Campus, Cork, Ireland

Corresponding Author:
Sam Jermyn
Department of Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies
Munster Technological University, Cork Campus, Cork, Ireland
E: sam.jermyn@mycit.ie
T: +353 86 3409 505

Author Bios:
Sam Jermyn is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies at Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. His area of research focuses on investigating the impact of weighted implement training on the skill acquisition processes of place-kicking in sport. 

Dr. Cian O’Neill is Head of the Department of Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies at Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. His areas of research include coaching science, sports performance analysis, human performance evaluation and the broad sports science domain.

Dr. Edward K. Coughlan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies at Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. His areas of research include skill acquisition, practice-transfer, deliberate practice, sport science and coaching science.

The Impact and Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Design of a Laboratory-Based Coaching Science Experimental Study: A Research Report

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global issue, posing a great risk and challenge to all facets of sport. Such spontaneous societal restrictions and considerations are posing immense challenges to all, including those conducting laboratory-based coaching science experimental studies. This research report details the necessary amendments applied to a study that was designed prior to the onset of the pandemic. The study, entitled ‘The Acute Effects of Selected Time Intervals Following Weighted Football Place-Kicks on Ball Velocity of a Standard Gaelic Football Place-Kick’, was designed to be conducted in a human performance laboratory. However, due to the pandemic, a multitude of necessary amendments to the experimental set-up and associated procedures were required following a risk assessment of the original experimental design in respect of local, national and international COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. Amendments included remote participant recruitment and the creation of a COVID-19 health screen form. The participant information sheet was updated to enhance understanding of the health and safety requirements, with the number of participants permitted to attend testing sessions reduced to ensure maintenance of social distancing regulations. Data storage procedures were also updated and additional procedures were implemented to ensure safe arrival and exit of participants to and from the testing laboratory. A post-testing session protocol was developed to ensure laboratory sanitization. The purpose of this report is to (i) detail these procedural and methodological amendments that were applied to the original experimental design, and (ii) provide an overview of the implications of these changes as they pertain to the experimental procedure for the duration of data collection. Ultimately, the aim of this report is to provide researchers conducting laboratory-based coaching science studies with considerations pertaining to experimental design that may be impacted by COVID-19 and future pandemics.

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2021-10-01T14:56:40-05:00October 1st, 2021|Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off on The Impact and Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Design of a Laboratory-Based Coaching Science Experimental Study: A Research Report
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