Sport and exercise science

240 Pages·2009·4.009 MB·English

by  Joanne Thatcher

Sport and
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Exercise Science n
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Sport and Exercise Science introduces students to h
the essentials of the major contributing disciplines a
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– biomechanics, physiology and psychology. It combines c
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detailed exposition of each subject area with explicit advice
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on how to study effectively, research further and think r

critically. Case studies help to relate theory to practice and e
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learning exercises help readers to extend and assess their a
understanding. This is the most concise and most supportive l
text ever published for students of SES in higher education.
About the series
Active Learning in Sport takes a new approach to learning
for higher education sport courses. The books provide
opportunities for active and reflective learning, and create
clear links between theory and current sporting practice. S
They are written to be both accessible and challenging, and P
will motivate students and give them the confidence needed O
to engage with the subject critically. R
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About the authors
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Joanne Thatcher and Rhys Thatcher are Lecturers at
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Aberystwyth University; Melissa Day is Senior Lecturer at
the University of Chichester; and Matt Portas and Simon D
Hood are Senior Lecturers at the University of Teesside.
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E Sport and

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Exercise Science
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Joanne Thatcher, Rhys Thatcher, Melissa Day,
Matt Portas and Simon Hood
Learning Matters
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
[email protected]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Sport and
Exercise Science
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Active Learning in Sport – titles in the series 1
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Coaching Science ISBN 978 1 84445 165 4 3
Personal Training ISBN 978 1 84445 163 0 4
Sport Sociology ISBN 978 1 84445 166 1 5
Sport and Exercise Science ISBN 978 1 84445 187 6 6
Sport Management ISBN 978 1 84445 263 7 7
Sport Studies ISBN 978 1 84445 186 9 8
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To order, please contact our distributor: BEBC Distribution, Albion Close, Parkstone, 10
Poole, BH12 3LL. Telephone: [phone], email: [email protected]. 1
You can also find more information on each of these titles and our other learning 2
resources at www.learningmatters.co.uk 3
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Sport and
Exercise Science
Joanne Thatcher, Rhys Thatcher, Melissa Day,
Matthew Portas and Simon Hood
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First published in 2009 by Learning Matters Ltd 511
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from
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Learning Matters.
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© 2009 Joanne Thatcher, Rhys Thatcher, Melissa Day, Matthew Portas and 1
Simon Hood 2
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN: 978 1 84445 187 6 6
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The rights of Joanne Thatcher, Rhys Thatcher, Melissa Day, Matthew Portas and
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Simon Hood to be identified as the authors of this Work has been asserted by them
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Cover design by Toucan Design 1
Text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd 2
Project Management by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon 3
Typeset by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon 4
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall 5
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Learning Matters Ltd
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33 Southernhay East
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Exeter EX1 1NX
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Tel: [phone]
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E-mail: [email protected]
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www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Contents
Acknowlegdements vi
1 Introduction 1
2 Understanding research 6
3 Planning research 18
4 Positivist research 32
5 Interpretative research 52
6 Motivation in sport and exercise 67
7 Stress, anxiety and emotions 86
8 Group dynamics 105
9 Exercise psychology 121
10 Nutrition 139
11 Skeletal muscle 153
12 Cardiovascular system 170
13 Describing motion and quantifying kinetics 184
14 Analysing motion and quantifying kinematics 199
15 A multidisciplinary approach to sport and exercise science 211
Bibliography and references 219
Index 228
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We would like to thank a number of people who provided helpful comments on earlier 511
drafts of some of the chapters in this book: Glen Davison, Ruth Hughes, David Lavallee, 6
Rachel Rahman, Les Tumilty and Bernadette Woods. 7
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Chapter 1
Introduction
Joanne Thatcher, Rhys Thatcher,
Matthew Portas and Simon Hood
Sport and exercise science
Sport and exercise science is one of the most exciting ways to study and apply science
and has never been more important than in today’s society. We’re never too far away
from a major sporting event: Wimbledon, the Olympics and Paralympics, the cricket,
rugby and football World Cups, the Ryder Cup in golf, Badminton horse trials ... the list
is almost endless. Sport scientists have an increasingly prominent role in contemporary
sport, working with athletes, coaches and officials to help them to optimise per-
formance and ensure that their involvement in competitive sport is a rewarding and
positive experience.
On the opposite side of the coin, we are faced with increasing levels of obesity and
physical inactivity in our society, contributing to physical and mental ill health in adults,
and, worryingly, in children. Exercise science plays a critical role in understanding these
problems and offering solutions aimed at optimising physical activity levels and the
health benefits that we know can be gained from physical activity.
We can see, then, that there’s a fundamental difference between sport science and
exercise science. The main aim of sport science is to optimise the mental and physical
preparation, performance and overall experience of competitive sports participants,
from amateurs to Olympic champions, including athletes, coaches, officials and so on.
The main aim of exercise science is to optimise physical activity levels, experiences and
benefits in the general population. This fundamental difference aside, there is, of course,
a great deal of overlap between the two areas. For instance, the same theories can be
used to understand why people are motivated to take part in both competitive sport
and health-related physical activity. Many of the same physiological factors limit
physical performance whether it is an elite athlete running at 20km/hour or a previously
physically inactive person who is jogging at 6km/hour. The same can be said of
biomechanics, where the theories and laws of physics that underpin the subject apply to
a person slowly jogging around a park to keep fit or an elite runner speeding through
Central Park at the end of the New York Marathon. These examples also introduce us
to the three key sub-disciplines within sport and exercise science: psychology,
physiology, and biomechanics.
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Sport and exercise psychology 1
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As well as being a sub-discipline within sport and exercise science, sport and exercise
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psychology is a sub-discipline within the field of psychology, alongside other areas such
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as clinical psychology, counselling psychology and educational psychology. As such, its
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main concern mirrors that of other fields of psychology: to understand, explain, predict
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and change people’s behaviours, emotions and thought processes.
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Sport and exercise psychology therefore involves the application and use of
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psychology within sport and exercise settings. The box below presents some of the key
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questions and issues that sport and exercise psychologists are interested in.
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• What psychological strategies will help an athlete to stay focused during
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competition?
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• How can we develop cohesion in competitive sports teams?
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• What motivates teenage girls to do physical activity and exercise?
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• Can exercise help to prevent mental ill health, such as anxiety and
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depression?
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Sport and exercise physiology
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Physiology is the study of the function of biological systems. In sport and exercise
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physiology we are interested in how the body responds to exercise and physical activity,
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what limits physical performance, and how training can be used to improve health and
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performance. For instance, we examine how the heart functions to deliver blood to
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muscle and how muscle functions to produce force. Other areas covered in sport and
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exercise physiology include the effects of diet on health and performance. The box
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below presents some of the key questions and issues that sport and exercise
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physiologists are interested in.
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• How can an individual change their diet to improve their health and their
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ability to compete in sport?
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• How can an athlete train to improve their athletic performance?
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• What physical factors can limit an athlete’s sporting performance?
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• What does an athlete need to do to stay healthy while they are training
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hard?
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Sport and exercise biomechanics
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Biomechanics is the application of the laws and principles of physics to biological 4
systems (e.g. a human being). When studying biomechanics you will encounter clinical 5
(generally gait analysis and injury rehabilitation) and applied biomechanics, both of 6
which rely on understanding the basic concepts of forces and principles of bodily 711
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motion. For example, if a person experiences pain in their shins when they try to jog
(known as shin splints), biomechanists can examine the motion of the person’s legs
during running and work out how forces produced by the movement pass through the
body. They then make adjustments to the runner’s technique to try to stop them
experiencing pain. The box below presents some of the key questions and issues that
biomechanists are interested in.
• How can we analyse the techniques used in different sport skills to help
athletes become quicker and more powerful?
• How can we increase efficiency of human movement so that elderly people
are steadier on their feet?
• How do we design sports equipment such as golf clubs that make the ball
travel further with less human effort or footballs that travel through the
air with less resistance?
The aims of this book
With our book, we aim to try to achieve five things:
1 To introduce you to key topics within each of the sub-disciplines of sport and
exercise science.
2 To introduce you to the methods that are used by sport and exercise scientists to
research questions like those listed above.
3 To encourage you to think about, use and develop study skills to help you to get
the most out of reading this book and your future learning.
4 To encourage you to be an active learner as you work through this book.
5 To help you to enjoy studying sport and exercise science.
Aim 1: Introducing sport and exercise science
In the chapters on sport and exercise psychology, Joanne Thatcher and Melissa Day
discuss motivation in sport and exercise, stress, anxiety and coping in sport, the
dynamics of teams and achieving team cohesion and the psychological effects of
exercise participation. In the chapters on sport and exercise physiology, Rhys Thatcher
examines the role of diet and nutrition before moving on to discuss muscle function and
the role of the cardiovascular system in physical performance.
In the biomechanics chapters, Matthew Portas and Simon Hood explore how key
anatomical terminology relates to biomechanics before going on to introduce Newton’s
Laws of Motion. They then consider some of the key principles surrounding the study
of forces and human movement, and conclude by discussing the principles and terms
that are related to the motion of the body in straight lines and during rotation.
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