Magister Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science - MSRES

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/11258

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Browsing by Subject "Adolescents"

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    An exploratory study of essential life skills for adolescent elite athletes in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Woodruff, Roger Jeremy; Young, Marie
    Pursuing a career as a professional athlete has become a viable option for talented athletes to pursue. However, in their pursuit of athletic excellence many athletes neglect their academic, work and post sport career planning. To help athletes with participation, educational, development and lifestyle issues many countries have developed athlete assistance programs. To achieve the objective of a Winning Nation and help talented South African athletes develop and perform at a higher level the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) plans to establish a national academy system. The role of the academy system is to assist in addressing the demographics of the national teams by accelerating the development of talented athletes particularly those from the disadvantaged groups. To ensure that a holistic approach is taken towards athlete development one of the services that will be provided is life skills training. To develop a successful life skills program, it is essential to identify the important life skills to include. Aim The aim of the study was to explore and identify the life skills necessary for inclusion in Life Skills programs in South African elite sport focusing on the development of adolescent athletes to enable them to grow up competent, healthy and reach their full potential. Design A pure qualitative research design was employed using thematic analysis. Data was analysed through the lens of Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory. Moreover, a semi-structured interview guide, consisting of open ended questions, was developed utilizing the 5 C’s of PYD as themes to facilitate the interview process. Nine current adolescent elite South African athletes, on the MacSteel Maestro’s program, participated in the study. A purposive sampling procedure informed the sampling process and a thematic coding framework was developed to analyse the interview data. Results Findings of the research provided a contribution to the literature in two ways. First, it provided a South African perspective of the life skills needed by elite adolescent athletes. Secondly, it identified the life skills elite adolescent South African athletes deemed important for their holistic development to include in life skills programs in South African elite sport. Time management and self - esteem / self – confidence skills were identified as the crucial life skills to be developed. Conclusion In general it can be concluded that the participants have benefitted from being on the MMP, and that the participants exhibited characteristics of competence, confidence, character, connection and caring / compassion both in and out of sport.
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    Factors influencing particpation in physical activity in 11-13 year-old primary school children in the Western Cape
    (University of the Western Cape, 2014) Cozett, Colleen; Leach, L.; Bassett, Sue
    Physical inactivity is increasing among adolescents worldwide and may be contributing to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. South African adolescents are physically inactive and obesity has become an alarming trend. Physical activity behaviours have multiple levels of influence that include predisposing factors, reinforcing factors and enabling factors. This study aimed to identify the predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors of physical activity and which ones were the strongest predictors of physical activity participation among adolescents in the Western Cape. The study sample was conveniently selected from two schools in the Metropole South Education District. Using the children’s physical activity questionnaire and the children’s physical activity correlates questionnaire, a sample of 348 participants completed the questionnaires. Demographic variables were analysed using descriptive statistics which included means and standard deviations. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were performed to determine the relationship between the variables and to determine the strongest predictors of physical activity overall. Parental influence (r=0.236, p<0.01), peer influence (r = 0.012, p<0.05), perceived physical activity self-efficacy (r=0.212, p<0.05) and perceived physical activity competence (r = 0.192, p < 0.05) were all strong predictors of PA. However, parental influence was the strongest predictor overall (r=0.236, p<0.01). Adolescents are more likely to participate in physical activity if their parents encourage, support and participate in physical activity with them.
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    Participation in sport and the perceptions of quality of life amongst high school learners in the Theewaterskloof Municipality, South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2011) Van Hout, Roel Cornelis Henricus; Young, Marié; Bassett, Sue
    In South Africa, sport can unite the country because it can transcend race, gender, politics or language groups. Much of the youth of the country are in the developmental phase where critical decisions are being taken on key life transitions including; education, work, lifestyle, participation in society and other psycho-sociological aspects. In this life phase, learners in high school within the previously disadvantaged communities form a crucial part of South Africa‘s future. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine how high school learners in the Theewaterskloof Municipality in South Africa, perceived the influence of sport participation on their quality of life. To specify the perceptions of the learners on the influence of sport participation, the research described quality of life according to six domains: drugs, alcohol and crime; mental health; social contact, culture and safety; happiness and wellbeing; physical health and diseases; and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that learners of high schools within the previously disadvantaged communities in the Theewaterskloof Municipality, who participated in sport, perceived a better quality of life than learners who did not play sport at all. The research was conducted at three high schools located in the Theewaterskloof Municipality of the Western Cape Province. A questionnaire was used to collect information from 484 learners aged 13 to 18 years. The questionnaire was structured according to the six domains of quality of life. The findings were described for each domain of quality of life and revealed multiple significant outcomes when compared to sport participation. A significant and/or practically significant relationship was noted for variables of each domain, except academic achievement. The domain of drugs, alcohol and crime was not statistically significant, but is considered to be practically significant. Thus, learners perceived that increasing sport participation resulted in a significantly more positive response of at least one variable for the domains social contact, culture and safety; drugs, alcohol and crime; physical health and diseases; mental health; and happiness and wellbeing. These findings of the study only addressed actual sport participation, while there were also significant relationships found between the quality of life variables and the question; ―I like playing sports and being physically active‖. It indicated the relationship between the interest of the participants to play sport and a possible increase on the domains of quality of life. Those variables that were significant to both sport participation and the interest of learners to play sport, were most meaningful. The general hypothesis was supported and it may be concluded that learners within the previously disadvantaged communities in the Theewaterskloof Municipality, who participated in sport, perceived a better quality of life than learners of the same age group who did not play sport at all. Each domain of quality of life was judged by an independent secondary hypothesis and five of the six domains identified that learners perceived a significantly more positive response for at least one variable of that domain, when they participated in sport.