Introduction Later-life brain alterations in former tackle football players are poorly understood, particularly regarding their relationship with repetitive head impacts (RHIs) and clinical function. We examined white matter signal abnormalities (WMSAs) and their association with RHIs and clinical function in former National Football League (NFL) players. Methods Eighty-six clinically symptom...

Throughout adolescence and early adulthood, talented athletes must dedicate increasing personal resources to their sport. Recent empirical research found that applying Role Strain Theory (RST) was useful contextualise international junior golfers’, acrobats’, gymnasts’ Australian Rules footballers’ experiences of how they combined coped with the competing role demands sport education. Findings ...

OBJECTIVES To describe the safety attitudes and beliefs of junior (aged 16-18 years) Australian football players. SETTING Six Victorian Football League Under 18 (VFL U18) clubs in Victoria, Australia. METHODS Cross sectional survey. Altogether 103 players completed a self report questionnaire about their safety beliefs and perceptions of support when injured, across three contexts in which ...

Acute infectious diseases are common in athletes and can impair their ability to train and to compete. Furthermore, continuing exercise during infectious diseases may lead to prolongation or aggravation of illness with severe acute or chronic organ manifestations. Therefore, even simple infectious diseases require a sufficient period of convalescence and recovery, during which exercise may be n...

In order to identify factors associated with on-field moral functioning among student athletes within the unique context of football, we examined masculine gender role conflict, moral atmosphere, and athletic identity. Using structural equation modeling to assess survey data from 204 high school football players, results demonstrated that moral atmosphere (i.e., the influence of coaches and tea...

BACKGROUND Despite little evidence that defines a threshold of head impact exposure or that participation in youth sports leads to long-term cognitive impairments, it is prudent to identify methods of reducing the frequency of head impacts. PURPOSE To compare the mean number of head impacts between youth football players in practice and games between leagues that implemented the Heads Up Foot...

Brazil’s capacity to continuously foster football talents is internationally acknowledged. It is rightly said that Brazil is a bottomless celeiro de craques (storehouse of football stars). But this metaphor might be outdated, given the changes in professional training in recent decades. Rather than thinking of Brazil as a storehouse for supplying players ready to be recruited by the market, as ...

Vitamin D is synthesised in the skin during exposure to sunlight and its fundamental roles are the regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism and bone mineralisation. The aim of our study was to evaluate serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, PTH and bone turnover markers (P1NP, OC, beta-CTx, OC/beta-CTx) and the intake of calcium and vitamin D in Polish Professional Football League (Ekstrak...

Numerous investigations have attested to the efficacy of the National Football League (NFL)-225 test to estimate one repetition maximum (1RM) bench press. However, no studies have assessed the efficacy of the test to track changes in strength across a training program. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of the NFL-225 test for determining the change in 1RM bench press in Na...

Strength and conditioning professionals who work with collegiate football players focus much of their time and effort on developing programs to enhance athletic performance. Although there has been much speculation, there is little scientific evidence to suggest which combination of physical characteristics best predicts athletic performance in this population. The purpose of this investigation...