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In recent years, Pop Warner, the world’s largest youth football organization, has seen its numbers decline. This decline is due to concerns about new research establishing a link between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease. Hundreds of thousands of parents are now struggling with a difficult ethical issue: should kids play football? Since parents have an obligation to help children develop the capacities required for autonomous choice, the risks posed by football establish a strong presumption against allowing kids to play the game. I consider whether this presumption can be defeated by the arguments for allowing kids to play dangerous sports offered by John Russell in his papers ’The Value of Dangerous Sport’ and ‘Children and Dangerous Sport and Recreation’. While Russell does not argue that kids should be permitted to play football, and agrees that some sports may be too risky for children, he argues that kids should often be allowed to participate in extraordinarily risky sports. I contend that the reasons given in support of this position fail to defeat the presumption against allowing kids to play football. Thus, in the absence of further argument, or radical changes to the game, children should not play football. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a large focus on the dominant discourses that frame Muslim women as "other" in European public spaces, but less research on the spatial practices of Muslim women themselves. Through an ethnographic case-study of urban girls' football, this article provides new insights in research on gender and Islam in Europe, as it shows that Muslim girls, through playing football, contest the normative constructions of Dutch public space as masculine, white and secular. The article approaches playing football as spatial performance, and takes into account those public spaces that are not explicitly religious, indeed a domain much less studied in research on Islam and gender in Europe. I argue that it is important in research on Islam, gender and public space to not only focus on explicit religious public practices, but also on practices that are not explicitly religious or Islamic, as they emphasize the potential for resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of sport in modern society, it is essential that appropriate instruments are available for the assessment of both fair play and unfair play in the sport of football, particularly in the context of youth football. This research study presents the findings from the implementation of a protocol intended to assess fair play during football matches across three seasons. The study included 64 teams, 1192 players, 64 coaches and 292 referees all of whom were involved in the First Cadet category of the Football Federation of Álava (FFA). The measurement instrument employed was the Record of Football Match Evaluations (RFME) developed by Gimeno, Sáenz, Ariño and Aznar (2007). The results revealed that there was a high level of fair play at this level of play which extended to referees, coaches and players across the seasons of interest; there was a greater frequency of fair play attitudes relative to unfair play attitudes; home teams that were victorious were judged to have the most favorable fair play attitudes; and there was a negative correlation between perceived fair play and the number of cards shown by referees. The instrument 1) allowed for the effective utilization of a tool to assess fair play in youth football; 2) was effective for use over the course of the season; and 3) provided knowledge about the social agents who initiate inappropriate and unsportsmanlike acts during football matches for of school age youth, which enables consideration of appropriate counter measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African research on young children’s constructions of social identities illuminates the significance of play in the construction of gender identities. However, what remains largely understudied are the children’s construction of sexualities through play. The dominant discourse of ‘childhood innocence’ obscures the variegated understandings of the meanings children attach to sexualities. This paper will explore how some South African boys and girls aged 9–10 years construct themselves as active heterosexual subjects through football talk and play during break-time at school. The paper will demonstrate how the school playground is constructed by the ‘charmer boys’ as a ‘football space’ where they use football performance to impress and charm the ‘cream girls’ who are relegated to the margins as spectators of the football games. However, the paper will also argue that gender power relations are complex and that the position of the ‘creamers’ is infused with power as reflected in the role that they play as assessors of the boys’ performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Timisoara Physical Education & Rehabilitation Journal is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, we follow the changes generated by applying the problem-solving method based on an observation sheet for two groups of 40 boys aged between 11 and 12 years from "Steaua Bucharest" Children and Junior Centre and from the "Mircea Eliade" Sports High School. Certain effects of the application of this method are represented by: endowing the player with skills, knowledge, and attitudes in accordance with the age- specific objectives, increasing the degree of real participation, developing attention and concentration as well as improving the level of acumen and creative thinking of the athlete within the experimental group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of E-balonmano.com: Journal of Sports Science / Revista de Ciencias del Deporte is the property of Federacion Extremena de Balonmano and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the formation of the young football player, each period corresponds to a particular stage of work, so, specific tasks are to be carried out. As a result, the coach will set targets to respond to all the training requirements of this level and will use methods and means of workout specific to the respective age. Between 6-13 years, in the football game there are three stages of training, with an intermediate stage between 8-10 years, exceptionally useful in learning the technique due to the education of psychomotor components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the possibility that several skills from soccer children can be consolidated, by using special training. Were tested 12 children born in 1997. Means of training used in this period led to significant improvements in indices and physical techniques to test children. The data were collected at the beginning and at the end of the study period, and showed significant(p< 0,0005) greater gains for experimental group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the significance of football in the lives of college students in the U.S. Football is a wonderful corrective against the isolated lives of college students and faculty. It is one thing in the twentieth century that the universities and colleges do and influenced the non-academic world. Football also increases the attendance of colleges, profiting not only the boys but their parents. However, the notable contribution of the sport is the wholesome rivalry of the students.