1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION by Revija GIMNASTIKA

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SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION 1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION FINAL PROGRAM, INVITED PROCEEDINGS, BOOK OF ABSTRACTS AND BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS

Editors: Maja Bučar Pajek, Nuša Jarc and Mitija Samardžija Pavletič

Portorož, Slovenia January 24, 2014

Organizer:

Slovenian Gymnastics Federation

Organizing Committee: Chair: Mitija Samardžija Pavletič Members:

Maja Bučar Pajek Sebastijan Piletič Jernej Salecl Nuša Semič Urša Bavdek Robert Grgič

Scientific Committee: Chair: Maja Bučar Pajek Vice-chairs:

Almir Atiković Miha Marinšek

Members:

Petra Zupet Boštjan Šimunič Sunčica Delaš Kalinski

Secretary:

Nuša Jarc

Publisher:

Slovenian Gymnastics Federation Dalmatinova 10, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia January, 2014

Editors:

Maja Bučar Pajek, Nuša Jarc and Mitija Samardžija Pavletič

Reviewers:

Maja Bučar Pajek and Jernej Pajek

Design and Prepress: Branko Vrblač - Vrba Edition:

150 copies

For the Publisher:

Mitija Samardžija Pavletič

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

FINAL PROGRAM, INVITED PROCEEDINGS, BOOK OF ABSTRACTS AND BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 796.41(082) GIMNASTIČNA zveza Slovenije. International Scientific Congress (1 ; 2014 ; Portorož) Final program, invited proceedings, book of abstracts and book of proceedings / SlovenianGymnasticsFederation, 1st International Scientific Congress, Portorož - Bernardin, Slovenia, January 24, 2014 ; [editors Maja Bučar Pajek ... etal.]. Ljubljana : Slovenian Gymnastics Federation, 2014 ISBN 978-961-6733-07-6 1. Bučar Pajek, Maja 272346112

CONTENTS

WELCOME ADDRESS

DAILY SCHEDULE

PLENARY LECTURE

INVITED PROCEEDINGS

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

WELCOME ADDRESS Dear Colleagues and friends Encouraged by numerous success stories of the Slovenian gymnasts in major competitions and by the successful practice integrating science and expertise, it is my great pleasure and honor to invite you to attend to the first international scientific congress organized by Slovenian Gymnastics Federation. The congress will take place in Grand Hotel Bernardin at January, 24, 2014 in Slovenia. The congress will focus on the exchange of research findings in various sport disciplines. The scientific program is divided to four sessions: plenary session, invited symposia, oral presentations and poster presentations. Scientific program will include topics related to gymnastics, aerobics, gymnastics for all and other topics from the field of sports medicine, sports and biomechanics, nutrition, sports psychology, theory of training, sports technology, sports management and sports marketing. In the beauty of Slovenian coast the Organizing Committee will make every effort to make The Congress a successful meeting with excellent scientific program. It is also our task to provide an enjoyable and friendly atmosphere at our meeting. I am looking forward to see you in Bernardin, Slovenia.

assist. prof. Maja Bučar Pajek, PhD President of the Scientific Committee

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION Portorož - Bernardin, January 24, 2013. 9.00 – 17.00

REGISTRATION OF PARTICIPANTS

9.30 – 10.00

OPENING CEREMONY

10.00 – 10.45

PLENARY SESSION WITH DISCUSSION (Chair: Maja Bučar Pajek)

Ivan Čuk: Slovenian scientific contribution to gymnastics

10.45 – 11.00

BREAK

11.00 – 12.00

INVITED SYMPOSIA (Chairs: Petra Zupet and Mitija Samardžija Pavletič)

Rado Pišot: Fundamental motor patterns as a basis of motor learning

Sunčica Delaš Kalinski: Motor learning in gymnastics

Maja Bučar Pajek: Judging in gymnastics - recent advances in scientific analysis of judging performance

Almir Atiković: Development and analysis code of points (COP) in men’s artistic gymnastics (MAG) from the 1964 to 2013 year

12.00 – 12.30 COFFEE BREAK 12.30 – 13.30 INVITED SYMPOSIA (Chairs: Poljanka Pavletič Samardžija and Boštjan Šimunič)

Miha Marinšek: Mechanisms regulating landings on floor in gymnastics - twisting somersault landings in floor exercise

Mitija Samardžija Pavletič: Determining the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics

Petra Zupet: The possibilities of using tensiomiography in assessing muscle injuries in athletes

Poljanka Pavletič Samardžija: Volunteer management in sports organization

13.30 – 14.30 LUNCH BREAK

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

14.30 – 15.00 ORAL PRESENTATIONS (Chairs: Miha Marinšek and Almir Atiković)

Almir Atiković: Characteristics and Trend of Judging Scores in the European, World Championships and Olympic Games in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics from 2006 to 2011 year

Dorjana Zerbo-Šporin: The female athlete triade – a review

15.00 – 15.30 COFFEE BREAK 15.30 – 16.30 ORAL PRESENTATIONS (Chairs: Sunčica Delaš Kalinski and Mitija Samardžija Pavletič)

Iztok Retar: 15 most important competences of Slovenian sport managers

Nina Mohorko: Nutrition in gymnastic athlete

Boštjan Šimunič: Discovering adaptive potential of skeletal muscle contractile properties in children

16.30 – 17.00 POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Urban Sever: Training load in competition microcycle in womens artistic gymnastics

Ľubica Böhmerová: Exposure to specific exercise increases the sensitivity of postural sway test in gymnasts

Tadeja Jakus: Nutrition in gymnastics – a case study

PLENARY LECTURE

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

SLOVENE SCIENCE OF GYMNASTICS Čuk, I. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Science is an activity that seeks to methodically get to systematically derived and demonstrable knowledge. Science is usually divided into the following scientific areas: natural sciences and mathematics, technical sciences, medical sciences, biotech, social sciences and the humanities. Since the Južni Sokol establishment in 1863 gym also had an impact on the scientific fields. The first written text Nekaj besed o telovadstvu (1864) from Dr. H.E. Costa can not be considered scientific work (although it may be possible to categorize it in a philosophical discussion and humanism), but certainly Nauk o telovadbi from 1867 is the first Slovenian scientific work in the field of physical culture. Authors Coloreto and especially Levstik (book design by Tomsic) were the first to prepare Slovenian gymnastics terminology and didactics of physical exercise. Vojteh Valenta in 1888 on the 25th anniversary of Južni Sokol wrote the biography of Štefan Mandic, the first gym teacher (which falls within the scope of history and humanities). Dr. Viktor Murnik since 1893, when he entered the Ljubljana Falcon until his death (1964) published a lot of scientific work and first drew attention to the need for exercise and physical exercises scientifically justified by the objective of human health. Wrote the first discussions on the impact of exercise on the human organism, which are in the field of humanities (terminology history, philosophy), science (metrology), social sciences (Exercise and culture, System of free gymnastics exercises, System and method of work in gymnastics, Rhythm, Biological value of exercises, Exercise in fantasy). In 1933, Božo Škerlj performed the first quantitative study at the 70th anniversary of Južni Sokol and measured anthropometric characteristics of gymnasts (medical field). After World War II were very creative pair Boris Gregorka and Jelica Vazzaz, which carried out the first serious study of training load in preparation for the big competition, but are also carried out a remarkable work in the field of history. Mag. Toni Bolković is the first to use multivariate analysis (regression analyze) in predicting the performance of gymnasts. The first Ph.D. in the field of gymnastics has become dr. Stane Proje while the first woman was dr. Doljana Novak. Dr. Doljana Novak and dr. Ivan Čuk in the eighties have set models of targeting and selection of children in gymnastics, including models of artificial intelligence. Since the nineties, the research is aimed at motor learning, analysis of competitive performance, analysis of the biomechanical characteristics of movements in gymnastics, gymnastics implementation in the school environment and of course history. The last two doctoral candidates with gymnastic contents tasks were dr. Maja Bučar and dr. Miha Marinšek, with rhythmics content dr. Branka Vajngerl. Slovenian scientists are respected abroad; since 2009 Department of Gymnastics at the Faculty of Sport publish international scientific journal Science of Gymnastics Journal.

INVITED PROCEEDINGS

1st INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY SLOVENIAN GYMNASTICS FEDERATION

FUNDAMENTAL MOTOR PATTERNS AS A BASIS OF MOTOR LEARNING Pišot, R. University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre, Institute for kinesiology research, Koper, Slovenia

Motor competencies development is a very important and continuous process where child could experience periods of stagnation. Inherit factors are determinative for nervous and muscle development, morphological characteristics, physiological characteristics and physical growth (Malina, Bouchard and Bar-Or, 2004). Knowledge and acquisition of different modes of movement is of utmost importance in child’s development and process of adopting essential motor skills. Most of them are phylogenetically conditioned, innate and characteristic of humans as a species. These are basic, fundamental motor patterns (FMP), e.g. walking, running, crawling, climbing, throwing, catching a ball, kicking, jumping. As part of an individual’s need for movement, they are directed mainly towards satisfying the quantitative value of movement - achieving the goal, and are not so much focused on the quality of the movement. These experiences ensure acquisition of motor skills and guarantee the development of the motor competence. Without competence in such skills students are less likely to access the range of options available to establish an active lifestyle. Research indicates that the improvement in self-esteem and confidence in movement that accompanies the acquisition of FMP has a flow-on effect to all other areas of a child’s early development. Unfortunately, today’s modern life style in interaction with children’s living environment is anything but favorable and stimulating. Bearing in mind that inadequately acquired elementary motor patterns negatively affect the process of upgrading motor stereotypes and consequently also result in poor and irregular physical/sports activity in adulthood, we decided to explore and examine the phenomenon and role of FMP in human development, starting with the youngest. Numerous studies prove important positive connections between the harmony of movement (better coordination, higher level of motor knowledge/information) and intensity of movement in younger children and adolescents. Those with higher level of motor knowledge (proficiency) are more often present in sports and spend more time for physical/sports activity per week. Research, where the occurrence and characteristics of fundamental motor patterns were studied, has shown that children with more coordinated movement (high coherence) are faster and more efficient. These children are better in climbing, crawling and jumping (Pišot, 2012). Children with more knowledge and motor information (better motor memory) and more experience have greater interest in being involved in physical/sports activities in adolescence (Malina, 2008). Movement patterns and motor skills that have not been mastered at an early age may remain unlearned due to the development of bad habits, self-consciousness or fear of injury (Gallahue, Ozmun, & Goodway, 2011). Early childhood physical activity guidelines indicate that the development of fundamental motor patterns and skills should be a key component of early childhood education programs (Lubans et al., 2010; Volmut, Pišot, & Šimunič, 2013) and an important background for adequate future motor learning processes. Knowing and understanding developmental mechanisms of FMP and their impact on motor learning process, help us predict and solve the problems as well as programmed appropriate interventions, exercise and training.

REFERENCES: Malina, Bouchard and Bar-Or, (2004). Growth, Maturation, and Physical Activity, IL: Human Kinetics. Pišot (2012). Kinesiologia Slovenica, 18, 3, 35–46 Gallahue, Ozmun, & Goodway (2011). Understanding motor development: London: McGraw-Hill. Lubans et al. (2010). Sports Medicine, 40(12), 1019–1035 Volmut, Pišot, & Šimunič (2013). SJPH 52: 9-19

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MOTOR LEARNING IN GYMNASTICS Delaš Kalinski, S. Kineziološki fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska

ABSTRACT Motor learning is the process by which the capacity to produce motor skill is changed as a result of instruction, practice, or experience (Edwards, 2010). Changes that occur are relatively permanent, although are not directly visible. We can inferred about them on the basis of observations of performance of motor skills, taking into account three components: 1) the characteristics of the learner, 2) the characteristics of the skill that is taught and 3) the characteristics of the environment in which the skill is learned. Artistic gymnastics is generally characterized with learning conventional, polystructural, mainly acyclic motor skills. When we teach these skills we usually apply methods of work, learning and training, which are applied in other sports. The primary goal is to achieve a better quality of the learning process, and longterm goal is to fulfill constantly progressive requirements putted in front the gymnasts by gymnastics Code of Points. There are three ways to find out did a learning process occure, and to which degree, and they are: 1) by measuring of acquisition during the learning process, 2) based on the results that are achieved after a certain period of non-repetition of that skill (retention test), and 3) by determining the adaptability of the learning process (transfer test). In artistic gymnastics, based on measurements of the acquisition of motor skills during the learning process, there are three (of possible four) performance curves that can be determined: negatively accelerating, positively accelerating and “S shaped” performance curve. In this work, a several previous studies that have analised the quality of the learning process of gymnastic skills, will be shown. Delas Kalinski (2009) determined predominantly negatively accelerating dynamics of the learning process of basic gymnastic skills. In retention phase level of the skills were not significantly reduced what confired the quality of the conducted learning process. Erceg (2010) found that there is a positive transfer between simple and complex gymnastic skills. Čuljak (2013) found that there is a progressive process of learning of basic gymnastic skills as well as the positive transfer of biotic motor skills on simple gymnastics motor skills. The results of these studies should be the best indicator for the creation of better learning process which is the one that will ultimately have the greatest positive transfer to the competitive success of gymnasts.

REFERENCES: Čuljak, Z. (2013). Transfer biotičkih motoričkih znanja na stupanj specijaliziranih znanja iz sportske gimnastike Doktorska disertacija. Split: Kineziološki fakultet. Delaš Kalinski, S. (2009). Dinamika procesa učenja motoričkoh znanja iz sportske gimnastike. Doktorska disertacija. Zagreb: Kineziološki fakultet. Edwards, Wiliam H. (2010). Motor learning and control: From Theory to Practice, 1e. Belmont, CA. Erceg, T. (2010). Transfer znanja u sportskoj gimnastici. Završni rad. Split: Kineziološki fakultet.

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JUDGING IN GYMNASTICS - RECENT ADVANCES IN SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF JUDGING PERFORMANCE Bučar Pajek, M. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia

ABSTRACT The rules of gymnastic judging objectively specify how exercises should be evaluated, however evaluation is prone to judges’ errors. In this review the work of our group in analysis of reliability, validiy and comparative performance at various competitions is presented. In analyses of judging we have found overall satisfactory indices of reliability, however a certain level of judging bias (systematic overor underrating) of competitors could be found. When the quality of judging at gymnastic competitions of different levels was analysed, similar judging performance was found. Some evidence of persistent national bias could be found at European championship 2011. Finally, we give the review of results of real time judging system and propose the implementation of this system that would enable a faster and more efficient inspection the judging output during the routine. INTRODUCTION Evaluation of artistic gymnastics exercises has a long tradition. At the beginning of gymnastic competition history, only one judge was evaluating a gymnast, but later the number of judges increased, up to the current number of eight (FIG, 2009). Women’s artistic gymnastics followed the male experience from commencement at World Championships in 1950. The previous (2008-2012) Code of Points was similar for women and men in terms of judges’ panel structure and in the general structure of evaluation. Both codes have six judges (or four judges for competitions at levels lower than Olympic Games or World Cup) evaluating exercise execution (this setting was changed at the World Cup Tokio 2011 – only five judges are evaluating exercise execution). This results in the E (execution) score. In addition, two judges evaluated exercise content and they provide the D (difficulty) score. E scores range from 10 points down in decrements of 0.1 and D scores go from 0 points rising in increments of 0.1. Since the D score is a joint (consensus) score of both judges who evaluate exercise content, it is impossible to calculate reliability and validity, while for the E score, which was an average score of the middle four (or two) judges this calculation is possible. A gymnast result is determined by a panel of judges, which should evaluate a gymnastic exercise according to clearly defined rules. Although these rules objectively specify how exercises should be evaluated, evaluation is prone to judges’ errors. These errors may be unintentional or sometimes intentional, e.g. at OG 2004 in Athens where head judge was punished for biased decision in men’s all around finals. In elite gymnastics the difference between competitors, especially those running for medals, is usually small and small errors can result in a big difference to the final rank of a competitor. Competitors, coaches, spectators, and the media are therefore concerned that judging is of a high standard. The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which is responsible for the development of sport internationally, is continually trying to implement “fair” rules, which are interpreted by carefully chosen, well educated judges with high ethical standards (FIG, 2009a, 2009b). Some of the most important endeavors of the FIG in this direction were major changes made to the Code of Points in 2006 and the IRCOS project, which allow for evaluation of judge’s Performances through video analysis. In this review the work of our group in analysis of reliability, validiy and comparative performance at various competitions is presented regarding judging in the Olympic cycle 2008-2012.

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MAIN FINDINGS Despite the FIG Men’s Code of Points being changed, there was little evidence to show that these changes have had an effect on judging standards. After the previous change to the Code of Points (2008) the second biggest men’s artistic gymnastics competition took place in 2009 - University Games in Belgrade. Therefore the data on judges’ scores in male competition were analysed (Leskošek et al, 2010). For the Execution score, which was evaluated by 4 or 6 judges (4-in qualifications and all around, 6 in finals) reliability and validity were calculated (intraclass correlation coefficient, Cronbach’s alpha, Kendall coefficient of concordance W, and a theta coefficient; differences in mean E scores between judges were tested using repeated measures ANOVA. Results showed very high reliability (e.g. Cronbach alfa range from 0.92 up to 0.99). Systematic bias in individual judge’s scores and judges’ panels were frequent. Invalidity tended to decrease as competitor numbers increased. When the results of female part of University games 2009 were analysed (Bučar et al, 2012), vault and floor exercise finals were the sessions with the highest scores and the lowest score dispersion. The overall highest individual judge average absolute deviation was 0.34 point and the largest mean rank deviation was 0.88 with most values well below this. A correlation matrix for between-judge correlations identified 3 judges (out of 20) in the apparatus finals sessions with remarkably inferior correlations with others. Except for vault and floor finals, the results in terms of consistency (Cronbach’s alpha mostly above 0.95) and reliability (Armor’s theta mostly above 0.94, intra-class correlation for single and average measures above 0.87 and 0.94, respectively) were satisfactory (Table 1). In conclusion, overall high values of reliability and consistency indices were found. We concluded that in sessions where the variability between competitors was low (such as vault and floor finals in this competition) should be inspected with special care in future judging analyses. Table 1 Overall measures of inter-judge reliability at female part of Universiade 2009. Session 1,2,3: qualifications, all round finals, apparatus finals; ICC single (average): intra-class correlation for single (average) scores; λ1: first eigenvalue from the principal component analysis; p(W): p value of Kendall’s W. Session

Apparatus ICC single

ICC average

λ1

Armor’s theta

Kendall’s p(W) W

VT UB BB FL VT UB BB FL VT UB BB FL

0.94 0.98 0.97 0.95 0.97 0.99 0.98 0.97 0.72 0.98 0.98 0.84

3.433 3.747 3.734 3.520 3.769 3.918 3.758 3.688 2.641 5.487 5.416 3.704

0.94 0.98 0.98 0.95 0.98 0.99 0.98 0.97 0.75 0.98 0.98 0.88

0.10 0.04 0.07 0.01 0.08 0.07 0.01 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.12 0.1

0.79 0.91 0.88 0.83 0.91 0.97 0.92 0.89 0.30 0.88 0.87 0.47

<0.01 0.16 0.02

0.65 0.11 0.17 0.78

0.43 0.59 0.81 0.43 0.57

Next competition to be thoroughly analyzed was the European Championship 2011 (Leskošek et al, 2012). In that study we aimed to establish the validity (unbiasedness) and reliability of E-panel judges officiating execution of exercises in men’s artistic gymnastics. Overall bias was established in terms of average overscoring or under-scoring of each judge compared to the final E score of a judges’ E panel.

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National bias was expressed as average over-scoring of gymnasts of the same nationality as the judge’s. Both types of bias were mostly small (within the +/- 0.1 point range), but statistically significant and also substantial (over 0.2 point) in some cases. Compared to other competitions, it seemed that bias is becoming smaller over time and is also smaller in competitions of higher importance. Analysis of possible consequences of bias showed that overall bias may influence both scores and ranks of competitors, while national bias may be especially problematic in the qualification round, where it may prevent some competitors from qualifying for apparatus finals. Up to now no major attention was devoted to the differences in judging performance between the competitions of different levels. Therefore we performed a study to analyse the reliability and validity of female judging at the European championship in Berlin 2011 and to compare the results with Universiade 2009 in Belgrade (Bučar Pajek et al, 2013). Comparison with Universiade 2009 identified vault and floor scores at both competitions to have inferior reliability indices. At both competitions average deviations of judges from the final E score were close to zero (p=0.84, Figure 1) but Berlin 2011 competition showed a higher number of apparatuses with significant Kendall’s W (5 vs. 2 for Universiade 2009) and higher eta-squared values indicating higher judge panel bias in all-round and apparatus finals.

Figure 1. Boxplot for mean deviations (a measure of bias, dark grey) and mean absolute deviation (a measure of reliability, light grey) for both compared competitions. P=0.84 for mean deviations difference between competition and p=0.25 for mean absolute deviation differences between competitions. We also investigated the trends in execution and difficulty scores of routines on all apparatus and in both qualification and final rounds of male European championships just before and during a 5-year period after the introduction of new “open-ended” Code of Points (CoP) in 2006 (Leskošek et al, 2013). It was found that the CoP (2008-2012) solved the problem of invariant difficulty scores, most efficiently toward the end of the observed period (2011).

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Execution scores showed a clear decreasing trend, both in absolute value and also in it’s ratio with difficulty score. A question arises, if the decreasing influence of execution on final score (and therefore ranking of competitors) was the desired outcome of the CoP (2008-2012) and future evaluation of gymnastic routines. It was also questioned if the decrease in execution score should be solely explained by the increase of difficulty (which probably means more deductions) and some minor changes in CoP after year 2006, or it showed (possibly unjustified) changes in applying the CoP. FUTURE PROSPECTS - REAL TIME JUDGING SYSTEM - RTJS (Bučar Pajek et al, 2011) Currently, only the sum of deductions is presented in the individual judge’s score and it is not known at what time-points which deduction took place and what was its magnitude. It would be of great value if E score judges could also be evaluated according to what deduction was taken and when it was taken during the rated exercise. Computerised systems to allow for such an analysis of judging are available (Čuk & Forbes, 2006) and we tested it as a means to reduce significant differences in judge’s scores and to improve the overall quality of judging. Six international judges of breve (levels) 1-4 who volunteered to participate in this study were rating the videotaped routines. The routines were chosen from the international competition Šalamun’s memorial, which is a world cup competition series B and was held at Maribor, Slovenia in 2009. As for the first study, only routines on men parallel bars were selected for evaluation. The RTJS was used to serve as an application for entry of judges’ deductions, their recording and display. It was developed in Australian Institute of Sport (Warwick Forbes, Colin Mackintosh) and with collaboration of Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana (Ivan Čuk). It enables the entry of judge deductions in real time during the routine execution. Through recording of selected routine and displaying the deductions on the video of that routine at the exact time when deductions were entered it gives the competitors and coaches an invaluable feedback about the judges’ evaluation. In this first report of the results of judging using the RTJS we have found overall satisfactory indices of reliability. When we compared the values to the report of judging analysis on the Universiade 2009 (Leskošek et al, 2010) we can see that the values of reliability were quite comparable (Table 2). When the indices of validity (concerning systematic bias) are regarded, there is a trend towards higher maximal deviations from E score at individual judge level with RTJS. Also, when compared to all around finals and apparatus finals at Universiade 2009 it can be seen, that RTJS yielded higher and statistically significant indices of bias (systematic deviation, Table 2). Table 2 The comparison of the study on RTJS and judging analysis of universiade 2009 in indices ofreliability (objectivity). Study

Leskosek et al 2010 (Universiade 2009)

RTJS

R corr

0.93 (0.77 – 0.96)

0.88 (0.82-0.95)

Cronbach’s alpha†

0.98; 0.93; 0.96

0.96

ICC single measures†

0.91; 0.77; 0.81

0.77

ICC (average measures) †

0.98; 0.93; 0.96

0.95

Armor’s theta†

0.98; 0.94; 0.97

0.96

Maximal mean deviation from E score†

0.07; 0.08; -0.18

-0.28

Maximal mean absolute deviation from E score†

0.17; 0.19; 0.26

0.37

† The three values for Universiade 2009 denote are derived from the qualifications, all around finals and apparatus finals sessions, respectively.

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It should be noted that the possibility for judges to correct their E-scores when they inspect the final sum of their deductions at the end of routine and to correct their judging according to the final e-scores from previous routines were prevented in our experiment. The judges had to make their deductions during the routine without the possibility for further corrections once the deduction was perceived by computer system (i.e. after the click on the keyboard). This important difference reduced the regression towards the mean and accentuated the differences between judges.

CONCLUSIONS When we regard the possible use of RTJS in future it is more than obvious that such system would be of great value for the training of judges. It would enable a faster and more efficient inspection the judging output during the routine. Additionally, with this application the feedback to coaches and competitors would be much more informative giving them as much detail as possible about when and where the deductions were taken within their routine. Finally, we believe that this system should be tested also at gymnastics competitions to compare it with the current one and to see if it would enable us to further improve the judging performance in terms of reliability and validity and transparency of judging.

REFERENCES Bučar Pajek, M., Forbes, W., Pajek, J., Leskošek, B. &, Čuk, I. (2011). Reliability of real time judging system. Science of gymnastics journal, 3(2), 47-54. Bučar, M., Čuk, I., Pajek, J., Karacsony, I. & Leskošek, B. (2013). Reliability and validity of judging in women’s artistic gymnastics at University Games 2009. Eur J Sport Sci, 12, 207-215. Bučar Pajek, M., Čuk, I., Pajek, J., Kovač, M. & Leskošek, B. (2013). Is the quality of judging in women artistic gymnastics equivalent at major competitions of different levels?. Journal of Human Kinetics, 37, 173-181. Čuk, I. & Forbes, W. (2006). Kam greš, sojenje? [Where is judging headed?]. In Kolar, E. & Piletič, S (Eds.), Gimnastika za trenerje in pedagoge 2 (pp. 76-86). Ljubljana: Gimnastična zveza Slovenije. FIG (2009). Code of points for women artistic gymnastics competitions. Retrieved October 1, 2009, From http:// figdocs.lx2.sportcentric.com/external/serve.php?document 1205. FIG (2009a). 2009 FIG General Judges’ Rules. FIG. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://figdocs.lx2. sportcentric.com/external/serve.php?document=658. FIG (2009b). 2009 FIG Judges’ Rules Specific Rules For Men’s Artistic Gymnastics. FIG. Retrieved december 3, 2009, from http://figdocs.lx2.sportcentric.com/external/serve.php?document=529. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I., Karacsony, I., Pajek, J. & Bučar, M. (2010). Reliability and validity of judging in men’s artistic gymnastics at the 2009 university games. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 2, 25-34. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I., Pajek, J., Forbes, W. & Bučar Pajek, M. (2012). Bias of in men’s artistic gymnastics at the European championship 2011. Biology of Sport, 29 (2), 107-113. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I. & Bučar Pajek, M. (2013). Trends in E and D scores and their influence on final results of male gymnasts at European championships 2005-2011. Science of gymnastics journal, 5 (1), 29-38.

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DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS CODE OF POINTS (COP) IN MEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS (MAG) FROM THE 1964 TO 2013 YEAR Atiković, A. Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT The main objective of this study was to inspection into the equality of disciplines, number elements, difficulty value, number of structural groups, number of elements and range of points in structural groups on vault, correlations between Code of Points (COP) on vault, we can also receive trends of men’s artistic gymnastics COP from 1st to 13th Cycle FIG Men’s Judges’ Brevet. Revolutionary change is in valuation of the composition where it stops being limited with 10.0 points as the maximum score. Each four years, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) tries to eliminate subjective evaluations of referees from the new COP and to provide as objective evaluation of competitors as possible. Significant changes were noted in 2006 when the differences between individual disciplines were significantly decreased (Čuk and Atiković, 2009). COP in men’s artistic gymnastics (MAG) is very complex and requires specific education and continued advancement of the judges jury. In parallel with the development of the artistic gymnastics the COP in this sport has emerged, developed and has been advancing. Each code brings with it new requirements, new skills, each attempting to keep the sport of gymnastics moving forward. Keywords: Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, Code of Points, Judging, History

INTRODUCTION The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) is the governing body for gymnastics worldwide. It is the oldest established international sports federation (1881) and has participated in the Olympic Games (OG) since their revival in 1896. The FIG governs seven disciplines: Gymnastics for All (GG), Men’s Artistic (MAG), Women’s Artistic (WAG), Rhythmic (RG), Trampoline (TRA), Aerobic (AER) and Acrobatic (ACRO) Gymnastics. It counts 135 national member federations and its international seat in Lausanne (SUI), host city of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (FIG, 2013a). The FIG Technical Committee (TC) improves and further develops the COP every four years after Olympic Games (OG), indicating a remarkable dynamism in the development of this sport. The main purpose and goal of the COP for evaluating is provision of more objective evaluation of exercises (FIG, 2013a). The primary purpose of the COP is to: 1. provide an objective means of evaluating gymnastics exercises at all levels competitions, 2. standardize the judging of the four phases of FIG official competitions (CI-IV), 3. assure the identification of the best gymnast in any competition, 4. guide coaches and gymnasts in the composition of competition exercises, 5. provide information about the source of other technical information and regulations frequently needed at competitions by judges, coaches, and gymnasts (FIG, 2013b). Code of Points (COP) in MAG is very complex and requires specific education and continued advancement of the judges jury. In parallel with the development of the artistic gymnastics the COP in this sport has emerged, developed and has been advancing. Gymnasts have participated in the first modern OG in 1896 in Athens (GRE), women participated for the first time at the OG in Amsterdam (NED) in 1928. The first Men’s World Championship (WCh) was held in 1903 in Antwerp (BEL); the Women’s in 1934 in Budapest (HUN). The appraisal of the shown compositions was based on the insufficiently defined guidelines from the Technical code TC FIG, eventual agreement and alignment of the referees’ criteria prior to the competition, but mostly on the basis of personal opinion and experience of the judges jury. The COP were insufficiently defined (not based on clear criteria), appraisals were not aligned and largely subjective and continuously lagging behind development of exercises and compositions (Bučar Pajek, M., 1998).

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The COP goes through a revival after the WWII. They were made precise and in writing, and judges jury went through organised trainings. In modern artistic gymnastics, the COP does not have a task only to provide evaluation of the current result and success at the competition. They are in direct function of the development of technique of exercise, compositions and system of competitions. The COP combines achievements in artistic gymnastics, evaluates newly-performed exercises and places them into specific groups by difficulty. Modifications of individual parts of the COP are done periodically, whenever the need arises, while new editions are being published mostly with the start of the new Olympic cycle, indicating dynamics in the development of this sport. COP and the judging process in sport gymnastics are continuously changing, both in the parts related to evaluation of composition in all of its components, and in the provisions related to increase of objectivity in the process of making the final score. A number of rules related primarily to general provisions on organisation of competitions and evaluation, as well as to the way of acquiring judges jury title, are almost identical in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. During the development process, the differences have been noted in rules for men and women in parts related to distribution of the overall number of points evaluating the composition and their valuation within it: weight, composition and execution. It was only during the 70s of the 20th century that additional points were introduced, first in male and then in female gymnastics, followed by specific requirements. The latest changes brought near to equal rules for men and women (Table 1).

DEVELOPMENT OF THE EVALUATION CODE OF POINTS (COP) Before the WWII maximum score was sometimes between 11 and 16 points; after the WWII maximum score was limited to 10 points (Čuk and Atiković, 2009). The year 1932 saw the first meeting of the International Technical Committee, which in 1947 became the Technical Assembly. Then in 1949, Arthur Gander (SUI) penned the first Code de Points (COP) for men’s gymnastics. It was all of 12 pages long; the 2013 equivalent will run to 164 pages (FIG, 2013a). Before WWII, while evaluating, only general information from the Technical Regulations were used. Before the competition TC has considered in a narrow circle certain COP deduction. Therefore every judge has judged more or less arbitrary based on what they learned on the competitions in their own countries. Naturally, all this has led to great discrepancies in points and to many judging errors which obstructed the development of gymnastics. Immediately after the war, thanks to education, with rapid development of gymnastics and better technical knowledge there appeared a need for the adoption of completely accurate COP. The deciding factor was the OG in London (GBR) 1948, when the differences between the judges jury were so large that the incorrect ruling was inevitable. Large critiques among the gymnastic circles and in press impacted the TC of the FIG issues new, precise guidelines for evaluation of compositions just before the WCh in Basel (SUI) in 1950. The new COP provided evaluation based on three factors: weight, composition and execution. Judges jury was consisted of four referees under the supervision of the supreme referee. Score was calculated as an average (arithmetic mean) of two mean scores (highest and lowest scores were eliminated). These rules were seen as good at the WCH in Basel, in 1950. Nonetheless, it was already clear that the development of sports gymnastics has overcome them and in 1956 the exercises were placed in groups based on weight. Under the official title of COP, in 1949 the first twelve pages of COP were published. It was then that great attention was directed toward the division on three factors: difficulty value, composition (combination) and performance. This principle has been applied for several years before in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland, but these first instructions have not considered the content of the difficulty in free exercise. Under the influence of, at that time, French representatives in TC Claude Lapalu and Luxembourgian Pierre Hantges an organisation of judges jury was established. For judging on every apparatus four judges were determined and the final score was the sum of median marks of two judges divided by two. This approach was in use up until recently. These first COP have confirmed their value on the championship in Basel (SUI), however it was evident that the development will be rapid especially after the emergence

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gymnasts from USSR in 1952 OG in Helsinki (FIN). Adaptation of marking to the development of gymnastics became one of the necessities of that period and so the new issue of COP was published in 1954 having in mind WCh in Rome (ITA). For the first time this issue contained a complete section dedicated to “difficulty value” and it reflected on all matters which were still developing. Later on, after every major competition, these rules were improved and updated, as well as the increase of the judge’s responsibility with the widening of the matter. This created a need for special education of judges commission before every competition FIG or before OG. With the introduction of “final competitions for every apparatus” in the 1956 OG in Melbourne (AUS) they were forced to consider new points of view, and so appeared, one after the other, the determination of value part A, B and C marking of their actual value and better interpretation of structure factors (combination). With the expansion of the materials related to marking came the need for greater efforts from the judges, trainers and gymnasts and that caused the necessity for more accurate interpretation of existing rules. At the same time a more systematic education of judges was imposed. Having in mind the fundamental elements which have served and serve still today for evaluation of presented compositions in MAG and WAG, it is possible to carry out comparative analysis of the COP development in MAG and WAG. Based on the data presented in (Tables 1-5), it is visible that MAG, already in 1956, saw classification of exercises in groups, based on technical complexity, A, B, C values. In WAG, exercises were classified per weight only in 1961, divided in primary and international. Such one-sided classification resulted in large range of exercises which significantly differed based on technical complexity, and were placed in the same group per difficulty. Undefined division lasted for 23 years and can be considered as a result of resistance towards making the programme for women’s gymnastics harder, as well as large disagreements in women’s TC FIG. These disagreements have been overcome in the period from 1975 to 1979, when fundamental changes occurred in the sense of taking over elements of evaluation which had already existed in men’s COP (Vukašinović, V., Grbović, M. & Dabović, M., 2011).

Figure 1. First Code of Points for Men’s Artistic Gymnastics The first international course for the judges was organized in Zurich 1964 years, when he started to the first cycle of education of judges. Three technical presidents from that period were: Artur Gander (Switzerland), ing. Ivan Ivančević (Yugoslavia), Aleks Lylo (Czechoslovakia) (FIG, 1964). This state of matters as well as many experiences gathered over the years created the basis for the new COP from 1964. This COP and this period for improvement of judges had a positive influence on the evaluation of gymnastics and it lasted from 30. 04. 1968. Further more they contributed to reaching a common factor for different understandings.

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Figure 2. Arthur Gander (SUI) creator of the first CoP for the evaluation of MAG exercise (“World of Gymnastics” magazine 2006, 48, pp.4) The COP issued in 1968 has not brought any significant changes. It was only intended for practical use and it was organised better. Again the table charts of value part A, B and C were determined and a new chapter for marking final competitions was introduced. The second International judge’s seminar was held in Rome (ITA) from 18 to 23. 06. 1968. New ideas and additions to COP came to effect on the 31. 07. 1971 in the form of a brochure, and with such temporary solution the COP was updated. The path to such novelties and additions was paved by second cycle of judge’s education and technical observers during WCh the 1970 Ljubljana (SLO). The regulations in effect shoved their value and represent the bases for education, evaluation and development. The basic changes and partially other changes of that date issue came from the experiences from third cycle of judge’s education from 1971 till 1975 and the analysis of technical observers and Munich (GER) OG in 1972. FIG established a first simposium of history of gymnastics from 12. to 15. 09. 1973 in Madrid (ESP). It’s goal was to have all participants conduct an exchange of thought based on four seminar papers which proved to be useful for further processing of COP. Firstly a new division of points to three factors should be noted: difficulty value, composition (combination) and execution and that is by: 3,4; 1,6 and 4,4 points. At the same time a start value of 9.4 p. was established allowing that with the system of mark raising (bonuses) it can be raised to a maximum of 0.2 p. for risk, 0.2 p. for originality, and 0.2 p. for virtuosity in three competitions but cancelling the extenuating circumstances during the point deduction. Then, vault over the vaulting horse has been simplified and mandatory exercises with start value of 9.8 p. were given a possibility for mark improvement (bonus) by 0.2 p. for virtuosity. Changes have been introduced in CoP MAG directed towards as objective evaluation of composition’s difficulty as possible, and in 1975 in addition to definition of exercises, marked with “CR”, additional points were introduced for exercises of specific difficulty, original exercises and those done with virtuosity. Unlike the delay in women’s rulebook in relation to valuation of technical complexity of exercises which took more than 20 years, additional points have been introduced with only 5 years of delay, and classification of exercises in two additional groups based on difficulty happened simultaneously (D - Difficulty score) and (E - Execution score). All of that shows that once when the dilemmas related to the path for WAG development in terms of valuating technically complex exercises were overcome (in 1979), women start coming closer to the achievements in men gymnastics and their further development is in parallel. Nonetheless, it must be noted that the rulebooks on women’s gymnastics introduced classification of mistakes based on characteristics and difficulties much earlier, and added points based on links between two or more exercises. Also, during the evaluation, the exercises were marked with symbols, as it was the case with men’s gymnastics. Over the last three cycles, we saw standardisation of rules for evaluation in these elements, too.

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Simplified COP were used at the fouth international seminar which was held in Thonon-les-Bains (FRA) from 03. to 07. 09. 1975. That seminar also meant the beginning of fourth cycle of judge’s education. For the purposes of the fifth international seminar held at Moscow (RUS) from 10. till 17. 01. 1980. a new COP was issued in 1979 year. The seminar marked the fifth cycle of judge’s education and was supposed to last until 31. 12. 1983 but it was extended for another year because for the 1984 OG in Los Angeles (USA) there were no changes of the COP scheduled. Changes and additions of the COP issued in 1985 with validity period until 1988 were made based on: a.) propositions by national federations for 58th Congress FIG 1980 in Moscow (RUS), 59th Congress FIG 1981 in Moscow (RUS) and 60th Congress 1982 in Zurich (SUI), b.) analysis by expert observers on the OG and WCh, c.) coache’s symposium which lasted from 05 till 08.04.1982 in Budapest (HUN) and, d.) judge’s symposium held in Rome (ITA) from 22. till 23. 05. 1982 e.) acquired experiences TC FIG. Development of artistic gymnastics, especially in the field of difficulty value brought about many new things. It was indicated that areas such as: difficulty value, composition and performance exercises are not going parallel to development. Because of that the value for difficulty was increased to 4.0 points, and reduced for composition to 1.0 p., while the value for execution remained the same. Start value from 9.4 p. remained the same, also 0.6 p. for improvement (bonus) on all three competitions. In the table section difficulty a new mark D was introduced. For the creation of new COP issued 1989 suggestions and recommendations have been considered on the 64th and 65th Congress in 1985 in Rome (ITA) and 1986 Herning (DEN). Two judge’s symposiums were organised in 1985 and 1986 in Rome (ITA). Based on those suggestions and recommendations it was decided to introduce the assistant with the supreme judge whose tasks were determined in the COP. The first performance of the assistant on the WCh justified that decision by its success. The novelties that clarify the new COP are: a.) the schedule of typical issues by apparatus, b.) classification of errors during the execution of exercise, c.) marking vaults with number and determining new start value on vault, d.) deduction of 0.05 p. when evaluating on the competition nuber III. For a long time, the method of work of judges commissions was based on each judge evaluating all components of the composition (weight, bonification, special requirements, compostion, bonus points and execution), while the supreme judge coordinated the work and calculated the final score. Analysis and different symposiums took part before issuing of COP in 1993. Novelty in issuing of the COP was increase in number of judge’s jury on certain apparatus. On some apparatus 6 judges scored the event, one of them was the member of TC. The position of supreme judge on some apparatus has been filled by a member of TC, who at the same time was also a judge. Such classification was official on all FIG competitions. Thought about better marking system of gymnastic composition led to new changes in the evaluation: changes in evaluating with determination of new content and new values of elements, additional points for originality, risk and virtuosity in free program replace additional points for high and highest difficulty (element difficulty D and E) of elements in case of good technical performance and for connecting elements (A+D, C+C…), introduction of unique requirements of difficulty, introduction of unique special demands for all types of competitions, introduction of category difficulty level E (most difficulty gymnastic elements), which of the compositions is not mandatory, vaults on vault got new values. Preparation of the 1997 issue required two significant tasks: introduction of meaningful changes and incorporation of new ideas which were discussed before the issue of 1993 rules and later abandoned because of lack of time and insufficient verification; considering rapid development of rapid development of gymnastics which is seen in further grading of difficulty and improvement of element execution. On the Lugano (SUI) symposium many new ideas were introduced and therefore the TC had a lot of work with verification of those ideas. The most significant suggestions were: introduction of A and B judges jury, which acted separately and had each their own function (A judges jury was in charge for content of composition, and B judges jury for performance), maintaining the highest mark of 10.0 points. Many more suggestions were introduced which were not included in to new competition rules, because in

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men’s TC opinion they did not contribute to the simplification of rules that is they did not make them understandable. Those examples are: introduction of A and B system of, which lead to final score of 10.0 p. for every composition, and written report to the judge on intended flow of composition for every discipline. Over the last three cycles formation of two juries emerges, first in women’s and then in men’s gymnastics, of which the first (called A jury at first, and today the D jury) notes the content of the composition (weight, bonification, special requirements) and defines the starting score and the other (first called the B jury and today E jury), composed of six point giving referees, evaluates the composition, performance and, in the last edition of the rulebook, in women’s gymnastics the artistic impression, too, i.e. in the last two changes: execution, composition and artistic value. Until the OG in 1996, the competition programme show required and free compositions for both men and women. Having in mind that the required compositions had their role in guiding the development of sports gymnastics and that they have stopped being attractive for gymnasts and audience, they were eliminated from the programme. Huge step forward in gymnastics is cancellation of compulsory composition from 1996. Compulsory compositions were a part of competition for almost 100 years and they were adequate way for comparison of element execution among competitors. In order to continue the development of gymnastics (without compulsory part) it was necessary to create competition rules in such way that in free program four criteria are ensured: maintaining traditional values in gymnastics, demands for versatile development of the body and knowledge of the competitor, including as many different elements as possible, ensuring a control over the development of new elements. With these criteria gymnastics development is directed and more comprehensive. Respecting afore mentioned criterion, with the help of different demands on individual equipment, is required as well as versatility in compositions and adjustment to new trends. For each discipline three special demands were made except for vault. From the historic point of view the competition COP issued in 1996 take a special place because they do not include more rules for compulsory composition and introduce new organisation of judge’s jury. The number of judges by 1993 increased to six judges for each discipline (before there were four judges jury for each discipline) therefore the A and B judges jury represents the biggest change in organisation of judges jury in the last 10 years. The function of apparatus supervisor as an expert and responsible chairman of the judges for individual apparatus has shown as a very significant half a century ago and is still in use today. Introduction of A and B judges jury means a significant division of work among judges and it contributes to a greater simplification of their function while at the same time it ensures more objective evaluation. Split evaluation prevents the cooperation between judges in mediation of the final score. Tables difficulty have been redone and reviewed and therefore changed. Big changes occurred at the vault, where vaults were separated in to five groups and every vault was attributed with start value. The aim of that was to reduce the risks in evaluation of vaults considering other disciplines. The intention of issuing of the COP from 1996 was to simplify the work of judge’s jury which was achieved with separate tasks of judge’s jury and at the same time it was more incorporated with other rules. Considering that compulsory composition played their role in directing of development of competitive gymnastics and that they stopped being attractive to spectators and gymnasts they were removed from the FIG programme. COP from 2001 brings some novelties. With jury A there were changes in disposition of points, while B jury has not been through any significant changes in the area of evaluating the execution of exercise (technique, body position, harmony) A jury: 5.00 points (difficulty 2.80 points, special requirements 1.00 points, pointsfor improvingratings 1.20 points) and B jury: 5.00 points (technique, body position, harmony). U difficulty value the gymnast had to contain in his exercise 4A elements with the value of 0.10 p., 3B elements with the value of 0.30 p., and 3C element with the value of 0.50 p. Unlike the COP from 1997 the demand for value of difficult D was no longer required in the exercise. The number of difficulties remained unchanged in relation to the previous edition COP.

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After a huge affair at the OG 2004 where in all around USA gymnast won in front of Korean gymnast, many consequences made by FIG were done. While the FIG did suspend the three judges for the error, the FIG did also rule the final results would remain unchanged. One of it was also implementation of the new philosophy of open scoring system (Čuk and Forbes, 2006). The code, open-ended since 2005, has been a huge source of debate around men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics for the past several years. Before 2006 all the disciplines were limited by maximum final score. In the COP 2006 (FIG, 2006) the whole philosophy of evaluating gymnastics exercises changed. No more one maximum score was used for evaluating exercises. New COP defined A and B score, where A score means exercise content (difficulty, special requirement and bonus points) and B score means exercise presentation. A score goes from zero points upward according to what difficulty gymnast shows (calculating 10 most difficult elements), how exercise is constructed (exercise must include elements from all five element groups, not more than 4 from one group) and how difficult elements are connected (bonus) points. System for discipline specialist works excellent, more you show greater scores. However in all around the problem can exist. Problem is within equality between disciplines as vault has special rules, comparing to floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Gymnast on vault shows in all around one vault. Comparing to other disciplines vault is similar to one element from the exercise. Therefore on the vault for each vault the A score is known in advance (Čuk and Forbes, 2010). As some disciplines (pommel horse, parallel bars) have no bonus points it is worth to consider how in practice are all disciplines for all around gymnasts equal. Revolutionary change is in valuation of the composition where it stops being limited with 10.0 points as the maximum score. The mark is now build by adding up values of performed difficulties, specific requirements and additional points for links (starting score) with values achieved from components of performance, composition and artistic value which, theoretically, can bring 10.0 points (if there were no mistakes). The referees note mistakes and deduct points from 10.0 for mistakes. The rest is being put together with the starting score and the final score of the best competitors goes over 16.0 p. System for discipline specialist works excellent, more you show greater scores. However in all around the problem has exist before in (FIG, 2006, 2009). Some of the most important endeavours of the FIG in this direction were major changes made to the COP in 2006 and the IRCOS project, which allow for evaluation of judge’s performances through video analysis. Several other changes were introduced in the new CoP (FIG, 2006). Perhaps most influential for E score, deductions for small, medium and large errors and a fall changed from 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.5 (FIG, 1997) through 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 (FIG, 2001), 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.8 (FIG, 2006), to 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 (FIG, 2009, 2013). Following a special symposium in June, the FIG TC for MAG and WAG are reviewing proposals and suggestions for the 2013 COP. Federations and individuals sent in proposals and suggestions, which were shared at the COP symposium, held June 17-19 in Zurich (SUI). FIG Committees start off new cycle in Lausanne (SUI), February 18 – 21, 2013. In the new version of the COP, this scoring system was change. The execution deductions are not averaged, meaning they are twice as severe. This means when vaults are scored, the judges will combine and average the difficulty score of vaults, but then take off the all the execution deductions from this difficulty score without combining or averaging the deductions. This brings vault more in line with the other apparatus, where falling is a full point deducted off the entire routine. The two vaults will be averaged for the final score. The scoring can be modeled by the equation as follows: (DVT1+DVT2)/2+10.00–(VT1 ex deductions + VT2 ex deductions)=Final score. Compared to the old COP (FIG, 2009): Vault 1 (Difficulty + execution) + Vault 2 (Difficulty + Execution). Another change, as every Code has done, is the decreasing of a vault’s start difficulty. In MAG all vaults are minus one point to score on this apparatus were in range with other scores. The only major change for execution on vault comes from the rules for landing on the corridor line, the line in the middle of the mat that shows if a gymnast lands center with the vaulting table. It is important to note that the FIG can revise these rules after the first year they are implemented. Vault has had the most changes of any apparatus over the history of the sport. In 2001, it was the introduction of the vaulting table. In 2006, it was the new, open

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ended COP. Now, it is the final scoring system. It makes one wonder what is „coming next“. The main objective of this study was to inspection into the equality of disciplines, we can also receive trends of men’s artistic gymnastics Code of Points from 1st to 13th Cycle FIG Men’s Judges’ Brevet.

MATERIAL AND METHODS Sample entity The study sample included 11 COP out of the possible 13 as listed in the (COP FIG, 1964; 1971; 1979; 1985; 1989; 1993; 1997; 2001; 2006; 2009; 2013), from which we managed to obtain data from the researches conducted so far. In collecting the data, we could not reach all COP because some of them is very difficulty to find, after this years.

Variables In the analysis from official Code of Points, we selected the following variables (we made six variables of from 6 apparatus): floor exercise (FX), pommel horse (PH), rings (SR), vault (VT), parallel bars (PB) and horizontal bar (HB).

Statistical analysis Analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 20.0.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA; 2011) as follows: in analyzing descriptive parameters of COP, number of elements in individual apparatus, number of structural groups, number of elements and range of points in structural groups on vault, range of points on vault, Pearson correlations coefficient between FIG Code of Points (COP) on vault from 1964 to 2013 year.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Fundamental changes in valuation of presented compositions over the past fifty years, which guided the development of artistic gymnastics for men and women are given in (Table 1).

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Table 1 The basic elements of development Code of Points (COP) and differences in the distribution of the total number of points in the CoP for the evaluation of men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics (Vukašinović, V., Grbović, M. & Dabović, M., 2011). Difficulty Value (DV) Year of publication

Value points M

1956

3.00

A,B,C

3.00

A,B,C

3.40

3.00

3.40

Skill/element (Value Part) F

Execution (E)

Bonifications (B) (connection value) M

2.00

5.00

Primary and international

2.00

5.00

A,B,C

“

1,60

2,00

5.00

4.00

A,B,C

“

1.60

2.00

5.00

4.00

1962

Composition (C)

2.00

1961-

1964

Specific Requirements (SR)

1968 M 1969 F 1970

3.40

4.00

A,B,C

“

2.60

2.00

4.00

1975 F 1976 M

3.40

3.00

A,B,CR

“

1.60

2.00

4.40

5.00

0.60

1979

3.40

3.00

A,B,CR

A,B,C,CR

1.60

2.50

4.40

4.00

0.60

0.50

1985

4.00

3.00

A,B,C,D,E

1.00

2.00

4.40

4.00

0.60

1989

4.00

3.00

A,B,C,D

1.00

1.50

4.40

5.10

0.60

0.40

1992

2.40

3.00

A,B,C,D,E

1.20

2.00

5.40

4.40

1.00

0.60

2.40

3.00

A,B,C,D,E

1.20

0.60

5.00

4.00

1.40

1.00

1996 F 1.40

1997 M 2001 M

2.80

1.00

2001 F

2,60

2002 F

2.80

A,B,C,D,E, super E

5.00

1.20

Execution and artistry 5.00

1.20

1.00

5.00

1.20

Scores no longer have a maximum value of 10. In this new system there is theoretically no limit to the score a gymnast can achieve. 9 highest DV, + the dismount. 10 in total.

2006 M-F

9 highest DV, + the dismount. 10 in total.

M: A,B,C,D,E, F 2,50 F: A,B,C,D,E,F,G

Execution, M-F: A,B,C,D,E,F,G

2,50

7 highest DV, + the dismount. 8 in total.

2013

9 highest DV, + the dismount. 10 in total.

A,B,C,D,E,F,G

2,50

2013

7 highest DV, + the dismount. 8 in total.

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H

2,50

2009

and artistry 10.00 points

Legend: DV, Difficulty Values; M, Male; F, Female

composition

The connections value, based on special rules on different apparatus

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Analysing (Table 2), we note that the highest number of elements (n=1023) was in (CoP FIG, 1993), and the least number was (n=407) in (COP FIG, 1964). The highest average number of elements (n=170) was in (COP FIG, 1993), and the least average number of elements was (n=67) in (CoP FIG, 1964). Since the change (CoP FIG, 2001) the number of elements is almost identical. In (Table 2) shows number of structural groups which ware changing from year to year. The larges number of groups was noted in (CoP FIG, 1978) and from (COP FIG, 2001) until today there were no significant changes in relation to the number of groups. Table 2 Development of COP for assessing the number of elements in individual apparatus Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events FX PH RI VA PB HB SUM Average

2013 125 121 143 104 156 143 792 132.0

2009 137 113 142 115 151 143 801 133.5

2006 130 118 145 114 149 143 799 133.2

2001 136 115 126 105 143 148 773 128.8

1997 116 182 148 109 249 176 980 163.3

1993 134 230 145 86 235 193 1023 170.5

1989 123 202 122 61 184 156 726 141.3

1985 103 82 97 48 149 115 594 99.0

1978 98 131 116 45 138 121 649 108.2

1971 109 113 115 32 137 112 618 103.0

1964 75 57 83 19 90 83 407 67.8

SUM 1418 1576 1523 952 1928 1676

Average 118.1 131.3 126.9 79.3 160.6 139.6

Legend: floor exercise (FX), pommel horse (PH), rings (RI), vault (VT), parallel bars (PB) and horizontal bar (HB).

Table 3 Development of COP for assessing the number of structural groups Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events FX PH RI VA PB HB SUM Average

2013 2009 2006 2001 1997 1993 1989 1985 1978 4 4 5 5 7 8 9 10 10 5 5 5 5 8 9 9 8 11 5 5 5 5 8 7 7 9 18 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 9 9 11 11 20 5 5 5 5 7 7 8 8 13 29 29 30 30 44 46 50 52 77 4.833 4.833 5.000 5.000 7.333 7.667 8.333 8.667 12.833

1971 11 10 18 2 20 13 74 12.333

1964 10 7 18 2 19 13 69 11.500

SUM 88 87 110 57 124 94 560

Average 13.538 13.385 16.923 8.769 19.077 14.462

Legend: floor exercise (FX), pommel horse (PH), rings (RI), vault (VT), parallel bars (PB) and horizontal bar (HB). When analysing (Table), the COP from the first cycle and until today, considering the number of elements at vault (VT) we can concluded that there was a total number of 181 different vaults from 1964 to 2013 performed. The first COP, in 1964, had only 19 vaults, while the last from 2013 has 104 vaults. The largest rang of scores (Table) at vault moved from 2.0 to 7.2 points in 2006 and 2009, while the least rang of scores moved from 9.0 to 9.6 or 0.6 points in 1985.

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Table 4 Development of COP for assessing the number of elements and range of points in structural groups on vault Year of publication

2013

2009

2006

2001

1997

1993

1989

1985

n 1978 n 1971 n 1964

2.0-6.4

2.0-3.0

7.5-8.0

8.6

8.7

7.5

2.0-6.4

3.1-4.0

8.1-8.5

8.9

7.5

2.0-6.0

4.1-5.0

8.6-9.0

9.2

9.3

9.2

2.2-6.2

5.1-6.0

9.1-9.5

9.5

9.6

9.4

9.4 12

9.3

9.5

2.4-5.6

6.1-7.2

9.6-10.0 15 9.6-10.0 39

9.8

9.6

9.8 18

9.5

9.8

I or DV II or DV III or DV IV or DV V or DV SUM

104

115

114

105

109

9.6

Avg.

20.8

22.6

22.8

21.8

17.2

12.2

9.6

20 SUM

SUM 30 Avg.

3.2

Avg. 7.5

Legend: I – Direct vaults, II – Vaults with full turns in preflight, III – Front handspring and Yamashita style vaults, IV – Vaults with 1/4 turn in pre-flight, V – Round-off entry vaults.

Table 5 Development of COP in terms of the range of points on vault Year of publication

2013

2009

2006

2005

2001

1997

1993

1989

1985

1978

1971

1964

Min - Max

2.06.4

2.07.2

2.,07.2

4.57.0

7.510.0

8.69.8

8.79.6

9.09.6

7.09.8

7.010.0

7.510.0

Rang

4.4

5.2

2.5

1.2

1.1

0.6

2.8

3.0

2.5

The overview of changes and correlations between the DV is one of the evidence shown in (Table 6 and 7) that there have been no significant changes in the past years where correlations are rather high between the DV awarding rules that have been applied up to now. There is a big difference between a COP from 1978 to 2013 year where the correlations less than 0.70% percent.

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Table 6 Correlations between FIG Code of Points (COP) on vault from 1964 to 2013 Year of publication

20132009

20092006

20062001

20011997

19971993

19891985

19851978

19781971

19711965

0.99987

1.00000

0.99413

0.93286

0.89088

0.87264

0.87540

0.94575

0.97583

0.99973

0.98830

0.87023

0.79367

0.76151

0.76633

0.89444

0.95224

Table 7 Correlations between FIG Code of Points (COP) on vault from 1964 to 2013 Year of publication

2009

2006

2001

1997

1993

1989

1985

1978

R 2013

0.9998

0.9925

0.9315

0.8774

0.8805

0.7566

0.8423

R2 2013

0.9997

0.9851

0.8678

0.7699

0.7753

0.5725

0.7095

CONCLUSION Artistic gymnastics is one of the sports (along with diving, figure skating and synchronized swimming) in which competition results (scoring and ranking of athlete’s performance) heavily depend on the judges’ evaluation. This is in contrast to some other sports, e.g. athletics, where results are recorded by precise technical instruments, or sports like basketball, where scoring is formally confirmed by the judge, but usually is not perceived as problematic by experts or spectators (Leskošek, Čuk, Pajek, Forbes and Bučar Pajek, 2012). Where there is a judged sport there is always controversy (Green and Allen, 1984. p. 47). Much of this controversy stems from the claim that in sports in which judgments are used to quantify performance, these judgments might be influenced by the intention of judges to favour athletes (country) or to put them at disadvantage. For instance, (e.g., Ansorge and Scheer, 1988; Ste-Marie, 1996; Plessner, 1999; Čuk and Forbes, 2006; Atiković and Smajlović, 2011; Čuk, Fink and Leskošek, 2011; Bučar, Čuk, Pajek, Karacsony and Leskošek, 2012; Bučar, Čuk, Pajek, Kovač, and Leskošek, 2013). Each four years, the FIG tries to eliminate subjective evaluations of referees from the new COP and to provide as objective evaluation of competitors as possible. Significant changes were noted in 2006 when the differences between individual disciplines were significantly decreased (Čuk and Atiković, 2009).Each code brings with it new requirements, new skills, each attempting to keep the sport of gymnastics moving forward.

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REFERENCES Ansorge CJ, Scheer JK. International Bias Detected in Judging Gymnastic Competition at the 1984 Olympic Games. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, 1988; 59: 103-107. Atiković, A., Smajlović, N. (2011). Relation between vault difficulty values and biomechanical parameters in men’s artistic gymnastics Science of Gymnastics Journal. 3(3), 91-105. URL http://www.fsp.uni-lj.si/mma_bin. php?id=20111001004127 Bučar Pajek, M. (1998). Primerjalna analiza tekmovalnih pravil v moški in ženski športni gimnastiki [Comparative Analysis of Men and Women Code of Points in Gymnastics]: diplomsko delo. Ljubljana: Faculty of sport. Bučar Pajek, M., Forbes, W., Pajek, J., Leskošek, B., Čuk, I. (2011). Reliability Of Real Time Judging System. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 3(2), 47-54. http://www.fsp.uni-lj.si/mma_bin.php?id=20110602094248 Bučar, M., Čuk, I., Pajek, J., Karacsony, I., Leskošek, B. (2012). Reliability and Validity of Judging in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics at the University Games 2009. European Journal of Sport Science, 12(3), 207-215. http://www. tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17461391.2010.551416 Bučar, M., Čuk, I., Pajek, J., Kovač, M., Leskošek, B. (2013). Is the Quality of Judging in Women Artistic Gymnastics Equivalent at Major Competitions of Different Levels? Journal of Human Kinetics. 37, 1, 173–181. http://www. johk.pl/files/35pajek.pdf Čuk, I., Atiković, A. (2009). Are Disciplines in All-around Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Equal?. Tuzla : Sport Scientific & Practical Aspects International Journal of Kinesiology, 6 (1&2), 8-13. http://www.sportspa.com.ba/download2009. html Čuk, I., Fink, H., Leskošek, B. (2012). Modeling the Final Score in Artistic Gymnastics by Different Weights of Difficulty and Execution. In: ČUK, Ivan (Eds.). Ljubljana : Science of Gymnastics Journal. 4(1), 73-82. http://www. fsp.uni-lj.si/mma_bin.php?id=20120201234756 Čuk, I., Forbes, W. (2006). Kam greš, sojenje?. V: Kolar, Edvard (Eds.), Piletič, Sebastijan (Eds.). Gimnastika za trenerje in pedagoge 2. Ljubljana: Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, 76-86. Čuk, I., Forbes, W. (2010). How Apparatus Difficulty Scores Affect All Around Results in Men‘s Artistic Gymnastics. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 2(3), 57-63. http://www.fsp.uni-lj.si/mma_bin.php?id=2010093010022523 Federation International of Gymnastics FIG (2013a). What Everyone Should Know - the Origin of Artistic Gymnastics. Retrived 10.9.2013. from URL http://figlive.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,5261207090-224313-179765-0-file,00.pdf FIG (2006b) World of Gymnastics Magazine, 48, pp. 4. FIG Code of Points (1965). Pravilnik za suđenje i ocjenjivanje, Muška sportska gimnastika, Gimnastički savez Jugoslavije, Beograd. FIG Code of Points (1971). Pravilnik za ocenjevanje vaj na orodju v moški športni gimnastiki, I. Razreda članov in mladincev, Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, Ljubljana. FIG Code of Points (1978). Pravila za ocenjivanje, Muška sportska gimnastika, Gimnastički savez Jugoslavije, Beograd. FIG Code of Points (1985). Pravilnik za ocenjvanje vaj na orodju v moški športni gimnastiki, Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, Ljubljana. FIG Code of Points (1989). Pravila za ocenjivanje, Muška sportska gimnastika, Gimnastički savez Srbije, Beograd. FIG Code of Points (1993). Pravilnik za ocenjvanje vaj na orodju v moški športni gimnastiki, Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, Ljubljana. FIG Code of Points (1997). Pravilnik za ocenjvanje vaj na orodju v moški športni gimnastiki, Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, Ljubljana.

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FIG Code of Points (2001). Bodovni pravilnik, Muški tehnički odbor, Hrvatski gimnastički savez, Zagreb. FIG Code of Points (2006a). Fédération Internationale De Gymnastique, Code of Points, Artistic Gymnastics for Men, Moutier. FIG Code of Points (2009). Fédération Internationale De Gymnastique, Code of Points, Artistic Gymnastics for Men, Moutier. FIG Code of Points (2013b). Fédération Internationale De Gymnastique, Code of Points, Artistic Gymnastics for Men, Moutier. Green, L. Allen, L. (1984). Judgment day. Women’s Sports and Fitness, 6, 47-53. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I., Karacsony, I., Pajek, J., & Bučar, M. (2010). Reliability and Validity of Judging in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics at the 2009 University Games. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 2(3), 25-34. http://www.fsp.uni-lj.si/ mma_bin.php?id=2010020920531429 Plessner, H. Expectation biases in gymnastics judging. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1999; 21: 131-144. URL http://journals.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/1150.pdf Ste-Marie, D. (1996). International bias in gymnastic judging: Conscious or unconscious influences? Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 963–975. http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1996.83.3.963?journalCode=pms Vukašinović, V., Grbović, M., Dabović, M. (2011). Osnove Pravila ocenjivanja u sportskoj gimnastici. Fakultet sporta i fizičkog vaspitanja, Univerzitet u Beogradu. pp. 5-7 Retrieved 05.3.2012, from URL: http://www.dif.bg.ac.rs/mat/ tim_vezbi2/p02_osnovni_tekst.doc

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MECHANISMS REGULATING LANDINGS ON FLOOR IN GYMNASTICS Twisting somersault landings in floor exercise Marinšek, M. University of Maribor

Landing is the 3rd phase of an acrobatic element that follows take-off, and flight phase. Landings can be performed on feet, in a forward roll, and in front support. The subject of this article are landings performed on feet after somersaults on floor. The main goal of a landing performed on feet is to land without additional step or imbalance. In competitions, the execution to a perfect landing is rather low. On World Championships in Antwerp 2013, there were 17% of landings performed without a mistake in WAG floor finals and 32% in MAG floor finals. At such high level of gymnastics, 83% and 69% of mistakes at landings is a rather high percentage of mistakes made. The landing begins with the contact of gymnast’s feet with the ground. In this moment, the body should be vertically and laterally aligned and extended; the upper body should be leaned to the direction of the run up (under-rotated). The gymnast can reach corresponding position after a somersault with changes in the position of a sub-system body – arms. The opening of the arms can be an efficient tool for controlling the inertia in preparation for landing without reducing the control over the bottom part of the body and mechanical loading (Requejo, McNitt-Gray, & Flashner, 2002; Requejo, McNitt-Gray, & Flashner, 2004). The opening of the arms substantially contributes to the lowering of angular velocity. Thus, the movements of the arms have to be adjusted to the angular momentum produced at the take-off. When performing difficult acrobatic elements the vast part of the angular momentum is used to finish desired number of turns. The opening arm movements for increasing the inertia should therefore not be pronounced. The probability of a mistake made at landing will be low if the somersault’s angular momentum and height are high. These namely give the gymnasts more manoeuvrable time and space to control the inertia. The circumstances at the take-off moment (McNitt-Gray, Requejo, Costa, & Mathiyakom, 2001) and in aerial phase (Marinšek & Čuk, 2010) are important for the gymnasts’ landing. During the landing, a body can absorb created energy in two ways, through the bone deformation or with the help of the muscles (Radin & Paul, 1970). The characteristics of the bones make them change the shape when they are exposed to the external force. Gymnasts can experience such energy absorption at stiff landings or landings on straight legs, which can lead to acute or overuse injuries. The healthier way to absorb the energy created at the take-off is with the change of active muscle’s length. In order to do so, the gymnasts must bend their legs in ankles, knees and hips and in this way actively lower, their body centre of mass. The gymnasts should adjust the distance of their body centre of mass lowered according to the height of the somersault. When landing from a high somersault they should lower their body centre of mass more than when landing from a low somersault. Lowering the body centre of mass to much could lead to a deep landing, which can cause serious damage to the gymnasts’ body. With deeper landing, the torque in lower extremity joints and lower back becomes bigger. At this point, it is important to notice that soft landing does not mean soft muscles but rather stiff, co-contracted muscles. When landing soft there is a substantial work done by the muscles. Gymnasts have to learn throughout the practice to anticipate the load to the body and act in accordance with the load. The progress of anticipation is easily seen in practice as it eliminates decision making during the reaction and thus dramatically reduces response time (Fairbrother, 2010). When gymnasts land on their feet, we can observe two distinct phases of a landing: increased pressure on a surface and phase of decreased pressure on a surface (Figure 1). The gymnasts have to gain control over the landing in order to adjust their absorption in ankles, knees and hips to the floor movement.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 1.(a) phase of increased pressure on a surface and (b) phase of decreased pressure on a surface at landing (retrieved from www.youtube.com) After large stiffness of the muscles in the phase of increased pressure on a surface, a substantial decrease in stiffness in the phase of decreased pressure on a surface is demanded in order to execute successful landing. The problem is even more evident when in demanding and high somersaults a high rigidness is developed whilst at the same time non-elastic characteristics of muscles are required. More demanding somersaults are also performed higher (with larger linear momentum) and with larger angular momentum (Karacsony & Cuk, 2005). In the training process, a broad variety of landing surfaces with different elasticity should be used. In that manner the gymnasts will be obliged to accommodate their landing technique to efficiently dampen down the external load produced at landing. This should not be forgotten when learning difficult acrobatic elements. In the research done by Marinšek (2007) it has been found out that the most landing mistakes in European championships 2004 in men’s artistic gymnastics in floor exercise had been done at twisting somersaults. Somersaults with larger number of turns around the longitudinal axis are more demanding than the somersaults with fewer turns or without any turns. Increased difficulty in somersaults also results in the increased loading on the body and consequently in decreased level of motor control (Panzer, 1987). This increases the possibility for unsuccessful landing. In modern gymnastics, to speed up the twisting gymnasts bring their hands closer to the body and lean their body away from the somersaulting plane. Leaning/tilting of the body is done by asymmetric movements of head, arms, chest and hips either in the take-off phase or in the aerial phase of the acrobatic element. The greater the tilt the bigger the rate of twisting (Frolich, 1980). Especially when the gymnasts perform the most difficult twisting elements, the acceleration with the tilt is needed. As a rule, they start the tilt in the take-off phase. However, if there is not enough angular momentum produced at take-off the tilt can still be present at landing (Figure 2). This leads to asymmetrical landing with lack of balance and high probability of acute or overuse injuries (Marinšek & Čuk, 2010). Tilting in the take-off phase also means that the body will still be twisting at landing, which can lead to greater risk of lower extremity and back injuries (Yeadon, 1999).

Figure 2. Asymmetrical landing after a somersault backwards with 4/1 twists (retrieved from www. youtube.com)

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To minimise the injury risk plenty of angular momentum and height should be produced at take-off (Figure 3). These means not only good physical preparation but also enough experiences with the eccentric takeoff, which is needed for the execution of the somersault. Therefore, the coaches should introduce twisting to the gymnasts only after they are physically well prepared and had enough somersault repetitions thus making them self-assured in their competences.

Figure 3. Symmetrical landing after a somersault backwards with 4/1 twists (retrieved from www.youtube.com) The contribution of a certain twisting technique used can be measured by the tilt angle between the longitudinal twisting axis and the angular momentum vector (Frolich, 1980; Yeadon, 1999). The initial tilt angle at take-off can be a measure of the contribution of contact twisting techniques and subsequent increase in the tilt angle during aerial phase can be a measure of the contribution of aerial twisting techniques. The load at landing double backward somersault on floor can be up to 14.4 times bodyweight of the gymnast (Panzer, 1987). The load at landing for forward twisting somersaults can be up to 3.85 times bodyweight and for backward twisting somersaults can be up to 4.11 times bodyweight (Marinšek, 2011). The greatest dynamic loads on the lower extremities occur for the asymmetrical landings rather than for unsuccessful landings as typically assumed (Panzer, 1987). The maximal load difference between the legs for the asymmetrical landing was measured to be up to 1.45 times bodyweight for forward and up to 1.03 times bodyweight for backward somersaults (Marinšek, 2011). The difference became bigger with more twist (Marinšek & Čuk, 2013b). In asymmetrical landings, a possibility for eversion in ankle joint is higher than in the symmetrical landing (Arampatzis, Morey-Klapsing, & Brüggemann, 2003). The asymmetrical, yet reasonably successful landings appear to represent the greatest injury potential for the Achilles tendon, knee joint and spine (Panzer, 1987). The asymmetrical landings are also less effective and more frequently lead to score deductions in comparison to symmetrical landings (Čuk & Marinšek, 2013). PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The gymnasts should be physically well prepared and gain enough control over the movement before executing acrobatic elements on their own or on hard surface. Prior to the execution of an element, the coach has to provide a competitor with technical knowledge through appropriate preparatory methodical exercises, thus ensuring a controlled landing; furthermore, physical preparation has to be sufficient for a sportsman to endure forces created in landing (Marinšek & Čuk, 2013a). Coaches should be competent in biomechanical mechanisms governing landings in order to choose appropriate preparatory methodical exercises. With appropriate twisting technique, the asymmetrical landings can be avoided. The gymnasts should not be pressured to perform complex twisting acrobatic skills if they are not able to control its landings (Marinšek & Čuk, 2013a). Gymnasts should be cured of bad habits (Sands, McNeal, Jemni, & Penitente, 2011). Landing is an important part of acrobatic element and the gymnasts should be aware of this fact. Therefore, they have to execute the landing with complete focus.

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In practice, enough attention should be paid to the landing onto a surface with different stiffness (crush mat, trampoline, floor etc.). Gymnasts have to learn to adjust to a different landing surface. When planning the training process coaches have to respect the mechanical load the gymnasts’ are exposed to at landings. Coaches have to accommodate the number of repetitions to the gymnasts’ characteristics and abilities and monitor the training programme.

REFERENCES Arampatzis, A., Morey – Klapsing, G., & Brüggemann, G. P. (2003). The effect of falling height on muscle activity and foot motion during landings. Journal of electromyography and kinesiology, 13(6), pp. 533-544. Čuk, I., & Marinšek, M. (2013). Landing quality in artistics gymnastics is related to landing symmetry. Biology of Sport, (30)1, pp. 29-33. Fairbrother, J. T. (2010). Fundamentals of motor behaviour. University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Human Kinetics. Frolich, C. (1980). The physics of somersaulting and twisting. Scientific American, 242, pp. 112 – 120. Karacsony, I. in Čuk, I. (2005). Floor exercises – Methods, Ideas, Curiosities, History. Ljubljana: STD Sangvinčki. Marinšek, M. (2007). Napake pri doskokih pri saltih na parterju. Magistrska naloga, Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Marinšek, M. (2011). Doskoki pri saltih z obrati na parterju. Doktorska disertacija, Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Marinšek, M., & Čuk, I. (2010). Landing errors in the men’s floor exercise are caused by flight characteristics. Biology of Sport, 27(2), pp. 123-128. Marinšek, M., & Čuk, I. (2013a). Landing performance on floor in artistic gymnastics. How to prosper in landings on floor. Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. Marinšek, M., & Čuk, I. (2013b). The influence of different twists in the forward and backward somersault on increased landing asymmetries Kinesiology, 45(1), pp. 73-81. McNitt-Gray, J., Requejo, P., Costa, P., & Mathiyakom, W. (2001). Landing success rate during the Artistic Gymnastics Competition of the 2000 Olympic Games: Implications for Improved Gymnast/Mat Interaction. Retrieved from http://coachesinfo.com/category/gymnastics/75/ Panzer, V. P. (1987). Lower Extremity Loads in Landings of Elite Gymnasts. Doctoral Dissertation, Oregon: University of Oregon. Radin, E., & Paul, I. (1970). Does cartilage compliance reduce skeletal impact loads? Relative force attenuating properties of articular cartilage, synovial fluid, peri-articular. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 13, pp. 139–144. Requejo, P.S., McNitt – Grey, J.L. in Flashner, H. (2002). Flight phase joint control required for successful gymnastics landings. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, 34(5), Supplement 1, 99. Requejo, P.S., McNitt – Grey, J.L. in Flashner, H. (2004). Modification of landing conditions at contact via flight. Biological Cybernetics, 90(5), 327–336. Sands, W., McNeal, J., Jemni, M., & Penitente, G. (2011). Thinking sensibly about injury prevention and safety. Science of gymnastics journal, 3(3), pp. 43 - 58. Yeadon, M. (1999). Learning how to twist fast. In R. H. Sanders, & B. J. Gibb (Ed.), Applied Proceedings of the XVII International Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports – Acrobatics (pp. 37–47). Perth: Edith Cowan University.

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REVIEW ARTICLE: DETERMINING THE INCIDENCE OF INJURIES IN ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS Samardžija Pavletič, M.1, Atiković, A.2, Kolar, E.3 Gymnastics Federation of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia University of Tuzla, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, Koper, Slovenia 1

SUMMARY Objective: To determine the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics and the starting points to provide a better orientation for further research studies. Source of searching: For the overview of previous research, I made queries in these electronic databases: Mreznik NUK, PubMed, Google Scholar. I only used full articles published from 1989 to 2013. Key words for the queries: gymnastics, injury, incidence, prevalence, epidemiology. Main results: The overview of sports injuries in women’s artistic gymnastics defines their incidence especially well in the senior category. The incidence of injuries in men’s artistic gymnastics is insufficiently researched. The index of the occurrence of injury is 2.5 times higher in competition than in training (15.9 versus 6.07 injuries per 1,000 athletes). Overall, 53% of all injuriesin competition and 69% of all injuries in training happened to thelower limbs. The risk of damage to the knee is six times and the ankle three times higher in competition than in training (Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007). Although there is a relatively high incidence of injuries in gymnastics, it is essential to mention that these are mostly light and moderate injuries (75%). The share of serious injuries (causing an absence from training due to treatment of more than 28 days) is relatively small (less than 20%) (Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulus, 2003). Something similar is noted in (Caine and Nassar, 2005). Most injuries happen on the floor when landing. The vast majority of injuries on other apparatuses happens during dismounts. The high indices for ankle sprains and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are a cause for alarm in women’s artistic gymnastics where the index of sprains is 1.05 and the index of ACL is 0.33 (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007). The share of customized training due to injury is 28.9% during the season (Kolt and Kirkby, 1999). Conclusion: The main area under study is the senior category of artistic gymnastics. It is difficult to compare the research results due to the lack of unity in the methodologies used. Findings are generalized and we do not have replies on the incidence of injuries from specialist athletes and about the incidence depending on the quality of athletes (top, quality and prospective). This branch of sport is constantly evolving and it would be reasonable to conduct strategy research on the incidence of sports injuries in artistic gymnastics with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) or the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) and to define it methodically. Keywords: gymnastics; incidence; athletic injuries; epidemiology.

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INTRODUCTION Artistic gymnastics (AG) is classified as a polystructural (a large number of different movement structures), conventional (agreed model of movements) sport. It is characterized by an emphasized aesthetic component of the movement (Kolar and Piletic, 2005) whose main elements are extremely useful for the development of basic motor skills. Average training lasts 5 hours a day, usually 4 times a week separated into two units and 5 to 6 days a week (Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Zemper, 1989; Sands, 2000; Samardzija, 2012). The loads in artistic gymnastics are large: the deceleration forces at dismounts in the foam pit are 4–6 G, landings on the mattress 10–16 G; the maximum force on the uneven bars, which is 3.1 to 3.6 times their body weight, is overcome by women gymnasts particularly with the power of their hands and shoulder girdle (Sands, 2000); the takeoffs from and landings on the floor are from 5 to 17.5 times the body weight of gymnasts (Sands, 2000; Kruse and Lemmen, 2009); on apparatuses where athletes are moving by hanging and support (uneven bars, high bar, rings), the measured forces on the arms and shoulder girdles are 6.5 to 9.2 times their body weight; forces reflected in the wrist when performing elements on the pommel horse are 1.5 to 2 times their body weight (Markolf, Shapiro, Mandelbaum and Teurlings, 1990). With this kind of volume and training load careful attention has to be dedicated to the health status of an athlete. The fear of having an injury and a sport injury itself are problems faced by both beginners and top athletes. In addition to raising awareness and creating teams of experts to work with athletes, athletes must be protected from sports injury through a system of preventive preparation. In order to prepare a high-quality prevention program it is important to know the biomechanical characteristics of the elements as well as the incidence and mechanisms of sport injuries. Below we have systemized research studies on the incidence of sport injuries and mechanisms that affect that incidence. Inquiries were made in the electronic databases of Mreznik NUK, PubMed, and Google Scholar. We only used full articles published from 1989 to 2013 containing the key words: gymnastics, injury, incidence, prevalence, or epidemiology. Selected articles and research studies were published in: British Journal of Sports Medicine, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, Journal of Athletic Training, American Journal of Sports Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Medicine and Sport Science, NCBI – National Center for Biotechnology Information. The first review captured headlines and summaries. On the basis of complete text, we decided on the adequacy of an article and its classification during the second review. Among the potentially appropriate publications found in the electronic databases, we decided to include 13 studies in the review article. Four studies included an analysis of the incidence of injury among several athletes together, while eight studies dealt with the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics. One publication is an extensive review article on the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics. This publication is addressed separately in the discussion (Caine and Nassar, 2005).

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Table 1 Presentation of the objectives and results of individual research studies Research

(Derviševič, 2005)

(Hjelm, Werner and Renstrom, 2012)

(Harringe, Lindblod and Werner, 2004)

(Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007)

(DiFiori, Caine and Malina, 2006)

(Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007)

(Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Zemper, 1989)

Research design

Aim

Results

Retrospective

To determine the size of the problem and establish the starting points for preventive measures

Retrospective

The incidence of lower limb injuries is To study the risk factors for 51%, upper limb 24% and back 24%. the incidence of injuries More injuries among those who play among young tennis individually (p <0.0001) and those who players play more hours/year (p = 0.016)

Prospective

To determine how many athletes participated in the competition despite symptoms of sports injuries

58% of athletes compete with symptoms of sports injuries on the day of competition. Senior athletes are more likely to opt for the onset with symptoms of injury on the day of competition than juniors (p = 0.006)

Retrospective

To monitor athletes in 15 different sports for 16 years and collect data to identify risk factors for injury and to prevent injuries

Combined data from all sports show there are more injuries in competitions (13.8 injuries per 1,000 athletes/ competition) than in trainings (4.0 per 1,000 athletes/training). Injuries are most frequent in the preparatory period (6.6 per 1,000 athletes/training), followed by the competitive period (2.3 injuries per 1,000 athletes/competition). More than 50% injuries are to the lower limbs. Of all injuries, ankle sprain is the most common (15%). Anterior cruciate ligament injury is also very common.

Prospective

To review the scientific literature on acute and chronic injuries of the wrist of a young athlete

Retrospective

To overview 16 annually monitored sport injuries in women’s artistic gymnastics and identify measures to prevent injuries

Prospective

To obtain more information on injuries in competitions for young athletes in women’s artistic gymnastics

There are more injuries in competitions than in training (15.19 compared with 6.07 per 1,000 athletes/competition or training at a 95% confidence level). Most injuries happen to the lower limbs: 53% of injuries in competition and 69% in training. Most injuries are to the lower back (n = 15), knees (N = 9), ankle (N = 11) and wrist (N = 9). 35.4% of injuries happen on the floor, 23.1% on the balance beam, 20% on the uneven bars while 13.8% happen on the vault.

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(Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulos, 2003)

The proportion of acute injuries was 61.5% and 38.5% for chronic ones. The most common injury is to the ankle 46% and knee 26.2%. In 26.8% of cases, the injuries are evaluated as smaller, 44% as medium and 29% as large.

Retrospective

To identify the incidence of injuries and relationships between gender, activity and training period

(Yang, Tibbetts, Covassin, Cheng, Nayar and Heiden, 2012)

Retrospective

The incidence of chronic injuries is 29.3% and acute ones 70.7%. An athlete can To determine the frequency train despite an injury in 50.8% of cases. of chronic injuries and make Male athletes have more acute injuries a comparison between than female athletes and female athletes chronic and acute injuries have more chronic injuries than male athletes.

(Lanese, Strauss, Leizman and Rotondi, 1990)

Prospective

To determine the difference The median for serious injuries for female in the incidence of injuries artistic gymnasts is 8.21 and for male artistic gymnasts it is 3.15 (p> 0.01). between the genders

Prospective

To determine the proportion of injuries, anatomical location, type of injuries in women’s artistic gymnastics and compare data with other collected data

The sample of 349 injuries yields a proportion of 5.45 per person. 31.2% of the injuries are to the ankle or foot. The share of customized training due to injury is 21%.

Retrospective

To determine the profile of injuries in the area of Durban and compare it with international data

Chronic injuries 61.3% and acute 25.3%. In women’s artistic gymnastics the incidence of acute injuries is 13% and in men’s it is 60%.

(Kolt and Kirkby, 1999)

(Adamson, 2006)

(Caine and Nassar, Gymnastics injuries, 2005)

The incidence of injuries is relatively high, especially among top-level athletes. Topological risk varies by gender. Ankle sprain has become a special worry. Research review and Chronic injuries and non-specific pain, proposal of measures to especially in the wrist and lower back, prevent injury and direct occur in women’s artistic gymnastics. further research Risk factors for injuries among women are increased height and weight, a period of rapid growth and increased stress as a result of a modern lifestyle.

The incidence of sports injuries The first step in analyzing injuries is to determine the frequency of the phenomenon. We use prevalence rates to provide a cross-section of events (transverse, cross-sectional observation) and incidence rates to cover the development of events over time (longitudinal observation) (Zaletel-Kragelj). The largest survey on the incidence of sports injuries was conducted in the United States (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007). The incidence of sports injuries was monitored over a period of 16 years (19882004) and captured 16 sports disciplines (3 individual and 13 team sports). Men’s artistic gymnastics was subsequently excluded from the analysis due to the small sample sizes. There were 182,000 sports injuries registered that occurred during training or competition. Data processing for all sports revealed that 3.5 times more injuries happen in competition than in training. The model used was 1 injury per 1,000 hours of training or competition (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007).

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Based on a comparison of the incidence of sports injuries in artistic gymnastics relative to other sports, the same study found that the injury incidence of artistic gymnastics is above-average and worrisome. The incidence of training injuries was 6.1 per 1,000 hours of training or competition (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007). Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic gymnastics was also analyzed separately. On a sample of 1,550 athletes, it was found that the index of the incidence of injuries is 2.5 times higher in competition than in training (15.9 vs. 6.07 injuries per 1,000 athletes). Overall, 53% of all injuries in competition and 69% of all injuries in training happened to the lower limbs. Most injuries in competition (about 70%) occur on the floor when landing or during dismounts. The risk of damage to the knee is six times and to the ankle three times higher in competition than in training (Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007). Although in gymnastics there is a relatively high incidence of injuries, it is essential to mention that these are mostly light and moderate injuries (75%). The share of serious injuries (causing an absence from training due to treatment of more than 28 days) is relatively small (less than 20%) (Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulus, 2003). Something similar is noted by (Caine and Nassar, 2005). The common median of the reviewed studies reveals the incidence of acute and chronic injuries. We note that the incidence of acute injuries is 54.9% and of chronic ones it is 45.1% (Table 1).

Table 2 Overview of the proportion of acute and chronic injuries in artistic gymnastics Sample

Acute injuries (%)

Chronic injuries (%)

DiFiori, Caine and Malina, 2006

Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Zemper, 1989

Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulos, 2003

162

61.6

38.4

Yang, Tibbetts, Covassin, Cheng, Nayar and Heiden, 2012

Lanese, Strauss, Leizman and Rotondi, 1990

63.4

36.6

Goodway, McNaught-Davis and White, 1989 *

725

Caine et al., 2003 *

Lindner and Caine, 1990 *

362

Bak, Kalms, Olesen and Jurgensen, 1994 *

115

Dixon and Fricker, 1993 *

162

54.90

45.10

Research

Mean value (median)

*Adapted from Caine and Nassar, 2005 The resulting ratio of acute and chronic injuries cannot be applied to all athletes at a quality level. The studies included athletes with a variety of weekly loads at different levels of quality. Groups that train up to 8 hours per week are exposed to more acute injuries and chronic injury is not a component of their participation in sport. In the case of athletes with a weekly load of more than 20 hours, a different ratio is expected along with more chronic and less acute injuries, which is also indicated in certain studies (Caine et al., 2003).

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Topological definition of the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics The topologically defined incidence of injuries indicates where the main problems are and exactly where the thinking and action focus should be. All studies have identified the lower limbs as the most risky area for the incidence of sports injuries. To obtain a broader view on the topologically defined incidence of injuries, we also included the incidence of injuries in other sports in the review and found that the problem of injuries in artistic gymnastics is similar to the problem of injuries in other sports. Table 3 Topological overview of sports injuries Research

Total number of injuries

Head(%)

Torso/ back (%)

Upper extremity (%)

Lower extremity (%)

Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007

2,244

5.60

19.10

17.80

52.80

Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Zemper, 1989

147

0.60

16.32

20.40

61.22

Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulos, 2003

151

0.00

7.90

19.87

72.10

Kolt and Kirkby, 1999

349

1.10

22.90

20.90

53.30

Adamson, 2006

141

4.24

21.27

22.69

51.77

Caine et al., 2003 *

147

0.70

15.00

20.50

63.70

Lindner and Caine, 1990 *

4.10

16.70

22.90

54.10

Bak, Kalms, Olesen and Jurgensen, 1994 *

2.40

9.80

17.10

61.00

Dixon and Fricker, 1993 *

325

1.50

22.30

21.70

55.30

DerviĹĄeviÄ? , 2005 **

1090

2.85

16.58

34.64

45.93

Hjelm, Werner and Renstrom, 2012 **

100

0.00

24.00

51.00

Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007 **

109160

9.80

13.20

18.30

53.80

Yang, Tibbetts, Covassin, Cheng, Nayar and Heiden, 2012 **

1317

16.02

16.40

22.40

45.10

Lanese, Strauss, Leizman and Rotondi, 1990 **

308

1.10

17.20

20.90

59.00

*adapted from (Caine and Nassar, 2005) ** topological view in other sports According to the criterion of the topological definition of the incidence of injuries, artistic gymnastics has similar injury incidence rates to other sports.

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Figure 1. Comparison of the incidence of injury during artistic gymnastics and other sports The topological overview leads one to believe that the area at greatest risk of sustaining an injury is the lower limbs. Most research studies were made on a female population so it is quite likely that the data reflect the level of risk in women’s and not men’s artistic gymnastics. The reason lies in the fact that with three apparatuses in women’s artistic gymnastics the lower limbs are mostly loaded and on one mainly the arms and shoulder girdle are loaded. Hence, in women’s artistic gymnastics the lower limbs transferred 75% of the competitive and training load (all-around gymnasts). In men’s artistic gymnastics, this ratio is completely different. Men’s lower limbs transfer 33.3% (two out of six apparatuses) of the competitive and training load (all-around gymnasts). The mean values shown in Figure 2 reveal where the increased risks for the incidence of injuries in competitions are according to the topological definition. In artistic gymnastics competitions the risk of injury increases extremely in the lower limbs and the head. In the head area, the risk increases fourfold.

Figure 2. Comparison of the incidence of injuries (training + competition) in artistic gymnastics and the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics competitions

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The anatomical location of sports injuries in artistic gymnastics Most research finds that, depending on the anatomical location of the injury and the incidence of the injury in artistic gymnastics, what is at greatest risk is the ankle, followed by the knee, and then the lower part of the back. Selected studies (Table 3) highlight the following anatomical locations as being at particular risk of injury: ankle (21.1% of all injuries), knee (14.28% of all injuries) and lower back (7.94% of all injuries). The mean value used is the median. Marshall et al. (2007) identify an increased risk of injury to the knee in competitions. Back and shoulder joint injuries are identified as less risky in competitions than in training, indirectly indicating that these locations have a high incidence of chronic injuries. Table 4 Percentage of injuries by anatomic location in gymnastics Number of injuries

Ankle (%)

Knee (%)

Lower back (%)

Shoulder girdle (%)

Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007 *

495

21.0

26.20

3.20

2.80

Marshall, Covassin, Dick, Nassar and Julie, 2007 **

2244

15.20

10.60

7.80

5.00

Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Zemper, 1989

147

21.08

14.28

12.24

0.60

Kirialanis, Malliou, Beneka and Giannakopoulos, 2003

151

45.69

26.49

7.94

3.98

Kolt and Kirkby, 1999

349

31.20

13.50

14.90

4.30

Adamson, 2006

141

26.24

9.92

10.63

7.79

Caine et al., 2003 ***

147

21.10

14.30

6.40

0.70

Lindner and Caine, 1990 ***

20.80

19.80

5.20

4.20

Bak, Kalms, Olesen and Jurgensen, 1994 ***

325

16.00

10.90

13.30

1.20

Research

*incidence of injury in competition ** incidence of injury in training ***adapted from (Caine and Nassar, 2005) More than 50% of sports injuries occur to the lower limbs. The ankle is the most affected, with ankle sprains accounting for 15% of all injuries (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007). Kolt and Kirkby (1999) note that most (80%) injuries heal within ten days. Some authors conclude differently, with Caine et al. (1989) registering the most injuries to the lower back, followed by the wrist, ankle and knee. Differences in terms of general findings are mainly due to the lack of unity in the research methodologies used. Chronic pain in the wrist in menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic gymnastics occurs in 79% of cases. In 45% of cases, athletes with a chronic wrist injury are exposed to stress in training and competition for at least six months (DiFiori, Puffer, Aish and Dorey, 2002).

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The picture is similar in other sports. In tennis, ankle sprain (37%) and muscle strain in the lower back (25%) account for most injuries. In total, more than 60% of injuries occur to just these two anatomical locations (Hjelm, Werner and Renström, 2012). Sattler (2010) notes that in volleyball the most acute injuries are to the ankle (48.94% males and 35.14% females) and knee (14.89% males and 18.92% females).

The incidence of injuries on gymnastics apparatus Studies that address the specifics of injuries on gymnastics apparatus are very rare and are made in women’s artistic gymnastics. Observations are associated with acute injuries. Chronic injuries are not recognized. Marshall et al. (2007) found that most injuries in female artistic gymnastics happen on the floor and the vault. There is a lower incidence of injuries on the uneven bars. Statistically speaking, the least dangerous is the balance beam. On the floor and the vault injuries occur during landings after acrobatics. On the uneven bars and the balance beam most injuries happen when dismounting from the apparatus. Table 5 The most common injuries in women’s artistic gymnastics competitions, adapted from Marshall, Covassin, Dick and Julie Nassar, 2007

Apparatus

Floor (n=154) Uneven bars (n=106) Balance beam (n=60) Vault (n=135)

Most common injury on apparatus

Percentage of injury

Activity in which the injury occurs

Sprain

Landing after acrobatics

Internal instability of the knee

Landing after acrobatics

Internal instability of the knee

Dismount

Dislocation of the elbow

Competitive routine, without dismount

Internal instability of the knee

Dismount

Ankle sprain

Dismount

Internal instability of the knee

Landing

Ankle sprain

Landing

The incidence of injuries according to the period Training programs are influenced by their cyclization which in turn affects the incidence of injuries. Injuries occur during the preparatory period almost three times more than during competition and almost five times more than during the transitional period (Hootman, Randall and Agel, 2007; Marshall, Covassin, Dick and Julie Nassar, 2007). Caine et al. (1989) found that in each training unit the biggest risk regarding the incidence of injury is in the first hour of training (approximately 33%) and that the risk decreases towards the end of the training. Approximately 8% of injuries occur in the last one-third of training. The survey is older and the structure of artistic gymnastics training at the end of the 1980s was different so these results should be treated with caution.

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Re-injury The complexity of professional sport is also reflected in overload, chronic injuries and re-injuries. Although re-injury is an essential factor in the career of an athlete, knowledge about it is very poor. Re-injury is experienced by 50% of athletes, 33% of them suffer re-injury once while 45% experience re-injury two times (Caine, Cochrane, Caine and Empera, 1989).

DISCUSSION Determining the incidence of injury provides the basis for understanding and then taking action with the aim of controlling or minimizing this problem. The incidence of injury is a fact most evidenced by researchers of sports injuries. We can only draw conclusions about the seriousness of the problem of the incidence of injury when we know what its incidence is (Sattler, 2010). Artistic gymnastics does not have a standardized questionnaire to research the incidence of sports injuries. The questionnaire described in the study “Coordinated statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football injuries” was recently used as the baseline to determine the incidence of sports injuries (Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (soccer) injuries) (Fuller et al., 2006). A review of research and publications regarding the incidence of sports injuries is linked to a series of limiting factors. The reasons for excluding some studies/research from the review article mainly relate to the lack of unity in the methodologies used – it is therefore difficult to compare the results with each other. A comparison between the chosen studies/research is a compromise due to the different samples, different definitions in research studies about what sport injury itself is; rule changes by the FIG over the years; changes to apparatuses over time etc. The limitation of questionnaires and interviews should be noted. The data collection is largely based on the memory of athletes, coaches and others involved, but is rarely supported by medical documentation. Therefore, researchers typically address acute injuries. Chronic injuries are much more vulnerable to research because the athlete must independently determine the time of their occurrence (Sertić, Segedi and Trost, 2011). Given the mentioned limitations and individual deviations shown from the general research findings, we can conclude that the problem is multi-layered and should thus be researched in a suitable manner. According to a certain target group of athletes in artistic gymnastics, there are too many unanswered questions in relation to the phrase “incidence of injuries” in order to reduce the risk of some typical injuries occurring. These findings can only be inadaquetly applied in the process of preparing a professional athlete since the factors themselves are considered insufficient. The incidence of injuries in men’s artistic gymnastics remains unexplored.

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Directions for further research on the incidence of injuries in artistic gymnastics The extremely high frequency of epidemiological research in various fields shows how essential the incidence of injury is. Guidelines for further research from authors of selected studies/research will be presented below. The only guidelines selected are those that relate to the incidence of sports injuries: • Prospective studies should accompany an athlete from the start of their sports career until the end of puberty in order to identify the link between pain and developmental characteristics of bones, muscles and tendons (DiFiori, Puffer, Aish and Dorey, 2002). • A comparison of prospective and retrospective studies is called for (COLA and Kirkby, 1999). • Caine (2005) suggests the following areas require further research: o the incidence of medium injuries (causing an absence from training or competition of more than 7 days) o the incidence of serious injuries o the incidence of re-injuries o the incidence of injuries that can affect bone growththe incidence of injuries that arise while warming up; injuries that occur in the weeks before competition o long-term monitoring of the incidence of gymnastic injuries CONCLUSION The incidence of injury in artistic gymnastics is defined by a large number of studies, particularly those on a female population. Studies on a male population are rare. As a result, most findings relate to women’s artistic gymnastics. The research conducted laid the foundations, defined the problem of injury, the importance of the study area and eventually converged the methodology in the survey. After analyzing the research, we found that the main shortcoming of the research area is that there are too many general conclusions. Based on these findings, we also suggest a better definition of the research strategy in this area at the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) or the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) as this is probably the only way that we will be able to obtain quality information for all target groups and all other unsettled research directions. Following the study of the literature and preparation of this overview article, we believe that in addition to the abovementioned policies future research on the incidence of injuries in gymnastics should focus on: • methodological unification of the research area; • deep research into chronic injuries; • separating the research according to the specialization of an athlete: o the incidence of injuries among all-around athletes, o the incidence of injuries among specialist athletes whose lower limbs are mostly loaded, o the incidence of injuries among specialist athletes whose arms and shoulder girdle are mostly loaded,

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• separating the research by the quality of athletes: o the incidence of injuries among elite athletes, o the incidence of injury among non-elite athletes, o the incidence of injury among prospective athletes • separating the research by development stage: o the incidence of injuries in the senior category, o the incidence of injuries in the junior category, o the incidence of injuries among younger levels. The incidence of injury is the basis for researching the causes of injuries. To identify the causes of injuries the problem of the incidence of injury requires deeper analysis and a further breakdown. In that way the optimal prevention programs could be defined and the number of injuries in women’s artistic gymnastics reduced.

REFERENCES Adamson, I. (2006). Gymnastics injuries : A quantitative profile of athletes in the greater Durban area. Durban, South Africa. Alen, L. (brez datuma). http://www.fizio1.com/main.htm. Pridobljeno 7. 9 2012 iz Pomen fizioterapije pri preprečevanju poškodb v športu: www.fizio1.com/dl/prep_posk.ppt Bak, K., Kalms, S. B., Olesen, J., & Jurgensen, U. (1994). Epidemiology of injuries in gymnastics. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 148-154. Bračič, M. (2010). Biodinamične razlike v vertikalnem skoku z nasprotnim gibanjem in bilateralni deficit pri vrhunskih sprinterjih. Doktorska disertacija. Ljubljana, Slovenija: Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Bračič, M., Hadžič, V., & Erčulj, F. (2008). Koncentrična in ekscentrična moč upogibalk in iztegovalk kolena pri mladih košarkarjih. Šport, 76-80. Bravničar, M. (1987). Antropometrija. Fakulteta za šport. Brown, L. E. (2000). Isokinetic in human performance. ZDA: Human Kinetics. Caine, D. J., Harmer, P. A., & Schiff, M. A. (2010). Epidemiology of Injury in Olympic Sports. ZDA: Backwell Publishing Ltd. Caine, D., & Nassar, L. (2005). Gymnastics injuries. Medicine and sport science, 18-58. Caine, D., Cochrane, B., Caine, C., & Zemper, E. (1989). An epidemiologic investigation of injuries affecting young competitive female gymnasts. The American journal of sports medicine, 811-820. Caine, D., Knutze, K., Howe, W., Keeler, L., Sheppard , L., Henrichs, D., & Fast, J. (2003). A three-year epidemiological study of injuries affecting young female gymnasts. Physical Therapy in Sport, 10-23. Daly, R. M., Bass, S. L., & Finch, C. F. (2001). Balancing the risk of injury to gymnasts: how effective are the counter measures. British journal of sports medicine, 8-19.

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Derviševič , E. (2005). Športne poškodbe med vrhunskimi športniki Republike Slovenije v sezoni 2004-2005. Pridobljeno iz http://www.sportsrehabilitation.net/PDF/GRADIVO/Edvin%20Dervi%C5%A1evi%C4%87%20-%20 Epidemiologija%202005.pdf Derviševič, E., & Hadžič, V. (2009). Izokinetično ocenjevanje kolena. Rehabilitacija, 48-56. DiFiori, J. P., Caine, D. J., & Malina, R. (2006). Wrist pain, distal radial physeal injury, and ulnar variance in the young gymnast. The American journal of sports medicine, 840-849. DiFiori, J. P., Puffer, J. C., Aish, B., & Dorey , F. (2002). Wrist pain, distal radial physeal injury, and ulnar variance in young gymnasts: Does a relationship exist? American journal of sports medicine, 879-885. Dixon, M., & Fricker, P. (1993). Injuries to elite gymnasts over 10 yr. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 1322-1329. Emerson, C., Morrisey, D., Perry, M., & Rosy, J. (2010). Ultrasonographically detected changes in Achilles tendons and self reported symptoms in elite gymnasts compared with controls--an observational study. Manual therapy, 37-42. Fong, D. T.-P., Hong, Y., Chan, L.-K., Yung, P. S.-H., & Chan, K.-M. (2007). A systematic review on ankle injury and ankle sprain in sports. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 73-94. Fuler, C., Ekstrand, J., Junge, A., Andersen, T., Bahr, R., Dvorak, J., . . . Meeuwisse, W. (2006). Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (soccer) injuries. British journal of sports medicine, 193-201. Goodway, J. D., McNaught-Davis, J., & White, J. (1989). The distribution of injuries among young female gymnasts in relation to selected training and environmental factors. Children and Exercise. Hadžič, V. (8. 4 2011). Poškodbe ramenskega sklepa. Pridobljeno iz http://www.archery-si.org/uploads/matejzupanc/datoteke/RAMENSKI%20OBROC.pdf Hadžič, V., Sattler, T., Borko, M., & Derviševič, E. (2007). Vadba za odbojkarje v preventivi in rehabilitaciji. XIII. simpozij fizioterapevtov Slovenije (str. 86-89). Podčertrtek: Zbornica fizioterapevtov Slovenije. Harringe, M. L., Lindblod, S., & Werner, S. (2004). Do team gymnasts compete in spite of symptoms from an injury. British journal of sports medicine, 398-401. Hjelm, N., Werner, S., & Renstrom, P. (2012). Injury risk factors in junior tennis players: a prospective 2-year study. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 40-48. Hootman, J. M., Randall, D., & Agel, J. (7 2007). Epidemiology of Collegiate Injuries for 15 sports: Summary and Recommendations for Injury Prevention Initiatives. Pridobljeno iz http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC1941297/ Hutson, M., & Speed, C. (2011). Sports Injuries. New York: Oxford University. Keller, M. S. (2009). Gymnastics injuries and imaging in children. Pediatric radiology, 1299-1306. Keller, M. S. (29. 9 2009). Gymnastics injuries and imaging in children. Pridobljeno iz http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/19847411 Kerr, G. A. (1991). Injuries in artistic gymnastics. J Cdn Athlet Therap Assoc, 19-21. Kirialanis, P., Malliou, P., Beneka, A., & Giannakopoulos, K. (2003). Occurrence of acute lower limb injuries in artistic gymnasts in relation to event and exercise phase. British journal of sports medicine, 137-146. Kolar, E., & Piletič, S. (2005). Tehnika prvin in metodika učenja novih prvin v športni gimnastiki. V E. Kolar, S. Piletič, O. Kugovnik, K. Andlovic Kolar, S. Štuhec, I. Prašnički , . . . S. Veličković, Gimnastika za trenerje in pedagoge 1 (str. 12-18). Ljubljana: Gimnastična zveza Slovenije.

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Kolt, G. S., & Kirkby, R. J. (1999). Epidemiology of injury in elite and subelite female gymnasts: a comparison of retrospective and prospective findings. British journal of sports medicine, 312-320. Kruse, D., & Lemmen, B. (2009). Spine injuries in the sport of gymnastics. Current sports medicine reports, 20-28. Kruse, D., & Lemmen, B. (2 2009). Spine Injuries in the Sport of Gymnastics. Pridobljeno iz http://212.59.118.205/ articles/kruse-spine-injuries.pdf Lanese, R. R., Strauss, R. H., Leizman, D. J., & Rotondi, A. M. (1990). Injury and Disability in Matched Men’s and Women’s Intercollegiate Sports. American Journal of Public Health, 1459-1462. Lindner, K. J., & Caine, D. (1990). Injury patterns of female competitive club gymnasts. Can J Sport Sci, 254-261. Markolf, K. L., Shapiro, M. S., Mandelbaum, B. R., & Teurlings, L. (1990). Wrist loading patterns during pommel horse exercises. Journal Of Biomechanics, 1001-1011. Marshall, S. W., Covassin, T., Dick, R., Nassar, L. G., & Julie, A. (2007). Descriptive Epidemiology of Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System, 1988-1989 Through 2003-2004. Journal of Athletic Training, 234-240. Randall, D., Lincoln, A. E., Agel, J., & Carter, E. A. (7 2007). Descriptive Epidemiology of Collegiate Women’s Lacrosse Injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System,1988–1989 Through 2003– 2004. Pridobljeno iz http://www.uslacrosse.org/safety/pdf/JAT-womenslax.pdf Samardžija, M. P. (2012). Specialna telesna priprava za tekmo - intervalni trening. V E. Kolar, J. Salecl, M. Smrdu , M. Bračič, L. Žiberna, M. P. Samardžija , . . . M. Kovač, Splošni strokovni priročnik Gimnastične zveze Slovenije 2012 (str. 154). Ljubljana: Gimnastična zveza Slovenije. Sands, W. A. (2000). Injury Prevention in Women´s Gymnastics. Sports Medicine, 359-373. Sattler, T. (2010). Notranji dejavniki tveganja športnih poškodb pri odbojki. Doktorska disertacija. Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija: Univerza v ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Sattler, T. (2010). Notranji dejavniki tveganja športnih poškodb pri odbojki. Doktorska disertacija. Ljubljana: Univerza v ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Sertić, H., Segedi, I., & Trošt Bobić, T. (2011). Sportske ozljede u judu. Hrvatski športskomedicinski vjesnik, 71-77. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, Operations Support Services. (2011). Assessment of safety during gymnastics activities. Queensland: Queensland Government. Yang, J., Tibbetts, A. S., Covassin, T., Cheng, G., Nayar, S., & Heiden, E. (2012). Epidemiology of overuse and acute injuries among competitive collegiate athletes. Journal of athletic training, 198-204. Zaletel-Kragelj, L. (brez datuma). http://www.mf.uni-lj.si/. Pridobljeno 9. 9 2012 iz http://www.mf.uni-lj.si/ dokumenti/a82c012abfc1cb5546604b4d1d2b7eaa.pdf

“This article is part of the doctoral study, which was partly co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund. Cofinancing is carried out within the framework of the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development for 2007-2013, Development Priority 1, Promoting entrepreneurship and adaptability; 1 . 3: Scholarship Scheme. “

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THE POSSIBILITIES OF USING TENSIOMIOGRAPHY IN ASSESSING MUSCLE INJURIES IN ATHLETES Zupet, P. Center for medicine and sport, ZVDd.d., Ljubljana, Slovenia FAMNIT, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia

Muscle injuries are among most common injuries in sport. They represent 10 – 55% of all sporting injuries. The comprehensive new classification system distinguishes between indirect and direct muscle injuries. Indirect muscle injuries are sub classified into those without macroscopic evidence of structural damage (functional muscle disorders) and muscle injuries with macroscopic evidence of structural damage (structural muscle injuries). Functional muscle injuries are further sub classified into those that are overexertion-related (types 1a and 1b) and neuromuscular muscle disorders (types 2a and 2b). On the basis of the anatomy, structural muscle injuries are sub classified into partial tears (types 3a – minor partial tear and 3b – moderate partial tear) and complete tears/tendinous avulsions (type 4). In football, for example, it has been shown that the majority of muscle injuries (70%) are without macroscopic structural injury to the muscle. However these injuries cause more than 50% of the periods of absence for athletes. In addition to the fact that these muscle disorders are very frequent, they can lead to structural injuries such as partial tears if they remain unrecognized and untreated. So even though they are not visible on imaging diagnostics such as MRI and US they have to be recognized and diagnosed early. Their diagnosis can be done clinically or by means of different noninvasive selective functional tests. Tensiomyography is one of such diagnostic tests. It is noninvasive and fast, it has a high reproducibility and it can be used for field applications. It allows one to measure the action of single muscle within a given muscle group. The method is based on the measurement of the radial displacement of muscle belly or muscle tendon. The displacement is measured during the muscle twitch which is elicited by a single one millisecond electrical pulse. It is measured with magnetic sensor and recorded as a function of elapsed time. The parameters such as maximal displacement amplitude, delay time, contraction time, sustain time and half relaxation time, are calculated. Tensiomyography can be used as a preventive measure to assess lateral symmetry, to asses fatiguing of a muscle, to assess training process and as a diagnostic tool for a muscle injury. It is also useful in determining the return to play time.

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VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT IN SPORTS ORGANIZATION PavletiÄ? SamardĹžija, P.

Volunteering provides added value and quality to a modern sports organization. It represents survival, life and creative development; it subsidizes the budget of a sports organization, and is as such, undoubtedly the product of internal marketing. It should in no way be trivialized, but should be used in all possible areas, for the energy of survival and progress of a sports organization also lies in the consolidation of volunteering. Therefore, it should be structured, systematized, institutionalized and treated as a strategic and integral part of a modern sports organization and society. Volunteering is a spontaneous personal internal impulse, so the decisions with regard to how and when to proceed on this path lie in the domain of individuals and management of a specific organization. Implementing organized voluntary work into a sports organization is an important psychological and practical qualitative shift. It is usually connected to anxiety and skepticism, but still represents a challenge for improving conditions of operation, and sometimes even for enabling them. A special challenge for a sports organization is to prepare quality contents, which could serve as a useful instrument for organizing, implementing and evaluating voluntary work in sports environments and which could offer solutions of synergistic integration of the areas that need the help of volunteers to efficiently perform their activities and to better achieve their goals. An important issue is to focus on the area of human resource management as well as on economical, legal and sociological aspects of volunteer management including all the constituents of the specifics in sports. On the basis of the results of theoretical and analytical research, I have defined the fundamental advantages, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as the prospect of further development in the area of volunteer management in sports organizations. The conclusion discusses the action plan and the concept of a development strategy, including suggestions for improving direct practice of modern sports organizations within the area of volunteer management.

Key words: management, sport, volunteering, non-profit organizations, sports organizations.

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

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NUTRITION IN GYMNASTIC ATHLETE Mohorko N. University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre, Koper, Slovenia

Athletes in sports requiring lean body constitution and aesthetic looks are under high pressure concerning their body weight which might lead to disordered eating. Differences between energy consumption and energy intake have been reported in gymnastic athletes (Michopoulou et al, 2011). This energy imbalance leads to a lower resting metabolic rate, and, paradoxically, to an accumulation of body fat (Deutz et al 2000). Deutz et al. (2000) report a positive association between within day energy deficits and body fat percentage and a negative association between energy surpluses and body fat percentage in gymnasts and runners. Results of nutrition analysis of gymnasts shows a higher proportion of protein and fat energy than recommended and a lower proportion of carbohydrates (Bernardot, 2008). Appropriate energy and nutrient intakes will be discussed.

REFERENCES Bernardot D. Gymnastics. In: Maughan R: Nutrition in Sport : Olympic Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine Volume VII, Wiley, Chichester, 2008, p 606-26. Deutz RC, Benardot D, Martin DE, Cody MM. Relationship between energy deficits and body composition in elite female gymnasts and runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Mar;32(3):659-68. Michopoulou E, Avloniti A, Kambas A, Leontsini D, Michalopoulou M, Tournis S, Fatouros IG. Elite premenarcheal rhythmic gymnasts demonstrate energy and dietary intake deficiencies during periods of intense training. Pediatr Exerc Sci. 2011 Nov;23(4):560-72.

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TRAINING LOAD IN COMPETITION MICROCYCLE IN WOMENS ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS Sever, U.1, SamardĹžija PavletiÄ?, M.2 1 University of Maribor, Faculty of Education 2 Gymnastics Federation of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Objective The aim of the study was to determine the load in the competition microcycle. Competition microcycle occurs in the last week before the competition and must be carefully planned, because without it success in the competition is questionable. The latter is based on the successfully done routine and partial routines in competition conditions (Arkaev & Suchilin, 2004).

Methods Research included ten contestants ofartistic Slovenian National Team in gymnastics, average age of 14.7 years, who train an average of 4 hours per day, six times a week. In the main part of the training are implemented elements recorded and classified according to complexity (A, B, C, D, E element) and apparatus (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor). In an additional part of training are implemented elements recorded and classified according to the content of training: warming up, physical preparation, rhythmic preparation. The intensity was additionally monitored through the frequency of heart rate by Polar Team 2 Pro system and analyzed with Polar Team 2 Pro software.

Results Successfully completed methods of work lead us to parameters that show us that the contestants in our sample (MLESLO) are training on apparatus 900 minutes per week and have an average heart rate in the training of 138 bp / min. In the meantime, they do 1113.6 elements, which represents the total training load 7.73 (the total number of elements/total training time). The share of actual activty based on the total training time on the apparatus is 5.16%. The intensity of implemented elements per minute was 1.24, while gymnasts within the training do 70,20 whole competition routines and 18 repetitions of partial routines.

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Conclusion After comparing the parameters of our sample group with model values (Stan, 2003), we came to the conclusion that our gymnasts do 700.9 technical elements less per week, as indicated in the model values. At the same time is in the model values for 34.8 more competitive routines depending on the gymnasts MLESLO. After the calculation of the intensity (number of elements / min), we find that according to the model values of the intensity at MLESLO is smaller. Modelled values indicate that the gymnasts can do nearly one element more per minute than MLESLO gymnasts. So in the training volume, intensity and density are the results of discussed gymnasts lower depending on model values. System and orientation of training is according to the shares of the quantity and intensity comparable with model values. The results of heart rate measurements of MLESLO gymnasts are comparable with model values (Jemni, 2011) on the floor, while the deviation of maximum heart rate in bp/min on balance beam is higher than the results on the model value.

REFERENCES Arkaev, L., & Suchilin, N. (2004). How to Create Champions. Oxford: Meyer & Meyer Sport, cop. 2004. Jemni, M. (2011). The Science of Gymnastics. Oxon: Taylor & Francis Group. Stan, A. (2003). Planning. Geneve, Switzerland.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;This article is part of the doctoral study, which was partly co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund. Cofinancing is carried out within the framework of the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development for 2007-2013, Development Priority 1, Promoting entrepreneurship and adaptability; 1 . 3: Scholarship Scheme.â&#x20AC;&#x153;

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NUTRITION IN GYMNASTICS – A CASE STUDY Jakus, T. University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Isola, Slovenia

The purpose of this contribution is to present a case study of nutritional status in rhythmic and artistic gymnastics. The athletes in gymnastics often have a very low percentage of fat mass, which is related to the athlete’s desire of an ideal external appearance. To achieve a low percentage of fat mass the gymnasts make use of different restriction diets, but due to lack of knowledge they are often not aware of the risks associated with a poorly planned diet (Bean, 2009). Poor weight management and improperly planned diet can lead to serious medical complications, eating disorders, increased chances of injuries and adverse performance implications (Binder, 2010; Zieler et al., 2001).

Methods. Within this case study, we analyzed the body composition and nutritional status of an adolescent girl practicing rhythmic gymnastics and a young adult boy actively practicing artistic gymnastics, both of them competing on the highest level. Nutrient intake was monitored through the weighed food method. The data were processed using the online application “OPEN platform for clinical nutrition”.

Results. The total daily energy intake of both gymnasts was lower than recommended. In case of the female athlete, the average energy intake was 1668 kcal (80% of the recommendation) while in the case of the male athlete, the intake was 1689 kcal (54% of the recommendation). The intake of carbohydrates was also lower than recommended (48% and 52% of the recommendation respectively). On the other hand, the results showed that fat intake in the case of the female gymnast (135% of the recommendation) and the protein intake in the case of the male gymnast (126% of the recommendation) were higher than recommended. The results also revealed that both athletes had a lack of micronutrients, especially of vitamin E, potassium, calcium and iron.

Conclusion. The obtained results indicate energy and nutritional deficit in the case of both athletes, which may be associated with a low percentage of body fat and the risk of development of injuries and eating disorder. Therefore, it is very important that the athlete is aware of importance of a healthy and balanced diet and the diet is planned with the guidance of a dietician, with cooperation from the athlete, parents, coach, physician and psychologist.

REFERENCES Bean A. (2009). Sports nutrition. 6th ed. London: A&C Black Publishers Ltd,: 1 – 63. Binder, A.J. (2010). Weight manegment, nutrition and energy needs for gymnastics. Ziegler PJ., Jonnalagadda SS., Lawrence C. (2001). Dietary intake of elite figure skating dancers. Nutrition Research, 21(7): 983-992.

BOOK OF PROCEEDINGS

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CHARACTERISTICS AND TREND OF JUDGING SCORES IN THE EUROPEAN, WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE WOMEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS FROM 2006 TO 2011 YEAR Atiković, A1., Delaš Kalinski, S2., Kremnický, J3., Tabaković, M4., Samardžija Pavletič, M5. 1 University of Tuzla, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 University of Split, Faculty of Kinesiology, Split, Croatia 3 MatejBelUniversity,FacultyofHumanities,DepartmentofPhysicalEducationandSports, Banská Bystrica,Slovakia 4 University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 Gymnastics Federation of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia

ABSTRACT On a sample of all female gymnasts judges scores (n=5795) from 2006 to 2011 year, we analyzed the score of judges results from the European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. The subject of the analysis was the D, E and F scores competitors got for the exercises shown in the qualifying competition (CI). The main objective of this study was determination of the differences on individual apparatus and between competitions. The results of the analysis show that the marks differ from one to another competition. The evaluation at the vault is not currently on equal footing with the results of evaluations of all-round competition and the Code of Points (FIG, 2006, 2009) should be revised in terms of the starting D marks for vaults, because this apparatus shows the small-scale deduction by the E referee committee in comparison with other apparatus. The distribution of evaluation of the D and E referee committee in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in the major competitions shows that 8 variables do not have a normal distribution of the results. Final score results (F) shows that only 4 variables do not have a normal distribution of the results (VT: WCh; UB: ECh and WCh; BB: ECh).

Key words: Judging, Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, Code of Points, Results

INTRODUCTION In artistic gymnastics, the emphasis is on the aesthetic component which has to be performed in accordance with the specific conventional structure of a movement. Although the methods of assessment in conventional sports differ either by number of judges, set criteria or method of calculating the final results, it is characteristic for the sports industry that judges represent the measuring instrument and that their assessments are instruments of qualities of contestant’s results. Each contestant brings his own competitive exercise which is being evaluated from two perspectives: content and performance of an exercise (Atiković, 2011; Atiković, 2012). Today, for the assessment of artistic gymnastic, the International competitive Code of Points (CoP) for assessment of Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) and (WAG) are in effect, which are being improved and published after the Olympic Games finish. Women competition CoP for the evaluation of the technical commission is composed by Women’s Technical Committee (WTC), The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG, 2013).

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The first unique instructions FIG for evaluation of gymnastic exercises were created in 1949 known as “Code of Points.” for the assessment of the artistic gymnastics includes seven levels of degree of difficulty. The difficulty value (DV) of the exercise is determined according to the content and difficulty of the routine. Initial degree of severity represents the level A, and the next levels are B, C, D, E, F, G and H (FIG, 2013). The latest one is the greatest degree of severity. The main purpose and goal of the CoP for evaluating is provision of more objective evaluation of exercises. Independent members of the Refereeing Commission (D) and (E) commission are on all apparatus: D commission evaluates (weight, special requirements, and bonus points) and the assessment starts from 0.00 points to more and E commission the performance of an exercise (performance techniques, body posture and balance) and provides deductions for the performance from 10.00 points to lower. D commission determines the initial assessment of an exercise, and the E commission registers performance errors due to technical performance, body posture and balance of exercise performance so that those two grades would at the end sum up in the final one. It was only from 1964 that numerous experiences collected over the years lead to creation of a new Code of Points for evaluations, invented by Arthur Gander. It contained difficulties, combinations and other general provisions. Since this period, the first cycle starts having a positive impact on further development of gymnastics and evaluation of gymnastic compositions. The technical committee of the FIG updates and improves the CoP, thus the referees have to take a referee exam every four years after OG in order to obtain the appropriate referee licence, enabling them to judge gymnastic competitions. Several authors have tried to evaluate the quality of judging at different competitions. Ansorge, Scheer, Laub & Howard (1978) found bias in scores induced by the position in which female gymnasts appear in their within-teamorder. Ansorge & Scheer (1988) found biased judging towards judges’ own national team and against immediate competitors’teams. Hraski (1988) analyzed judging at the World Cup in 1982 in all male disciplines; judging for floor exercises was deemed to be the poorest discipline,while still being of an acceptable standard. In rhythmic gymnastics, for the purpose of this study Popović (2000) designated a bias pattern with the International judges at the competition in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympic Games held in Sydney in 2000. The results of analysis conducted on the basis of a test of proportions (relative to the number of major, minor, or identical assessments) in the qualifications for individual all-around competition indicate on biased evaluation of competitors from their own countries. Woman referees evaluated gymnasts from their federations with higher assessment than the other scoring woman referees. In his research on judging in real time, Sands (2010) mentioned the biggest problem of evaluation and that is: reliability and validity. In his paper, the author mentions that the referees could use modern technology and with that, immediately after the performance, give their deductions so that a smaller number of referees would stay at rank. Other authors have dealt with this issue, too, such as Čuk & Forbes (2010) who have made the program B Jury Judging Real Time System (RTJS) at the Australian Institute for Sport. The program has improved the objectivity of the evaluation by Jury B Execution Deductions entered during the performance and it cannot be changed, referees must deduct quickly and precisely each time they see an error. This program is approved by the Technical Commission of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG) which was first used at the European Championships in Berlin held in 2011. Čuk & Atiković (2009) on the sample of the 44 gymnasts who competed at the OG 2008 in Beijing in all around, tested the equality between disciplines. Vault has the highest A scores, while pommel horse the lowest A scores. T-tests showed that those two disciplines significantly differ from other disciplines in average for 0.4 points. Factor analysis extracted 3 factors, with 67% of explained variance. On the 3rd factor vault on positive side and pommel horse on the negative side were loaded. According to the 2006 Code of Points and gymnastics training theory, both have to be revised.

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Authors Čuk & Forbes (2010) base don the results presented they concluded that: with the 2009 Code of Points, for all-aroundresults the six apparatus are not equal to obtain D scores; with the 2009 CoP, forallaround gymnasts, the vault and the pommel horse D scores significantly differ from other apparatus; with the 2009 CoP, the vaul tD scores do not discriminate between all-around gymnasts; all-around gymnasts have the lowest D scores on pommel horse; with D scores only we can predict 84% of allaround final score; after the CoP changed in 2009, the all-around gymnast who attained the highest D score on parallel bars has the best chance of good all-around results; D scores for the vault and high bar did not significantly predict all- around final scores; vault D scores did not discriminate sufficiently (to many gymnasts with same D score), while on the high bar the lack of discrimination could be due to an increased number of falls. It seems it is more important to perform a slightly less difficult exercise well than a difficult exercise with a fall. Leskošek, Čuk, Karácsony, Pajek & Bučar (2010) in results show very high reliability and satisfactory validity of judging at the University Games it should be emphasized that judging quality differs between apparatus, sessions and judges. In different sessions and apparatus all reliability measures (Cronbach’s alpha range from 0.92 up to 0.99, ICC, Armor’s theta) are higher than .90. Those indicestend to be a little lower in the allround finals than in qualification and apparatus finals. There appears to be no systematic differences in reliability between apparatus. Vault scores tend to have lower reliability than other apparatus in qualification and all around. Armor’s theta ranged from .92 (on the floor) to .98 (rings and high bar), where as in Belgrade Armor’s theta ranged from.93 (rings and vault allround finals) to .99 (high bar qualifications and apparatus finals). Finals, but not in apparatus finals. High bar scores have the highest reliability in qualification session and apparatus finals, but only average in all around finals. Atiković et al., (2011) on a sample of 176 male gymnasts, analyzed the score of judges from the World Championship in men’s artistic gymnastics, held 2009 in London. The subject of the analysis was the final scores competitors got for the exercises shown in the qualifying competition (C I). Analysis problem was determination of the differences on individual apparatus between judges E1 to E6 and apparatus. The main objective of this study was to determine the reliability of evaluation of judges and whether the current CoP (FIG, 2009) should be revised in terms of equalizing score on apparatus. Equality was tested for the achieved D, E and all-around scores on the disciplines of floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Vault has the highest D and E scores, while pommel horse the lowest D and E scores. T-tests showed that those two disciplines significantly differ from other disciplines. Reliability were calculated (intraclass correlation coefficient ICR, Cronbach’s alpha, differences in mean E1 to E6 between judges were tested using factor analyses with method first major component. All data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20.0. Results show very high reliability (e.g. Cronbach’s alpha range from 0.94 up to 0.98). Atiković (2012) in this paper try to determine the relationship between biomechanical parameters of vault flights with respect to new models of initial vault difficulty values in men’s artistic gymnastic. After implementing the regression analysis, it could be established that the best model derived only the second flight phase with 95% of explained variance. Leskošek et al. (2013) found that the new CoP solved the problem of invariant difficulty scores, most efficiently toward the end of the observed period (2011). Execution scores showed a clear decreasing trend, both in absolute value and also in it’s ratio with difficulty

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METHODS Sample entity The final scores that gymnasts got for the presented compositions in qualifying heats (C.I.) at the European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games were the subject of the analysis. Determination of the sensitivity of the Code of Points from 2006 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2012 cycles on some apparatus for the proper distinction between gymnast from different levels was the problem of the analysis. Quality levels were formed on the basis of expert knowledge. The height of the final score represented the basis of shaping the quality levels. The sample was made up of the scores that the contestant received at the following competitions: Olympic Games – OG (2008, Beijing, China), World Championships – WCh (Tokyo, Japan, 2011; Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2010; London, Great Britan, 2009; Stuttgart, Germany, 2007; Aarhus, Denmark, 2006), European Championship – ECh (Berlin, Germany, 2011; Birmingham, Great Britan, 2010; Lausanne, Switzerland, 2008; Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2007; Volos, Greece, 2006). On some apparatuss, it was a smaller number gymnast because it comes to qualifying competition where they compete only by specialists on particular apparatus, so the number of gymnasts on individual apparatuss is considerably smaller. Variables From official Book of results wemadefour variables of judges D and E scores, and one for final score F from four women apparatuss: valut (VT), unevenbars(UB), balance beam (BB) andfloorexercise(FX). Statistical analysis To evaluate all judges scores we used SPSS20.0 to calculate Descriptive Statistics, n–no.ofperformances, % – Percentile by grades, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test normality of thevariables distributions. For significance 5 percent levelof (p<0.05) was considered for all statistic parameters. Based on the expert knowledge, we have divided the evaluations of competitors into more hypothetically quality classes, i.e. ranks: I – D score from 0.0 to 7.9 points; II – E score from 0.0 to 9.9 points, III – final score from 0.0 to 16.9 points. The main goal of the work presents the comparison between percentage-based representation of evaluation based on quality classes from competitions (C.I.). It results from the given goal, that the differences are to be defined between certain apparatuses and competitions (Kolar et al., 2005).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The distribution of evaluation of the D referee committee in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics shows that 8 variables do not have a normal distribution of the results. (Table 1) shows that the two apparatus start value range from 5.0 to 5.9 points, i.e. OGVT 85.4% and OGFX 67.7%. In the range of score from 6.0 to 6.9 there are OGUB 56.0% and OGBB 72.6%. The highest percentage of the apparatus score is noticed on the OGVT 85.4% and the lowest at the OGUB 56.0%. The distribution of score on VT statistically significantly differs from the normal distribution of the results at all competitions. We easily note that 6.1% of all lower score on the OG, and 8.5% of higher range of score, 6.0 to 6.9 points. This leads us to conclusion that the evaluation range can be achieved by a large number of female competitors. The average score on OGUB and OGBB are one point higher than on other competitions. The distribution of score shows that the CoP (FIG, 2009), in the part related to formatting of the start value, is not adequate for differentiation of good and less good female competitors. In the range of score from 5.0 to 5.9 points, there are 52.3% of the all score.

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Table 1

Balance Beam (BB)

Floor (FX)

Avg. (%)

0.4

0.0

0.2

0.0

38.9

59.1

1.4

0.0

EC†

861

0.7

0.0

0.1

32.2

64.3

2.4

0.0

WC†

0.0

6.1

85.4

8.5

0.0

OG†

487

0.2

0.8

4.4

8.4

25.3

45.9

14.0

1.0

EC†

873

0.7

0.4

2.5

7.5

25.1

46.8

15.5

1.3

WC†

0.0

2.4

28.6

56.0

13.1

513

0.2

0.0

3.7

32.3

50.3

13.6

0.0

EC†

Type of Competitions

7.0-7.9 points

6.0-6.9 points

3.0-3.9 points

2.0-2.9 points

1.0-1.9 points

0.0-0.9 points

5.0-5.9 points

Uneven Bars (UB)

4.0-4.9 points

Vault (VT)

484

D score

Percentage presence of scores in quality levels of D score of the Judges’ Commission

884

0.3

0.0

3.0

31.5

50.7

14.2

0.3

WC†

0.0

2.4

23.8

72.6

1.2

496

0.4

0.0

4.4

41.7

50.6

2.9

0.0

865

0.9

0.0

0.1

4.6

36.2

55.0

3.2

0.0

WC†

0.0

7.3

67.1

25.6

0.0

0.3

0.1

0.6

2.6

23.4

52.3

19.1

1.4

Legend: D – judges score, n–no.ofperformances, KS test – Kolmogorov Smirnov test normality of the distribution, Avg.– Average score,†Sig. – Level of significance (p<0.05), ECh – European Championships, WCh – World Championships, OG – Olympic Games.

The distribution of marks of the referee E commission in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics shows that 8 variables are not normally distributed through results. (Table 2) shows that the three apparatuses give score ranging from 8.0 to 8.9 points, i.e. OGUB 67.9%, OGBB 54.8% and OGFX 79.3%. The highest number of score is in the range from 9.0 to 9.9, on the OGVT 80.5%, and the lowest percentage is on the OGBB 54.8% of all score. The distribution of marks on VT and UB statistically significantly differs from the normal distribution of results on all competitions. We easily note that only 19.5% of all the score on the OG is lower than the range of score from 9.0 to 9.9 points. This leads us to conclusion that the evaluation rank is achievable to a large number of competitors, and the deductions of the referee E commission are up to one point. In comparison with other disciplines, VT has the least deductions of the referee E committee. The best score are not reserved for the best competitors only. Thus, the distribution of score shows that the CoP (FIG, 2009) is not appropriate in the part related to formation of deductions either, resulting in differentiation of good and weak competitors. In the range of score from 8.0 to 8.9 points, there is 49.5% of all score.

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Table 2

Balance Beam (BB)

Floor (FX)

Avg. (%)

Type of Competitions

7.0-7.9

6.0-6.9

5.0-5.9

4.0-4.9

3.0-3.9

2.0-2.9

1.0-1.9

0.0-0.9

9.0-9.9

Uneven Bars (UB)

8.0-8.9

Vault (VT)

484

0.4

0.0

9.6

79.4

10.6

EC†

861

0.7

0.0

0.1

6.7

84.1

8.3

WC†

0.0

1.2

18.3

80.5

OG†

487

0.6

0.0

0.2

1.3

6.5

20.7

40.5

29.6

0.6

EC†

873

0.6

0.0

0.3

1.8

3.5

9.1

20.1

33.8

29.4

1.3

WC†

1.2

0.0

1.2

6.0

20.2

67.9

3.6

OG†

513

0.2

0.0

1.6

5.1

19.1

37.9

33.5

2.6

EC†

E score

Percentage presence of scores in quality levels of E score of the Judges’ Commission

884

0.3

0.0

0.1

1.4

6.2

16.9

38.2

34.1

2.6

0.0

4.8

27.4

54.8

13.1

496

0.4

0.0

0.2

8.3

43.3

44.6

3.1

865

0.7

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.3

1.0

11.3

47.5

38.5

0.4

WC†

0.0

13.4

79.3

7.3

0.4

0.0

0.2

0.7

2.4

8.9

26.6

49.5

11.2

Legend: E – judges score, n–no.ofperformances, KS test – Kolmogorov Smirnov test normality of the distribution, Avg.– Average score,†Sig. – Level of significance (p<0.05), ECh – European Championships, WCh – World Championships, OG – Olympic Games.

Final score (F) of the referee committee in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics shows that only 4 variables do not have a normal distribution of the results. (Table 3) shows that the final scores range from 14.0 to 14.9 points, i.e. on the OGVT 56.1%, OGUB 48.8%, OGBB 44.0% and OGFX 50.0%. The highest percentage of the score for all disciplines was seen on the OGVT 56.7%, and the lowest on the OGBB 44.0%. The best score have not been reserved for the best competitors. Thus, the distribution curve shows that the CoP (FIG, 2009) is more appropriate for differentiation of good from weak competitors in this part. Considering the optimum distribution of marks from other researches, (Kolar et al., 2005; Atiković et al., 2011; Atiković, 2012; Leskošek et al., 2013), we can conclude that the majority of competitors can reach the final score in the range from 13.0 to 14.9%, and in percentages this amounts to 28.5%.

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Table 3

Uneven Bars (UB)

Balance Beam (BB)

0.0-8.9 points

9.0-9.9 points

10.0-10.9 points

11.0-11.9 points

12.0-12.9 points

13.0-13.9 points

14.0-14.9 points

15.0-15.9 points

16.0-16.9 points

Type of Competitions

Vault (VT)

F score

Percentage presence of scores in quality levels of final F score of the Judges’ Commission

484

0.4

0.0

0.2

1.6

26.5

46.5

23.2

1.6

0.0

861

0.6

0.0

0.2

1.7

20.4

53.0

21.2

2.8

0.1

WC†

0.0

1.2

14.6

56.1

25.6

2.4

487

4.2

5.6

10.6

17.1

21.3

23.6

13.2

4.4

0.0

EC†

873

5.0

6.4

9.9

15.8

19.7

22.6

15.5

4.3

0.7

WC†

0.0

1.2

2.4

7.1

20.2

48.8

16.7

3.6

513

0.6

3.7

8.1

18.9

22.5

25.4

16.6

4.3

0.0

EC†

884

0.9

2.8

7.2

14.7

24.1

26.7

17.2

5.8

0.6

0.0

1.2

6.0

19.0

44.0

28.6

1.2

496

0.4

0.8

5.0

18.1

31.7

29.6

12.7

1.7

0.0

Floor (FX)

865

0.9

1.2

4.8

13.9

33.6

31.3

12.6

1.6

0.0

1.2

7.3

29.3

50.0

12.2

0.0

1.1

1.7

4.0

8.9

18.4

28.5

27.6

9.1

0.7

Avg. (%)

Legend: F – judges score, n–no.ofperformances, KS test – Kolmogorov Smirnov test normality of the distribution, Avg.– Average score,†Sig. – Level of significance (p<0.05), ECh – European Championships, WCh – World Championships, OG – Olympic Games.

CONCLUSION The results of the analysis show that the depth of the marking differs from competition to competition. The referee committee D gives the highest percentage of score for the vault with 85.4%, and the lowest for the uneven bars, 45.9%. In the range of D score, from 5.0 to 5.9 points, there are 52.3% of all score. The referee committee E gives the highest percentage of score for the vault, with 80.5%, and the lowest for the uneven bars with 33.8%. In the range of E core, from 8.0 to 8.9 points, there are 49.5% of the all score. The highest percentage of the final referee score is given on the vault with 56.1%, and the lowest is for the uneven bars with 22.6%. In the range of F score, from 13.0 to 13.9 points, there are 28.5% of the total of all score. The height of the score on the Olympic Games differs from other competitions and the reason for such results is because the right to compete is given only to the best female gymnasts who become qualified during earlier competitions. The evaluation for vault is currently not equal with the results of the all-round competitions (Atiković et al., 2011; Bučar Pajek et al., 2012; Leskošek et al., 2013) and it would be needed to revise the Code of Points (FIG 2009) when it comes to the value of the existing D score for vaults, because this apparatus showed the least deduction by the E referee committee in comparison to other apparatuses. All final score from the Olympic Games are in the range from 14.0 to 14.9 points, while others are in the range from 13.0 to 13.9 points.

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REFERENCES Ansorge, J.Ch., Scheer, K.J. (1988). International bias detected in judging gymnastic competition at the 1984 Olympic games. Research Quarterly Exercies Sport, 59(2), 103-107. Ansorge, C.J, Scheer, J.K., Laub, J., Howard, J. (1978). Bias in Judging Women‘s Gymnastics Induced by Expectations of Within-Team Order. Research Quarterly Exercies Sport, 49(4), 399-405. Atiković, A. (2011). Modeling start value of valut per FIG Code of Points in men‘s artistic gymnastics with the biomechanical aspects of the significance jumps. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Sarajevo). Sarajevo: Faculty of Sport and PE. Atiković, A. (2012). New Regression Models to Evaluate the Relationship between Biomechanics of Gymnastic Vault and Initial Vault Difficulty Values. Journal of Human Kinetics, 35, 119-126. Atiković, A., Delaš Kalinski, S., Bijelić, S., Avdibašić Vukadinović, N. (2011). Analysis results judging world championships in men‘s artistic gymnastics in the London 2009 year. In: SIMOVIĆ, Slobodan (Eds). Sport Logia, 7(2), 93-100. Banja Luka: University, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. Bučar Pajek, M., Čuk, I., Karácsony, I., Pajek, J., Leskošek, B. (2011). Realibility and validity of judging in women‘s artistics gymnastics at the 2009 University games. European Journal of Sport Science, 2(1), 1-9. Čuk,I., Atiković,A. (2009). Are Disciplines in All-around Men’sArtistic GymnasticsEqual?. Tuzla: Sport Scientific&Practical Aspects International Journal of Kinesiology, 6 (1&2), 8-13. Čuk, I., Forbes, W. (2010). How apparatus difficulty scores affect all around results in men’s artistic gymnastics. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 2(3), 57-63. European Gymnastics Union (2006). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Volos (GRE), UEG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_ec2k6ms European Gymnastics Union (2007). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Amsterdam (NED), UEG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_ic2k7m European Gymnastics Union (2008). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Lausanne, (SUI), UEG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_ec2k8ms European Gymnastics Union (2010). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Birmingham, (GBR), UEG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_ec2k10ms European Gymnastics Union (2011). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Berlin (GER), UEG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_ec2k11ms Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (2006). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Aarhus (DEN), FIG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_wc2k6m Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (2007). Artistics gymnastics official results book. Stuttgart (GER), FIG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_wc2K7m Federation Internationale de Gymnastique(2008). Artistics gymnastics official results book Olympic Games. FIG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.gymmedia.com/ Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (2009). Artistics gymnastics official results book. London (GBR), FIG. Retrieved0 1.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ga_wc2k9m Federation Internationale de Gymnastique FIG (2010). Artistics gymnastics book of results. Rotterdam (NED), FIG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=ag_wc2k10m

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Federation Internationale de Gymnastique FIG (2011). Artistics gymnastics book of results. Tokyo (JPN), FIG. Retrieved 01.3.2012, from URL: http://www.longinestiming.com/dnav/dgrs.cgi?EventID=GA_WC2K11MS Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (2013). Code of Points for Women Artistic Gymnastics Competitions. FIG. Hraski, Ž. (1988). Valorizacija suđenja u muškoj sportskoj gimnastici. Kineziologija, 20(2), 143-152. Kolar, E., Fink, H., Kovač, M., Piletič, S. (2005). Analiza končnih ocen sodnikov na posameznih orodjih v moški športni gimnastiki na svetovnem prvenstvu leta 2003 v Anaheimu. V: KOLAR, Edvard (ur.), PILETIČ, Sebastijan (ur.). Gimnastika za trenerje in pedagoge 1. Ljubljana: Gimnastična zveza Slovenije, 78-93. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I., Bučar Pajek, M. (2013). Trends in E and D scores and their influence on final results of male gymnasts at European Championships 2005–2011. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 5(1), 29-38. Leskošek, B., Čuk, I., Karácsony, I., Pajek, J., Bučar, M. (2010). Reliability and validity of judging in men‘s artistic gymnastics at the 2009 University games. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 2(1), 25-34. Popović, R. (2000). International Bias Detected in Judging Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition at Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Niš : Facta Universitatis - Series: Physical Education and Sport, 1(7), 1–13. Sands, B. (2010). Judging in ‘real time’. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://gymnasticscoaching.com/ new/2010/11/bills-sands-judging-in-real-time/

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THE FEMALE ATHLETE TRIADE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a review Zerbo-Ĺ porin, D. University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia

The Female Athlete Triad (FAT) is a health concern for an active women and girls who are driven to excel in sports. Is involving three interrelated conditions: eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. Risk factor for FAT is the way to achieve athletic success through compulsive diet and intense exercise. The aetiology of FAT is a complex relationship of psychological and physiological factors. The high volume of training and low energy intake in relation to stress hormones produced by psychological stress, may lead to an alteration in the endocrine system and amenorrhea. Hormone deficiency and caloric deprivation are also related to the decline in bone mineral density. Pressure to perform and loss weight may result in unhealthy weight control methods. FAT can affect performance and health but can be avoided with good management. Preventing FAT is by far the best form of treatment. Interventions must be implemented when patients exhibits dysfunctions. Key words: female athlete triad, osteopenia, amhenorrhea

INTRODUCTION The female athlete triad is recognised as a syndrome that has the potential to affect female athletes and is determining performance and health. It consists of three inter-related disorders: disordered eating, menstrual disturbance and osteoporosis (Birch, 2005). FAT usually appears in sports, such a gymnastics, that highlights a desire for a high lean to fat ratio. Athletes face sports specific pressure that may trigger eating disorders in vulnerable subject. The triad usually begins with disordered eating associated with low energy availability. In addition to high volume of training and an increased concentration of stress hormones, may lead to endocrinological alteration of the menstrual cycle, ultimately to the absence of a menstrual periods or amenorrhea. The possible consequence of being amenorrhoeic is the decrease in oestrogen production thus is associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased risk of osteoporosis and arterial diseases (Birch, 2005; George et al., 2011; Lebrun et.al., 2002). The incidence of amenorrhea among female athletes varies depending on activities, however, the prevalence is higher in athletes, compare to general female population (Lebrun et.al., 2002). The risk for FAT is increasing with increasing level of competition (George et al., 2011).

Patophysiology of FAT First endocrinological signs of a negative energy balance are high ghrelin and low leptin level. Leptin is a hormone secreted from white adipose tissue and is used as a marker of nutritional status. Ghrelin hormone is produced in the stomach before the meals and is a metabolic sign for hunger. Ghrelin may also play a role in reproductive function by supressing the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In response to high-intensity exercise Insulin-like growth factors concentration changes. These factors may be also responsible for alteration in reproductive hormones levels (George et al., 2011; Lebrun et.al., 2002).

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Menstrual disorders Normal menstrual function, referred as eumenorrhea, depends on intact hormonal signs. Both LH and FSH, arising from anterior pituitary, are released in response to gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus. Any alteration in hormone secretion will affect menstrual function. Increased physical activity, low energy intake and elevated levels of cortisol and catecholamineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, have been linked to the cessation of menses, as a mechanism to conserve energy. Reproductive abnormalities in female athletes steam from disruption of GnRH generator, referred to as hypothalamic amenorrhea. Pulsatile release of LH and in less extend of FSH is decreased. This initially leads to low progesterone levels and lutheal phase defects. The situation becomes more severe when follicle development ends before ovulation, results in decreased oestrogen production and anovulatory cycles. Amenorrhea is the end stage, with no follicular development, anovulation and permanent oestrogen deficit. Intense training alone is not enough to disrupted normal menstrual cycles, unless it is associated to low caloric intake (Birch, 2005; George et al., 2011; Lebrun et al. 2002).

Ostopenia and osteoporosis A decrease in level of oestrogen, which supress osteoclasts activity, while deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D from an inadequate nutritional intake, lead to increased bone resorbtion. Osteopenia, as bone mineral density 1.0 SD below the mean, is much more common than osteoporosis in female athletes. BMD declines as the number of missed menstrual periods increase. Especially vulnerable are athletes in their teens and twenties when bone mass is accumulating (Birch, 2005; George et al., 2011; Lebrun et.al., 2002).

Health and performance consequences of FAT Continuing weight loss, especially when associated with high-intense exercise, leads to decrement in performance and health in already lean subjects. Endurance, muscle strength and power can all be negatively affected. Amenorrhea has been associated with reproductive dysfunctions, decrease bone density and altered cholesterol profile, linked to higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. Fortunately, no significant harmful effects on reproductive status were found, but more studies with long-term amenorrhea should be made. A decreased number of ovulatory cycles, may have also an elevated incidence with ovarian, uterine and breast cancer (Lebrun et al. 2002). The consequences of decreased in BMD are reflected in premature osteoporosis and higher risk of fracture also after the competitive years (George et al., 2011). Even after resumption of normal menses, amenhorreic athletes show only partial recovery of initial BMD (Lebrun et al. 2002). Low energy availability and increased exercise affects other systems also, such gastrointestinal, renal, dermatological and neural. The chance of infections and non-bony musculoskeletal injuries are increased (George et al., 2011; Lebrun et al. 2002).

Diagnosis and treatment of FAT Prevention and early recognition of triad disorders is crucial to ensure timely treatment. All personnel involved in athletics should be fully aware of causes, mechanisms and long term risk caused by FAT. In addition to the high degree of suspicion, the regular physical examination for the participants may be the best tool for detection of these disorders. A low percentage of body fat and too low body mass indexes are associated with negative energy balance and should be a signal that FAT disorders may be present.

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Menstrual dysfunction commonly accompanies disordered eating, but FSH, LH and oestrogen values have to be laboratory determined. Oestrogen deficit could be a sign for osteopenia, but evaluation of BMD with DEXA still remain a golden diagnosing standard. The initial goal of the treatment should be to increase energy availability, by increasing energy intake, decreasing energy expenditure or both. Energy availability should be increased to at least 30 kcal per kg lean body mass per day. If amenhorrea already occurred the further aim of the treatment should be to restore normal menstrual cycles and prevent further bone loss. Weight bearing exercise, supplement of calcium and vitamin D are recommended. Some athletes require also pharmacological therapy in the treatment of triad, such antidepressants and hormonal replacement therapy as oral contraceptives. Agents for increasing BMD are not recommended for use in premenopausal women (Birch, 2005; George et al., 2011; Lebrun et.al., 2002).

Conclusions The female athlete triad can potentially occur in any female athlete, but its incidence is higher in sports where being lean is important for achieve results. FAT can affect performance and health but can be prevent with good management. All team members should be educated about causes, mechanisms and long term risk caused by FAT. Trainers have to promote a healthy and realistic body image and increase awareness of FAT. When energy intake matches expenditure, body weight and muscle mass would be maintained, what is crucial for well performing (Birch, 2005; George et al., 2011; Lebrun et.al., 2002).

REFERENCES Birch, K. (2005). BMJ, 330: 244-246. George, C.A., Leonard, J.P., Hutchinson, M.R. (2011). SAJSM, 23(2): 50-56. Lebrun, C.M., Rumball, J.S. (2002). Sports Med Arthrosc, 10: 23-32.

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15 MOST IMPORTANT COMPETENCES OF SLOVENIAN SPORT MANAGERS Retar, I.1 ,2 and Kolar, E.2 1 University of Primorska, Faculty of Education, Koper, Slovenia 2 University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre, Institute for Kinesiology Research, Koper, Slovenia

ABSTRACT An expert agreement on the key competences of sport managers has not yet been reached in Slovenia, since the study of competences in sport organisations management is a rarely discussed topic, therefore this paper presents the selected results of the research that examined the most important competences of Slovenian sport managers. This paper initially introduces the selected definitions about sport management and competences and presents the theoretical model of the structure of competences, designed by the authors of this paper, the methodology, obtained data and is concluded with the findings of the research. The research provided information that Slovenian sport managers believe that the most important competence among fifteen competences of sport managers is the development of positive working environment, followed by work organisation and task delegation, as well as by financial resources management including the knowledge about resolving financial problems.

Key words: sport management, most important competences, competence structure model

INTRODUCTION Sport activity can have various goals. Most frequent are those that present benefits for individuals and/ or the society in physical, emotional, mental, social and material aspects. Due to such major and wide impact of sport, people do sport in various ways and in different forms. Therefore, expert workers in sport mostly work on a voluntary basis or as professionals, and sport represents their core profession and way of survival. They can act as sportsmen or recreational sportsmen on a non-organised basis, or they can be included in various sport associations and other sport and sport-related organisations. Since, as we have established, sport is a complex and diverse human activity, sport organisations are quite a sensitive system, because it needs professional sport workers in order to be efficient and successful in management. Based on the mentioned facts, there is a research challenge to establish what abilities, knowledge, capabilities and motivation – competence should a sport manager have in order to successfully manage a complex enterprise such as a sport organisation. Therefore, we summarised the definition from literature (Chelladurai, 1994; Bednarik, 1998; Šugman, 2002; Tušak, 2001; Retar, 2006; Jurak, 2006; Kolar, 2007; Svetlik in Zupan, 2009, Verle and Markič, 2012): “Management in sport is a process of key resources management and cooperation with important stakeholders, and which enables efficient realisation of business and sports goals of an organisation and/ or sportsman in all management functions.” There are several definitions of competences, therefore, many authors dedicate their attention to competences that play an important role in the management in today’s organisations. Lipičnik (1998) states that man’s success depends on skills, knowledge and motivation, Muršak (1999) defines competences as the consequence of an individual’s concrete practical experience, which is proven when the acquired theoretical or practical knowledge can be used in practice, Vukasovič and associates (2008)

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state that the desired knowledge and management are the skills and abilities of an individual, thus conditioning successful performance of work and tasks within the scope of a job in a concrete business environment. For the purposes of our research, we have summarised the term competence as the ability to apply knowledge, skills, personal characteristics, experience and motivation in order to uniquely and efficiently perform an expected type of work or task. According to Kodelja (2005), the key question today is, but which competences are essential rather than what is the essence of a competence, therefore, we are examining the question which competences are of key importance for successful management of sport organisations. Competences-based approach has advantages as well as weaknesses. Training merely in the field of key competences can also result in reduced professional and work autonomy of a sport manager, who will only be qualified for certain tasks and will not possess the required range of knowledge for fast adaptation to the sport labour market (Retar & Plevnik, 2012) and will therefore be employable only for a limited quantity of professions. Jurak (2006) and Bednarik et al. (1998) emphasise that the main problem of Slovenian sport management is the fact that mostly volunteers with inappropriate professional knowledge are involved in sport organisation management. More than one third of volunteers in sport are not appropriately professionally qualified. An average Slovenian sport manager harmonises the work of various people, and this is mostly done on voluntarily basis (Jurak, 2006). This type of work is mostly conducted by presidents (67.4%), followed by secretaries (20%) and others (12.6%), including coaches, assistant secretaries and treasurers. Kolar, Bednarik, Jurak and Kolenc (2007) have found that the structure of managerial staff in sport organisations is quite heterogeneous according to their roles in organisations (companies) as well as according to their education and experience, and also the development of competences (Jurak, 2006 & Kolar, 2007). Based on literature (Pfeffer 1995; Oeij & Weizer 2002; Laval 2005; Juceviciene & Lepaite 2005; Šubic Kovač 2006; Istenič Starčič 2006; Kolar 2007; Hozjan 2009; Retar, Plevnik 2012; Verle & Markič 2012) we have designed a theoretical competence structure model for sport managers. We applied the findings of authors Verle and Markič (2012), who state that a new and contemporary insight into successful management as the range of competences is possible, thus confirming that the tool that enables the insight into successful management can be designed on the basis of an appropriate range of competences. In designing the range of competences, we relied on the following conducted researches: “Structure of the Scope of Knowledge of a Sport Manager” (Kolar 2007); “Competences of Executive Managers and an Organisation as the Basis of Organisation’s Success” (Verle, Markič 2012); international research De Se Co (Definition and Selection of Competences: Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations), “What do Employers in Sport Expect from Educators” (Retar, Plevnik 2012); “Tuning” European research project (Šubic Kovač 2006; Istenič Starčič 2006); Pfeffer’s successful sport management model (Pfeffer 1995); findings of the American Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) (Laval 2005: 77) and the NASPE-NASSM American independent accreditation organisation’s model, which has set the standards for assessing education programmes in sport management. Juceviciene and Lepaite (2005) define competences as a phenomenon that appropriately reflects the interests of the labour market, especially in the field of studying human resources management. They emphasise the impact of values, standpoints and personal features in the competence model structure, as well as various types of knowledge, skills and abilities that are acquired in the activities after concluded formal education so that individuals become competitive in the labour market. They have found that it is necessary to achieve a certain level of knowledge and abilities to acquire a professional qualification, which can during further personal professional development, impacted by values, standpoints and motivation, develop into competences. On the basis of mentioned literature we can sum up that general knowledge, motivation, values and standpoints of sport managers are supported by their competences for sport organisation management. The competences of sport managers can be distributed to general and specific competences which are determined by professional knowledge, abilities and personal features in three important fields: sport, management and research as well as development.

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COMPETENCE STRUCTURE MODEL FOR SPORT MANAGERS

GENERALCOMPETENCES EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

SKILLS & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES MOTIVATION

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

SKILLS & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

MOTIVATION

Figure 1. Basic theoretical competence structure model for sport managers Then we distributed the competences according to the set connected with sports, management and research areas. We decided to implement this division on the basis of some authors (Kolar, Jurak, Bednarik & Kolenc, 2007; Slack, 1997) who state that a wide structure of various types of knowledge in the field of sport management as well as in the field of social and economic role and sport organisation is required for successful and efficient work in the field of sport management. According to practice and literature, competences were divided in two groups: general and specific competences; this distribution was formed into a theoretical competence structure model of a Slovenian sport manager (Table 1).

Table 1 The theoretical competence structure model of a Slovenian sport manager

SKILLS & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS MOTIVATION

GENERAL COMPETENCES

COMPETENCES

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

AREAS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

SPORT

MANAGEMENT

− Basic knowledge in sport profession.

− Basic knowledge about management.

− Knowledge of IT basic. − Foreign language.

− Ability to apply knowledge in practice.

− Ability to cooperate with people.

− Ability to conduct research. − Oral and written communication in mother tongue. − Ability to cooperate in an interdisciplinary group. − Ability to create new ideas. − Criticism and selfcriticism. − Motivation for lifelong learning.

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

− Sustainable planning and implementing business processes of producing sport services.

− Understanding marketing and brand management in sports. − Sport infrastructure management. − Financial resources management and the knowledge to resolve financial problems. − Mastering project management. − Analysing work processes, jobs, designing work and tasks. − Organising work and delegating tasks. − Introduction to work − Understanding ethical and expert obligations.

− Recognising talented sportsmen and adaptation to their specialties. − Understanding and realising business goals. − Representing professional and moral authority. − Establishing partner relationships. − Readiness for changes needed for improvement of operations.

− Designing appropriate strategy for conflict management and stress situation management. − Employing and selecting candidates for jobs. − Public relations, communication with the media and key stakeholders. − Developing a positive working environment. − Stimulating for work, supervision, awarding and forming success rate indicators. − Taking responsibility for co-workers, the environment, the society with regards to the results of their work.

MOTIVATION

SKILLS & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

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− Striving to operate on the basis of good business relations.

Cooperation in research projects.

METHODS

The quantitative part of the study included the designing of a survey, which was used to interview sport managers, and we used descriptive statistics to establish general socio-economic characteristics of respondents (gender, age, education level, period of employment and job) and eliminated the most important competences. Data were processed with SPSS software. Research sample The criteria for sample selection were determined on the basis of research results, performed by Jurak (2007). The survey included sport managers who work professionally as sport managers or perform sport management-related work for at least one year, and sport organisations that have more than EUR 100,000 annual income and at least one employee. Data collection procedures Data were collected with a survey questionnaire in electronic form, which was sent to official electronic addresses of 150 selected sport managers, and after numerous requests we were able to acquire 85 cooperating managers. The reliability o the questionnaire was calculated with a reliability test that showed, with consideration of the questionnaire’s structure that based on the study of standpoints, relatively high values for general (Cronbach`s Alpha = 0.790) as well as specific competences (Cronbach`s Alpha = 0.790), therefore, we can conclude that the questionnaire is reliable.

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DISCUSSION The age structure of respondents shows that the average age of an interviewed Slovenian manager is 45 years and 4 months. The majority of respondents, 68%, fell in the age range from 30 to 50 years, which explains the fact that Slovenian sport managers are middle-aged. The survey included respondents from 27 cities in Slovenia; 42.4% of them came from Ljubljana, since most sport organisations are located in the capital. This was followed by respondents from Koper (11.8%), Nova Gorica (7.1%), Maribor (4.2%) and Kranj (4.2%) as well as other places. 16.5% of respondents answered the question, for how long they had been employed at the sport organisation, that they had been working at the organisation for 3 years, the second largest group, i.e. 10.2% of respondents, answered that they had been working for 20 years. Data show that 17.6% of respondents worked as presidents of sport organisations, 16.5% of respondents stated that they worked as sport directors, 16.5% of respondents performed work and tasks of a secretary or treasurer of a sport organisation, 9.4% of them worked as sport managers, 12.9% of them worked as coaches and managers at the same time, which shows that the work of a Slovenian sport manager is very heterogeneous considering the diverse jobs, where the respondents worked and implemented management functions. The answers to the question about the type of the organisation are represented in Graph 1, i.e. 14.1% of respondents worked at a public institution – organisation, registered according to the Institutes Act; 8.2% of respondents were employed at a private enterprise – organisation, registered according to the Companies Act; 40% of respondents were employed at a sport union – organisation, registered according to the Associations Act; 28.2% of them work at a national sport association – organisation, registered according to the Associations Act; 3.5% of respondents worked at a private institutions – organisation, registered according to the Institutes Act, one respondent was employed at the Ministry of Sport, one at a city municipality, one at the Ministry of Defence, one at the Ministry of Health, one was a sole entrepreneur. Therefore, we can conclude that 82.3% of respondents were employed in the public sector and civil society, while the remaining employees worked in private sector, which is the typical type of organisation of Slovenian sport that bases on sport associations.

Graph 1.The structure of the interviewed sport managers considering the type of the sport organisation, where they work.

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Most respondents had university education. Only 21.2 % of them had high school education; 43.5 % of respondents achieved higher or university level; 5.9 % of them were doctors of science; 8.2 % of respondents were masters of science; 8.2 % of them had high/professional education and 12.9 % higher formal education. 50.6 % of respondents were employed for indefinite time, therefore, we can conclude that the need for regular and permanent employment of sport managers in sport organisations is quite expressive (Graph 2). It is also evident that sport managers perform voluntary work (25.9 %), which was quite expected regarding the specific Slovenian sport market. 20 % of respondents worked on a fixed-term basis. Only 3.5 % of respondents worked on the basis of a contract on services or were selfemployed.

Graph 2.The current employment status of the interviewed managers. 52.9 % of respondents answered the question about the total income of their organisation in 2012 that total annual income of the organisation amounted between EUR 100,000 and 300,000. Data show that slightly more than a half of respondents were employed in organisations with relatively moderate annual budgets. Only 7.1 % of respondents replied that their organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s income ranged from EUR 300,000 to 500,000; 16.5 % of respondents replied that the income of their organisations was between EUR 500,000 and 1,000,000. 23.5 % of respondents replied that their sports organisation had more than EUR 1,000,000 of annual income in 2012. Based on the mentioned facts we can conclude that the survey included sport managers that come from Slovenian sport organisations with moderate and high income rate. Graph 3 shows that 37.7 % or 32 respondents replied to the question about the number of top sportsmen categorised on the basis of the Slovenian Olympic Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s categorisation in 2012, i.e. that no sportsmen were categorised as such in their sport organisations.

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Graph 3. Structure of interviewed sport managers considering the number of top sportsmen (categorised on the basis of Slovenian Olympic Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s categorisation) in the organisation in 2012 In the survey, we offered the respondents a theoretical competence structure model and asked them to choose among the 15 competences the most important competences for performing the tasks of a sport model. It is evident from Graph 4 that respondents set the competence of developing a positive working environment at the first place, followed by work organisation and task delegation, third place was taken by financial resource management. Other competences were ranked as it is presented in Table 2. Table 2 15 most important competences for performing the tasks of a sport manager according to respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opinion Competences

Rank

Developing a positive working environment

Organising work and delegating tasks

Financial resources and knowledge management

Representing professional and moral authority

Understanding and realising business goals

Readiness for changes needed for improvement

Stimulation for work, supervision, awarding

Analysing work processes

Taking responsibility for co-workers, the environment

Striving to operate on the basis of good practices

Establishing partnerships

Employing and selecting candidates for employment

Sustainable planning and implementing business processes

Mastering project management

Designing the appropriate strategy for coping with challenges

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CONCLUSION Since competences are important for explaining individual’s managerial success, because they condition the emergence of individual differences in work efficiency, modern successful managers are refocusing to the recognition and development of the most important competences for successful management in sport, thus strengthening the competitiveness of organisations that they manage. The research provided information that Slovenian sport managers think that among the fifteen most important competences, the development of positive working environment is most important, followed by work organisation and task delegation, as well as by financial resources management including the knowledge about resolving financial problems. The findings of the research can support the selection of the most important candidate for a sport manager and support the development and progress of a professional career. They can also present a basis for personal expert development and personal growth. The model can be applied as a tool for identifying existing managerial competences and can also present the basis for forming efficient approaches and contents in the field of lifelong learning of sport managers. The model can also present the basis for research purposes or benchmarking analysis as well as the basis for developing new education programmes in the field of sport management.

REFERENCES Bednarik, J., Kolenc, M., Petrović, K., Simoneti, M. & Šugman, R. (1998). Ekonomski pomen slovenskega športa – vidiki organiziranosti in financiranja športnih organizacij v Sloveniji. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport, Inštitut za šport. Chelladurai, P. (2001). Managing organizations for sport and physical activity. Scottsdale: Holcomb Hathaway Publications. Hozjan, D. (2009). Key competences for the development of lifelong learning in the European Union. European journal of vocational training, 2009, vol. 44, no. 1, str. 196-207. Istenič Starčič, A. & Vonta, T. (2010). Mentorstvo na delovnem mestu - ocena učinkov sodelovanja v mentorskih timih in e-portfoliu na razvoj splošnih kompetenc. Ljubljana: Vzgoja in izobraževanje. 41(6), 38-43. Juceviciene, P. & Lepaite, D. (2005). Competence as derived from activity: the problem of their level correspondence. Kaunas: University of Technology. Institute of Educational Studies. Jurak, G. (2006). Značilnosti vodenja prostovoljcev v športnih organizacijah v Sloveniji. Magistrsko delo. Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani, Ekonomska fakulteta. Jurak, G. (2007). Nekateri kazalniki uspešnosti športnih organizacij v Sloveniji. Koper: Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče, Inštitut za kineziološke raziskave, Založba Annales. Kodelja, Z. (2005). Šola ni podjetje. Neoliberalni napad na javno šolstvo. Lavalova kritika neoliberalne doktrine izobraževanja. Ljubljana: Krtina. Kolar, E., Jurak, G., Bednarik, J. & Kolenc, M. (2007). Struktura znanj športnega menedžerja. Ljubljana: Šport. 55, priloga 2, 40-48. Laval, C. (2005). Šola ni podjetje. Neoliberalni napad na javno šolstvo. Ljubljana: Krtina. Lipičnik, B. (1998). Menedžment z ljudmi pri delu (Human Resources management). Ljubljana: Gospodarski vestnik. Muršak, J. (1999). Kvalifikacije, kompetence, poklici: poskus sinteze. Ljubljana: Sodobna pedagogika, 50(2), 28–45.

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Oeij, P. & Weizer, (2002). New Work Organization, Working Conditions and Quality of Work: Towards the Flexible Firms. Luxembourg: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Pfeffer, J., Hatano, T. & Santalainen, T. (1995). Producing the sustainable competitive advantage trough the effective management of people. New York: The Academy of Management Executive, 9(1). Retar, I. & Plevnik, M. (2012). Kaj delodajalci v športu pričakujejo od izobraževalcev? Radovljica: Didakta. Oktober 2012. 52-54. Retar, I., Plevnik, M. & Kolar, E. (2013). Key Competences of Slovenian Sport Managers. Koper: Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper, Inštitut za kineziološke raziskave, Založba Annales. Annales Kinesiologiae. December 2013. Retar, I. (2006). Uspešno upravljanje športnih organizacij. Koper: Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstvenoraziskovalno središče Koper, Inštitut za kineziološke raziskave, Založba Annales. Slack, T. (1997). Understanding Sport Organizations. The Aplication of Organization Theory. Champaign: Human Kinetics. Svetlik, I. & Zupan, N. (ed.) (2009). Menedžment človeških virov. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za družbene vede, 191-279 in 409-466. Šubic Kovač, M. & Istenič Starčič, A. (2006). Kompetence diplomantov gradbeništva – evropski raziskovalni projekt Tuning. Ljubljana: Gradbeni vestnik, 55, 178-186. Šugman, R., Bednarik, J. & Kolarič, B. (2002). Športni menedžment, Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za šport. Tušak, M. & Tušak, M. (2001). Psihologija športa. Ljubljana: Znanstveni inštitut Filozofske fakultete. Verle, K. & Markič, M. (2012). Kompetence vršnih menedžerjev in organiziranost kot osnova uspešnosti organizacije. Koper: Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za menedžment. Vukasović, Žontar, M. & Korade Purg, Š. (2008). Ključne kompetence zaposlenih v praksi. Maribor: Forum Media.

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DISCOVERING ADAPTIVE POTENTIAL OF SKELETAL MUSCLE CONTRACTILE PROPERTIES IN CHILDREN Šimunič, B. 1, Degens, H. 2,, Koren K. 1 and Pišot, R. 1 1 University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre, Institute for kinesiology research, Koper, Slovenia 2 Manchester Metropolitan University, Institute for biomedical research into human movement and health, Manchester, UK

ABSTRACT The fibre type composition of skeletal muscle has a strong impact on the muscle contractile properties and is traditionally assessed from muscle biopsies, but due to the invasive nature this information is limited in children. Using non-invasive tensiomyography, we measured the contraction time (Tc), which is a valid approach to estimate muscle composition, in the vastus lateralis and biceps femoris muscles during a 5-year longitudinal study design in a sample of 107 children (53 boys) from 9.1 to 13.6 years. Additionally, we checked the effect of sport and specifically gymnastics on both muscles. Results confirmed contraction time being affected by age, muscle, muscle x gender, age x muscle and age x muscle x gender interactions. Gender effect was significant just in vastus lateralis. Furthermore, regular sport participation prevented elongation of biceps femoris contraction time with no post hoc differences found in a gymnastics group. We could conclude that skeletal muscle contractile properties are very plastic with a huge potential for alteration. Keywords: contraction time, MHC, fibre type, gymnastics, sport exercise

INTRODUCTION As a result of global deterioration of the children health, there is a growing interest in the role of physical exercise to attenuate or reverse these changes in children. While there are numerous data on the impact of exercise on body mass and specifically fat and muscle mass there are little data on fibre type composition of skeletal muscle. Furthermore, among those data, there are numerous data on the impact of exercise on the fibre type composition of skeletal muscle in adults and adolescents, but there are only few crosssectional data on the fibre type composition of muscle form children between the age of 2 months to 11 years (Bell, MacDougal, Billeter, & Howald, 1980; Dahlström, Liljedahl, Gierup, Kaijser, & Jansson, 1997; Kriketos et al., 1997; Lexell, Sjöström, Nordlund, & Taylor, 1992; Lundberg, Eriksson, & Mellgren, 1979; Österlund, Thornell, & Eriksson, 2011), and only one longitudinal study that examined the changes from childhood to adulthood (Glenmark, Hedberg, & Jansson, 1992). While skeletal muscle biopsy samples from healthy children are very difficult to obtain due to many ethical issues (the invasiveness of a muscle biopsy), researchers were motivated to develop tensiomyography (TMG), a non-invasive and selective approach to measure skeletal muscle contractile parameters (Valenčič, 1990; Valenčič & Knez, 1997). TMG derived contraction time (Tc) as the most studied contractile parameter correlate with the proportion of type I fibres in different muscles (Dahmane, Valenčič, Knez & Eržen, 2001; Dahmane, Djordjević, & Smerdu, 2005) as well as with MHC-1 proportion within vastus lateralis muscle (Šimunič, Degens, Rittweger, Narici, Mekjavić & Pišot, 2011). Although both correlations were proven for adult population should be considered also as a valid predictor of muscle composition in children. This then enables us to make age, gender and sport group comparisons of the MHC-I proportion of muscles based on Tc.

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The only study presenting skeletal muscle (vastus lateralis) composition in adult competitive rhythmic sportive female gymnasts from Norwegian 1982 European championship team showed lower fiber type I and also lower type II diameter in gymnasts (Lindboe and Slettebø, 1984) without solid interpretation to those findings. There are no other data for gymnasts to confirm those findings. The aims of our study were (i) to compare age- and gender-related differences on Tc in vastus lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (BF); (ii) to assess the effect of regular sport exercise on Tc in VL and BF muscles; (iii) to assess the effect of regular gymnastics exercise on Tc in VL and BF muscles.

METHODS Participants The analysis was performed on 107 children (53 boys) children, whose average age at initial measurements was 9.1 ± 0.5 years. None of the children had any history of neuromuscular disorders. The children were recruited from four randomly selected primary schools in three of the most populated regions of Slovenia. All third-grade children were invited to participate in the study. All participants and their parents were fully informed about the procedures and parents gave their written consents to participate in the study. About 50% of the invited children returned their written consents. All procedures conformed with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the National Medical Ethics Committee of the Republic of Slovenia. Table 1 Longitudinal descriptive anthropometric data of overall sample, non-sport-, sport- and gymnast-groups at different average age. N

9.1 years

9.9 years

10.6 years

12.0 years

1 2 . 9 13.6 years years

Overall Body height / cm Body mass / kg

Boys

139.6 ± 6.5

143.4 ± 6.9

147.6 ± 7.2

156.5 ± 7.9

162.6 ± 8.1

167.2 ± 8.0

Girls

139.5 ± 7.2

143.5 ± 7.5

148.4 ± 7.6

158.4 ± 7.5

162.4 ± 6.9

164.5 ± 6.5

Boys

34.9 ± 7.2

37.8 ± 8.2

39.5 ± 8.8

48.5 ± 10.8

53.5 ± 11.6

56.8 ± 11.7

Girls

32.7 ± 6.8

36.1 ± 7.5

37.4 ± 7.8

45.8 ± 9.0

50.7 ± 9.3

54.3 ± 8.7

Non-sport group Body height / cm

Girls

137.4 ± 6.1

141.0 ± 5.8

145.6 ± 6.6

155.9 ± 6.7

159.7 ± 5.8

160.5 ± 8.5

Body mass / kg

Girls

30.7 ± 7.4

33.9 ± 8.0

35.7 ± 8.5

44.1 ± 11.1

49.5 ± 11.3

49.5 ± 10.0

Sport group Body height / cm

Girls

142.1 ± 7.7

146.1 ± 8.1

151.0 ± 7.7

161.0 ± 6.8

165.0 ± 6.3

167.0 ± 5.8

Body mass / kg

Girls

34.4 ± 6.9

37.9 ± 8.0

39.4 ± 8.1

48.1 ± 7.9

52.4 ± 8.4

54.2 ± 8.2

Gymnasts Body height / cm

Girls

135.7 ± 4.4

139.6 ± 4.7

143.8 ± 5.2

Body mass / kg

Girls

28.6 ± 3.2

31.6 ± 3.3

32.8 ± 4.2

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Study design We performed six longitudinal measurements on children who progressed from the third to the eighth primary school grade. At every measurement we followed the same procedure. One week before each measurement, we notified each school and asked them to follow a specific protocol; no major physical or sport activity should be performed 2 days before the measurement and all children had to be available for the measurements. In each child we first measured body height and mass, followed by TMG measurements and a short questionnaire.

TMG measurements TMG measurements were done in the VL, and BF and took approximately 10 minutes. In all cases TMG was performed on the muscles of the dominant leg. The measurements on the VL were performed supine at 30° knee flexion, where 0° represents an extended joint. The measurements on the BF were performed prone at 5° knee flexion. Foam pads were used for leg support and straps were used to assure isometric conditions. All muscles were relaxed before and after the measurement (twitch contraction). The oscillations of the muscle belly in response to an electricallyinduced twitch were recorded on the skin surface using a sensitive displacement sensor (TMG–BMC, Slovenia). The sensor was set perpendicular to the skin overlying the muscle belly: in VL at 30% of femur length above the patella on the lateral side; in BF at the midpoint of the line between the fibula head and the ischial tuberosity. To elicit a twitch contraction we applied a single 1-ms pulse through the self-adhesive cathode and anode that were placed 5 cm distally and 5 cm proximally to the measuring point, respectively. The stimulation current at the start was just above the contraction threshold and was then gradually increased until the response amplitude did not increase further. If needed, the measuring point, sensor inclination, and electrode positions were adjusted to obtain the maximal response amplitude. Two maximal twitch responses were recorded and saved. Those children who found electric stimulation disturbing were not forced to undergo the measurement. From every twitch response the maximal displacement amplitude (Dm), Td, Tc, and Tr were calculated as proposed by Valenčič (1990), Valenčič and Knez (1997). The Dm (in mm) was defined as the peak amplitude in the displacement-time curve of the TMG twitch response. Tc (in ms) was the time between 10% and 90% Dm. The average value of these parameters extracted from two twitch responses was used for further analysis.

Sport participation assessment A short questionnaire was used to obtain information about the out-of-school sport participation of the children. Only in girls enough valid data were available for a representative sample of non-sport, sport and gymnasts groups. Non-sporters were girls that were not members of sport clubs during a 5-year period and did not perform regular organized exercise. Sporters were girls that were members of sport clubs with at least three hours per week of organized exercise, consistent over the all 5 years. Gymnasts were girls that were members of gymnastics sports clubs. A representative sample of gymnasts was available just for first three longitudinal measurements, until the age of 10.6 years. Basic anthropometric data are presented in Table 1.

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Statistical analysis All data are expressed as means ± standard deviation. For all variables the hypothesis of a normal distribution was tested with visual inspection and the Shapiro-Wilk’s test. Muscle differences were tested using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni post-hoc analysis. Age, gender and muscle effect on Tc were tested with three-way ANOVA, with age (6) and muscle (4) as within factors and gender (2) as between factor. If age was a significant factor then the Bonferroni post-hoc was used to precisely identify significant differences in Tc. If there was a significant age x gender interaction, indicating that age does have different effects in boys and girls, a one-way ANOVA was used to identify those differences. To evaluate the effect of sport effect on the Tc of the VL and BF a three-way RM ANOVA was used, with age (6) and muscle (4) as within factors and sport (3) as between factor. Eta-squared (η2) was used to estimate the effect size; Cohen’s (1988) interpretation was used for the qualitative description of η2 (where 0.0099 constitutes a small effect, 0.0588 a medium effect and 0.1379 a large effect). Statistical significance was accepted at P < .05 level.

RESULTS Child anthropometric growth could be classified as normal, following general trends reported by Rogol, Clark & Roemmich (2000). Both boys and girls showed a progressive increase in body height (P < .001) and body mass (P < .001). The age x gender interactions for body height (P < .001) and body mass (P = .028) are reflected by a larger increase in body height and body mass in boys than girls in the 5-year period (Table 1).

Figure 1. Age trends with gender effect on contraction time (Tc) for both skeletal muscles. * P < .05: statistical gender differences. Figure 1 presents pooled Tc data for boys and girls in both muscles. Tc in VL was consistently lower from BF (P < .001). A three-way ANOVA revealed significant age effect (P < .001; η2 = .050) on Tc; significant muscle effect on Tc (P < .001; η2 = .850); significant muscle x gender interaction effect on Tc (P < .001; η2 = .111); significant age x muscle interaction effect on Tc (P < .001; η2 = .123); and significant age x muscle x gender effect on Tc (P = .002; η2 = .035). As evident from Figure 1, a significant gender effect was found in VL (P = .027; η2 = .046) and also in BF (P = .004; η2 = .077). An age x gender interaction was found only in VL (P = .006) with small effect size (η2 = .031). These effects were seen as a lower Tc in VL and longer Tc in BF after the age of 12.9 years in girls than boys.

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Figure 2. Age trend with sport effect on contraction time (Tc) in vastus lateralis muscle (left) and biceps femoris muscle (right). * P < .05: statistical sport/non sport differences. As described in the methods section, a subsample of boys was divided into a sport, non-sport and gymnastics group on the basis of their sports participation. In figure 2 an age trend with sport group differences are presented for two muscles. A three-way ANOVA revealed significant age effect (P = .004; η2 = .086) on Tc; significant muscle effect on Tc (P < .001; η2 = .914); significant age x sport interaction effect on Tc (P = .011; η2 = .074); significant muscle x sport interaction effect on Tc (P = .002; η2 = .209); and significant age x muscle x sport effect on Tc (P = .001; η2 = .111). Post hoc analysis revealed that there were no Tc sport-related differences in VL; however we found that pooled Tc decrease from age of 9.1 to 9.9 years (P = .019). In BF we found a longer Tc in non-sporters than sporters after age of 12 years.

DISCUSSION The main finding of our study is that Tc, a TMG parameter linearly related to MHC-1 proportion (Šimunič et al., 2011), changes with age but differently from muscle, gender and sport participation in 9- to 14year old children. Therefore, we provided an important insight into the development of skeletal muscle in healthy children. Especially, where it is very difficult, for ethical reasons, to directly measure skeletal muscle MHC composition. However, by using a non-invasive approach (TMG) we presented age-, genderand sport- related 5-year longitudinal trends in Tc for four skeletal muscles in a substantial number of 107 children. Our within muscle comparison resulted in the VL as the muscle with the shorter Tc, followed by BF. Shorter Tc in VL than in BF found also Dahmane et al. (2000 and 2005) in adults. This corresponds also with the reported proportion of type I fibres in the different muscles: VL was the muscle with lowest proportion of type-1 (surface 37.8%; depth 46.9%); and BF the muscle with the highest proportion of type-1 fibres (66.9%) (Johnson, Polgar, Weightman & Appleton, 1973). We found that Tc changes with age and the age-trends are in interaction with muscle and in interaction with both, muscle and gender. There are no children data on muscle composition for BF muscle and only limited data for VL muscle. Therefore our data represents a first attempt to present valid and high statistical power developmental trends on muscle composition in children using TMG-measured Tc. We found gender effect in both muscles. Boys have longer Tc than girls in VL; however in BF boys have shorter Tc than girls. Gender differences were not present throughout whole observed age-span being more pronounced after age of 12 years. Comparison to other studies is possible just in VL muscle, where in Figure 2 (after MHC-1 estimation) we found that our data are in agreement with Glenmark et al. (1992) where they found similar gender differences at age of 16 years but in follow up measurements at age of 27 years they found the opposite, boys having less MHC-1 proportion than girls.

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We have confirmed sport effect on Tc in BF but not in VL. Sporters have shorter Tc in BF where differences being more pronounced after the age of 12 years. There was no additional effect of gymnastics. Sporters reported predominantly anaerobic sport activities they followed in organized way (dancing, tennis, athletics, handball, volleyball) and their VL Tc was no different than in non-sporters or gymnasts; however in Tc in BF was shorter than in non-sporters (after age of 12 years) and no different than in gymnasts. It seem than gymnastics provokes similar muscle contractile properties adaptation like other mentioned sports. Završnik (in press) analysed the same data in more details and found the highest adaptation of Tc in BF, in the range from 9.1 to 12 years, in athletics (-10.5 %), volleyball (-3 %), gymnastics (3.8 %), dancing (8.6 %), and in non-sporters (12.4 %).

REFERENCES Bell, R. D., MacDougal, J. D., Billeter, R., & Howald, H. (1980). Muscle fibre types and morphometric analysis of skeletal muscle in six-year-old children. Med Sci Sports Exer, 12(1), 28-31. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd edition). Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Dahlström, M., Liljedahl, M. E., Gierup, J., Kaijser, L., & Jansson, E. (1997). High proportion of type I fibres in thigh muscle of young dancers. Acta Physiol Scand, 160(1), 49-55. Dahmane, R., Djordjević, S., Šimunič, B., & Valenčič, V. (2005). Spatial fiber type distribution in normal human muscle histochemical and tensiomyographical evaluation. J Biomech, 38(12), 2451-2459. Dahmane, R., Valenčič, V., Knez, N., & Eržen, I. (2001). Evaluation of the ability to make non-invasive estimation of muscle contractile properties on the basis of the muscle belly response. Med Biol Eng Comput, 39(1), 51-55. Glenmark, B., Hedberg, G., & Jansson, E. (1992). Changes in muscle fibre type from adolescence to adulthood in women and men. Acta Physiol Scand, 146(2), 251-259. Johnson, M. A., Polgar, J., Weightman, D., & Appleton, D. (1973). Data on the distribution of fibre types in thirtysix human muscles. An autopsy study. J Neurol Sci, 18(1), 111-129. Kriketos, A. D., Baur, L. A., O’Connor, J., Carey, D., King, S., Caterson, I. D., & Storlien, L. H. (1997). Muscle fibre type composition in infant and adult populations and relationships with obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 21(9), 796-801. Lindboe CF, Slettebø M. (1984) Are young female gymnasts malnourished? An anthropometric, electrophysiological, and histological study. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 52(4), 457-62. Lexell, J., Sjöström, M., Nordlund, A. S., & Taylor, C. C. (1992). Growth and development of human muscle: a quantitative morphological study of whole vastus lateralis from childhood to adult age. Muscle Nerve, 15(3), 404409. Lundberg, A., Eriksson, B. O., & Mellgren, G. (1979). Metabolic substrates, muscle fibre composition and size in late walking and normal children. Eur J Pediatr, 130(2), 79-92. Österlund, C., Thornell, L. E., & Eriksson, P. O. (2011). Differences in fibre type composition between human masseter and biceps muscles in young and adults reveal unique masseter fibre type growth pattern. Anat Rec (Hoboken), 294(7), 1158-1169.

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Šimunič, B., Degens, H., Rittweger, J., Narici, M., Mekjavić, I. B., & Pišot, R. (2011). Noninvasive estimation of myosin heavy chain composition in human skeletal muscle. Med Sci Sports Exer, 43(9), 1619-1625. Valenčič, V. (1990). Direct measurement of the skeletal muscle tonus. In: D. Popovič (Ed.), Advances in external control of human extremities (pp. 102-108). Beograd: Nauka. Valenčič, V., & Knez, N. (1997). Measuring of skeletal muscles’ dynamic properties. Artif Organs, 21(3), 240-242. Završnik, J., Šimunič, B., Koren, K., Blažun, H., Kokol, P., Vošner, J., Rissanen, S., & Pišot, R. (in press). Correlation between knee extensor/flexor contraction time and running speed: a longitudinal Study in 9- to 14-year old Children. Croat Med J.

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EXPOSURE TO SPECIFIC EXERCISE INCREASES THE SENSITIVITY OF POSTURAL SWAY TEST IN GYMNASTS Böhmerová, L. and Hamar, D. Department of Sport Kinanthropology,Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Comenius University Bratislava

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to investigate whether test of postural sway under more difficult specific conditions (handstand, heel raise stance, upright stance after specific gymnastic exercises such as 10 giants circles on high bar, 5 flick-flacks, or 10 turns in upside down position) reveals more pronounced differences between groups of gymnasts of various ranking level. Two groups (ranking high and low respectively) underwent stabilometrical tests consisting of standard upright stance and stance after specific exerciser. The results showed that more difficult condition during the test substantially increased difference in stabilographic sway parameters as compared to standard upright stance test. Key words: postural sway, artistic gymnastics, level of performance

INTRODUCTION Women´s artistic gymnastics represents one of those sports where the coordination skills are substantially limiting the performance, and the peak performance is usually achieved at relatively young age 16 to 19 years. Current literature (Arkaev et al., 2004; Hatiar, 1999; Strešková, 2005; Nabatniková, 1982) specifies many factors influencing the gymnastics performance (e.g. fitness skills, explosive strength, flexibility, speed and strength endurance, temporal and spatial differentiation). Also parameters of postural sway have been shown (Vuillerme et al., 2004) to be related to gymnastic performance. All this skills are developing dynamically not only as the effect of the sports training, but also due to the influence of maturation in adolescence period. Assessment of these skills, namely balance may be therefore considered as an useful approach in sport practice. Gymnastics elements performed with zero speed, often executed on an apparatus with a small base of support require static form of balance. Its importance also lies in the kinesthetic perception of dominant positions while practicing difficult and complex exercises. Dynamic balance on the other hand affects gymnastics elements performed with constant or accelerated speed, whose difficulty is enhanced by multiple rotations around the horizontal and the longitudinal axis of the body, after which it is necessary to stop the movement of the center of gravity again as quickly as possible. Gymnastic training puts high demands for accurate and proper function of postural sway as well as of control mechanisms that trigger various physiological responses of the body depending on their intensity and duration. This also emphasizes the importance and need for assessment of these mechanisms. There are many scientific studies dealing with postural sway under static conditions in one leg stance or normal stance.

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The aim of the present study was to find out whether the differences in gymnasts of different ranking level, evident already in the basic test of postural stability will be greater, if the test is applied immediately after exposure to specific gymnastic exercise or in typical gymnastic position (handstand).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS Based on the performance achieved in the gymnastic competition, so called “ranking” from the best to the worst was created. By means of discriminatory method the gymnasts were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of gymnasts from the upper half of the ranking (n = 10, average age: 15.3 ± 3.8 years; body height: 156.2 ± 8.7 cm; body weight 46.2 ± 7.6 kg) and the second group consisted of gymnasts from the lower half of the ranking (n = 10, average age: 13.7 ± 2.8 years; body height: 146.2 ± 10.5 cm; body weight 38.7 ± 10.0 kg). The subjects underwent the test of postural sway under standard conditions two times in duration of 30 seconds (handstand and heel raise stance), or 2 minutes (upright stance with eyes open and specific tests). Balance parameters have been registered using a computer stabilographic system FITRO Sway check. The system allows monitoring the horizontal COP movement based on the analysis of the distribution of vertical force registered by means of a stabilographic force plate with 3 tensometric force sensors. The current position of the COP has been registered at a frequency 100 Hz (Hamar, 1997). The average COP movement velocity was calculated as a stability parameter from the stabilographic curve. The average value of both trials was the criterion (Zemková et al., 1998). To compare the differences in mean values in individual groups and between the groups, the Wilcoxon test, or Mann - Whitney U test was used, respectively. As the nonparametric methods were used in statistical calculation, the results of individual parameters are shown as median and standard deviation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The difference between static balance assessed by means of average COP movement velocity in upright stance in gymnasts of high ranking level (6.7; 3.3 mm/s) and low ranking level (7.9; 4.1 mm/s) was significant at the level of 5 %. Better postural stability was recorded in gymnasts of higher ranking level already in the basic test.

Figure 1. COP movement velocity during upright stance

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However, it was of interest whether the differences in performance are greater when comparing the parameters of postural stability after specific gymnastic exercises, or in static gymnastic pose. Therefore, we compared these parameters in both groups of gymnasts during handstand. The difference was statistically significant at the 0.1% level in this test, while the average COP movement velocity in gymnasts of higher ranking level during handstand was 57.1; 26.8 mm/s and 82.7; 44.3 mm/s in gymnasts of low ranking level.

Figure 2. COP movement velocity during handstand Previous research (Bรถhmerovรก et al., 2005) has not confirmed any significant relationship between the values of COP movement velocity during handstand and upright stance, suggesting that these two skills are not related. It seems that handstand represents a relatively independent skill and its level depends primarily on special training. Asseman et al. (2004) concluded similar results by means of a simple comparison. The gymnasts, who achieved the best parameters during handstand, did not always belong to those who had the best stability in upright stance. The authors believe that the postural stability assessed in gymnasts in upright stance does not sufficiently reflect the real level of this ability. Such a concept is also supported by a finding that the gymnasts of high ranking level had the lowest COP velocity and also the lowest COP distance as a result of high level of performance in this exercise. The average age of the gymnasts of high ranking level was 15.3 years, while the age of the gymnasts of low ranking level was 13.7 years. Despite the differences in age, there were also 12 - 13 years old girls in the group of gymnasts of high ranking level, who had very good parameters of stability during handstand. It can be assumed that these gymnasts in particular can achieve top results as less time was needed for learning the proper movement technique, which is a sign of good ability of motor learning and represents a condition for gymnastic mastery. The difference was also statistically significant (p โ ค 0.001) after ten turns in upside down position (10.5; 6.1 mm/s, and 14.1; 9.3 mm/s).

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There was a difference at 1% level of statistical significance in assessing the postural stability after specific gymnastic exercise (ten giants circles on high bar) (9.6; 2.6 mm/s, and 14.1; 8.9 mm/s), in one leg stance (30.6; 12.2 mm/s, and 40.5; 17.9 mm/s), as well as in a heel raise stance (24.5; 9.1 mm/s, and 33.1; 16.4 mm/s). In addition, the differences of average COP movement velocity were statistically significantly higher (p ≤ 0.01) in upright stance before and after giant circles in gymnasts of low ranking level than in gymnasts of low ranking level. However, this is not true for the differences before and after five flick flacks and ten turns in upside down position. The finding, that measurement after specific exercises distinguishes the differences influenced by performance better, is in accordance with the opinion of Asseman et al. (2004, 2007). According to these authors, static stability in gymnasts should be assessed solely by specific tasks such as one leg stance or handstand. Since upright stance on both feet is a part of everyday life of every healthy person, the assessment of postural stability in this “normal position” in gymnasts will not sufficiently reflect the level of static stability under special conditions of gymnastics. This view is also supported by Vuillerme et al. (2004), who compared postural stability of general population and gymnasts. Most evident differences were recorded in one leg stance, and not in normal upright stance, not even with eyes closed.

CONCLUSION The parameters of stability during handstand (p ≤ 0.001) reflect the level of gymnastic performance more accurately than the parameters in standard upright stance (p ≤ 0.05). Disturbance of parameters of postural stability after selected gymnastic exercises was more evident in the groups of low ranking level than in the groups of high ranking level. The difference in average COP movement velocity between the group of high ranking level and low ranking level during upright stance after 10 turns in upside down position was significant at a 0.1% level, the difference after 10 giants circles, one leg stance and heel raise stance was significant at a 1% level of statistical significance. The differences of average COP movement velocity were statistically significantly higher (p ≤ 0.01) in upright stance before and after giant circles on high bar. In conclusion, it can be summarized that the more difficult tests (handstand, one leg stance, heel raise stance and tests of postural stability after specific gymnastic exercises such as 10 giants circles, 5 flickflacks, or 10 turns in upside down position) increase the differences in postural stability between gymnasts of high and low ranking level in comparison with a standard upright stance test.

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REFERENCES Arkaev, L. I. - Suchilin, N. G.: How to create champions, The theory and methodology of Training top – class gymnasts, Mayer & Mayer sport, 2004, s. 31. Asseman, F. B. – Caron, O. – Cremieux, J.: Is there a transfer of postural ability from specific to unspecific posture in elite gymnasts? Neurosci Lett. 358, 2004, s. 83 – 86. Asseman, F. B. – Caron, O. – Cremieux, J.: Are there specific conditions for which expertise in gymnastics could have an effect on postural control and performance? Gait Posture. 2007. Böhmerová, Ľ. - Hamar, D. - Zemková, E.: Parametre statickej rovnováhy v stojke na rukách pri posudzovaní špeciálnej trénovanostiá športových gymnastiek, Medicina Sportiva, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2005, s. 74. Hamar, D.: Stabilografický systém FiTRO Sway check. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 1997. Hatiar, B.: Model dlhodobej športovej prípravy v športovej gymnastike. andŠimonek, J. A Kol.: Modelovanie dlhodobej športovej prípravy v individuálnych športoch. Šport 1989, s. 39 – 60. Nabatnikova, M., J.: Osnovy upravlenija podgotovkoj junych sportsmenov. Moskva, FIS 1982, s. 64 – 65. Strešková E.: Význam rozvoja rovnováhových a rytmických schopností v športovej príprave. In: Zborník zo vzdelávacích aktivít Národného športového centra 2004. Bratislava, 2005, s. 47 - 64. Vuillerme, N. – Nougier, V.: Attentional demand for regulating postural sway: the effect of expertise in gymnastics. Brain Res Bull. 2004 Mar (2):61-5. Zemková, E. - Hamar, D.: Reliabilita parametrov stability postoja na dynamometrickej platni. In: Súhrny prednášok z národného kongresu telovýchovného lekárstva. Tále, Slovenská spoločnosť telovýchovného lekárstva 1998, s. 40.

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