University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in-house COVID-19 testing program

The pandemic caused by the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2 threatened to severely disrupt the activities of student-athletes. (REF) In order to provide a safe environment for athletic competition, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) mandated testing of student-athletes. The goal was to rapidly identify student-athletes and the athletic staff member who either tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or were in contact with individuals who tested positive. Rapid identification of infected individuals and their contacts allowed the University to implement quarantine standards and quarantine facilities quickly as needed. The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) developed an in-house testing program and was quickly able to meet the NCAA requirements, allowing UTA to continue its athletic participation with minimal forfeiture of scheduled games. The purpose of this paper is to report the implementation UTA’s COVID prevention program for the university’s athletic program. This program will provide valuable information to other universities’ planning for the management of COVID prevention in their athletic programs. Challenges and solutions are identified.

Optimizing the Explosive Force of the Elite Level Football-Tennis Players through Plyometric and Specific Exercises

The aim of the research was to implement an athletic program to improve the explosive force in order to optimize physical fitness at the level of elite football-tennis players and evaluate the progress made through specific tests using the Opto Jump. The research included 10 elite European and world-class players, on whom an experimental program was applied in order to improve the explosive force of the limbs in conditions of speed, endurance, and dynamic balance. Study tests: five vertical jumps on the spot, on the left/right leg; five back and forth jumps on the left/right leg; five left/right side jumps on the left/right leg; vertical jumps on both legs 60 s; BFS vertical jumps. For each test, the following parameters specific to the explosive force were statistically analyzed: contact time (s); flight time (s); jump height (cm), jump power (w/kg); RSI—Reactive Strength Index, defined as Height (m/s). In the study, the average value of the parameters specific to the jumps performed in each test was taken into account. During the study, the tests were performed and processed on the Opto Jump device and software. In all tests of the experiment monitored through Opto Jump, significant progress was made in the final test compared to the initial one, which demonstrates the efficiency of the physical training program implemented for the development of explosive force, with an impact on the sports performance of elite players. The most relevant results obtained for the left leg regarding the improvement of the explosive force of the lower limbs materialized in the jump height parameter was in the test of five vertical jumps on one leg on the spot, and for the right leg in the tests of: five back and forth jumps and five left/right side jumps. The most significant advances in the study were in the tests, in descending order of their weight: 60 s vertical jumps on both legs; five back-and-forth jumps and five left/right side jumps, five vertical jumps on one leg standing, and BFS vertical jumps.

Student-Athlete Development and Winning Success

The success of an athletic program is often defined by wins and losses. According to the sporting success framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006) as well as the athlete development literacy (ADL) model (Livengood et al., 2015), athlete development contributes to athletic achievement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between athlete development personnel resources and winning success at NCAA Division I institutions. A total of 150 universities were included in this study. Utilizing the ADL model (Livengood et al. 2015) of personal and player development literacies, athletic department personnel selected for this study included: academic advisors, athletic trainers, doctors, learning specialists, nutritionists, mental health professionals, physical therapists, sport psychologists, as well as strength and conditioning coaches. Winning success was measured using the final 2017-18 Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup standings (Directors’ Cup, 2019). The results suggest that athletic trainers, learning specialists, and sport psychologists significantly contribute to winning success. As such, athletic departments should appropriately invest in athlete development specialists.

Officially a Yale Official

In 1899 a new Yale president (Arthur Hadley) makes Camp the effective “athletics director” at Yale, a paid part-time position. Camp is also named to the University Council, a new administrative organization generally comprising Yale professors; to give Camp appropriate academic credentials, Yale awards him an honorary master’s degree. Camp continues as an advisory football coach and in 1900 develops a set of tackle-back tandem plays (further developing plays first devised by Harry Williams), adding variation and deception to make the plays unusually effective; Camp reportedly develops American football’s first “mousetrap” play off this set of plays. Yale continues to have a dominant athletic record that sets them apart as an elite college athletic program and makes them a logical and famous setting for the adventures of Frank Merriwell.

Away with the Old

Beginning about 1907, Camp is pushed aside as advisory football coach at Yale as too old and out-of-date. He is also implicitly attacked in a muckraking exposé of college athletics in the June 1905 McClure’s, particularly an allegation of financial support for a low-income Yale player to travel to Cuba with an ill Yale trainer; the support came from student-managed accounts, but Camp is responsible for overseeing those accounts. The Yale Financial Union, which Camp manages and originated in 1892 to pool and conserve Yale’s athletic income, is also drawn into the affair, largely because of secrecy about the fund’s accumulated receipts and disbursements. An internal investigation of Yale’s athletic program is conducted at a request from the faculty, but as to Camp it produces mainly suggestions “for his consideration,” including more publicity for activities and accounts of the YFU. Following Harvard by about ten years, Yale builds a permanent concrete football stadium in 1914, a novel large bowl-like structure (the “Yale Bowl”).

The Truth in Eight-Point Type

This chapter takes the university and the student newspaper through World War II, the post-war boom, and the 1950s. Major topics include the Navy Pre-Flight Training School on campus, university expansion after the war, politics, race, and the growth of the intercollegiate athletic program. The role of university president Frank Porter Graham is examined in detail. The effects of the anti-Communist Red Scare and McCarthyism at UNC are discussed, including the national attention focused on students such as Junius Scales. The fight over desegregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of editors including Charles Kuralt in this issue are covered. Problems with modern intercollegiate athletics at UNC, beginning after World War II, are examined in some detail.

Examining the Relationship Between Athletic Program Expenditure and Athletic Program Success Among NCAA Division I Institutions

This study examines the impact of athletic expenditure on athletic performance among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institutions. A series of dynamic panel data models are estimated to explore differential impacts of expenditure throughout athletic programs. Results suggest that a dollar spent on women’s sport programs may be more effective than a dollar spent on men’s sport programs. Analysis is conducted at the aggregate, relative division, relative conference, and individual sport levels. Together, all analysis suggests that alternative distributions of athletic, financial resources could increase an institution’s athletic success.