Barriers to delivering extracurricular school sport and physical activity in Wales: a qualitative study of 5x60 officers' views and perspectives.

BACKGROUND: In light of recent reports, schools must be realistic in that physical activity recommendations cannot be met through curriculum PE alone. However, extracurricular PE and school sport has the potential to further promote physical activity in adolescents. Consequently, the Welsh Government, UK, proposed through its Climbing Higher strategy (2006) for secondary school children to achieve 60 minutes of physical activity a day. This was implemented through Sport Wales and the 5×60 scheme. METHOD: This study aimed to examine the experiences of the 5×60 officers responsible for implementing the program, with a view to gain an understanding of the barriers associated with increasing participation in physical activity. Officers from 14 unitary authorities across Wales were interviewed using a socioecological approach that considered the impact of: personal behaviors, physical environment, social environment, and policy. RESULTS: Participants reported a number of challenges affecting the delivery of the program, including: availability of facilities, lack of support from senior management, time, and conflict with PE staff. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that current methods used by personnel to facilitate extracurricular school sport may not be the most appropriate, and future direction should consider the place and contribution of physical activity to young people's lives.

Assessment of conditioning-specific movement tasks and physical fitness measures in talent identified under 16-year-old rugby union players.

Preparedness to train was assessed using a battery of conditioning-specific movement tasks (CSMTs) on a group of talent identified rugby union players (n = 156; age = 15 ± 7 years; stature = 176 ± 7 cm; and mass = 74 ± 14 kg). In addition to explore the link between movement competency and performance, a series of standard fitness tests was conducted. Overall the group's CSMTs competency ratings were low, but task dependent. The proportion of competent players ranged from 14% for a single leg squat to 70% for a double to single leg landing. Players were subsequently grouped based on their CSMTs ratings using cluster analysis. This analysis classified players on features of the CSMT battery that distinguished between groups rather than an arbitrary score. Fitness test scores were then compared between the 3 groups identified. The "general low competency" group jumped 9.1 cm lower (p = 0.0218), sprinted slower across 10, 20 and 40 m (range, p = 0.0126-0.0018) and covered 389 m less (p = 0.0105) Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 distance compared with the "squat competent group." In summary, at this important time before academy selection, most players could not competently perform the CSMTs that underpin rugby conditioning and may not be prepared for the transition into the "training to compete" stage of the suggested long-term athlete development model. For this sample of players, the athlete development process may therefore be unnecessarily inhibited. Moreover, our observations that competency in some CSMTs may explain better running and jumping performances in some players suggest that a focus on monitoring and addressing movement competencies during the training to train stage of player development should be considered.