1 Sports Game Play

SPORTS GAME PLAY: A COMPARISON OF MODERATE TO VIGOROUS

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES IN ADOLESCENTS

Patience, M.A., Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, Coastal Carolina

University, Kilpatrick, M.W, Sun, H. Flory, S.B., Watterson, T.A. School of Physical

Education and Exercise Science, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620

Marcia A. Patience (Corresponding Author): Professor Coastal Carolina University Phone: (843) 349-2734 Fax: (843) Email: [email protected]

Kilpatrick, M.W., PhD Associate Professor University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620 Phone: (813) 974-8127 Fax: (813) 974-4979 Email: [email protected]

Sun, H., PhD Assistant Professor University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620 Phone: (813) 974-0119 Fax: (813) 974-4979 Email: [email protected]

Flory, S.B., PhD Assistant Professor University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620

Phone: (813) 974-4765 Fax: (813) 974-4979 Email: [email protected]

Watterson, T.A. Professor University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620 Phone: (813) 974-4765 Fax: (813) 974-4979 Email: [email protected]

Acknowledgements:

This work was privately funded by Bay Area Pelicans under the direction of Rugby 4 Life and More Health Inc. Special thanks to the participants and volunteers of the study for dedicating time for the purpose of the project.

ABSTRACT:

Physical activity (PA) in adolescents has been steadily declining. Research suggests sports may improve PA in adolescents. Flag rugby may provide adolescents an alternative to traditional team sports. Since adolescents are more likely to participate in activities they enjoy, sports game play has become increasingly important in physical education (PE) classes. PURPOSE: To compare adolescent PA intensity, duration, competence and enjoyment in flag football (FF), basketball (BB), and flag rugby (FR).

METHODS: 101 (55 male; 46 female, age 11-14) students were selected to participate in three week sport units of FF, BB, and FR. Activity counts were collected using the

Stayhealthy RT3™ accelerometer on the last day of each unit to determine activity duration in minutes and average intensity with metabolic equivalent of task (MET).

Students’ perceived competence and enjoyment of each sport was measured by the intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI). Data were analyzed by RMANOVA. RESULTS:

Mean MET values were: FF 4.9 + 1.4(SD), BB 5.5 + 2.0, and FR 6.0 + 1.5, with significant differences noted for FF and BB (p < 0.001) and FR and FF (p < 0.001). FF produced an average duration of activity of 39.3 + 4.8, BB 40.6 + 5.9 and FR 41.8 + 4.8 minutes of activity. There was a significant difference between FR and FF durations (p <

0.001). Participants felt significantly more competent in FR than FF (p < 0.001) and more competent in FF than BB (p < 0.001). Participants enjoyed FR significantly more than FF and BB (p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: FR activity was greater in intensity than FF and BB. Results of this study suggest participants enjoy sports game play. Sports such as

FF, BB and FR produce moderate to vigorous PA that may be beneficial for adolescent health.

BACKGROUND:

Significant increases in obesity and overweight percentages of the nation’s adolescence have consistently been an important topic of research. Regular PA may provide health benefits that transcend throughout an individual’s lifetime.1 Sports activities are a major component to secondary PE curriculum as they produce more PA and appear to be enjoyable for the adolescent.

Children tend to be more active than adults, but as they transition into adolescence, activity levels begin to steadily decline.1 Among adolescents ages 12 to 19,

16% are overweight and 31% are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.2 Most states (86%) require middle schools to provide PE.3 Physical education classes are a primary source of PA for the adolescent.4 Research suggests students have become more active in PE, with the inclusion of games, sports or dance, thus increasing PA duration from an average of 15 minutes to 18 minutes per class time. 3

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) requires daily PE in an accumulation of at least 150 minutes per week for elementary students and

225 minutes per week for middle school and high school students.5 Presently, it appears that a decrease in PA has become accepted as part of the norm, while participation in sedentary activities, such as computer and video game use have gained popularity.6

Observations in the PE classroom of random middle schools revealed that 18% of students engage in moderate to vigorous PA and 53% of those observed appeared to be in an inactive state. 7 While 60 minutes per day of activity is recommended, the adolescent population does not appear to be meeting these requirements.

Research has well documented and confirmed that PA may benefit adolescents by increasing their aerobic fitness, bone mass, and by reducing their risk of obesity and hypertension.8 Many studies have demonstrated the associated health benefits to those, including the young, who participate in sports.3 Sports are often taught at an early age.

Ninety-eight percent of schools teach group or team activities.3 It is commonly found that sports games promote psychomotor skills and healthy lives.9 Therefore, sports may have the potential to increase activity intensity and duration in adolescents while promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Collectively, research suggests adolescents who enjoy an activity, may engage in the activity for longer durations.10 Greater participation tends to occur in activities that are deemed to be more interesting. There is a strong link between continued PA and enjoyment in PE in adolescents.11 Many sport activities are found to be enjoyable in the adolescent population.12 Therefore, it seems likely that sports play in PE will be most enjoyed by the adolescent.

Perceptions of competence, autonomy and perceived success are directly related to PA enjoyment and thus linked to self-efficacy and motivation behavior.13-14 It is important that intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy be fostered as adolescents transition into middle school, high school and throughout adulthood.

Middle school students appear to be physically active in PE an average of 40 minutes.3 Eight percent of middle schools provide daily PE for the entire school year and

15% offer daily PE for at least 18 weeks of the school year, suggesting the absence of daily required PE class has contributed to the rise in overweightness and obesity.3 Past research has revealed that adolescents age 9-15 spend more time in PA during the week

6 than the weekend.4 Therefore, it is important that PA be maintained and/or improved in

PE in order for the adolescent to receive the benefits of daily PA.

One activity that has received relatively little attention in research is the sport of flag rugby. For some PE programs, flag rugby is a relatively new activity and participation is not equal to that of other sports such as soccer, baseball/softball, and basketball. Even less is known about the youth version of flag rugby. Proponents of flag rugby believe the fitness stimulus associated with participation is similar to traditional

American sports.15 The nature of the sport, flag rugby, requires movement of all players.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare flag rugby with other popular team sports such as, flag football and basketball, in adolescents. The youth flag rugby program observed for this study was developed by Rugby 4 Life and implemented in this particular PE class. Physical activity intensity and duration during game play were measured. Perceptions of enjoyment and competence following performance were measured in correlation with activity.

Review of Literature

Recently, there have been a number of published studies on interventions in PE.

These studies indicate that PE programs can potentially influence PA by making it more enjoyable. A two-year middle school PE intervention, M-SPAN, observed 24 middle schools and found lesson time that is allocated more efficiently can improve PA for middle school students.16 In this intervention the instructors were also able to effectively maximize activity by allowing additional game play time. In the Lifestyle Education for

Activity Program (LEAP), eighth grade females increased daily physical activity, enjoyment of PA, enhanced PA self-efficacy and class participation during and after the

7 program intervention.17 A study on the effects of a 2-year PE program on PA in elementary school students found that allowing students to engage in game play increased

PA levels more than modifying the structure of the class.18

Sports based youth development programs have been studied to understand how organized sport activities (tennis, soccer, basketball, baseball, etc.) contribute to learning development of our youth.9 This research suggests that sports-based programs for our youth tend to lead them toward positive social and behavioral development. Sports such as basketball and soccer have the potential to promote cardiovascular fitness and typically generalize to a child’s community.19 Sports provide youth additional benefits such as, skill building, active learning and opportunities for recognition.9 The results from the

School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006 found that among the 78% of schools that required physical education, most taught group or team activities.3

Some school systems follow a state or national standard for PE curriculum.1While it appears necessary to have qualified PE instructors to teach skill, it does not seem to significantly affect the amount of time adolescents spend in PA.1,20 It may be more important that the PE instructors have sufficient class management skills, and motivational skills. As adolescents become more motivated with improved skill, they begin to play more vigorously and for longer durations.13-14 The following study provides recent data detailing PA intensities and durations and the relationship to enjoyment and perceived competence.

METHODS: Participants One hundred and one (55 male, 46 female; age = 12.0 + 0.8 years) PE students were recruited from a local middle school (grades 6-8) in the southeastern United States to participate in this study. The students of this school are considered upper middle class based on school demographics, specifically noted as only 20% of students received free or reduced lunches. Students were primarily White/Caucasian (69%) or Latino (15%), but also included: African-American (6%), Asian (4%) and Native American (<1%). The participants consisted of sixth, seventh and eighth graders, with 349, 320, and 404 respectively. Students enrolled in this particular school have a period of 50 minutes designated for PE class each day of the school week. School administration permission was granted and student participants were solicited based on the permission of the PE specialist who allowed access into each of her classes for the purposes of this research study. Each participant signed an assent form as well as a signed informed consent form from a parent or legal guardian. Written permission from the school, PE instructor and administration were submitted and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Instruments

The metabolic equivalent of task (MET) was used to determine intensity. The ranges determined for moderate intensity were 3.0 to 5.9 MET and vigorous intensity was

6.0 MET or greater. Both were based on the guidelines for the adolescent population.21All physiological-related variables were collected using the Stayhealthy

RT3™ accelerometer (Monrovia, USA). The Stayhealthy RT3™ accelerometer

(Monrovia, USA) is an electronic device that measures accelerations produced by body movement. Accelerometers provide objective, nonreactive and reusable tools for

9 assessing PA.22 Triaxial accelerometers perform equally well on children and adolescent subjects.22 These devices are clipped to the waistband at the hip level or worn as a belt and function to detect triaxial (forward, lateral, and vertical) movement. Accelerometers are also known to detect various intermittent activity patterns, characteristically applying to the adolescent.23 Additionally, these accelerometers are designed to detect both the patterns of PA and total activity.22 Research suggests that three-dimensional accelerometers provide better evaluations of free play activities in children than heart rate monitors and uniaxial accelerometers.23 The accelerometer is preloaded with height, weight, age and sex of the participant.

Interest-enjoyment and competence were measured using the two perceived choice subscales of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI), a multidimensional measure of subjects’ experience with experimental tasks.24 This scale included four items designed to assess interest-enjoyment of recently completed PA and four items that assess the participant’s perceived competence in each activity. Scaling for the items uses a seven-point Likert type scale that allows respondents to indicate agreement with statements regarding enjoyment of the activity and perceived competence after performing the activity.24 The 7-point likert-type scale included statements such as, “I enjoyed doing this activity very much,”and “I think I am pretty good at this activity.” The choices for the scale were, “not true at all, “somewhat true” and “very true.” The IMI was chosen as a reliable tool for assessing individual perceptions of enjoyment and competence during PA.24 Reliability of the measures used in this study were determined by the coefficient alpha for interest-enjoyment at (0.84) and perceived competence at

(0.80).24 Adolescents were asked to complete these forms directly after performing the activity.

Procedure

Each participant involved in the study followed his/her daily routine for PE class. The students were asked to participate in the sport unit they had most recently completed. In each unit, one week was dedicated to learning the sport, one week was dedicated to practicing skill, and the final week the students were allowed to engage in free play. However, in the flag rugby unit, two days at the end of the unit included additional coaching from the Rugby 4 Life professionals. Each class period involved a brief dress out period and seated roll call. Accelerometers were distributed to participating students during roll call. The student wore the accelerometer for the entire class period and returned them to the researcher upon completion of the class period. The students then completed the eight-item interest-enjoyment/competence questionnaires printed on cardstock (thicker) paper. The accelerometers data were downloaded and calibrated. Each student participated in each one of the sports on different occasions, equaling three class periods. If a participant missed any of the three sports, the participant was dropped from the study.

Data Analysis

The study design utilized a repeated measure analysis of variance (RMANOVA) as the primary statistical test for this research. When all data were collected, Statistical

Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to organize and analyze the results of the study. Separate ANOVA’s were run for each dependent variable revealing

11 significance among the three sports. Therefore, criterion for significance for all tests was set at p < 0.01.

RESULTS:

Results from the IMI subscales for enjoyment and competence indicate excellent reliability. Cronbach’s alpha reliability for internal consistency statistics scores for enjoyment were as follows: flag football (0.94), basketball (0.95) and flag rugby (0.97).

Reliability scores for competency were as follows: flag football (0.9), basketball (0.93) and flag rugby (0.94).

The results of this study indicate that there is a significant difference in intensity during game play of flag rugby, flag football and basketball in adolescents. Flag football mean MET values were 4.9 + 1.4 (Mean + SD), within the moderate intensity range.

Basketball mean MET values were 5.5 + 2.7 were in the upper moderate intensity range.

Flag rugby mean MET values were 6.0 + 1.5, reaching vigorous intensity ranges. These results indicate no significant difference between flag football and basketball (p = 0.023).

Significant differences were found between flag rugby and flag football (p < 0.001).

There were no significant differences found between basketball and flag rugby (p =

0.109) (see Figure 1).

In this study, flag football produced an average duration of activity of 39.3 + 4.8, basketball 40.6 + 5.9 minutes and flag rugby 41.8 + 4.8 minutes of activity (see figure 2 below). There was no significant difference between duration of flag football and basketball activity (p = 0.080). There was no significant difference between basketball and flag rugby (p = 0.098). However, there was a significant difference between flag rugby and flag football durations (p < 0.001). (See figure 2)

Statistical analysis results suggests participants enjoyed playing flag rugby (6.2 +

1.6) significantly more than flag football (5.4 + 1.7), at (p < 0.001). Flag rugby was also found to be more enjoyable than basketball (5.2 + 1.8) at (p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between enjoyment of basketball and flag football (p =

0.481). (See figure 3)

Participants felt significantly more competent playing flag rugby (6.0 + 1.5) than flag football (5.3 + 1.6) (p < 0.001) (see Figure 4 below). There was also a significant difference in competence between flag football and basketball (5.2 + 1.7) (p < 0.001).

However there was no significant difference between flag rugby and basketball (p =

0.827) competence. (See figure 4)

DISCUSSION: The rates of childhood overweightness and obesity have become a topic of concern for the nation. The reduction of PA in PE at the middle school level has contributed to the overall decline in PA in adolescents.1 There is an immediate need to find a solution to increase physical activity (PA) in adolescents. The purpose of this research study was to understand the effect of sports games on adolescent PE participation, specifically as it relates to enjoyment and competency. Understanding exercise behavior in the adolescent population is necessary for increasing exercise adherence.14 Past research has indicated that organized sports taught in PE can improve adolescent fitness.12 Research suggests that enjoyment is related to adherence.14 Sports is found to be interesting for the adolescent population and well documented in research.9

PE classes appear to be more popular when adolescents are taught various sports activities that maintain their interest.1 Some sports activities taught at an early age,

13 contribute to improved skill development over time. Other sports are simply easy to learn, such as flag rugby. While skill development can be improved, flag rugby is a sport all ages can learn.13 Therefore, sports may be a partial solution for improving adolescent

PA.

This research study measured mean MET values, duration, competence and enjoyment in sports game play in 101 students participating in PE. The significant differences found among the sports demonstrated that flag rugby is on average more enjoyable than basketball and flag football. Flag rugby produces more vigorous PA and longer duration of activity, and participants also feel more competent in the game. Each sport appeared to produce results that were beyond the expectations of the typical PE class, assuring CDC requirements that attaining 40 minutes of activity is possible, given the appropriate choice of activity.3 The current sample used in this study, followed curriculum required by the county school district. The school district requires instructors to teach individual and team sports during the two semesters of each year. This allows the student more variability in finding a sport that fulfills individual enjoyment and competence.

Limitations

It is thought the students may have felt more competent in the rugby game because it was easy to learn. During collection of the final day of the flag rugby unit, many students vocalized enjoyment toward this sport. Because flag rugby is an alternative sport played in this middle school, it is presumed that the student may find it more interesting compared to regular curricula related sports choices.

A possible strength of the study was the allowance for participation of all students from consecutive class periods during the entire school day. Data were collected from the same participants in each sport attending one instructor’s class. This limited confusion, saved time and provided accurate body composition and demographic information. Utilizing the same participants and instructor resulted in smooth transitioning time between classes. This is important to note for future studies. Piloting was important in this study. Errors and glitches were expected and handled appropriately and timely due to the additional experience.

The accelerometer data were accurately recorded, as students could not control for activity collection. For future studies the accelerometer is found to be a reliable instrument for adolescent activity measurement. The activity counts were averaged beginning with the first minute of use and ending on the last full minute of activity. It is important for future studies that activity is based on average participant duration.

Conclusions

The results of this study indicate that adolescents enjoy playing sports such as, flag football, basketball and flag rugby. In comparison to the other sports, flag football was not found to be enjoyed as much, though participants were still at moderate intensities for an average of 39 minutes. This study concludes that adolescents participating in each of the three sports maintained MVPA that met duration recommendations of the NASPE.5

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH

This study contributes to research as it details the behaviors of adolescent PA patterns in PE classes. As a suggestion for future studies, it would be important to measure and analyze other sports. The difference between middle school male and female activity based on sport enjoyment may be an important variable for future studies.

The purpose of this research was to measure activity in popular organized sports.

Activity intensity, duration, enjoyment and competence were all important variables that contribute to understanding the patterns of PA in adolescents. Research has well- documented the benefits of PA in adolescents as well as the relationship between enjoyment and the continuation of activity.11 Sports games are found to be interesting to adolescents.12 Therefore, it is important the adolescent be taught sports in PE.

Figure 1 Mean MET Performance and Standard Error Values MET

Note. (*) indicates a significant difference between flag rugby and flag football with a p- value less than 0.001. Figure 2

Mean Activity Duration and Standard Error Values Duration

Note. (*) indicates a significant difference between flag rugby and flag football with a p- value less than 0.001

Figure 3 Mean Enjoyment and Standard Error Values Enjoyment

Note. (*) indicates a significant difference between flag rugby and basketball and flag rugby and flag football with a p-value less than 0.001

Figure 4

Mean Competence and Standard Error Values Competence

Note. (*) indicates a significant difference between flag football and basketball and flag rugby and flag football with a p-value less than 0.001

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