Whistleblowing the whistleblower- are head contact penalties a target for injury prevention in youth and university basketball?
Date
2023-03-08
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Abstract
This thesis contains two original data papers, both using video analysis to determine incidence of head contacts (HCs), suspected concussion and injury, and other important factors contributing to injury outcomes in basketball. The first study focuses on male and female university level basketball players competing in the 2019/2020 regular season. Video analysis was used to compare the incidence of suspected concussion, injury, and HCs (both direct, [HC1], and indirect [HC2]). Further, we assessed proportions of these outcomes that occurred by game event, as well as court location and penalization of HCs. Our main finding from this study was males sustained HC1s at a 1.55-fold greater rate than females. Despite illegality of HC in basketball competition, we revealed an astonishingly low proportion of HCs were assessed as a foul by referees. The second study assessed the same research question with the same objectives but was focused on a youth demographic. We divided games into divisions (Division 1 and Division 2) for a more like comparison concerning age and skill level. We found no statistically significant sex differences in our study outcomes in Division 1, however, Division 2 boys sustained HC1s at a 1.42-fold greater rate than females in Division 2. Although most of our rates were not statistically different between sexes, our point estimates do warrant concern regarding our injury outcomes for youth in both Divisions. Common to both studies, the ‘key’ was the most common court location for sustaining HCs. Game events varied by sex within each study, but commonly reported for sustaining HCs was the act of rebounding both offensively and defensively. Overall, these studies highlight potential sex differences that may exist when assessing HCs, suspected concussion and injury, and the need for targeting stricter penalization of HCs in competition.
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Keywords
basketball, video analysis, sport, injury, concussion
Citation
Fehr, C. (2023). Whistleblowing the whistleblower- are head contact penalties a target for injury prevention in youth and university basketball? (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.