title: Developing a motor analogy to teach children how to tackle safely in rugby union

authors: Povey, Kayla

subjects: motor learning

abstract: Implicit motor learning strategies have been shown to have benefits when learning a new skill, because they encourage users to accumulate little to no declarative knowledge about the motor task. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether a specific implicit motor learning approach, learning by analogy, could help children perform safer rugby tackles and potentially reduce the risk of concussions.  
Chapter One is a review of current literature and discusses concussions, concussions in rugby, various implicit motor learning theories, and current research.
 Chapter Two represents the process in which focus groups were held with small groups of people who all had varying experience of rugby tackling. The focus groups were designed to supply us with knowledge, common ideas and themes, and the fundamentals of a safe rugby tackling, to then help us develop an analogy or analogies that encompassed most of what defines a safe rugby tackle. The first challenge was to identify the important fundamentals in a rugby tackle. From the focus group, the fundamentals commonly mentioned were ‘same foot same shoulder’, ‘eyes focused upward’, ‘head to the side’, ‘cheek to cheek’, and ‘strong wrap’. Animals were a common theme mentioned among all groups, highlighting the importance of the use of animals when developing analogies for children. Based on this information, we were able to come up with two analogies “tackle like a raging bull” (analogy 1) and “tackle like an angry bear hugging a pillow” (analogy 2).
Chapter Three details a pilot study that was conducted on 11-year-old rugby playing children. The pilot study was designed to test the two analogies that were developed in Chapter Two. All participants underwent two consecutive trials in a baseline control condition without receiving any instructions. Subsequently, half of the participants engaged in two trials using analogy 1, while the other group conducted two trials using analogy 2. The groups then swapped and completed the remaining analogy condition. 
The baseline control condition had the highest score across most of the tackling fundamentals, albeit not significantly different from either analogy 1 or analogy 2. Analogy 2 closely mirrored the control condition in most aspects. Notably, the 'dip' (cheek to cheek) aspect in analogy 2 scored marginally lower than the control, while 'same foot same shoulder' obtained a diminished score. However, analogy 2 exhibited superior performance in the wrapping technique, displaying similarities in other aspects as well. Conversely, the 'same foot same shoulder' fundamental received relatively low scores across all conditions.
This informs us that more research is required to obtain conclusive data, with a larger participant group, stronger analysis methods, addressing the impracticality of specific fundamentals when tackling a bag versus a human, and developing analogy 2 “tackle like an angry bear hugging a pillow” further to include the aspects it scored low on.

text: Developing a motor analogy to teach children how to tackle safely in rugby union Implicit motor learning strategies have been shown to have benefits when learning a new skill, because they encourage users to accumulate little to no declarative knowledge about the motor task. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether a specific implicit motor learning approach, learning by analogy, could help children perform safer rugby tackles and potentially reduce the risk of concussions.  
Chapter One is a review of current literature and discusses concussions, concussions in rugby, various implicit motor learning theories, and current research.
 Chapter Two represents the process in which focus groups were held with small groups of people who all had varying experience of rugby tackling. The focus groups were designed to supply us with knowledge, common ideas and themes, and the fundamentals of a safe rugby tackling, to then help us develop an analogy or analogies that encompassed most of what defines a safe rugby tackle. The first challenge was to identify the important fundamentals in a rugby tackle. From the focus group, the fundamentals commonly mentioned were ‘same foot same shoulder’, ‘eyes focused upward’, ‘head to the side’, ‘cheek to cheek’, and ‘strong wrap’. Animals were a common theme mentioned among all groups, highlighting the importance of the use of animals when developing analogies for children. Based on this information, we were able to come up with two analogies “tackle like a raging bull” (analogy 1) and “tackle like an angry bear hugging a pillow” (analogy 2).
Chapter Three details a pilot study that was conducted on 11-year-old rugby playing children. The pilot study was designed to test the two analogies that were developed in Chapter Two. All participants underwent two consecutive trials in a baseline control condition without receiving any instructions. Subsequently, half of the participants engaged in two trials using analogy 1, while the other group conducted two trials using analogy 2. The groups then swapped and completed the remaining analogy condition. 
The baseline control condition had the highest score across most of the tackling fundamentals, albeit not significantly different from either analogy 1 or analogy 2. Analogy 2 closely mirrored the control condition in most aspects. Notably, the 'dip' (cheek to cheek) aspect in analogy 2 scored marginally lower than the control, while 'same foot same shoulder' obtained a diminished score. However, analogy 2 exhibited superior performance in the wrapping technique, displaying similarities in other aspects as well. Conversely, the 'same foot same shoulder' fundamental received relatively low scores across all conditions.
This informs us that more research is required to obtain conclusive data, with a larger participant group, stronger analysis methods, addressing the impracticality of specific fundamentals when tackling a bag versus a human, and developing analogy 2 “tackle like an angry bear hugging a pillow” further to include the aspects it scored low on.

year: 2023

title: Are super shoes a super placebo? A randomised crossover trial in female recreational runners

authors: Hébert-Losier, Kim

abstract: We examined the potential placebo effect of advanced footwear technology (AFT) on running economy (RE) and perceptual measures while monitoring biomechanics. Twenty-four female recreational runners completed 4 × 6-minute RE trials in two pairs of women’s Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2. One pair was described as performance-enhancing super shoes with AFT worn by elite athletes, and the other pair was spray-painted black and described as ‘knock-off’ AFT shoes. Oxygen consumption (difference: −0.05 ± 0.47 mL·kg−1·min−1, d = −0.02), energy cost (difference: −0.02 ± 0.17 W·kg−1, d = −0.03), and discrete biomechanical variables were not significantly different between conditions. There were no significant differences between shoes in lower-extremity angular and angular velocity curves based on statistical parametric mapping. Overall comfort (100-mm visual analogue scale) was significantly greater (14.6 ± 15.0 mm, d = 0.94) in the performance-enhancing than ‘knock-off’ condition, with most runners (87.5%) preferring the former. Runners perceived running as more enjoyable and less difficult and perceived an improved running performance and lower injury risk in the performance-enhancing shoe (d = 0.72–1.16). While no significant physiological or biomechanical differences were observed, a significant placebo effect was apparent for both perceived comfort and perceived performance based on shoe description alone.

text: Are super shoes a super placebo? A randomised crossover trial in female recreational runners We examined the potential placebo effect of advanced footwear technology (AFT) on running economy (RE) and perceptual measures while monitoring biomechanics. Twenty-four female recreational runners completed 4 × 6-minute RE trials in two pairs of women’s Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2. One pair was described as performance-enhancing super shoes with AFT worn by elite athletes, and the other pair was spray-painted black and described as ‘knock-off’ AFT shoes. Oxygen consumption (difference: −0.05 ± 0.47 mL·kg−1·min−1, d = −0.02), energy cost (difference: −0.02 ± 0.17 W·kg−1, d = −0.03), and discrete biomechanical variables were not significantly different between conditions. There were no significant differences between shoes in lower-extremity angular and angular velocity curves based on statistical parametric mapping. Overall comfort (100-mm visual analogue scale) was significantly greater (14.6 ± 15.0 mm, d = 0.94) in the performance-enhancing than ‘knock-off’ condition, with most runners (87.5%) preferring the former. Runners perceived running as more enjoyable and less difficult and perceived an improved running performance and lower injury risk in the performance-enhancing shoe (d = 0.72–1.16). While no significant physiological or biomechanical differences were observed, a significant placebo effect was apparent for both perceived comfort and perceived performance based on shoe description alone.

year: 2025

title: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 1: Pakeha perceptions of Maori

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Interaction between Maori and Pakeha was unavoidable in the nineteenth century. Although Maori were commonly considered to be superior to other uncivilized races, in general the stereotyping of Maori was more negative than positive, for it was assumed that they needed to be raised to the level of Pakeha. Maori were seen as being capable of high achievements, but only if they abandoned their feckless and lazy ways along with their customs and superstitions; instead, they should adopt the best of Western civilization rather than the worst, as was believed to be all too common. Being somewhat child-like, they needing Pakeha guidance to attain their potential. An underlying fear remained that they were potentially dangerous, with their old savage ways lurking under the veneer of adopting European clothes and some European customs. 
Sometimes they were viewed as having too much influence on government policy, partly through the legacy of the Treaty of Waitangi and partly through the machinations of Pakeha Maori. Increasingly, as the often-admired ‘old time’ rangatira, died, the newer generation of lower class Maori were patronized or mocked for their poor English and assumed stupidity. Yet always there were some Pakeha who had good relations with Maori, meaning that intermarriage was neither unusual nor (openly at least) condemned.

text: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 1: Pakeha perceptions of Maori Interaction between Maori and Pakeha was unavoidable in the nineteenth century. Although Maori were commonly considered to be superior to other uncivilized races, in general the stereotyping of Maori was more negative than positive, for it was assumed that they needed to be raised to the level of Pakeha. Maori were seen as being capable of high achievements, but only if they abandoned their feckless and lazy ways along with their customs and superstitions; instead, they should adopt the best of Western civilization rather than the worst, as was believed to be all too common. Being somewhat child-like, they needing Pakeha guidance to attain their potential. An underlying fear remained that they were potentially dangerous, with their old savage ways lurking under the veneer of adopting European clothes and some European customs. 
Sometimes they were viewed as having too much influence on government policy, partly through the legacy of the Treaty of Waitangi and partly through the machinations of Pakeha Maori. Increasingly, as the often-admired ‘old time’ rangatira, died, the newer generation of lower class Maori were patronized or mocked for their poor English and assumed stupidity. Yet always there were some Pakeha who had good relations with Maori, meaning that intermarriage was neither unusual nor (openly at least) condemned.

year: 2016