Discobolul Vol. 3//2024

Sport has diversified a lot according to social-individual and group interests, and because it is integrated into the lives of the members of a society that it influences, the sports movement becomes a social problem of national interest, taking into account the growing number of participants. The current situation of Romanian sport is a starting point to conduct a study that can lead to increasing its efficiency. If we examine the sports clubs in Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania through the prism of the two concepts, namely sports legislation and sport as a consumer product with the two branches of management and marketing, and if we analyse the forms of organization or the qualification level of the employed personnel, we will notice a tremendous difference. An analysis of some football clubs in Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania was carried out to see their financial outcomes from marketing activities, their sporting results at European level and the level of existence of a department with qualified personnel experienced in management and marketing within these clubs. Making a synthesis of the organization and management of sports clubs in different European countries and an analogy with the situation in Romania, an enormous gap was identified. Most European states have understood that sport is an engine for the economic development of a society and thus started many years ago to design development programmes for qualified human resources, understanding their crucial role in the future success of sports clubs.

Basketball is a sport with predominantly aerobic requirements and high-intensity anaerobic requirements. In recent years, this characteristic has changed in terms of demands on the player and intensity of the competition, involving an increase in the number and duration of explosive actions. The purpose of this paper was to determine the motor, somatic and technical levels of U14 players in order to make up the expanded junior team of Romania. To identify the values specific to the age of 14, three trials were organised over the course of a year. As a result, 49 athletes from all over the country were selected and tested, and then they followed centralised training sessions within the expanded national junior team of Romania. The somatic and motor test battery consisted of: body weight (kg), body height (cm), body mass index (BMI), arm span, 10 m sprint, 20 m sprint, 3 x 10 m shuttle run, standing long jump, vertical jump, t-Test, Beep Test, Little Marathon, hip mobility, and universal throw. The research methods used in this paper were: literature review, observation, mathematical statistics, tabular method and graphical method. The research results were compared with international values. In conclusion, the current somatic and motor potential of junior basketball players does not fit into the models developed at a national and international level, given that their performance was poorer, therefore our hypothesis is not validated.

For any sporting activity to be effective, movement coordination is essential. The purpose of this research was to explore the strengths and weaknesses of male athletes practicing open- and closed-skill sports, in terms of intersegmental coordination. It also examined differences related to the type of sport and athletes' performance, based on the results for intersegmental coordination results. The study involved 49 male athletes, some practicing martial arts (boxing and jiu-jitsu) and some practicing sprinting (100 meters). The RCMV computerized test, developed by the Romanian company RQ Plus, was used to assess intersegmental coordination. First, the study highlighted strengths and weaknesses in terms of intersegmental coordination in the case of the investigated open- and closed-skills sports (using one-sample t-test). Next, sport-related differences in coordination were explored, with the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner post-hoc test for multiple comparisons. Not least, the study assessed whether athletes’ results for intersegmental coordination were significantly related to their sports performance. The findings revealed that boxing athletes had better scores in choice reaction time than sprint athletes, and also outperformed male jiu-jitsu athletes in terms of resistance to disruptive factors in tasks requiring coordination. However, sprint athletes made significantly fewer errors when coordinating their movements quickly and steadily, compared to both boxing and jiu-jitsu athletes. Learning capacity or the coordination of upper and lower limbs in new, unfamiliar conditions was found to be essential for martial arts athletes, aiming for high sports performances

Hypokinesia has reached pandemic levels globally. In response, numerous wellness programs have been developed as potential solutions to this issue. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of two different threemonth experimental wellness programs. The sample consisted of 56 inactive women (aged 30-40), divided into two experimental groups (E1, N=28; E2, N=28). Group E1 participated in an aqua aerobics program (3 sessions per week, 45 minutes each), for 12 weeks. Group E2, followed a workplace wellness program that included Fit ball exercises (3 sessions per week, 15 minutes each), along with relaxation massages (3 sessions per week, 10 minutes each) for 12 weeks. The results of the t-test for the experimental group E1 (aqua aerobics) showed a significant difference between the initial and final measurements for all tested variables (vital capacity, systolic arterial blood pressure, diastolic arterial blood pressure, heart rate at rest, working pulse, Romberg’s test, Stanga’s test, and relative oxygen consumption). The t-test results of the experimental group E2 (fit-ball with relaxation massage) show a significant difference in all tested variables, with the exception of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The analysis of the differences between the experimental groups (E1 and E2) showed a significant difference in favour of group E1 at the final test, except for systolic and diastolic blood pressure and relative oxygen consumption. Applied experimental models of wellness programs represent a good instrument for optimizing the functional abilities of inactive women aged 30-40.

Strength training is a fundamental component of physical training activities targeting the employees of the Romanian Police and Local Police. Strength, speed and endurance are basic physical qualities involved in the proper conduct of police missions. As gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, police officers are usually the first to encounter crime victims. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical training program in terms of enhancing strength and speed among local police officers. Ten local police members participated in the study, which examines how a three-month physical training program, carried out in 2021, can improve muscle strength and running speed (50 meters). A paired sample t-test was used to assess the differences between the initial and final evaluations. The results indicated significant improvements - following the course of the educational curriculum - in the field of general physical training/in the field of self-defence, related to the initial training course of local police officers. Improvements were recorded in the values of all investigated indicators, including muscle mass, punching strength, and 50-meter running speed. The study discusses the implications, emphasizing that strength should be periodically trained, and force used gradually - and only when necessary - to prevent illegal actions that could endanger the lives or safety of police officers or others.

In the specialized literature, valvulopathies are defined as functional or organic conditions affecting one or more heart valves, disrupting their ability to open or close properly and affecting the heart's overall function. During surgery, the diseased heart valve is replaced with a prosthesis using extracorporeal circulation. Currently, the most commonly used prostheses are biological and mechanical. Physiotherapy plays a crucial role in the rehabilitation of patients with surgically corrected valvulopathies, primarily due to its beneficial effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, which help ensure functional independence. In the late 1970s, Dr. Nanette Wenger proposed the first cardiac rehabilitation program. This program recommended, for the first time, early mobilization of the patient, aiming to transition the patient from a supine position to sitting and eventually to moving within 14 days. The purpose of this study is to present and implement a cardiac rehabilitation program, as well as to analyse its effects based on the results obtained from monitoring and evaluating selected patients. The conclusions of this study validate the research hypothesis that the application of a cardiac rehabilitation program leads to an increase in effort capacity (and, consequently, the quality of life), in patients with valvulopathies surgically corrected by minimally invasive techniques.