Tag: disputation

Rhythmic gymnastics is an aesthetic sport that combines the elegance of classical ballet and modern dance with the strength and explosiveness of artistic gymnastics. In competition, pre-choreographed routines are performed to music. The findings in Marte Gram’s Ph.D. project show that health challenges such as overuse injuries, urinary incontinence, and symptoms related to the menstrual cycle are widespread among young female athletes within aesthetic sports.

The aim of the Emilie Mass Dalhaug’s PhD project was to investigate the effects of high‑intensity exercise and heavy‑load resistance training on maternal and fetal health in pregnant elite and recreational athletes, an area where current recommendations have traditionally been conservative and have discouraged such training. The findings from the project suggest that high‑intensity exercise, heavy‑load resistance training, and a high training volume were generally well tolerated by both the pregnant athletes and their foetuses.

Allan Grønkjær’s PhD study examines the management and leadership of high-performance organisations in elite sport. He works from a conceptual framework of multi-level leadership. This approach acknowledges the variation of different influences, which a leader, e.g., a high-performance director, experiences in the short term (everyday work life) and in the long term (creating and implementing strategy). There is a clear focus on how the context of sport affects leadership.

Camilla Strömbergs doktorsavhandling Att vinna utan att förlora (Malmö universitet) handlar om barn- och ungdomsfotbolls­tränarnas balansgång mellan å ena sidan att låta alla få vara med, å andra sidan att vinna matcher. Idrottsrörelsen har – påhejad av staten – en ambition om att idrott ska vara till för alla. Men tävlingsidrott i en prestationskontext utmanar ledarna när de ska förhålla sig till denna ambition. Syftet är att visa hur spänningsförhållandet mellan ”idrott för alla” och tävlingsidrottens prestationslogik tar sig uttryck i barn- och ungdomsidrotten.

Margrethe Voll Storaas’ PhD study narrows down to the moving body and asks, ‘how may we understand the moving body ecologically in technologized environments?’ For this study, the cultural and body-contingent arena of sport is a well-suited context. To ensure a holistic treatment, she looks to the effects on both our physical exterior, physical interior, and environing linguistic milieu through three cases: humanly constructed sporting sites, the private international sport event of Enhanced Games, and a modern form of political language engineering that aims to enhance (‘ameliorate’) society.

Numerous scholars within sport and health sciences have emphasized the critical role of the school environment in shaping young people’s physically active lives. While Sara Hoy’s PhD project and dissertation addresses this specific dimension, the inquiry is also situated within wider academic discourses (ways of thinking, speaking, and producing knowledge within scholarly communities) concerning adolescents’ physical activity in school settings.

Jonas Enqvist’s findings in his dissertation Biomechanics of lower limb loading during high force and sports related movements suggest that baseline testing is crucial in sports and that jump tests are reliable, accurate, and feasible to include in such assessments. Lower limb stiffness should be analysed during these tests, alongside asymmetries in stiffness and force. Symmetry should be considered a universal goal, as even minor asymmetries can have significant consequences for joint loading.

Denna avhandling i idrottsvetenskap utforskar hur fysisk aktivitet på recept (FaR) används som hälsofrämjande metod för barn i skolmiljö – en kontext där metoden hittills studerats i begränsad utsträckning. Avhandlingen bidrar med ny kunskap om hur skolbaserade hälsoinsatser kan utformas mer jämlikt, barncentrerat och långsiktigt hållbart. Genom att förena medicinska, sociologiska och pedagogiska perspektiv lyfts behovet av att utveckla mer rättighetsbaserade och barnsensitiva former av hälsofrämjande arbete.

This doctoral thesis includes four research articles, a systematic review with statistical analysis of previously published research data, and three intervention studies, aiming to investigate the effects of endurance exercise on protein metabolism, with a specific focus on nitrogen excretion in urine. Protein metabolism is a long-lasting and adaptable process, emphasizing the importance for practitioners to adopt a long-term perspective.

Even the most skilled athletes can falter under pressure, not because they lack skill, but because their own thoughts become their worst enemy. Ironically, trying not to make a mess makes mistake more likely—a phenomenon known as an ironic error. Yet despite its real-world consequences, little research examines whether elite performers—those who train relentlessly for high-stakes moments—succumb to these mental traps. The bottom line? Under pressure, ditch the “don’ts.” Train the brain to focus on what to do, not what to avoid—because where attention goes, performance follows.