Purpose. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of static overstretching on performing a vertical jump. Methods. A methodological model was used, using descriptive and comparative methods on 45 randomly selected under-15-year-old male soccer players. Three jump test measurements were taken over a period of several days, where the first measurement included a pre-test in order to familiarize the athletes with using a contact mat, where maximum vertical jump height was recorded as a control. The second measurement had the athletes perform a vertical jump after static overstretching of the lower limbs. The third test had the athletes perform another vertical jump with no overstretching as another control. Results. The results found a significant difference in vertical jump heights (Δ% = 34.1%, p < 0.05), with jumps performed after static overstretching to be much lower. Conclusions. The usage of such a static overstretching method negatively influences the vertical jump within the tested group of under-15 male soccer players.

Key words: soccer; overstretching; vertical jump

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Purpose. The aim of this study was to compare the ability of monofin swimmers in reproducing the bending forces that act on a monofin's surface through the specific leg movement present in swimming as well as the forces that the swimmers generated on a kinesthesiometer as part of a dry-land simulation trial. Methods. Six men, members of the National Monofin Swimming Team, took part in the study. The level of the swimmers' kinesthetic response was defined by examining their repeatability in producing the bend forces that act on a monofin's surface as a reaction to water resistance and by investigation on the pressure force generated by a swimmer's lower limbs during dry-land tests on a kinesthesiometer. Results and conclusions. It was established that a high level of kinesthetic response, estimated in the group of monofin swimmers, was the result of an adaptation evoked from the specificity of their sensory stimulus perception, received in the form of feedback from the monofin's large surface area.

Key words: swimming; monofin; kinesthetics

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Purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between two groups of table tennis players (differing by their level of play) in terms of the kinesthetic differentiation ability of their so-called spatial component. Methods. The study was conducted using a goniometer which assessed the accuracy of performing an arm movement, specifically, the pronation and supination of the forearm at the elbow. The study analyzed the accuracy rate of performing this movement, where a smaller value indicated a higher level of kinesthetic differentiation ability. Results. In all four tasks, the more advanced (skill-wise) group of players obtained lower arithmetic mean and median values of accuracy than the group that played at a lower skill set. This may suggest the importance of the tested variable as an important component of table tennis. However, the tested groups did not significantly differ from each other in the accuracy of performing the studied movement. Nonetheless, the variability of the accuracy rate of the lower skill level group was considerably larger than the more advanced and skilled group. Conclusions. It can be assumed that the more advanced group is more homogeneous in terms of accuracy production. This could be the result of specific training exercises.

Key words: kinesthetic differentiation ability; table tennis; precision of movement

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Purpose. Advancing age is associated with predictable sensory, motor and cognitive changes, which may have a potential impact on an older person's ability to function effectively in society. The purpose of this study was to assess whether two slightly different half-year-long regular training programmes had a positive effect on flexibility, range of motion and endurance in a sample population of elderly persons. Also analysed was which programme was found to be more effective. Methods. A group of women (N = 42, M = 67.1 ± 4.5 years) was chosen from retired persons clubs from Eger, Hungary. They were randomly divided into three groups. The first group (N = 15, M = 66.2 ± 3.8 years) took part in a one-hour-long Pilates training session three times a week, the second group (N = 15, M = 67.1 ± 5.9 years) took part in an aqua-fitness class twice a week with one Pilates class once a week and the third group (N = 12, M = 68.2 ± 3.2 years) was the control group. Pre-and postmeasurements were conducted on: flexion of the right shoulder and hip, lumbar spine flexion, thoracolumbar spine flexion, trunk lateral flexion on the right side, a 6-minute walk test, and a 30-second sit-to-stand test. Significant inter-group differences could be found in all of the measurements. Data were analysed using statistical software with the Paired-Samples T-test and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (p < 0.05). Results. After the six-month regular training programmes no differences were found in the control group. For the two groups subjected to the training programmes all the other variables showed significant differences. The most remarkable results for the Pilates group were with the 6-minute walk and sit-to-stand test, while for the aqua-fitness and Pilates group shoulder and hip flexion. Conclusions. A half-year-long training program can considerably improve the physical performance elderly adults need in everyday life.

Key words: flexibility; range of motion; endurance; Pilates; aqua-fitness

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Purpose. The main goal of this study was to determine the predictive value of the indexes of aerobic and anaerobic endurance in relation to specific on-ice tests performed by hockey players that focus on strength, power, speed as well as speed and strength endurance. Methods. Ice hockey players, who were members of the U20 (under 20 years of age) Polish National Ice Hockey Team, were selected from the Athletic School in Sosnowiec, Poland. Parameters that determine anaerobic and aerobic capacity were evaluated and a special physical fitness assessment was made based on a battery of ice-hockey specific tests. The degree and direction of correlations between the individual parameters of anaerobic and aerobic endurance and the special physical fitness test were calculated. Results. The obtained results found significant correlations between maximal power obtained from the Wingate test and certain aspects of the special physical fitness test, specifically the 6 × 9 turns, 6 × 9 stops and 6 × 30 m endurance tests. Significant correlations of the above-mentioned special physical fitness tests were also observed with the aerobic capacity parameter, VO₂max. Conclusions. The obtained results could be considerably useful in training, as well as providing much more information on athletes which can then be suited for more personalized forms of training.

Key words: aerobic capacity; Wingate test; special physical fitness tests; ice hockey

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Purpose. The aim of this study was to assess the temperature changes of selected body surfaces (the arm and forearm) as a response to 90-minute physical exercise as well as to analyze the impact of physiological and morphological factors on the dynamics of temperature change. Methods. A study group that consisted of 12 professional volleyball players was subjected to endurance training which lasted 90 minutes. Numerous physiological and morphological factors were measured, with mean temperatures registered from the body surface of the upper extremities before, immediately after, and ten min after physical effort by a thermal camera (SC500 ThermaCAM camera) at room temperature. Results. After physical exercise, a fall in skin temperature resulting from prolonged sweating during the dynamic exercise tests was observed. The temperature changes in volleyball players, recorded in a series of tests, were found to be larger on the front surfaces of their upper extremities when compared to the rear. In addition, statistically significant positive correlation between maximum oxygen uptake (VO₂max) and %HRmax, calculated with the decrease in skin temperatures, was found. Conclusions. The strong and statistically significant influence of maximum oxygen uptake on the drop in surface temperature of the upper extremities (arm and forearm) immediately after the exercise indicates that thermography can be used as an additional, non-invasive method that provides information on a player's fitness level in comparison to other athletes.

Key words: thermography; thermoregulation; physical activity

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Purpose. The aim of this study was to define the relationship between gender identity, the perception of the body, depressiveness, and aggression in female football players who represent different levels of competence (playing in the premier league vs. second league) and seniority in sport. Methods. Research was carried out on female football players (aged 16-31 years) playing in the premier league (N = 49) and second league (N = 45). Data were obtained with the use of: the Body Image Evaluation Questionnaire by Mandal, developed on the basis of Franzoi's concepts; Kuczyńska's Gender Assessment Inventory (IPP) adapted from the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), which diversifies individuals in terms of their gender identity in accordance to the Gender Schema Theory by Bem; the Beck Depression Inventory, translated by Lewicka and Czapiński; and the Buss-Durkee Inventory, adapted by Kosewski with comments from Stanik. To find a relationship between the mentioned variables, statistical analysis was carried out by use of ANOVA, the t test, the χ2 test and correlation coefficients. Results. The obtained research results indicate that, among female football players, the following occurs: a predominance of androgynous gender identities and a deficiency of its other types, a higher level of masculinity than among non-training women, a more favorable perception of body-as-process, a higher evaluation of body-as-object, along with an increase of masculinity and a decrease in indirect aggression at higher competition levels. Conclusions. The application of the masculinity dimension by female football players with androgynous gender identity is probably an effective strategy for survival in conditions that are unsuitable and gender-inappropriate in typical masculine sports.

Key words: gender schema; psychological sex; football

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Purpose. The improvement of a learning process through transferring a skill already acquired to another one which is being learnt is one of the factors contributing to increasing the effectiveness of teaching. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of teaching performed on the basis of two plans, i.e. a traditional (intuitive) one and a network one. Methods. A pedagogical experiment covering 13 weekly sessions of self-defence elements were taught. The control group was taught according to an algorithm developed in a traditional (intuitive) way, whereas the experimental group was taught according to a algorithm developed on the network model. After the sessions had been completed, five experts evaluated the acquisition level of three randomly selected elements. The results obtained by 32 men (average age 21.29 ± 0.76 years) from the experimental group and 32 men from the control group (average age 21.18 ± 0.87 years) were analysed statistically with the Student's t-test, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Fisher post-hoc test. Results. The experts did not differ in evaluating both groups (p < 0.05). Moreover, no interactions were revealed (p < 0.05) between the method of planning the teaching programme and the experts who evaluated the acquisition level of the taught elements. The only significant difference between the experimental group and the control group was observed in the method of planning the teaching programme, according to which self-defence elements were taught (p < 0.01). Conclusions. The acquisition level of the taught self-defence elements according to the algorithm developed by basing it on the network model turned out to be significantly higher than in the case of those elements taught in the traditional (intuitive) planning process.

Key words: teaching programme; pedagogical experiment; traditional (intuitive) planning; network planning; acquisition of self-defence

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Purpose. Previous research has shown that physical activity (PA) is determined by several variables, such as gender, social economic condition (SES) and place of residence. The main purpose of this study was to study the association between education and PA of the Czech adult population as well as discovering any other socio-demographic factors that may influence PA. Methods. A population-based survey conducted in 2008 resulted in 6,989 International Physical Activity Questionnaires (short version) from Czech adults aged 26-69 years. This survey included all regions in the Czech Republic. The data were analysed using frequencies and binomial logistic regression separately for gender and education level. The dependent variables were classified as either the "healthy minimum" and "health promotion" according to the amount of PA criteria the individuals met. Results. People with a university education had less PA than other groups of different education levels. The "health promotion" category was met by 9.9% of women and 6.5% of men with elementary education, 67.4% of women and 71.3% of men with a secondary education, and 22.7% of women and 22.2% of men with a university education. The "health promotion" category is also more likely to be met by males (OR 1.33, CI 1.20-1.48, p < 0.001), people with elementary (OR 1.67, CI 1.36-2.06, p < 0.001) and secondary education (OR 1.60, CI 1.42-1.80, p < 0.001), those living with a family with children (OR 1.49, CI 1.07-1.53, p < 0.001), living in villages (OR 1.35, CI 1.14-1.60, p < 0.001) or small towns (OR 1.27, CI 1.10-1.61, p < 0.001), those who have a dog (OR 1.15, CI 1.04-1.27, p < 0.05), and those who participate in organized PA (OR 1.30, CI 1.17-1.44, p < 0.001). Conclusions. There was a surprising low amount of PA among those who studied at a university. Programs that promote PA among university students and future graduates should be considered.

Key words: IPAQ; knowledge; gender; lifestyle; education; leisure time

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Purpose. The purpose of the study was to assess the perceived quality of life of physical education teachers depending on their standard of living. Methods. The study included 287 graduates of the University Schools of Physical Education in Poznań and Wrocław, of whom 165 were men and 122 were women aged 40 to 60 years. The perceived quality of life was assessed on the basis of Kowalik's Quality of Life Questionnaire. The relationship between the perceived quality of life and the standard of living was then established, with statistical analysis performed using two stratum weights (k), the Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman's rank correlation (r). Results. The majority of the studied participants positively assessed their lives, with no significant differentiation found between genders in their satisfaction in various spheres of life. However, only half of the respondents were satisfied by their level of income. A higher standard of life was found to be linked to higher life satisfaction, where the level of wealth significantly differentiated only in the perceived quality of life in the studied women. Conclusions. The surveyed graduates were found to be a very homogenous group of professionals in terms of their quality of life level. Only financial status was found to significantly differentiate in the level of satisfaction of the surveyed women.

Key words: quality of life; wealth; the physical education teachers

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The philosophical rehabilitation of the body and corporeality, as undertaken by Paul Ricoeur, may be inscribed as a critique of the model of modern subjectivity as prefigured in the Cartesian Cogito of self-consciousness, self-awareness and substantial identity. This dominating paradigm of thinking cannot be preserved any longer in the face of Nietzsche and Freud, as well as of contemporary linguistics. This model reduced corporeality as a residuum of what is other than I to a handy object of scientific and technological exploration. Whereas, according to Ricoeur, otherness is not something that only accidentally happens to ego. It is not an unessential element and a negative aspect of a subject's and person's identity. Becoming oneself and understanding oneself take place in the medium of the Other. Otherness is for the identity of human ego something internal and originary, reaching us in a sphere of what is truly our own. The hermeneutics of being oneself, rejecting an appearance and the temptation of direct cognition, consists in the analysis of three figures of Otherness, which seem to be consecutively: my own body, the Other and Conscience. Under the influence of the Husserlian distinction of "my own body" and "a body among other bodies", as well as the Heideggerian existentials describing "being-in-the-world", Ricoeur postulates, in a way similarly to Marcel and Merleau-Ponty, a reinterpretation of traditional understanding of both subjectivity and objectivity, as well as the very cognitive act of doing so. Its pre-reflexive foundation was uncovered by existential hermeneutics. The phenomena of being a body and having it appear to be problematic to the utmost, thus opening access to originary relationships between a man and the world as a correlation of bodily intentionality.

Key words: Paul Ricoeur; hermeneutics; phenomenology; body; subject; understanding

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In her masterpiece The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir depicts the atrocities of a typical patriarchal society. The author assumes that every human being should have the opportunity to experience feelings of a conquest and of being conquered to fully appreciate freedom. The body, the essential condition of human existence, is equally an object and a subject. Unfortunately, as Beauvoir reveals, this ontological rule is not respected in a society dominated by men. Patriarchy juxtaposes a male body, the subject, with a female body, the object. The main purpose of the present article is to answer the question, which many interpreters of Beauvoir's text have posed themselves: does Beauvoir really blame only patriarchy for such an injustice or is she rather willing to admit that female biology also contributes to such a biased situation. Researchers have never been unanimous on this issue. However, deeper analysis of The Second Sex as presented in this article finds that Beauvoir does not explain the social situation of women as a result of their biology at any point. According to Beauvoir, the discrimination of women in society is totally undeserved. This article also illustrates the originality of Beauvoir's thoughts in relations to Jean-Paul Sartre's philosophy. In her times, Beauvoir was mainly known as a novelist and the publication of The Second Sex was, misleadingly, not regarded by critics as a philosophical work. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir presents her own theory of interpersonal relationship, different from the one created in Sartre's Being and Nothingness.

Key words: existentialism; human body; sex; patriarchy

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