Faculty of Sport Science

Research Activities at the Faculty

Research by the Sport Science faculty in 2006 was characterised by a variety of explorations into movement, games, sport and sport therapy in various fields of usage. The research focused especially on:

• Analysis of how different cultural groups use their ability to move
• Development and trial of methods to encourage movement in able-bodied and handicapped children, youth and adults and the evaluation of the effects of these methods on physiological, psychological and social functions and processes
• Research also focused on performance optimisation, training configuration and the physiological and psychological stresses in performance sport and also in paralympic sport
• Children in elite sport, psychological, medicinical and training methodical sapects
• Research on adaptation and effectiveness of sport-based therapy and rehabilitation for chronically ill as well as physically disabled people

Research activity of different faculty members: health-related, psychological and training-specifice aspects of sport children and youth

• Health-related, psychological and training-specific aspects of sport for children and youth, also esp. With obesity and cancer
• Diagnostics and change of social inequality in sport
• Conceptions of ”schools in motion” and physical education
• Optimising sports-related schools in Saxony
• Empirical studies to investigate age-related effects with sport and physical activity
• Concepts and investigations in human movement sciences in context with coordination, motor learning and control in different sports disciplines and sports contexts
• Usage of feedback procedures in measuring units to optimise motor learning and technique training in different sports disciplines
• Discover and use positive transfer effects between limbs to optimise early motor learning processes
• Concepts and empirical investigations in motor learning, and relearning in different contexts and under different constraints
• Performance optimization and patterns of training in various sports disciplines (racket sports, swimming, biathlon, ice speedskating, springboard diving, swim sports, water sports, athletic)
• Psychological prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries
• Exercise physiology, and biomechanical diagnostics and therapy in cardiovascular and orthopaedic-traumatic diseases
• Nutrient requirements in different kind of sports, and effects of nutritional supplements on exercise performance
• Effects of exercise therapy on physiological, motor-functional and psychosocial parameters of patients with chronic diseases
• Optimisation of handicap-specific diagnostic methods and evaluation procedures to monitor the effectiveness of exercise and rehabilitation programs for the disabled and chronically ill
• Movement behaviour of disabled persons – manifestations, adaptational variations, and their relation to observed and measurable features and learning processes

Projects were funded by grants from non profit organizations (mainly from ministries, “German Research Association”, Federal Institute of Sport Science) and from private companies. The funded projects are:

• Prof. Dr. Dorothee Alfermann et al. (Sport Psychology): a) ELISA – Promotion of female elites in Saxony; b) Attention progresses and injury risk in sport
• Prof. Dr. Christina Müller et al. (Physical Education): Development and testing of a pedagogical concept „Schools in Motion“
• Prof. Alfred Richartz et al. (Sport Padagogy): Chronic stress among children in competitive sports
• PD Dr. Wolfram Sperling et al. (Sport Pedagogy, Swim Sport): Developing competence in fencing, football, horse riding and swimming among children and adolescents
• PD Dr. Wolfram Sperling et al. (Sport Pedagogy, Sport Sociology): Sport schools for talented athletes in Saxony
• Dr. Petra Tzschoppe (Sport Sociology): Social differences in sport – women in sport organizations
• Prof. Dr. Martin Busse (Sport Medicine): a) Medical and sociomedical aspects of cardiovascular rehabilitation; b) Evaluation of medical and sociomedical effects of early rehabilitation of orthopaedic-traumatogenic diseases; c) Effects of a medical training program with diabetic patients
• Prof. Dr. Dietmar Luppa (Sport Medicine): Nutrient requirements in different kinds of sport and effects of dietary supplementation and substitution on exercise performance and load capacity
• Dr. med. dent. Anita Schulze (Sport Medicine): a) Injuries of the teeth, mouth, jaw, face and collum due in sports; b) Relationship between periodonitis and diabetes mellitus or overweight; c) Relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) and periodonitis
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Innenmoser et al. (Rehabilitation Sport, Sport Therapy and Disability Sport): a) Motor behaviour of people with disability b) Evaluation and controlling procedures in sport therapeutic and rehabilitation-sport specific programs; c) Rehabilitation programmes with physical exercise for target groups with different handicaps, diseases diseases (e. g. Obesity, Cancer) d) Motor behaviour of CP´s in sprint disciplines (Zimmermann)
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Krug et al. (General Kinesiology and Athletics Training): a) Spatial orientation; b) Development of a measuring unit in synchronized springboard diving; c) Training with measuring units in springboard diving
• PD Dr. phil. habil Stefan Panzer et al. (General Kinesiology and Athletics Training): a) The learning, transfer, and relearning of movement sequences; b) Optimasation the technique in ice speedskating with young elites
• HD Dr. Hartmut Herrmann (Sportbiomechanics): a) Biomechanic diagnostics during training in biathlon; b) Skating technics
• Prof. Dr. Klaus Nitzsche et al. (Winter Sports): a) Effectivity of development training in youth biathlonsports; b) Measuring performance in biathlon shooting; c) Extention of a telemetric shooting measurement device for biathlon
• Dr. Rüdiger Kuntoff (Athletics): Biomechanical investigations javelin throw technique
• Dr. Karl-Heinz Schmidt (Water Sports): a) Further development of a multimedia modular system for the presentation of teaching-contens; b) for technique training and technique control in the canoe racing

Interdisciplinary Areas of Research

Various projects include inter-faculty research within the University of Leipzig, especially the Medical Faculty, various clinics of the University, the Center for Prevention and Rehabilitation, the Faculty of Biology, Pharmacy and Psychology (Institutes of Psychology), as well as the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science (Institute of Computer Science). Co-operation about gender research exists within the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. The Faculty is involved in the international doctoral programme “From signal detection to behaviour”.

Research co-operation also exists with various external organisations such as the Institute of Applied Athletics Training, the Chemnitz Institute of Mechatronics, the Medical Park Clinic Bad Rodach, the Saxon Sport Association, sport federations in Saxony and elsewhere in Germany, and with Leipzig Sport Schools.

The project ELISA of Prof. Dr. Dorothee Alfermann is a collaboration of six universities, the Project of Dr. Sabine Würth of two universities.

International Research Cooperation

The following international collaboration is conducted:

• Physical self-concept in adolescence
  Prof. Dr. Dorothee Alfermann (Universität Leipzig), Prof. Dr. Herb Marsh (Oxford Universit, UK), Dr. Lennart Raudsepp (Tartu Ülikooli, Estland); Hülya Asci (Baskent Universität Ankara, Türkei)
• Psychological status as indicators for sport injuries
  Dr. Sabine Würth (Universität Leipzig), Dr. Juri Hanin (KIHU-Research Institute für Olympic Sports Jväskylä, Finnland)
• Movement Science
  Dr. Christian Hartmann (Universität Leipzig), Japanese Society „Koordination Leipziger Sportwissenschaft“ (KoLeSpo), (Tokio)
• Learning, transfer, and relearning of movement sequences
  Dr. Stefan Panzer (Universität Leipzig), Dr. Shea (Texas A&M University, TX, USA)