D'Anna, C., Rio, L., & Paloma, F. (2015). Competitive sport and self-concept in adolescent. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 9(Proc1), pp.S425-S429. Self-esteem is the degree to which an individual values himself or herself globally. Several studies have shown that the self-esteem level is a key indicator of positive mental health and well-being. The belief that physical activity and sport are often associated with the best development of self-esteem in adolescent is a commonly held view. However in literature there aren't many studies that investigate the self-esteem level in young athletes that practice competitive sport activities. The aim of this study is to assess the self-esteem level comparing athletes who practice individual sport with athletes who play team sports. In last ten years it has become widely accepted that self-esteem is structured hierarchically and therefore on the top of all there is general self-esteem and secondly there are the various interrelated dimensions between them. The sample consisted of seventy-eight individuals, basketball athletes (M= 20, F= 14) and gymnasts (M=19, F=25). All the participants compiled the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Test (TMA, Erickson), a structural questionnaire on the specific domains (interpersonal relationship, competence, emotionality, school, family, body image). The results showed that both females and males who were physically involved in the practice of sports at competitive level (indifferently whether individual or team sport) have considerably highest level of self-esteem. This data confirms that individuals with the a higher self-esteem manage to apply themselves better in the high-level sports and, at same time, that the competition, for the all disciplines of sport, further strengthens self-esteem.

Background: the study of physical self-perception is fundamental to understand how children perceive their movement skills, identify their level of perception of physical self-efficacy as well as their opinion on their motor skills. It can provide useful key information to give appropriate feedback and to plan some programmes aimed to develop fundamental movement skills. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceived competences and physical selfefficacy in a sample of young, sedentary subjects and athletes, through a fact-finding survey. The core of the investigation was to verify whether there were substantial differences between subjects who practice sports at a competitive way and in sedentary one. Methods: The study was carried out from 100 young people aged between 8 and 14 years. 75 athletes (38 F 38 M) were recruited in three small sport associations the same district in southern Italy and 25 students who do not participate organized sports (13 F, 12 M), were recruited in a secondary school in the same district. Written consent was obtained in through a formal letter to parents explaining the study's goals, procedures, and methods. The selection of the investigation tools ware carried out by identifying two tests validated in the literature. Two tests were used: the Perceived Motor Competence Questionnaire in Childhood (PMC-C) (Dreiskaemper, 2018) and the Self-efficacy scale (Colella, 2008). The data were analysed by SPSS statistical software. The two observations were analysed separately; for each item and groups (sedentary subjects, swimmers, soccer players and gymnasts), were calculated mean value, standard deviation and level of significance. These values have been highlighted in the descriptive tables and in the histogram graphs. The differences between gender and between groups (sedentary subjects and athletes) have been calculated with the Mann-Whitney test. Results: the data shows significant differences in both tests highlighting a strong relationship between sport activity and self-related aspects. The comparison of means between sedentary subjects and athletes confirms a significant difference between the two groups with p < .01 both in Self-Efficacy Test and Perception of Motor Competence test.

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The new Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030 of the WHO promotes sporting and physical activity as a leading factor for mental health, quality of life and wellness. The document highlights the beneficial effects of regular physical activity and the need to achieve a paradigm shift in supporting and evaluating people regularly, according to the ability and across the life course. A recent systematic review confirms that school health programs promoting active lifestyles among children and adolescents may contribute to the improvement of health-related quality of life. The educational environment plays a key role: physical education is part of all central curriculum frameworks in the EU, and is compulsory in primary and secondary education. The time allocated to physical education in some member states of the EU is insufficient to cover the recommendations of the WHO, so as to assume a marginal role in School Curriculum. This study aims to outline the current state of physical education in European school systems by drawing a comparative framework on topics related to the issue: national and European strategies, large-scale projects, teacher education, status of physical education in national curricula and in extracurricular activity, pupils evaluation and ongoing reform projects. We performed a meta-analysis study analysing national documents of the various member states, international reports of European organization and some international reviews. The results of the study underline strengths and weaknesses of the various national situations to identify the main critical problems and to highlight the potential of sustainable initiatives already validated.

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Gomez-Paloma, F., Rio, L. & D'Anna, C. (2014). Physical self-efficacy in women's artistic gymnastic between recreational and competitive level. J. Hum. Sport Exerc, 9(Proc1), pp.S341-S347. In Bandura's theory (1997, 2001), self-efficacy is the cognitive mechanism that mediates information on personal capacities to successfully execute necessary courses of action in a specific domain. It is theorized that self-efficacy belief influences motivation, affect and behaviour. Self-efficacy regarding motor activities has been widely investigated (Feltz, 1992) and represents a frame of reference to explain links between cognitive processes and physical performance (Colella & Morano, 2008). The purpose of the study was to verify the difference in physical self-efficacy (perceived) between gymnasts practicing sports at recreational level and gymnasts, however, which train at a competitive level. The Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children by Colella (2008) was presented to a sample of 58 gymnasts, 29 practicing sports at recreational level and 29 practicing sports at competitive level in random selection, ranging in age from 8 to 10 years old. The items of the PPASC are: speed, ability, strength, rapidity, self-confidence and tiredness. They are structured in response scales having a 1-to 4-point format. Observing the results of the descriptive statistics in the whole sample it is obvious how the perceived physical abilities are very high in all items. The artistic gymnastic is a sport in which these aspects of physical abilities are trained specifically. The children say that they run fast (77 %), they are able to do difficult exercises (77%), their muscles are strong (68%) and move rapidly (71%). Slightly lower values are those related to self-confidence, the 48% say that they feel sure when they move but the 32% say that they feel somewhat insure when they move, and the value of energy, 50% say I don't feel tired when I move, but the 25% say that they feel tired. The difference between the values of the two levels of gymnastic report in the competitive groups is higher in physical self-efficacy in all items than in the recreational group. These data could suggest that the quantity of the trainings and, at the same time, the improvement of the quality of the performance increases the Perceived Physical Ability. The results of the test is particularly high and considering it globally, confirms that, in any case, the physical activities, even if only practiced as recreational activity, produces positive effects on the Perceived Physical Ability.

D'Anna, C., & Gomez, F. (2015). Dynamic stretching versus static stretching in gymnastic performance. A brief review. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 9(Proc1), pp.S437-S446. Different types of stretching techniques are commonly performed in the gymnastic training sessions. Flexibility is one of the essential aspects of this sport like so the explosive strength but actually there is a limited literature assessing the effectiveness of the specific technique to increase the range of motion and, at the same time, to improve the explosive performance. The aim of this study was to conduct a brief analysis of the literature to understand how to plan the training programs finalized to improve the gymnastic performance (Gomez Paloma F., Rio L., D'Anna C. 2014). The MEDLINE and SportDiscus databases were searched for relevant literature using textwords for English-language articles related to stretching, flexibility, explosive strength, dynamic/static stretching and gymnastic. Additional references were reviewed from the bibliographies and from citation searches on key articles. Twenty-two articles were examined, of which two reviews, one roundtable discussion of flexibility training, two specific studies on gymnastics, two on basketball, one on baseball and the remaining articles focusing on the flexibility and the jumping performance in general. In accordance to several studies analyzed, the research carries out some reflections on different stretching techniques included in the training phases of gymnastics (warming-up, cooling down) useful in planning the training sessions finalized to the best performance. These are fundamental aspects to highlight and emphasize the consequences of the use of the different techniques especially regarding the duration and the intensity of the exercises choice.

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