Human behavior and sport sciences

Keywords

fitness and exercise prescription, physical behavior and sports medicine, biomechanics, psychology of exercise and sport, sociology of physical behavior, history of physical education and sport

The progress of sport sciences in recent years has been remarkable. For example, most of us have heard of the significant effects of swimsuits on professional swimming times. Sport sciences research makes a foundation of the evolution of rackets, bats, the javelin, shoes, clothing, and other equipments. Sport sciences have also played an important role in studying the psychology of athletes and improving performance through training techniques based on new findings in sports physiology. In addition to specializing in the fundamental study of physical behavior, the graduate teaching staff in this program are also concerned with using their research methods for the benefit of society in general. Graduate students include certain sports professionals such as physiotherapists and coaches; this brings added energy to the course. Lectures and practical classes allow students to acquire specialized knowledge and skills beyond those demanded by the undergraduate course, and these are used to prepare the master’s or doctoral thesis. The course offers advanced knowledge and skills related to physical behavior in terms of the psychological and physiological effects of motor mechanisms from the perspective of exercise psychology, physical conditioning, sports biomechanics, stress physiology, motor control, and exercise prescription. Students also learn the culture and history of sport and exercising, and ways to encourage exercise, from the perspective of sports culture history and lifelong sports. Students from this course progress to become researchers in exercise and sport sciences as well as physical education and sports instructors, and professionals involved in sports policies and management.