Abstract des Autors

The prepractice stretching period should be treated as an important part of the practice. It is recommended that coaches supervise stretching sessions as they would any other part of practice. Doing this communicates the importance of the warm-up/stretching period and may encourage athletes to keep their attention focused on the task at hand. It is possible that many athletes fail to understand the function of a warm-up/stretching period and, as a result, may find stretching somewhat boring. However, functional-based dynamic stretching programs have added a new dimension to the usual prepractice warm-up. Dynamic stretching consists of functional-based exercises, which use sport-specific movements to prepare the body for activity. Dynamic flexibility programs are designed from analyzing the movements associated with a particular sport activity and developing stretches to enhance flexibility and balance necessary for that activity. Dynamic flexibility can be used to teach or emphasize sport-specific movements athletes will need during practice and competition and is best used prior to practice or competition instead of during the cool-down. Static-based stretching exercises seem the most effective following the completion of activity. Verf.-Referat