Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...
Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...
Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...
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CHAPTER TWO<br />
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE<br />
2.1 INTRODUCTION<br />
Rugby is a collision-based sport, which historically has been a male preserve. Success in the<br />
sport is extremely reliant upon the player’s possessing an adequate level <strong>of</strong> strength, power,<br />
speed, endurance and as well as technical and tactical acumen. With the rapid growth in<br />
women’s <strong>rugby</strong>, this chapter first explores the history <strong>of</strong> women’s <strong>rugby</strong> and its competitive<br />
development in South Africa. The demands <strong>of</strong> <strong>rugby</strong> competition are described in terms <strong>of</strong><br />
activity patterns so as to gain insight into the positional demands in <strong>rugby</strong> <strong>union</strong>. Thereafter,<br />
specific physical <strong>fitness</strong> characteristics are described in this chapter, which have shown to<br />
influence sporting performance. Finally, season changes in <strong>fitness</strong> <strong>over</strong> the course <strong>of</strong> the<br />
season as well as monitoring methodology used during training will be discussed.<br />
2.2 WOMEN’S RUGBY UNION<br />
South Africa is a country whereby <strong>rugby</strong> has a following <strong>of</strong> about ten million in a population<br />
<strong>of</strong> 44 million and played by both men and women at club, provincial and national level (SA<br />
Rugby, n.d.). In the 1990’s, women’s <strong>rugby</strong> in South Africa emerged in Johannesburg and<br />
Pretoria, with when it was played predominately by middle class females who had enough<br />
time and resources to establish teams. These <strong>players</strong> encountered gender stereotypes on a<br />
regular basis from some <strong>rugby</strong> men, although <strong>rugby</strong> in South Africa was founded on the<br />
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