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The present study aims to determine the mediating effect that authentic coach leadership has on the interaction between coach competence and athletes' perceived support for basic psychological needs (BPN). A cross-sectional study was conducted with 115 team sports players (17.96 ±2.85 years of age; 8.18 ±4.67 years of experience) using the Basic Psychological Needs Support, Perceived Authentic Leadership, and Athletes' Perceptions of Coach Competence questionnaires. Correlation and mediation analyses (Coach Competence → Authentic Leadership → BPN Support) were performed. The results show a positive and significant indirect effect (ƥ = 0.288; 95% CI = 0.167, 0.415) of authentic leadership on the direct interaction between coach competence and BPN support (ƥ = 0.277; p < 0.01), increasing the total model effect (ƥ = 0.555; p < 0.01) to aid athletes' perceived BPN support when their coaches are competent and authentic leaders. In conclusion, it is not enough to be a well-prepared coach, he/she must also have the ability to lead, motivate and make decisions taking care of his/her interrelationships with athletes and promoting the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.

Introduction: Muscular injuries impose a significant morbidity and economic burden, affecting the sporting outcomes in soccer. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their incidence among professional Colombian soccer players is unknown. Objective: To compare the incidence of muscular injuries in profesional soccer players during the periods of January 2019 to August 2020 (pre-pandemic competition + no competition during pandemic) and September 2020 to December 2021 (competition during pandemic). Methods: A retrospective cohort study across 2019, 2020, and 2021. A robust interrupted time series analysis was conducted to compare the injury incidence between both periods, focusing on changes in slope, level, autocorrelation, and variance. Results: Fifty-two muscular injuries were reported in 94 players. During the pandemic competition period, there was an increase in the level (difference: -12.03; 95% CI -21.13 to -2.93; p-value = 0.01) and in the autocorrelation coefficient (difference: 0.64; p-value = 0.01) of injury incidence proportions compared to the pre-pandemic competition + no competition period. The frequency of severe injuries was higher during the pandemic competition period (2021 season: 57.9%) than in the pre-pandemic competition period (2019 season: 5.0%). During the 2021 season, 63% of the players experienced a COVID-19 infection. Conclusions: The incidence and severity of muscular injuries increased during the competition period amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; a higher number of matches may be one of the ontributing factors.

The aim of this study was to analyze which variables were most important for the teams’ final rank. Executive function, deliberate practice, and biological maturation between a higher-ranked and a lower-ranked team in the championship were considered. The 51 players were divided into the top and bottom team. The players underwent stop-signal, design fluency, and verbal fluency tests. Deliberate practice was asked by questionnaire, and biological maturation was based on maturity offset. The statistical analyses were performed with discriminant analysis and a comparison between teams. The results showed a discriminatory power in biological maturation, deliberate practice, and design fluency test. The Stop-Signal results show statistically significant differences in favor of the top team (SSRT: p=0.006 / d=0.84 and MRT: p=0.016 / d=0.74). Moreover, players in the top team had more deliberate practice time (p