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The effects of athletic burnout on life satisfaction vary greatly between individuals, but few studies have examined influencing factors, such as coping mechanisms, that explain these differences. While athletes' performance levels seem to influence the development of burnout symptoms, there is a lack of studies examining different performance levels separately. The present study therefore investigated the predictors of athletic burnout in competitive and leisure athletes separately, as well as possible moderators influencing the relationship between burnout and life satisfaction in these groups. A cross-sectional online study with sport-specific and general questionnaires was conducted. Latent (e.g., resilience) and manifest variables (e.g., stress) were included as predictors of athletic burnout in two structural equation models (competitive: robust RMSEA = 0.065, robust CFI = 0.946; leisure: robust RMSEA = 0.067, robust CFI = 0.937) with data from 422 athletes (M age = 23.65; range = 16-67; 43% female, 57% male). Additionally, moderation analyses with coping mechanisms as moderators between burnout and life satisfaction were conducted. Results show that predictors of athletic burnout differ between performance levels. Furthermore, there is a significant moderation effect (p < 0.01) for positive self-concept in competitive sports. Approaches for future research and the development of target group-specific interventions are discussed., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used extensively but research on its efficacy within the sport and exercise science realm has been inconsistent. There may be placebo and nocebo effects present with its use. Our objective was to determine if subjects can be influenced to believe that tDCS will improve cycling performance. Subjects were separated into a belief group (B; 5 women, 6 men) and a disbelief group (DB; 9 women, 3 men). The B group was told that the stimulation would improve performance on a subsequent cycling test. In the DB group, subjects were told that it was not effective and would hinder performance. The cycling test was a 3-minute aerobic test (3mAT) where subjects maintained the highest power output possible for three minutes, after completing a full 20 min warmup. During the warmup, they were given either no stimulation (control) or 2 mA bilateral stimulation over the M1 region. There was a very slight increase in maximal minute power for the B group (0.22%) and a small decrease for the DB group (-1.00%); however, these differences were not significant. No significant differences were found for any of the cycling variables. In conclustion, tDCS was unable to improve performance on the 3mAT. These findings, in conjunction with others, suggest that the acute effect of tDCS is still questionable when aiming to enhance endurance performance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background and Objectives : Volleyball demands high levels of anaerobic strength, flexibility, agility, and mental focus. Adequate sleep has been shown to enhance athletic performance and cognitive function. This study investigates the impact of post-lunch naps of varying durations (25 and 45 min) on the physiological performance and cognitive focus of elite volleyball players. Materials and Methods : Sixteen elite volleyball players (8 male, 8 female) with at least 7 years of competitive experience participated in a randomized crossover study. They underwent three experimental conditions: no nap (No-Nap), a 25-min nap (N25), and a 45-min nap (N45). Physical performance was measured through counter-movement jumps (CMJ) and volleyball agility tests, while cognitive function was assessed using the D2 attention test. Statistical analysis included repeated measures ANOVA to examine the differences between nap conditions and gender-specific responses. Results : Significant improvements in both physical performance and cognitive focus were observed in the N25 and N45 conditions compared to the No-Nap condition (indicating the effectiveness of short naps in enhancing both physical and mental performance). Males outperformed females in most physical metrics, while females scored higher on the D2 attention test (suggesting possible gender-specific responses to napping). The 25-min nap showed slightly better results in terms of sleep quality and subsequent performance (confirming that shorter naps may be more beneficial). Conclusions : Post-lunch naps, especially of 25 or 45 min, enhance both physiological and cognitive performance in elite volleyball players. These findings suggest that integrating short naps into athletes' training regimens can improve performance and focus, with potential gender-specific benefits. Further research is needed to explore long-term effects and variations across other sports.

Mindfulness is an increasingly popular practice among elite athletes to improve performance and well-being, but its application for coaches is still very limited. Therefore, a new program (M×E; Mindfulness para Entrenadores) was designed and implemented online for 6 weeks for coaches, support staff, and technical directors. Participants were 58 (57 men), aged between 23 and 58 (M = 31.8). The between-subject analysis (RM ANOVA 2×2) included experimental (n = 26) and wait-list control group (n = 21). A total of 29 completed the within-subject analysis (RM ANOVA) completing follow-up measurements until six months. The analysis was complemented with 21 individual semi-structured interviews. The experimental group showed significant improvements in mindfulness trait (p < .001), interpersonal mindfulness (p = .010), and a significant improvement in emotional regulation (p = .010) in comparison to the wait-list control group. The experimental group's positive trend in all variables' levels was maintained until six months after the program. The qualitative analysis showed a positive impact on professional, personal, and social areas with improvements related to performance and well-being. Several participants considered the program as "fundamental" for their professional role. This study provides information on best practices in implementing mindfulness-based programs, highlighting their practical orientation, the training plan, and the safe space. These results offer initial validation of the potential of the M×E and invite sports organizations to incorporate mindfulness-based programs specially designed for coaches, support staff and technical directors., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gibert et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Embodied cognition asserts a symbiotic relationship between cognitive processes and the physical body, raising an intriguing question: could personality traits be intertwined with the biomechanical performance of the lower limb? This study aimed to explore this connection by examining how personality traits, assessed using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), relate to lower limb rebound power (RP) measured through the five-repetition rebound jump test. Eighty participants completed two sessions: a biomechanical analysis of hopping using an Optojump® system to measure contact time, flight time, and RP, and a personality traits assessment categorizing traits across four MBTI axes: extraversion-introversion (favorite world); sensing-intuition (information processing preference); thinking-feeling (decision making); and judging-perceiving (structure). Participant characteristics did not significantly differ across MBTI axes (p≥0.07), minimizing potential confounding factors. Notably, individuals classified as intuitive showed significantly longer flight times (p = 0.02) and larger RP (p = 0.007) compared to sensing individuals, suggesting a greater reliance on the fast stretch-shortening cycle and showcasing superior use of their lower limb structures as springs. This suggests potential implications for sports performance, with intuition individuals possibly excelling in plyometric sports. However, no significant associations were found between biomechanical performance and the other three MBTI axes (p≥0.12), challenging the initial hypothesis. This research provides initial insights into the nuanced relationship between personality traits and movement patterns, indicating the potential for tailored physical interventions to enhance adherence and optimize responses in training programs., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gindre et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study explores the relationship between the quality of coach-athlete relationships, transformational leadership style, and team resilience in elite football players. The coach-athlete relationship is an essential factor affecting many performance-related properties of athletes, such as mental health, psychological needs, motivation, and resilience. The study examines how the quality of coach-athlete relationships explains the team resilience feature through transformational leadership. The research group includes 210 elite players from the Super League, First League, Second League, and Third Leagues of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) in the 2020-2021 football season. The study used descriptive and relational models to explore the current state of the dependent and independent variables and examine their relationships. The findings revealed insights into the mediating role of the coach's transformational leadership qualities, highlighting how the quality of coach-athlete relationships impacts team resilience., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background and Objectives : Orienteering is a sport characterized by high physical exertion and intense mental demands, which increase susceptibility to errors. Understanding the impact of such errors on psychophysiological responses, particularly on heart rate variability (HRV), is essential. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychophysiological indicators and checkpoint errors made by elite orienteers during official competition. Materials and Methods : Fifty-three orienteers participated in this study, and their performance was continuously monitored and recorded by using a global positioning system (GPS) and HRV data. Errors made during the orienteering events were identified and analyzed. HRV data were examined in three temporal segments: before, during, and after the identified and standardized errors. Results : The analyses indicated that errors significantly impacted HRV indices across multiple domains: the time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear domain. Additionally, a significant effect of sex on the normalized the root mean square of successive differences (r-MSSD) before and after the error was observed. Conclusions : The findings of this study underscore the significant impact of errors made by orienteers on cardiovascular responses, as evidenced by measurable alterations in HRV metrics. Cardiovascular activity, represented by the HRV, can provide useful information for coaches and sport psychologists to adopt effective training programs for athletes.

As a sport conducted in dynamically changing natural environments, orienteering places high demands on athletes' cognitive processing abilities and visual search efficiency. However, previous studies on orienteering have been primarily limited by the use of fixed stimulus materials on computer screens, which are unable to fully simulate authentic sports scenarios. To better understand the sports expertise of orienteering athletes in terms of their real scene image recognition performance and visual search characteristics, this study recruited 40 orienteering athletes, both experts and novices, as participants. By utilizing eye-tracking technology and setting observation points in real-world scenarios to conduct image recognition task tests, the ecological validity of the experiment was further enhanced. The results showed that the experts demonstrated a high level of accuracy and a short response time, with visual search characteristics including few saccade counts, low fixation frequency, concentrated fixation points, simple and clear fixation paths, and higher visual search efficiency. This study further reveals that long-term specialized training will lead to the formation of a unique cognitive structure related to the specific knowledge and long-term memory required by expert orienteering athletes, thereby promoting the development of expert advantage., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Competition in sports, unlike cooperation in everyday life, does not involve a single solution because individuals aim to behave unpredictably, thereby preventing others from predicting their actions. This study determined how individuals in court-based sports attempted to control others' unpredictable behaviors, addressing the gap in previous studies regarding the lack of clarity around strategies employed by individuals in competitive situations. We achieved this by applying a switching hybrid dynamics model, considering external inputs to analyze individual behaviors. Consequently, the study indicates that skilled individuals, in contrast to intermediate players, exhibit greater consistency in their behaviors. These skilled individuals lead others to anticipate their consistency and subsequently employ strategies to disrupt these expectations. This strategy exploits the principles of active human inference, implying that competition involves cooperation. This was revealed by an analysis of both human decision-making and behavior in actual matches as discrete and continuous dynamical systems. This interpersonal strategy could assist policymakers in the field of everyday life to enhance competitiveness. This strategy enables policymakers to adopt new policies that promote cooperation with competitors, ultimately increasing competitiveness in various aspects of our daily lives., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study aimed to: (i) analyze the variations in psychophysiological demands (mean heart rate, meanHR; rate of perceived exertion, RPE) and technical performance (umber of successful and unsuccessful passes, and occurrences of ball loss) between 2v2 and 4v4 small-sided games (SSGs) formats, and (ii) examine the relationships of aerobic capacity measured in Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test (YYIRT) on psychophysiological and technical performance during SSGs. This study used a cross-sectional design with repeated measures, where the same players participated in both 2v2 and 4v4 formats across two training sessions per format. Twenty-four talent/developmental male youth soccer players, aged 16.6 ± 0.5 years. The meanHR, measured through heart rate sensors, the RPE, assessed using the CR6-20 scale, and the number of successful and unsuccessful passes, along with occurrences of ball loss, recorded using an ad hoc observational tool, were evaluated in each repetition. Players during the 2v2 format had significantly greater mean HR (+4.1%; p < 0.001; d = 2.258), RPE (+12.2%; p < 0.001; d = 2.258), successful passes (+22.2%; p = 0.006; d = 0.884), unsuccessful passes (+62.5%; p < 0.001; d = 1.197) and lost balls (+111.1%; p < 0.001; d = 2.085) than 4v4 format. The YYIRT was significantly and largely correlated with unsuccessful passes (r = 0.502; p = 0.012) and lost balls (r = 0.421; p = 0.041) in 2v2 format. In conclusion, this study suggests that engaging in 2v2 activities constitutes a more intense form of practice, significantly enhancing individual participation in technical aspects. Moreover, aerobic capacity may influence the smaller formats of play and how players perform key technical actions. Therefore, coaches must consider this to ensure the necessary performance in such games., (© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.)

We aimed to implement strength and balance training for elite adolescent male soccer players with functional ankle instability (FAI) to assess kinesiophobia, ankle instability, ankle function, and performance. This cluster randomized controlled trial comprised 51 elite adolescent male soccer players with FAI recruited from six different teams, divided into strength, balance, and control groups (SG, n = 17; BG, n = 17; and CG, n = 17, respectively). The SG and BG underwent strength and balance training sessions three times per week for 6 weeks. Primary outcomes were the Tampa scale for kinesiophobia-17 (TSK) and Cumberland ankle instability tool (CAIT) scores to assess kinesiophobia and FAI, respectively. Secondary outcomes were ankle strength (four directions), dynamic balance, static balance (ellipse, displacement, velocity), and performance (figure 8 and side-hop tests). A significant interaction effect was observed for both TSK and CAIT post-intervention (both, P < 0.01). In post hoc analyses, the BG had significantly better outcomes in reducing TSK. The SG and BG showed greater improvements in CAIT scores. Regression analysis indicated that CAIT severity correlated significantly with TSK ( P = 0.039, R = 0.289). For secondary outcomes, the SG and BG were superior in terms of ankle dorsiflexion/inversion strength, static balance displacement, and figure-8 and side-hop tests (all, P < 0.05). The BG showed significantly better static balance ellipse results (P < 0.05). The 6-week intervention significantly enhanced kinesiophobia management, ankle stability, and performance. Balance training effectively mitigated kinesiophobia and improved balance, compared with strength training alone. Even small variations in CAIT severity can influence kinesiophobia, highlighting the potential benefits of balance training. Integrating balance training into training programs can address both physical and psychological aspects of ankle instability. Research is recommended to explore the longitudinal effects of these interventions and their potential to prevent injury recurrence., (© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.)

In soccer, skill is significantly influenced by motor skills and physical constitution. In addition, perceptual-cognitive abilities are thought to affect sport-specific performance. Nevertheless, there are hardly any studies investigating the relationship of general cognitive abilities with sport-specific performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze relationships between general perceptual-cognitive abilities and soccer-specific performance in competitive youth sports. Thirty highly talented male youth soccer players aged 12-14 years completed various perceptual-cognitive (selective attention, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, working memory, peripheral perception, and choice response) and sport-specific on-field tests. Cognitive abilities were assessed using a computer-based test system. Soccer-specific performance skills were evaluated by two sport-specific on-field tests. The relation between perceptual-cognitive abilities and soccer-specific performance was examined using a correlation analysis as well as a four-stage regression analysis. Overall, the expression of general perceptual-cognitive abilities was found to have an impact on performance in soccer-specific test situations, particularly cognitive flexibility and selective attention. Our results suggest that general cognitive tests could be an important tool for the evaluation of cognitive abilities in soccer. This study brings together key approaches in expertise research and makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of expertise in soccer., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.)

It is known that different types of music used during sports performance has different psycho-physiological effects. In this context, this study aimed to reveal the effect of different types of music on ITN test performance in tennis players. A total of 35 recreational tennis players voluntarily participated in the study. In the research, the ITN test performance of tennis players was measured in three different conditions with 48-hour intervals, these being without music, with motivational music, and with sedative music. The Freidman test was used in the analysis of the data that did not show a normal distribution, and the Repeated Measures ANOVA test was used in the analysis of the data that showed a normal distribution. According to the main findings of the study, it was determined that motivational music increased the ITN test performance of tennis players, while sedative music decreased their ITN test performance (p< .05). Additionally, it was determined that motivational music increased the groundstroke depth scores of tennis players, while sedative music decreased groundstroke depth scores (p< .05). In addition to this, it was determined that volley depth, groundstroke accuracy, and serve scores increased through motivational music (p< .05), whereas sedative music had no effect (p> .05). As a result, it was determined that the ITN test performances of tennis players can be increased through the psycho-physiological effect of motivational music. It can therefore be concluded that the use of motivational music during training and matches (between sets and/or time breaks) of tennis players can increase their shooting performance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Cengiz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study examines baseball players' recognition framework of out, ball, and strike counts in baseball games and clarifies the differences in psychological perspectives between batters and pitchers. The participants were 396 players (294 batters and 102 pitchers) belonging to baseball clubs at eight universities. Participants answered 288 questions for all game situations by combining out, ball, and strike counts and runner position. The advantages for batters or pitchers were evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale (from very advantageous for batters to very advantageous for pitchers). Factor analysis indicated four significant factors (36 items): "Batter's advantage count," "Pitcher's advantage count," "2 out young count," and "0 out young count." In a direct comparison of these factors between batters and pitchers, batters were more aware of their advantage over pitchers in the factors "Batter's advantage count" and "0 out young count" and disadvantage in the "Pitcher's advantage count." Significant differences in recognition of these factors were observed between batters and pitchers. Batters were more susceptible to game situations than were pitchers. Our findings suggest that baseball players recognize several types of game situations, although not an infinite number., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hashimoto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This paper examined the psychological impact of contextual influences (i.e., contract type and playing experience) on sport anxiety in elite women cricketers participating in The Hundred. A sample of 71 elite female cricketers playing during the 2021-2022 season took part. Forty-nine of the sample (69%) held professional contracts, and 22 (31%) had yet to sign a professional contract. Participants provided details about their contract type and playing experience and completed self-report measures assessing sport anxiety, mental toughness, and general self-efficacy. Since mental toughness and self-efficacy are non-cognitive constructs, which buffer competitive trait anxiety, analysis controlled for these variables. Multivariate analyses of covariance examined sport anxiety scores among participants in relation to Hundred matches played (either 0, 1-10, or more than 10) and contract type (whether participants had a professional contract in place or not). Subfactors of Worry, Somatic, and Confusion assessed sports anxiety. No significant main effects existed. However, alongside a significant interaction, a covariate mental toughness effect occurred. Examination of the interaction revealed Worry scores were lower in cricketers who were yet to play a Hundred match who had not received a professional contract. Furthermore, Worry and Somatic scores were higher in cricketers that had played more than 10 Hundred matches and had not received a professional contract. These findings have important implications for the development of elite women cricketers. Particularly, they highlight the need to differentially support players through their career progression., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist, (Copyright: © 2024 Cross et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Mental energy is an important factor in many domains, including athletic performance. The athletic mental energy scale (AMES) is one of the established tools available to measure athletes' perceived mental energy state. To date, there is no validated questionnaire to assess athletic mental energy for Chinese adolescents. Therefore, purpose of this study was to validate a Chinese version of AMES (C-AMES) among the Chinese adolescents in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China. We sampled 729 adolescents aged 14 to 18 in five middle schools in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, China to complete the revised C-AMES. Data were analyzed for factor structure validity by performing CFA. The results showed that the fit index was acceptable (RMSEA = 0.050, CFI = 0.962, TLI = 0.951), and a six-factor model containing 18 C-AMES items had good measurement properties for athletic mental energy. We suggest future study may use C-AMES to examine the relationship between athletes' mental energy and athletic performance and sporting behavior., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This systematic review aims to assess the genetic determinants influencing combat sports performance and address potential gaps in previous reviews. Twenty-four selected studies were analysed, investigating genetic influences on physiological performance, psychological traits, psychophysiological factors like pain perception, and injury susceptibility in combat sport athletes. The systematic literature search, using keywords, encompassed PubMed, Scopus, SportDiscus, Medline, and Google Scholar. The Covidence systematic review management software facilitated the screening process and the creation of the PRISMA flow diagram. The quality assessment complied with the PRISMA guidelines, featuring a custom 10-point scale and the STREGA criteria for more reliable study inclusion. Collectively, the 24 studies incorporated 18,989 participants, of which 3323 were combat athletes of majority European ancestry (71.7%) from various combat sports disciplines. Twenty-five unique genetic variants were significantly associated with combat sports performance across diverse domains. These included physiological performance (nine genetic variants), psychological traits (ten genetic variants), psychophysiological factors (one genetic variant), and injury susceptibility (four genetic variants). In conclusion, this systematic review lays the foundation for a more comprehensive exploration of the association between genetics and athletic performance in the demanding arena of combat sports, offering valuable insights for talent identification, training optimisation, and injury prevention.

Background: The role of attentional focus is a well-explored topic in exercise sciences. Studies generally indicate that external focus (EF) enhances motor performance and learning compared with internal focus (IF). However, most studies only included one or two experimental days which limits participants' exposure to the focus conditions. This raises the question of whether the superiority of EF varies over time., Methods: Accordingly, in this pre-registered within-subject study, we examined the effects of focus instructions on golf-putting performance over four days, with 48-72 h between them. On each day, participants performed 15 putts under three instructional conditions: (1) EF, (2) IF, and (3) control, in a randomized and counterbalanced order., Results: We observed trivial differences in performance between conditions but considerable improvements from day 1 to day 4. When using an exploratory analysis, we found that participants performed better under EF and control conditions compared with the IF condition on day 1, but not on subsequent days., Conclusions: Since IF instructions are more commonly used in practice, we speculate that the two other focus conditions were experienced as more novel, potentially accounting for their superiority on Day 1. Nevertheless, our results question the significance of employing EF to enhance performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 Nevo et al.)

Background: An increase in training intensity could create changes in psychological and physiological variables in competitive athletes. For this reason, it is very relevant to know how an intensive training block could influence psychological variables in competitive swimmers. This study examined the effect of an intensive training block (HIT) for 2 weeks on the anxiety state and swimming performance compared to standard aerobic training., Methods: Twenty-two male competition swimmers were randomly assigned to two groups: HIT group ( n = 11; age = 16.5 ± 0.29 years) and control group following the standard training program ( n = 11; age = 16.1 ± 0.33 years). Psychological status variables (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence) and swimming performance (100-m front crawl) were measured pre-and post-test., Results: A significant effect of time was found for all psychological variables and swimming performance (F ≥ 17.6; p < 0.001; d ≥ 0.97). Furthermore, a significant group × time interaction effect was found in cognitive (F = 14.9; p < 0.001; d = 0.62) and somatic anxiety (F = 5.37; p = 0.031; d = 0.55) were found. Only a significant group effect was found in somatic anxiety (F = 27.1; p < 0.001; d = 1.2). Post hoc comparison revealed that both groups increased their cognitive anxiety and swimming performance, and decreased their self-confidence from pre to post test. However, cognitive anxiety increase significantly more in the HIT group compared to the control group. Furthermore, only the HIT training group significantly increased somatic anxiety over time, while somatic anxiety did not change significantly over time in the control group., Conclusion: Our findings indicated that a sudden increase in training intensity increased state anxiety more than standard training, but both conditions similarly enhanced swimming performance. Although the current level of psychological state is not affecting swimming performance negatively over this period, it should be regularly monitored by psychologists as it over a longer training period perhaps could have a negative influence on swimming performance., Competing Interests: Tiago M. Barbosa is an Academic Editor for PeerJ., (© 2024 Aouani et al.)

An important application for training instructions is found in directing one's attentional focus. This direction can occur in different internal, external, or holistic forms. However, comparison between these three forms of instructions is a relatively recent development rarely reported at different skill levels or various sports including karate. Therefore, the present study attempts to investigate the effects of three forms of instructions on standing long jump performance in skilled and novice karatekas. The participants were 60 skilled and novice karatekas (all females; mean age: 21.32 ± 1.65) who completed 12 standing long jump trials under different focus conditions (3 trials for each condition: internal, external, holistic and control condition) in a counterbalanced order. Our findings suggested significant main effects, indicating that skilled karatekas outperformed the novices. The findings also showed that regardless of skill levels, the participants exhibited similar performance under external and holistic focus conditions while performance in both of these conditions was superior compared to performance under internal focus and control conditions. No difference was observed between the control and internal focus conditions. It seems that skilled and novice karatekas may benefit from holistic and external focus of attention instructions which enhance their motor performance. Thus, it is recommended that coaches should incorporate these two types of attentional focus instructions into their training sessions., (© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.)

Context: Psychological skills training improves performance in athletes. However, authors of few studies have looked at the efficacy and satisfaction of mental skills training programs for collegiate athletes., Objective: To evaluate the satisfaction of collegiate athletes with a 6-session mental skills course and to assess changes in mental toughness and coping skills before and after the course., Design: Cohort study., Setting: Division I collegiate athletic teams., Patients or Other Participants: Fifty-four Division I female athletes (mean age = 19.8 years) participated in the program, and 42 (77.7%) completed precourse assessments, which subsequent evaluations were matched to., Main Outcome Measure(s): The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI; range, 0-84) and Mental Toughness Index (MTI; range, 8-56) assessed coping skills and mental toughness precourse, immediately postcourse, and 4 months postcourse. Satisfaction was assessed on a 10-point scale., Results: For participants with paired precourse and immediately postcourse data (n = 37, 68.5%), MTI scores improved by a mean 2.6 points (95% CI = 1.1, 4.1; P = .001), and ACSI scores improved by a mean 4.0 points (95% CI = 0.6, 7.4; P = .02). At the 4-month follow-up (n = 25, 46.2%), no change was detected from precourse in mean MTI score (P = .72), but a significant increase of 3.4 points in mean ACSI (95% CI = 0.4, 6.4; P = .03) occurred. Overall satisfaction had a median score of 9/10 (interquartile range, 8-10) at postcourse, and 18 participants (48.6%) shared positive free-text comments regarding course delivery, content, and impact. No negative feedback was reported., Conclusions: Mental toughness and coping skills scores significantly improved at postcourse assessment, with coping skills scores maintaining their effect at 4 months. The improvements identified spark the question of the potential impact of mental skills training programs when studied in larger athlete populations or over more sustained periods of time. Athletes reported being highly satisfied with course content and reported overall positive experiences., (© by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc.)

The Multi-Action Plan (MAP) model presents an idiosyncratic framework for human performance. MAP research has categorised four Performance Types (PTs; T1-T4) using self-paced activities. Specifically, T1-4 present four distinct mental states experienced by athletes during performance, differing, among other aspects, in the level of effort and perceived control. However, transitions between PTs are yet to be empirically investigated. This study aimed to examine MAP in the hyperdynamic open-skill combat context of judo. We explored how judoka experienced PTs and the transition processes between these mental states. Six British, high-level judoka (n = 6; Mdn age  = 19) were interviewed using a retrospective semi-structured interview schedule. Interpretative phenomenological analysis indicated that judo presents a hyperdynamic difficult-to-predict performance context due to the opponent and fighting rhythm. Second, participants strongly related to T2 and T3 and less to T1 and T4. They also reported experiences 'between' T2 and T3. Lastly, participants reported common transition pathways (e.g., T2-T3), typical transition cues, and specific trainable strategies to optimise performance. Findings are discussed in relation to existing literature. Lastly, we present limitations, applied, and research considerations., (© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.)

Introduction: Caffeine is a widely used ergogenic aid in society, which has made it a topic of interest due to its various benefits at cognitive, physiological, and sports levels, among others. This review aims to investigate the potential benefits of caffeine supplementation in psychophysiological performance through a structured search in the SportsDiscus/Scopus/MEDLINE and Web of Science databases (October 2022). This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline, and the inclusion criteria were defined based on the PICOS model. Double-blind, randomized/semi-randomized crossover articles comparing caffeine intake with an identical placebo condition were included. Filters by age or gender of the participants were not applied. The initial search gave a result of 201 articles, which after eliminating duplicates and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the final sample for this review was 8 studies. The review concluded that 3 (37.5 %) found favorable ergogenic effects, 4 (50 %) found partial effects, and 1 (12.5 %) found no effects of caffeine supplementation on variables related to psychophysiological performance. In general, both partial and negative results could be linked to insufficient doses to produce any change, likewise, habitual caffeine consumption is also a variable that could be attenuating its potential ergogenic effect. In conclusion, moderate doses of caffeine 3-6 mg/kg seem to be an effective strategy to improve the psychophysiological response in various contexts without generating detrimental effects on performance, as long as the intervention designs consider the variables that could condition its effect.

To assess the effects of warm-up music and low dose (3 mg·kg -1 ) of caffeine (CAF) on female taekwondo athlete's activity profile and psychophysiological responses during simulated combat. In a double-blinded, randomized, crossover study, 16 female athletes participated in simulated combats under one control and 5 experimental conditions [i.e., CAF alone (CAF), placebo alone (PL), CAF with music (CAF + M), PL with music (PL + M), and no supplement with music (M)]. After warming-up, athletes rated their felt arousal (FAS). Mean (HR mean ) and peak (HR peak ) heart rate values were determined for each combat. After fighting, athletes rated their perceived exertion (RPE), feeling scale (FS), FAS, and physical enjoyment (PACES). Time-motion and technical-tactical variables were analyzed. CAF + M induced shorter skip and pause time, while attack time increased compared to other conditions (p < 0.05). Moreover, CAF + M increased single attacks, combined attacks, counter-attacks (p < 0.001), and defensive actions (p < 0.05) than other conditions. HR mean and HR peak were lower under CAF + M than other conditions (p < 0.05). Additionally, higher FAS post-combat, FS, and PACES were observed under CAF + M, while RPE was lower (except CAF condition) compared to the other conditions (p < 0.05.Using CAF with warm-up music may increase combat cadence and improve the psychological state in female athletes more effectively than either strategy alone., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Sports performance could be affected by placebo and nocebo effects. The last literature review on placebo and nocebo effects on sports and exercise performance was published in 2019. In the past five years, several new studies have been published. This review aimed to update the previous synthesis and evaluate the results of new studies focusing on placebo or nocebo interventions in sports and exercise by determining the form and magnitude of their effect. Hence, we searched for empirical studies published from 2019 until the end of May 2024 indexed in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Google Scholar databases. The search yielded 20 eligible studies with control or baseline-control conditions, focusing on nutritional, mechanical, and other mixed ergogenic aids. They yielded small to large placebo effects (Cohen's d ) for nutritional ( d = 0.86), mechanical ( d = 0.38), cream and gel ( d = 0.05), and open-label placebo ( d = 0.16) interventions. The pooled effect size for placebo effects was moderate to large ( d = 0.67), larger than in the earlier review, suggesting that placebo effects can improve motor performance even more than previously reported. However, based on five measures from three studies, the nocebo effects were almost twice as large ( d = 1.20). Accordingly, the current findings support and expand the last review in the field by yielding additional support for placebo and nocebo effects in sports and exercise.

Agility, defined as the ability to rapidly respond to unforeseen events, constitutes a central performance component in football. Existing agility training approaches often focus on change of direction that does not reflect the complex motor-cognitive demands on the pitch. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of a novel motor-cognitive dual-task agility training (Multiple-object tracking integrated into agility training) on agility and football-specific test performance parameters, compared to agility and a change of direction (COD) training. Adult male amateur football players (n = 42; age: 27±6; height: 181±7cm; weight: 80±12kg) were randomly allocated to one of the three intervention groups (COD, agility, agility + multiple object tracking). The Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT), a dribbling test with/without cognitive task as well as the Random Star Run (with/without ball) and the modified T-Test were assessed before and after a 6-week training period. Time effects within the T-Test (F = 83.9; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.68) and dribbling test without cognitive task (F = 23.9; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.38) with improvements of all intervention groups (p < 0.05) were found. Dribbling with cognitive task revealed a time effect (F = 7.8; p = 0.008; η 2 = 0.17), with improvements exclusively in the agility and dual-task agility groups (p < 0.05). Random Star Run with and without ball exhibited a time (F = 38.8; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.5; F = 82.7; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.68) and interaction effect (F = 14.14; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.42; F = 27.8; p < 0.001; η 2 = 0.59), with improvements for the agility and dual-task agility groups. LSPT showed no time, group or interaction effect. The effects of change of direction training are limited to change of direction and dribbling test performance within preplanned scenarios. In contrast, motor-cognitive agility interventions result in notable enhancements in football-specific and agility tests, incorporating decision-making and multitasking components. No differences were observed between agility and agility + multiple object tracking. To achieve a transfer to game-relevant performance, coaches should focus on integrating cognitive challenges into motor training., (© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.)

Objective: The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review regarding the relationship between positive psychological factors, such as psychological well-being and pleasant emotions, and sports performance., Method: This study, carried out through a systematic review using PRISMA guidelines considering the Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed and SPORT Discus databases, seeks to highlight the relationship between other more 'positive' factors, such as well-being, positive emotions and sports performance., Settings: The keywords will be decided by a Delphi Method in two rounds with sport psychology experts., Participants: There are no participants in the present research., Assessment: The main exclusion criteria were: Non-sport thema, sample younger or older than 20-65 years old, qualitative or other methodology studies, COVID-related, journals not exclusively about Psychology., Main Outcomes Measures: We obtained a first sample of 238 papers, and finally, this sample was reduced to the final sample of 11 papers., Results: The results obtained are intended to be a representation of the 'bright side' of sports practice, and as a complement or mediator of the negative variables that have an impact on athletes' and coaches' performance., Conclusions: Clear recognition that acting on intrinsic motivation continues to be the best and most effective way to motivate oneself to obtain the highest levels of performance, a good perception of competence and a source of personal satisfaction., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Free throw is an important means of scoring in basketball games. With the improvement of basketball competition level and the enhancement of confrontation degree, the number of free throws in the game gradually increases, so the score of free throw will have an important impact on the result of the game. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between visual attention characteristics and hit rate of basketball players in free throw psychological procedure training, so as to provide scientific basis for basketball teaching and training., Methods: Forty players with similar free throw abilities were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 males, 10 females) and control group (10 males, 10 females). The experimental group was free throw psychological procedure training, while the control group was trained with routine training, Eye movement indices (number of fixations, fixation duration, and pupil dilation) and the free throw hit rate and analyzed before and after the experiment. Group differences were examined using t-tests, while paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-test results within each group. The training time and training times of the two groups were the same., Results: There were significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between pre-test and post-test in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Post-test, there were significant differences in number of fixations, fixation duration, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between number of fixations and free throw hit rate in top (P < 0.01), and there was a significant positive correlation between fixation duration and hit rate in front (P < 0.01)., Conclusions: The psychological procedure training can improve the visual information search strategy and information processing ability of free throw, and significantly improve the free throw hit rate. There was a positive correlation between the front fixation time and the free throw hit rate, and there was a positive correlation between the top number of fixations and the free throw hit rate., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Context: Authors of previous research at a public university in New England, where the current study takes place, showed that approximately one-third of undergraduate students have experienced some aspect of food insecurity. More recent investigators at this university revealed that students who were members of a sport team were 4 times more likely to be food insecure than their peers who were not on a sport team. The estimated prevalence of student-athlete food insecurity from other previous research studies ranged from 14% to 32%., Objective: To understand the contributing factors to food insecurity among collegiate athletes., Design: Qualitative study., Setting: A public university in New England., Patients or Other Participants: Data are presented for 10 collegiate athletes who experienced some level of food insecurity according to the United States Department of Agriculture Six-Item Short Form., Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected using a brief demographic questionnaire and semistructured interviews., Results: Contributing factors were a lack of time, special dietary needs, limited campus dining options, and limited access to transportation or kitchens. Coping strategies were managing time and resources, buying cheaper foods, and skipping meals. Food insecurity negatively affected students' athletic performance. The athletes struggled to balance their athletic and academic schedules and obtain a diet that allowed them to meet their performance goals., Conclusions: Additional and innovative programming is needed to support food-insecure student-athletes., (© by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Inc.)

Anticipation has been confirmed as a more valid measure for recognizing talented athletes than pattern recall alone. Anticipation of offensive processes in soccer, such as counter attacks and positional attacks, is essential for the sport. Additionally, the anticipation of elements such as the soccer ball, offensive and defensive players may also be affected by varied offensive processes. In this study, we combined anticipation with the pattern recall paradigm to measure the perceptual-cognitive skills of female soccer players across different age groups and offensive processes. Adult (U23) and adolescent (U15) female soccer players were recruited to complete the pattern anticipation task using coach-rated video segments. Our results show that adult female soccer players demonstrated greater accuracy in anticipating locations during positional attacks compared to adolescents, but no significant difference was observed during counter attacks. Furthermore, location anticipation accuracy is higher in all groups towards elements of the soccer ball and offensive players, but not defensive players, during counter attacks compared to positional attacks. These findings suggest that positional attack is the main advantage in perceptual-cognitive skills for adult female soccer players. Additionally, offensive processes and elements should be carefully considered when measuring perceptual-cognitive skills., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The deleterious effects of mental fatigue (MF) on athletes have been carefully studied in various sports, such as soccer, badminton, and swimming. Even though many researchers have sought ways to ameliorate the negative impact of MF, there is still a lack of studies that review the interventions used to counteract MF among athletes. This review aims to report the current evidence exploring the effects of interventions on MF and sport-specific performance, including sport-specific motor performance and perceptual-cognitive skills. Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and SPORTDicus (EBSCOhost) were combed through to find relevant publications. Additionally, the references and Google Scholar were searched for any grey literature. For the current review, we included only randomized controlled trials that involved athletes, a primary task to induce MF, interventions to counter MF with comparable protocols, and the outcomes of sport-specific motor performance and perceptual-cognitive skill. The selection criteria resulted in the inclusion of 10 articles. The manipulations of autonomous self-control exertion, person-fit, nature exposure, mindfulness, and transactional direct current stimulation showed that positive interventions counteract MF and improve sport-specific performance in different domains, including strength, speed, skill, stamina, and perceptual-cognitive skills. The selected interventions could significantly counteract MF and improve subsequent sport-specific performance. Moreover, self-regulation and attention resources showed the importance of the potential mechanisms behind the relevant interventions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In the realm of high-performance sports, athletes often prioritize success at the expense of their well-being. Consequently, sports psychology researchers are now focusing on creating psychological profiles for athletes that can forecast their performance while safeguarding their overall well-being. A recent development in this field is the concept of athletic mental energy (AME), which has been associated with both sporting success and positive emotions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore if AME in athletes can mediate this directly observed relationship between performance and psychological well-being. For stronger predictive validity these relationships were examined across two studies with each involving distinct sets of participants engaged in various sports disciplines, including football, cricket, basketball, archery, and more. The self-report measures of sports performance, athletic mental energy (AME), and psychological well-being (PWB) were administered post-competition on the local, regional, state, national, international, and professional level athletes of age 18 and above. Our study found that both, the affective and cognitive components of AME mediated the athletes' performance and psychological well-being relationship. Interestingly, the study found no significant gender differences in AME and PWB scores. While family structures didn't yield significant variations in AME scores, there were some descriptive distinctions in PWB scores across different family structures. Our research offers preliminary evidence suggesting that AME can play a pivotal role in preserving athletes' psychological well-being following competitive events., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Female athletic performance and injury risk is impacted by variations in the menstrual cycle (MC), but the understanding of the impacts and mechanisms influenced by the menstrual cycle on exercise performance are not fully delineated., Aims and Objectives: Evaluate associations between the menstrual cycle, perceived performance, and injury risk of elite female rugby players using an online survey., Methods: An anonymous online questionnaire was completed by 150 elite female rugby players from two English rugby leagues, the Betfred Women's Super League (BWSL) and the Allianz Premier 15s (AP15s). The collected data were analysed thematically., Results: The Chi-square test was used to assess associations between age groups and contraception usage, weight change, and training and playing performance; none of the associations were statistically significant (all p values > 0.05). Thematic analysis of 11,660 words of data revealed four themes: (a) MC impact on training and competition, (b) education and period management plans, (c) openness of conversations and comfort taking time off, and (d) injury risk. The impacted performance areas were physical (83.7%), psychological (85.7%), and nutritional (80.3%); players experienced decreased appetite, nausea, fatigue, strength declines, heighted emotions, and worsened focus. In total, 87.8% of athletes perceived the MC to negatively impact performance, 85.7% of players desired to be educated further to prevent injuries, improve nutrition, and training adaptions, 51.7% of participants perceived risk of injury to be higher during MC, and 86.4% of participants did not feel comfortable taking time off due to the MC, worrying that selection would be affected and about opinions from others., Conclusion: A clear negative impact on perceived performance and injury risk was reported by survey participants. The interaction of physical, psychological, and nutritional factors, and a lack of awareness and education emphasise the need for further comprehensive studies and interventions, with measures such as MC monitoring and profiling, education, and training adaptions to develop openness, knowledge, and understanding.

The cognitive limitations of athletes with Intellectual Impairments (II) may influence their sport behaviour and lead them to rely on coaches' support. However, it is still unclear how II may influence sports performance progression and motivation and how coaches perceive their athletes with II and coach them. Thus, this study aims to examine 1) coach's perceptions of motivation and performance progression in athletes with and without II, 2) coaching style (dis)similarities, and 3) the association between these factors. Coaches of athletes with (n = 122) and without II (n = 144) were recruited and completed three online questionnaires, analysed using a series of non-parametric analyses (p ≤ .05). Results showed that perceived performance progression and controlled motivation were higher of athletes with II while perceived autonomous motivation was higher of athletes without II. No coaching style differences were found between the two groups. Additionally, a need-supportive coaching style negatively predicted amotivation, and a need-thwarting coaching style predicted lower autonomous motivation in athletes with II only. Overall, it seems that the coaches perceived that their athletes with II demonstrate different motivations and react dissimilarly to their coaching styles compared to athletes without II. They may also adopt different standards of sporting success for them. Due to these differences, it is important to offer appropriate training and knowledge to coaches about disability sports and the adaptations needed to effectively coach athletes with II. In summary, this paper gives some insights about the coach-athlete relationship and highlights the necessity to further support the sports development of people with II., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Sakalidis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Sleep is essential for a range of physiological and mental functions in professional athletes. There is proof that athletes may experience lower quality and quantity of sleep. While adequate sleep has been shown to have restorative effects on the immune system and endocrine system, facilitate nervous system recovery and the metabolic cost of wakefulness, and play a significant role in learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity, which can affect sports recovery, injury risk reduction, and performance. Sports performance may suffer significantly from a lack of sleep, especially under maximal and long-term exercise. Due to the potential harm, these factors may do to an athlete's endocrine, metabolic, and nutritional health, sports performance is impacted by reduced sleep quality or quantity. There are several neurotransmitters associated with the sleep-wake cycle that have been discovered. They comprise cholinergic hormone, orexin, melanin, galanin, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, histamine, and serotonin. Therefore, dietary modifications that affect the neurotransmitters in the brain also may affect sleep; particularly for athletes who require more physical and psychological recovery owing to the tremendous physiological and psychological demands placed on them during training and performance. This review explores the variables that influence the quantity and quality of sleep-in populations of athletes and assesses their possible effects. In addition, several recommendations for improving sleep are presented. Even though there has been much research on variables that impact sleep, future studies may highlight the significance of these aspects for athletes., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Context: Sleep plays a vital role in cognitive and physical performance. Teenage athletes (ages 13-19 years) are considered especially at risk for disordered sleep and associated negative cognitive, physical, and psychosomatic effects. However, there is a paucity of evidence-based recommendations to promote sleep quality and quantity in athletes who fall within this age range. We performed a review of the literature to reveal evidence-based findings and recommendations to help sports instructors, athletic trainers, physical therapists, physicians, and other team members caring for young athletes provide guidance on sleep optimization for peak sports performance and injury risk reduction., Methods: PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched on May 11, 2016, and then again on September 1, 2020, for relevant articles published to date., Study Design: Narrative review., Level of Evidence: Level 4., Results: Few studies exist on the effects disordered sleep may have on teenage athletes. By optimizing sleep patterns in young athletes during training and competitions, physical and mental performance, and overall well-being, may be optimized. Adequate sleep has been shown to improve the performance of athletes, although further studies are needed., Conclusion: Twenty-five percent of total sleep time should be deep sleep, with a recommended sleep time of 8 to 9 hours for most young athletes. Screen and television use during athletes' bedtime should be minimized to improve sleep quality and quantity. For young athletes who travel, jet lag can be minimized by allowing 1 day per time zone crossed for adjustment, limiting caffeine intake, planning meals and onboard sleeping to coincide with destination schedules, timing arrivals in the morning whenever possible, and using noise-canceling headphones and eyeshades., Strength-Of-Recommendation Taxonomy (sort): B.

Recently, football has seen the creation of various novel, ubiquitous metrics used throughout clubs' analytics departments. These can influence many of their day-to-day operations ranging from financial decisions on player transfers, to evaluation of team performance. At the forefront of this scientific movement is the metric expected goals, a measure which allows analysts to quantify how likely a given shot is to result in a goal however, xG models have not until this point considered using important features, e.g., player/team ability and psychological effects, and is not widely trusted by everyone in the wider football community. This study aims to solve both these issues through the implementation of machine learning techniques by, modelling expected goals values using previously untested features and comparing the predictive ability of traditional statistics against this newly developed metric. Error values from the expected goals models built in this work were shown to be competitive with optimal values from other papers, and some of the features added in this study were revealed to have a significant impact on expected goals model outputs. Secondly, not only was expected goals found to be a superior predictor of a football team's future success when compared to traditional statistics, but also our results outperformed those collected from an industry leader in the same area., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Mead et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: This study adopted a quasi-experimental design to examine the effect of a 7-week mindfulness intervention on the psychological coping ability and shooting performance of college-level male basketball athletes in Macau., Methods: A total of 43 male college basketball athletes in Macau were selected as the participants. Besides the regular basketball training, the intervention group ( n = 23) received a 7-week mindfulness training; the weekly mindfulness intervention session lasted around one hour according to the mindfulness training manual for athletes, while the control group ( n = 20) did not receive any mindfulness training. Before and immediately after the 7-week intervention, all players performed the following tests: the "Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire", the "Acceptance and Action Questionnaire", the "Sport Competition Anxiety Test", the "Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale", and three shooting tests. An independent-sample t-test and a paired-sample t-test were used to analyze the between- and within-group differences. Moreover, a repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess the group, time, and group-by-time effects on psychological skills and shooting performances., Results: The intervention resulted in both significant between-group and within-group differences in mindfulness level, acceptance level, attention level, three-point, and free-throw shooting performances (all p < 0.05, Cohen's d ranging from 0.565 to 1.117)., Conclusion: While further study is necessary, the present study suggests that the 7-week mindfulness training program can significantly improve psychological outcomes and shooting performance in Macau college basketball athletes. Future studies involving competition settings and objective metrics will aid in verifying mindfulness as the prevalent practice among basketball practitioners and athletes.

The present study examined the effects of stressful constraints during soccer trainings on psychological skill development and internal load when compared with control (nonstressful) trainings. A total of 51 elite male youth soccer players (27 in the experimental group, M = 16.54 years; 24 in the control group, M = 15.44 years) participated in the study. In a 12-week longitudinal survey, team resilience, using the Spanish version of the Characteristics of Resilience in Sports Teams Inventory, and anxiety, using the Sport Anxiety Scale, were measured at baseline (after 4 weeks of regular trainings), postprotocol (after 4 weeks of control or experimental trainings), and follow-up (after 4 weeks of regular trainings). Results show that, when compared with the control group, a program with stressful constraints helped young soccer players to develop better psychological skills: specifically, increased ability to cope with impairments in resilience (both resilience characteristics and team vulnerability under pressure; p < 0.001). Increases in anxiety (p = 0.06) and decreases in preoccupation (p < 0.001) and lack of concentration (p < 0.001) were also observed. The adaptation of human behavior to specific trainings may explain these results. In conclusion, the regular exposure of young soccer players to stressful situations during trainings shows benefits for their psychological skill development in soccer. Then, benefits on internal load were also observed.

In order to improve the basketball theory and provide theoretical and intellectual support for the scientific, mental health, and sustainable development of basketball, we propose to take the development dynamic mechanism of juvenile basketball as the research object and make a systematic and in-depth study on the dynamic mechanism, the cultivation of Chinese and foreign juvenile basketball reserve talents, and the dynamic dilemma and influencing factors of juvenile campus basketball development by using the methods of literature, questionnaire, and expert interview. A method of cultivating the ring tone of juvenile basketball is proposed. This method is based on Chan algorithm. When the target is close to each base station, the first estimation also needs an initial value to solve the initial solution estimation matrix. The method is also based on multivariate Taylor algorithm, taking into account the measured distance between the targets to be measured, so it will get some useful information, which will improve the positioning accuracy. The experimental results show that the accuracy of the algorithm used in this paper is more than 85%. However, the accuracy of rebounding and passing recognition and prediction is low. The recognition accuracy and prediction accuracy of the test set are slightly lower than that of the effective set, which shows that the performance of the target detection system model in this paper can be further improved through more significant training examples. It is proved that the algorithm based on Taylor ring can meet the needs of teenagers in the basketball coordination and mental health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Pengfei Lu and Yajuan Su.)

This study aimed to carry out a systematic review to analyze, describe and discuss the effect of physical fatigue on the performance of soccer players. For this systematic review, searches were performed in Pubmed, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus electronic database until October 3, 2020, following the guidelines of PRISMA. A total of 12 articles met the inclusion criteria: i) healthy soccer players from any age group, competitive level or sex; ii) exposure to physical fatigue; iii) pre and post-physical fatigue conditions; iv) players' cognitive, technical, physical and tactical performances and v) no restrictions regarding the study design. The results section was organized in four main dimensions: cognitive, technical, physical and tactical. Studies on cognitive performance have shown divergent results, varying according to the cognitive task employed and the physical protocol used. Regarding technical performance, negative effects of physical fatigue were found on the technical fundamentals of the pass, dribble and kick. With regard to physical performance, studies have shown a reduction in sprint capacity and distances covered at high velocity. Finally, the only study that analyzed the tactical performance in the field showed an increase in the team's collective tactical behavior, but did not include analysis of the players' individual tactical actions. In summary, the results of the analyzed studies show that the effect of physical fatigue on cognitive performance is inconclusive and that technical and physical performance are negatively affected. Regarding tactical performance, there is a lack of information on the topic in the current literature., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This research aims at studying the effect of comparative feedback on psychological variables (competence valuation, perceived competence, autonomous motivation, amotivation, subjective well-being) and performance (throwing speed and accuracy). A total of 73 handball players from the highest Spanish handball (Iberdrola League) category participated in this study. After previously rating satisfaction with their head coach, they were indiscriminately assigned to one of three different experimental conditions measuring feedback, positive, negative, and none. There were significant differences in competence valuation, perceived competence, autonomous motivation, and throwing speed in the three feedback groups, more concretely, low satisfaction with the head coach. Positive effects were found when there was low satisfaction with the coach and positive feedback on the competence valuation, autonomous motivation, and throwing speed compared to negative or no feedback. These results have important implications for optimizing coaches' behaviors in relation to athlete well-being and performance.

Background: Cohesion is an important factor affecting sports performance. This study constructed a mediating model to explore the mechanism of cohesion toward psychological collectivism, mental toughness, and athlete engagement of Chinese team sports athletes, and to investigate the mediating effect of psychological collectivism and mental toughness on cohesion and athlete engagement., Methods: A total of 326 active Chinese athletes (54% males, 46% females) aged 14 to 26 years (M = 19.63, SD = 6.51) from eight sports were investigated by questionnaire., Results: The athlete engagement can be predicted significantly and positively by cohesion and its dimensions, and ATG-T is more important in advantage analysis. Direct and indirect paths indicate that cohesion affects athlete engagement, through the mediating effects of psychological collectivism, the mediating effects of mental toughness, the serial multiple mediating of psychological collectivism and mental toughness. The mediating effect model had a satisfactory goodness of fit and explained 50.5% of the variance in athlete engagement, and the SEM revealed the mechanism of cohesion in Chinese athlete engagement to a certain extent., Conclusion: Psychological collectivism is the embodiment of high-quality cohesion in Chinese team sports. The increase in cohesion and psychological collectivism can improve Chinese athletes' ability to cope with stressful situations in sports, which may allow them to achieve a better performance through athlete engagement.

In soccer, physical, tactical, and decision-making processes are highly important facets of successful performance. Caffeine has well established effects for promoting both physical and cognitive performance, but the translation of such benefits specifically for soccer match play is not well established. This study examined the effects of acute caffeine ingestion on tactical performance during small-sided games (SSG) in professional soccer players. Nineteen soccer players (22 ± 4 years) underwent a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. The protocol consisted of 5 bouts of 5-min SSG with 3 players plus a goalkeeper in each team (3 + GK × 3 + GK) with each SSG separated by 1 min rest intervals. Tactical performance was assessed using the system of tactical assessment in soccer (FUT-SAT). Prior to each experimental trial, participants ingested caffeine (5 mg·kg -1 ) or a placebo 60 min before the protocol. Overall, caffeine ingestion resulted in an increased ball possession time when compared to the placebo. When the offensive and defensive core principles were analyzed, the results were equivocal. Caffeine resulted in positive effects on some tactical decisions during the protocol, but it was deleterious or promoted no observed effect on other of the core tactical principles. Caffeine ingestion resulted in less offensive (during SSG3) and defensive (SSG 2, SSG3, and SSG4) errors. Caffeine ingestion also resulted in higher total offensive success during SSG 1 and SSG2, but it was detrimental during SSG3. Additionally, total defensive success was lower for the caffeine conditions during SSG 2 and SSG5 when compared to the placebo. In conclusion, caffeine influenced aspects of tactical decisions in soccer, resulting in fewer offensive and defensive errors, although it may be deleterious considering other tactical parameters. Future studies may clarify the effects of caffeine ingestion on specific decision-making parameters in soccer.

Psychological troubles in training competitions mainly include worry about mistakes, long-term lack of improvement in sports performance, and lack of confidence in competitions. The main troubles in daily study and life are future career development and life planning, injury and illness, insomnia, and poor emotional control. Athletes are interested in psychological skills training, hobby training, interpersonal communication and other coaching content to improve sports performance. Athletes tend to prefer one-to-one psychological counseling and group counseling activities; there are differences in the psychological distress, coping styles and expected psychological counseling content of athletes in different age groups and events. This paper firstly introduces the important role of psychological quality education in modern competitive sports. The influencing factors of athletes' psychological quality were analyzed. At the same time, combined with relevant practical experience, it starts from various perspectives and aspects such as improving the scientific literacy of coaches and building a harmonious atmosphere for training and competition. This paper puts forward some effective strategies to strengthen athletes' psychological quality education and improve sports performance. In addition, it expounds the author's understanding of this, hoping to contribute to the practice of athletes' psychological quality education., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Baoyan Fu and XinXin Fu.)

The purpose of this study was to analyse whether contextual (perception of motivational climate and positive and negative spontaneous self-talk in sports), personal (positivity) and situational variables (positive and negative spontaneous self-talk employed in competition and precompetitive anxiety) predict performance in a competition of ensembles of rhythmic gymnastics. 258 female gymnasts between ages14 and 20 (M = 15.24, SD = 1.46) participated in the study, completing pre- and post-competition measures. The results of the path-analysis showed that both the task-involving climate and positivity predicted positive self-talk in sport. This predicted self-confidence which, in turn, positively predicted positive situational self-talk in competition. For its part, the perception of an ego-involving climate positively predicted the use of both negative and positive self-talk in sport. Negative self-talk in sports predicted negative situational self-talk in competition and somatic and cognitive anxiety. In turn, cognitive anxiety positively predicted negative situational self-talk. Finally, performance was positively predicted by positive situational self-talk and negatively by negative situational self-talk. These results explain the functioning of spontaneous self-talk at different levels of generality and its relationship with sports performance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Sport psychology as an academic pursuit is nearly two centuries old. An enduring goal since inception has been to understand how psychological techniques can improve athletic performance. Although much evidence exists in the form of meta-analytic reviews related to sport psychology and performance, a systematic review of these meta-analyses is absent from the literature. We aimed to synthesize the extant literature to gain insights into the overall impact of sport psychology on athletic performance. Guided by the PRISMA statement for systematic reviews, we reviewed relevant articles identified via the EBSCOhost interface. Thirty meta-analyses published between 1983 and 2021 met the inclusion criteria, covering 16 distinct sport psychology constructs. Overall, sport psychology interventions/variables hypothesized to enhance performance (e.g., cohesion, confidence, mindfulness) were shown to have a moderate beneficial effect (d = 0.51), whereas variables hypothesized to be detrimental to performance (e.g., cognitive anxiety, depression, ego climate) had a small negative effect (d = -0.21). The quality rating of meta-analyses did not significantly moderate the magnitude of observed effects, nor did the research design (i.e., intervention vs. correlation) of the primary studies included in the meta-analyses. Our review strengthens the evidence base for sport psychology techniques and may be of great practical value to practitioners. We provide recommendations for future research in the area., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (i) to analyze the seasonal variations in the physical demands of Turkish Super League teams considering their status in the final rankings and (ii) to analyze the seasonal variations in the technical performance of Turkish Super League teams considering their status in the final rankings. This study followed an observational analytic retrospective design. In the last three seasons of the Turkish Super League (2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018), 918 football matches, 54 teams, 25,029 observations were made. The Sentio Sports optical tracking system was used to quantify the physical demands and technical execution of players in all matches. No significant differences of external load were found between seasons analyzed (p > 0.05). The number of lost balls, ball touches in the central corridor, and goals from set pieces increased from season one to the others (p < 0.05), while the number of successful dribbles reduced over time (p < 0.05). As conclusion, it seems not occurred a progressive change in external load over the seasons, while an evolutionary trends regarding technical variables were observed., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The 24 h responses to professional female netball-specific training were examined. British Superleague players (n = 14) undertook a 90-min on-court training session incorporating key movement, technical, and scenario-specific match-play drills. Perceptual (mood, fatigue, soreness), neuromuscular (countermovement jump peak power output [PPO], PPO relative to mass [PPOrel], jump height [JH]), endocrine (salivary cortisol [C], testosterone [T] concentrations) and biochemical (creatine kinase concentrations [CK]) markers were assessed at baseline (immediately before; Pre), and immediately, two and 24 hours after (+0h, +2h, +24h) training. Session (sRPE) and differential (dRPE) ratings of perceived exertion were recorded at +0h. Identification of clear between time-point differences were based on the 95% confidence interval (CI) for mean differences relative to baseline values not overlapping. At +0h, C (raw unit mean difference from baseline; 95% CI: 0.16; 0.06 to 0.25 μg·dl-1), T (32; 20 to 45 pg⋅ml-1), CK (39; 28 to 50 u·L-1), PPOrel (2.4; 0.9 to 3.9 W·kg-1) and PPO (169; 52 to 286 W) increased. At +2h, fatigue (15; 7 to 24 AU), CK (49; 38 to 60 u·L-1), and soreness (14; 3 to 25 AU) increased, while T (-24; -37 to -11 pg⋅ml-1) and mood (-20; -27 to -12 AU) reduced. At +24h, CK increased (25; 13 to 36 u·L-1) whereas PPOrel (-1.6; -3.2 to -0.1 W·kg-1) and JH (-0.02; -0.03 to -0.08 m) reduced. Responses were variable specific, and recovery of all variables did not occur within 24h. The residual effects of the prior stimulus should be accounted for in the planning of training for professional female netball players., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.