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Exercise indexes have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its related restrictions among athletes. In the present study, we investigated the exercise frequency and intensity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also current exercise dependency and mood state among non-contact individual, contact individual, and team sports athletes. A total of 1353 athletes from non-contact individual sports athletes (NCISA), contact individual sports athletes (CISA) and team sport athletes (TSA) participated; 45.4% of them were females that completed a series of self-rating questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, former and current exercise patterns, exercise dependency and mood states. NCISA had less exercise frequency than CISA, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and NCISA had less exercise frequency than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding exercise intensity, CISA had higher scores than NCISA and TSA before the COVID-19 pandemic, and CISA had more exercise intensity than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequency and intensity were reduced from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in the three groups, except for TSA intensity. In addition, positive and negative mood states were correlated with exercise dependency. CISA were more discouraged and vigorous than NCISA and TSA, respectively. For NCISA, CISA, and TSA, ordinal regressions separately showed that adherence to quarantine and exercise dependency were better predictors of exercise indexes. Finally, exercise dependency subscales were different among sports, but it was not in exercise dependency itself. Although the decrease in exercise indexes was noticeable, there was no consistent pattern of change in exercise behavior in all sports. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, negative moods were predominant among all athletes. The results discussed are based on exercise nonparticipating, sport type, and affect regulation hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the environmental variables associated with early talent development and the achievement of a high level of proficiency in sport is the relative age effect (RAE). The purpose of our study was threefold: (a) to calculate the RAE in young Israeli athletes (ages 14–18 years); (b) to examine how the athletes perceived this effect, if the effect indeed exists; and (c) to compare the RAE findings of this study with those of two previous studies on elite male (Lidor et al., 2010) and female (Lidor et al., 2014) Israeli ballplayers. Participants in the current study were 1,397 athletes (390 females and 1,007 males) who competed in five individual (gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, and track and field) and five team (basketball, soccer, team handball, volleyball, and water polo) sports. Data on the RAE, as well as on a number of aspects associated with this effect as perceived by the athletes, were collected via two closed questions. Data analyses showed that the RAE was found to be significant among the male athletes in four sports—swimming, basketball, soccer, and team handball; those who were born early in the year had a higher representation in these sport programs. However, this effect was not found to be significant in the female athletes. Most of the female and male athletes did not think that their birth date influenced their athletic success. However, a large portion of those who were born in the first quarter of the year (Q1) and the second quarter of the year (Q2) among the male athletes felt that they exhibited stronger abilities in the sports program compared to their peers who were born in the third and fourth quarters of the year (Q3 and Q4, respectively). The data of the current study provide additional support for the use of an “open door” approach to accepting children to sport programs by policymakers and coaches in Israel.

The purpose of this study was to investigate athletes sleep quality before competition and its relationship with age, gender, sport modality, competitive level, competition result, and practice time. The sample was 1010 Brazilian athletes (656 men and 354 women; 511 young and 499 adults), with an age of 20 ± 7 years old. Participants answered the question 'How would you evaluate the quality of your sleep in the past few days?' Participants rated their sleep quality on a Likert-type scale as follows: 1 = very poor, 2 = poor, 3 = regular, 4 = good, 5 = excellent. Young athletes were 2.30 times more likely to experience poor sleep than adult athletes (p < 0.01; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.47–3.61). Individual athletes were 3.45 times more likely to present poor sleep compared to athletes of team sports (p = 0.00; 95% CI = 2.18–5.48). International athletes were 1.71 times more likely to present regular sleep compared to regional athletes (p = 0.01; 95% CI = 1.16–2.51). Conclusions: Thus, our study indicates that young, individual sports, and international athletes may be at higher risk of poor sleep quality before competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has opened unprecedented analytics possibilities in various team and individual sports, including baseball, basketball, and tennis. More recently, AI techniques have been applied to football, due to a huge increase in data collection by professional teams, increased computational power, and advances in machine learning, with the goal of better addressing new scientific challenges involved in the analysis of both individual players' and coordinated teams' behaviors. The research challenges associated with predictive and prescriptive football analytics require new developments and progress at the intersection of statistical learning, game theory, and computer vision. In this paper, we provide an overarching perspective highlighting how the combination of these fields, in particular, forms a unique microcosm for AI research, while offering mutual benefits for professional teams, spectators, and broadcasters in the years to come. We illustrate that this duality makes football analytics a game changer of tremendous value, in terms of not only changing the game of football itself, but also in terms of what this domain can mean for the field of AI. We review the state-of-the-art and exemplify the types of analysis enabled by combining the aforementioned fields, including illustrative examples of counterfactual analysis using predictive models, and the combination of game-theoretic analysis of penalty kicks with statistical learning of player attributes. We conclude by highlighting envisioned downstream impacts, including possibilities for extensions to other sports (real and virtual). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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It is widely recognized that motivation is an important determinant for a successful sports career. Specific patterns of motivational constructs have recently demonstrated promising associations with future success in team sports like football and ice hockey. The present study scrutinizes whether those patterns also exist in individual sports and whether they are able to predict future performance levels. A sample of 155 young individual athletes completed questionnaires assessing achievement goal orientations, achievement motives, and self-determination at t1. The person-oriented method linking of clusters after removal of a residue (LICUR) was used to form clusters based on these motivational constructs in order to analyze the relations between these clusters and the performance level 2.5 years later (t2). Similar to the studies in team sports, four motivational patterns were observed at t1. The highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes were much more likely to compete internationally [odds ratio (OR) = 2.12], compared to the failure-fearing athletes (OR = 0.29). Although team and individual sports differ in many respects, they nevertheless are characterized by similar and thus generalizable career-promoting motivational profiles: Regardless of the type of sport, the highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes consistently have the best potential for success.

The back is subjected to a great deal of strain in many sports. Up to 20% of all sports injuries involve an injury to the lower back or neck. Repetitive or high impact loads (e.g., running, gymnastics, skiing) and weight loading (e.g., weightlifting) affect the lower back. Rotation of the torso (e.g., golf, tennis) causes damage to both, the lumbar and thoracic spine. The cervical spine is most commonly injured in contact sports (e.g., boxing, football). One of the factors that increases the odds of injuries in athletes is excessive and rapid increases in training loads. In spite of currently emerging evidence on this issue, little is known about the balance between physiological loading on the spine and athletic performance, versus overloading and back pain and/or injury in athletes. This scoping review aims (i) to map the literature that addresses the association between the training load and the occurrence of back pain and/or injury, especially between the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR) and back problems in athletes of individual and team sports, and (ii) to identify gaps in existing literature and propose future research on this topic. A literature search of six electronic databases (i.e., MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, SportDiscus, and CINAHL) was conducted. A total of 48 research articles met the inclusion criteria. Findings identified that fatigue of the trunk muscles induced by excessive loading of the spine is one of the sources of back problems in athletes. In particular, high training volume and repetitive motions are responsible for the high prevalence rates. The most influential are biomechanical and physiological variations underlying the spine, though stress-related psychological factors should also be considered. However, limited evidence exists on the relationship between the ACWR and back pain or non-contact back injuries in athletes from individual and team sports. This may be due to insufficiently specified the acute and chronic time window that varies according to sport-specific schedule of competition and training. More research is therefore warranted to elucidate whether ACWR, among other factors, is able to identify workloads that could increase the risk of back problems in athletes.

Knowledge of the age at which elite athletes achieve peak performance could provide invaluable information for the athletes to plan their career, to carefully select sports events promising successful participation. We aimed to identify the age at which top athletes achieved their Olympic medals, and to observe any changes in the average medal-winning age over the last decades. The age of Olympic medallists between 1960 Rome and 2016 Rio were collected using an online database. Data were gathered from the following individual sports: track and field, swimming, fencing (foil, épée, saber), triple jump, long jump, high jump, and wrestling (57 events all together). The study evaluates and compares the trends in the age of the winners in each discipline. Disciplines of this study show one of the two trends: the trend of increasing age, or trend of decreasing in age. In those disciplines, in which the Olympic medallists were younger than 26 years at the beginning of the examination period, such as swimming, the medallists became older over the decades. In those disciplines, however, in which the top three were older than 26 years at the beginning of the examination period, such as fencers, younger and younger athletes won their Olympic medals as time went by. The age and the trend in the changes of the age of the medallists in the examined disciplines support the theory of an optimal age, being around 26 years.

The birthplace (the place where an athlete was born) effect (BPE) has been found to be one of the environmental variables associated with early talent development and the achievement of a high level of proficiency in sport. The purpose of the current study is twofold: (1) to calculate the BPE in 14–18-year-old athletes who participated in individual and team sports and (2) examine how coaches perceived this effect. The participants were 1397 athletes (390 females and 1007 males) who competed in 5 individual (gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, and track and field) and 5 team (basketball, soccer, team handball, volleyball, and water polo) sports, as well as 147 coaches who provided their preliminary thoughts about the BPE. Data analyses revealed that although the BPE was not found to be associated with cities of a similar size, it was observed that growing up in cities of small and medium sizes was more beneficial than growing up in towns or cities of other sizes. Most of the coaches believed that certain characteristics of the place or city where the athlete grew up (e.g., proximity to sport facilities) could contribute positively to the athlete’s development. We discuss how the BPE data can aid policymakers in developing a sport policy associated with early phases of talent development.

A survey of the philosophy of sport literature reveals that arguments regarding the issue of sex segregation in athletics have been advanced from time to time, but there has been little sustained discussion, no consensus, and no change in existing practice. In this paper, an effort to advance the conversation, I begin with Jane English’s seminal 1978 article as a springboard and employ existing literature on the question of sex segregation in order to raise difficulties with English’s analysis and outline the basic alternative positions that have been taken on the issue. My own contribution to the conversation is in the introduction of four distinctions – between individual and team sports, direct and indirect competition, contact and non-contact sports, and amateur and professional sports – that have not been part of the discussion about the conditions under which men and women might compete against one another. These distinctions resolve several difficulties noted by others and suggest a more nuanced conclusion about desirable changes to the structure of sporting competition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study conducted to determine the perception of athletes interested in team and individual sports related to mental toughness situations. In the study cross-sectional method used. The study sample consisted of 155 individual or team sport participants from Rize province. In the study in order to determine the mental toughness perceptions of the participants the Turkish version of Madrigal, Hamill and Gill (2013)’s Mental Toughness Scale used. The scale adapted into Turkish by Erdoğan in 2016. The scale is a self-report scale with 11 items anchored with 5 Likert type scale. To analyze the data first Kolmogorow-Smirnow used in order to determine the distribution of the data and then Mann Whitney U and Kruskall-Walliss tests used. According to analyze results no significant differences found on the variable mental toughness according to gender, age, sports age. Besides, although the mean rank scores of the participants’ differed it was not considerable. As a result this paper showed that mental toughness of the athletes from different individual and team sports was similar in terms of gender, age and sport age. In this context, the mental training to be carried out in the direction of improving the physical and tactical training of different sports branches can be planned and implemented parallel with the results of this paper.

It is widely recognized that motivation is an important determinant for a successful sports career. Specific patterns of motivational constructs have recently demonstrated promising associations with future success in team sports like football and ice hockey. The present study scrutinizes whether those patterns also exist in individual sports and whether they are able to predict future performance levels. A sample of 155 young individual athletes completed questionnaires assessing achievement goal orientations, achievement motives, and self-determination at t1. The person-oriented method linking of clusters after removal of a residue (LICUR) was used to form clusters based on these motivational constructs in order to analyze the relations between these clusters and the performance level 2.5 years later (t2). Similar to the studies in team sports, four motivational patterns were observed at t1. The highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes were much more likely to compete internationally [odds ratio (OR) = 2.12], compared to the failure-fearing athletes (OR = 0.29). Although team and individual sports differ in many respects, they nevertheless are characterized by similar and thus generalizable career-promoting motivational profiles: Regardless of the type of sport, the highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes consistently have the best potential for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Marmara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Hukuk Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Marmara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Effective ways to reduce sedentary behaviour in adolescents are needed to mitigate the risk of chronic disease and poor mental health. Organised sport participation is the most practiced physical activity during adolescence. However, the influence sport participation has on sedentary behaviours remains unclear. This study investigated the associations between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity during the transition from secondary school to university. A 3-year longitudinal survey followed Spanish secondary school students (n = 113) to their first year of university. Generalized linear models, adjusted by gender and year, assessed the relationships between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity. Compared with non-sport participants, teenagers who played individual sports from baseline during secondary school spent significantly less total time sitting (- 110.5 min/day at weekends), watching television (- 18.7 min/day at weekends) or using the computer for leisure (- 37.4 min/day weekdays). Those who played team sports from baseline at secondary school spent less time sitting (- 126.4 min/day at weekends) or socialising (- 37 min/day at weekends)Conclusion: From secondary school to university, sport participation-based interventions might be an effective strategy to reduce sitting time spent on some domain-specific behaviours. Promoting sports could reduce the rise of sedentary behaviour during adolescence, a stage where sedentary behaviour evolves. What is Known: • Sitting too much and for too long is an important risk factor during adolescence. • Replacing adolescent's sedentary time with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity has been associated with a better quality of life. What is New: • Playing sport is associated with spending less time in total SB on the transition from high school to college. • Not all SB domains are linked to sport participation with associations differing from whether participants played individual or team sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper investigates home advantage in the context of the IAAF World Championships and the IAAF World Indoor Championships. Design: Our study includes 31 editions of these competitions held between 1987 and 2018. Using three key performance indicators (KPIs) we analysed how host nations had performed when competing at home compared with how they performed in the editions immediately before and after hosting. Findings: In the case of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, we found a statistically significant home advantage effect for all the KPIs examined (p < 0.05). No significant home advantage effect was evident in the IAAF World Championships in terms of two KPIs (p > 0.10), although a close to statistically significant home advantage effect was observed for one KPI (p = 0.06). Practical implications: Host nations should be cognisant of such variations in advance of bidding to host these IAAF competitions, particularly if enhancing performance at home is strategically important to them. Research contribution: A key learning point from our study is that the way in which researchers define performance may well have a bearing on the extent to which a home advantage in individual sports that are scored objectively such as athletics is apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activity is considered a promising behavior to improve cognitive function and academic performance in adolescents. As evidence on the relationship of specific sports activity is not conclusive, this study aimed to determine the longitudinal relationships of different sports to academic performance in adolescents and evaluate the cardiorespiratory fitness mediation effect of these sports. We focused on the demands of complex motor skills and the differences between individual sports vs team sports. Four hundred and sixty‐three 7th‐grade students (227 girls and 236 boys) were followed up over 2 years. Data regarding participation in sports activities, types of sports activities, academic performance, and cardiorespiratory fitness were obtained at baseline and after a 2‐year follow‐up. Structural equation modeling revealed that participation in all sports activity was positively associated with improvement of academic performance from baseline to follow‐up, and that these associations were mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness gains. Participation in sports activities that require more complex motor skills and individual sports activity was directly associated with an improvement of academic performance from baseline to follow‐up. Furthermore, quitting sports activities was negatively associated with academic performance via a reversal in cardiorespiratory fitness gains. These findings indicate that participation in specific sports may have significant benefits for academic performance in adolescents. Although these relationships are presumably mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness, sports activities that require more complex motor skills and individual sports participation may be directly related to academic performance. Considering that quitting sports activities reversed these benefits, sustained participation in sports is important for academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The back is subjected to a great deal of strain in many sports. Up to 20% of all sports injuries involve an injury to the lower back or neck. Repetitive or high impact loads (e.g., running, gymnastics, skiing) and weight loading (e.g., weightlifting) affect the lower back. Rotation of the torso (e.g., golf, tennis) causes damage to both, the lumbar and thoracic spine. The cervical spine is most commonly injured in contact sports (e.g., boxing, football). One of the factors that increases the odds of injuries in athletes is excessive and rapid increases in training loads. In spite of currently emerging evidence on this issue, little is known about the balance between physiological loading on the spine and athletic performance, versus overloading and back pain and/or injury in athletes. This scoping review aims (i) to map the literature that addresses the association between the training load and the occurrence of back pain and/or injury, especially between the Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR) and back problems in athletes of individual and team sports, and (ii) to identify gaps in existing literature and propose future research on this topic. A literature search of six electronic databases (i.e., MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, SportDiscus, and CINAHL) was conducted. A total of 48 research articles met the inclusion criteria. Findings identified that fatigue of the trunk muscles induced by excessive loading of the spine is one of the sources of back problems in athletes. In particular, high training volume and repetitive motions are responsible for the high prevalence rates. The most influential are biomechanical and physiological variations underlying the spine, though stress-related psychological factors should also be considered. However, limited evidence exists on the relationship between the ACWR and back pain or non-contact back injuries in athletes from individual and team sports. This may be due to insufficiently specified the acute and chronic time window that varies according to sport-specific schedule of competition and training. More research is therefore warranted to elucidate whether ACWR, among other factors, is able to identify workloads that could increase the risk of back problems in athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to compare the perception and preference of athletes in relation to the leadership style of the coach according to the type of sport and sex. Methods: 41 athletes participated in collective events and martial arts that responded to the Multidimensional scale of leadership in sport (EMLD). The data analysis was conducted through the Shapiro- Wilk, "U" Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests (p < 0.05). Results: The results have shown that men and women have similar perceptions about the coach's perception of the leadership style; martial arts athletes realize that trainers provide more inspiration and instruction during training and competitions, while athletes from the collective modes have noticed more negative feedback from their coaches. Conclusion: It is concluded that the type of modality seems to be an interventionist factor in the leadership style of coaches, as well as men and women prefer a similar leadership style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coach-rating scale for Achievement-Motivated Behavior in Individual Sports (AMBIS-I) was constructed to measure achievement motivation, not from athletes' own views but from coaches' perspectives. The tool was already checked for reliability as well as content, factorial, and concurrent criterion validity (Zuber and Conzelmann, 2019). To further establish construct and criterion validity, two different samples were involved. Sample 1 included 67 experienced coaches rating their 278 athletes on the three AMBIS-I dimensions proactivity, ambition and commitment. In sample 2, 157 athletes completed self-report questionnaires measuring motivational and volitional concepts. Congruent and discriminant construct validity were assessed using the QCV-procedure (Westen and Rosenthal, 2003) by comparing experts' predicted and empirically observed correlations between the coaches' ratings on the AMBIS-I with the self-ratings of validated instruments. Consistent with theoretical expectations, achievement goal orientations, self-determination and self-optimization show significant positive relationships to the AMBIS-I scales, the negatively formulated volitional concepts, negative ones. As indicated by the 0.87 ≤ ralerting-CV ≤ 0.95, the general patterns of the expert's predictions triangulate consistently with the observed correlations. The findings concerning absolute agreement were mixed. Even though the ICCs suggest sufficient to good consistency, the values of rcontrast-CV are considerably lower. To indicate criterion validity, AMBIS-I display medium to large correlations with the actual performance level estimated by the coaches and small to medium correlations with the assigned potential for subsequent success one year later. In summary, we found solid indications, that AMBIS-I is a valid measure of achievement-motivated behavior in individual sports from coaches' perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As female athletes participating in physique-salient sports report similar levels of social physique anxiety (SPA) and disordered eating symptoms compared with those in nonphysique salient sports, alternative factors contributing to disordered eating require consideration, specifically participation in sport type (team vs. individual). This study examined SPA and disordered eating correlates in female athletes (N = 137) in two sport types (team sports and individual sports). Individual sport athletes exhibited higher SPA, F(1, 135) = 22.03, p < .001; dieting, Brown and Forsythe's F (1, 57.05) = 43.79, p < .001; and bulimic behavior, Brown and Forsythe's F (1, 59.92) = 13.45, p = .001 than team sport athletes. SPA and sport type together predicted 44% of dieting and 22% of bulimic symptom variance, suggesting that individual-sport athletes with higher SPA experienced greater disordered eating. Involvement in individual sports where physique is more open to social evaluation may contribute to dieting and bulimic symptoms among female athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in constructivism has fueled enthusiasm for the development of games and team-sport pedagogy over the past decade, but individual sports have yet to receive the same attention. In this article we redress this oversight by suggesting that constructivist perspectives on learning can be used to develop student-centered, inquiry-based approaches to teaching individual sports. We set out to provide examples of how this might be achieved by outlining the ways in which constructivist theories of learning can be employed to inform the teaching of swimming. Typically characterized by high repetition and a strong emphasis on technical mastery in a stable and predictable environment, swimming has escaped the attention of researchers in the physical education field interested in exploring the contributions that constructivism can make to enhancing learning. To emphasize the significance of the physical environment for learning, we suggest two approaches for teaching swimming in the two very different contexts of the pool and the surf to explore the implications that this holds for learning and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous scholars have assessed the status of women in sport during the last decade of the 20th century (Acosta & Carpenter, 2000; Andrews, 1998; Borcila, 2000; Cole, 2000; Eastman & Billings, 1999; McDonald, 1999; Starr & Brain, 1999). Perhaps the nineties can be best characterized by the familiar Dickens adage that "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." At a lime when the 1999 U.S. Women's soccer team captured the World Cup and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) enjoyed increasing popularity, it seemed that women's sports were never more visible. So, how could this be the worst of times? While women now receive heretofore-unprecedented coverage, evidence suggests that certain images continue to be privileged over others. In this paper, we assess the current status of women in sport in light of an article that appeared on the subject a decade earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the sportive self-confidence of high school students who engage in regular sports in terms of various variables. 210 high school students, who were randomly chosen, from Kutahya, voluntarily participated in the study. In the study, to collect data, in addition to a five items questionnaire which was developed by the researchers, “Constant Self Confident Scale”, which was adapted to Turkish by Yıldırım (2013) was used. In the analyses of the data in order to identify significant differences between participants’ constant self-confidence, independent samples t-test and two-way ANOVA was used. As a result, it was found that the participants’ sportive constant self-confidence was higher in women and participants who engage in individual sports. But, these levels were found to be moderate when considering the points that can be taken from the whole scale. Also, there was a significant difference in favor of those who professionally play sports.

The article provides an analysis of the transition of antidoping policy from a series of relatively discrete processes, confined to individual sports, events, or countries, to a global policy that comprises a complex network of relation- ships involving governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Regime theory is used to examine the nature of the policy process at the international level, focusing particularly on the difficulties of defining the objective of harmonization and of achieving compliance. The characteristics of the regime are identified, and issues of resource dependence, capacity building, verification of compliance, and the increasing centrality of government to policy implementation are examined. Despite the constant risk of defection and the tensions within the regime. the conclusion is drawn that the regime should not be deemed ineffective. Increasing effectiveness, however, is likely to occur at the cost of progressive marginalization of sports organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The issue of talent selection and identification has been addressed by a variety of authors. However, few studies focus on sports recommended to be practiced by children on the basis of evaluating their performance or sports profiles. Material and Methods: The purpose of the study was to determine individual sports profiles of child athletes and nonathletes and recommend sports to be practiced. The participants were children aged 6 and 7 years who were first graders at elementary schools. Child athletes were children who participated in organized sports practice in soccer (n = 16), ice hockey (n = 29), and artistic gymnastics (n = 10). Child nonathletes (n = 26) did not participate in any organized sports practice within extracurricular activities or in sports clubs. Children performed a battery of 9 tests: sit-and-reach test, flexed arm hang (overhand grip), repeated routine with a stick, sit-ups, standing long jump, 4 x 10-meter shuttle run, rolling of three balls, 20-meter sprint and endurance shuttle run. To assess decision-making processes, children played a chasing game called "pull-the-flag" game. Results: As for the match between the sports practiced and the sports recommended to be practiced by child athletes, 20 children practiced the sports that were also recommended to be practiced on the basis of their individual sports profiles. According to their sports profiles, child nonathletes were recommended to do, in particular, rhythmic gymnastics, cycling, volleyball, tennis, and floorball. Conclusions: We may conclude that low number of children practice sports that match children's motor dispositions. Therefore, individual sports profiles need to be devised to provide children with recommendations concerning sports that match their talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Substantial research compared between specializing and diversifying in a particular sport but few scrutinised across multiple sports. This study examined the developmental pathways taken by individual sport (IS) and team sport (TS) athletes from two Malaysian national sports schools. Student athletes (N=117) aged 16 and above completed the Participation History Questionnaire. Information pertaining to the participant's main sport and other sports he/she was engaged in was obtained. In comparison with TS athletes, the IS athletes were found to have a significant later start for most of their sport-related milestones (p < 0.05). However, the IS athletes (M = 14.3 y, SD = 1.7) started competing in international competitions significantly earlier than the TS athletes (M = 15.3 y, SD = 1.1; p = 0.004, d = -0.72) and only the IS athletes reported competing in the Commonwealth, World and Olympic championships. Interestingly, the IS athletes (M = 2.5 sports, SD = 1.3) participated in significantly more other team sports compared to TS athletes (M = 1.7 sports, SD = 0.7), t(95) = 4.03, p < 0.001, d = 0.80, 95% CI [0.40, 1.19]. The results suggest that athletes who started specializing later and participated in more diverse sports attained higher performance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article discusses the employment of Eastern philosophical and physical concepts, such as Zen and yoga, by Western athletes. The author examines the effectiveness of these techniques in sports that rely heavily on individual performance, such as golf and tennis, noting their ability to increase concentration and self-awareness in some athletes. He also examines a theory exploring the "dual self," a separation between the conscious and subconscious minds of an individual, and how this dynamic can both hinder and aid athletic performance.

Exercise indexes have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its related restrictions among athletes. In the present study, we investigated the exercise frequency and intensity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also current exercise dependency and mood state among non-contact individual, contact individual, and team sports athletes. A total of 1353 athletes from non-contact individual sports athletes (NCISA), contact individual sports athletes (CISA) and team sport athletes (TSA) participated; 45.4% of them were females that completed a series of self-rating questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, former and current exercise patterns, exercise dependency and mood states. NCISA had less exercise frequency than CISA, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and NCISA had less exercise frequency than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding exercise intensity, CISA had higher scores than NCISA and TSA before the COVID-19 pandemic, and CISA had more exercise intensity than TSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequency and intensity were reduced from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in the three groups, except for TSA intensity. In addition, positive and negative mood states were correlated with exercise dependency. CISA were more discouraged and vigorous than NCISA and TSA, respectively. For NCISA, CISA, and TSA, ordinal regressions separately showed that adherence to quarantine and exercise dependency were better predictors of exercise indexes. Finally, exercise dependency subscales were different among sports, but it was not in exercise dependency itself. Although the decrease in exercise indexes was noticeable, there was no consistent pattern of change in exercise behavior in all sports. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, negative moods were predominant among all athletes. The results discussed are based on exercise nonparticipating, sport type, and affect regulation hypothesis.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of communication skills on team and individual sports. A total of 251 students/athletes studying in the School of Physical Education and Sports of Niğde University during the academic year of 2015-2016 and are involved in any team or individual sports have participated in this study.“Communication Skills Evaluation Scale” (CSES), developed by Korkut, was carried out to the subjects in the study. A significant difference was detected between the students’ gender and communication skills (p=0.132). No significant difference was determined between the students’ departments and communication skills (p=0.614).

This paper presents a series of studies that progresses the development and validation of the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate in Individual Sport Competition Questionnaire (MCISCQ-Parent). Study 1 examined the face and content validity of an initial pool of 26 items based on the principles of achievement goal theory and prior research. In Study 2, data from an adolescent sample of individual sport athletes was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of items pertaining to the perceived task and ego involving characteristics of fathers and mothers in the competition setting. Study 3 tested the factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a further youth athlete sample. Following appropriate CFA-related modifications, good goodness of fit indices emerged for the father- (three factor-model) and mother-related (two factor-model) dimensions of motivational climate. In Study 4, a further CFA was conducted and provided additional evidence for the revised factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent, convergent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Finally, Study 5 provided support for the concurrent validity of the MCISCQ-Parent by demonstrating significant relationships between MCISCQ-Parent subscales and task and ego orientation, athlete engagement, and perceived social support. In sum, we present the MCISCQ-Parent as a measure with promising psychometric properties, and specifically to those applied researchers interested in assessing the quality of motivation-related parental involvement perceived by young athletes in the competition setting.

This paper presents a series of studies that progresses the development and validation of the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate in Individual Sport Competition Questionnaire (MCISCQ-Parent). Study 1 examined the face and content validity of an initial pool of 26 items based on the principles of achievement goal theory and prior research. In Study 2, data from an adolescent sample of individual sport athletes was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of items pertaining to the perceived task and ego involving characteristics of fathers and mothers in the competition setting. Study 3 tested the factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a further youth athlete sample. Following appropriate CFA-related modifications, good goodness of fit indices emerged for the father- (three factor-model) and mother-related (two factor-model) dimensions of motivational climate. In Study 4, a further CFA was conducted and provided additional evidence for the revised factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent, convergent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Finally, Study 5 provided support for the concurrent validity of the MCISCQ-Parent by demonstrating significant relationships between MCISCQ-Parent subscales and task and ego orientation, athlete engagement, and perceived social support. In sum, we present the MCISCQ-Parent as a measure with promising psychometric properties, and specifically to those applied researchers interested in assessing the quality of motivation-related parental involvement perceived by young athletes in the competition setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The quality of life of individuals, groups and communities depends on many factors, starting with what each person and family undertake, continuing with the interventions at the community level and ending with the public policy measures. Purpose: This study makes a quantitative and qualitative analysis of overall quality of life as perceived by young people who practice sports, and it also highlights the differences in perception of the quality of life among youth, according to gender and the sport practiced (individual or team sport), for the 16 life domains. Methods: The participants were 69 athletes. Quality of life has been measured using the Quality of Life Inventory (QoLI) for Romania, developed by Michael B. Frisch. Results: After processing the data, it has been found that the highest weighted satisfaction is obtained for Goals and Values, Play, Health and Self-Esteem, and the lowest satisfaction is recorded for Children, Money, Community and Neighborhood. Statistical processing also reveals an average overall quality of life for the study participants, regardless of gender and the practiced sport. Conclusions: It has been concluded that the influence of practicing individual sports on the overall quality of life for the participants in the study is at a higher level than in team sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this review is to (1) retrieve all data validating the Session-rating of perceived exertion (RPE)-method using various criteria, (2) highlight the rationale of this method and its ecological usefulness, and (3) describe factors that can alter RPE and users of this method should take into consideration.Method: Search engines such as SPORTDiscus, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases in the English language between 2001 and 2016 were consulted for the validity and usefulness of the session-RPE method. Studies were considered for further analysis when they used the session-RPE method proposed by Foster et al. in 2001. Participants were athletes of any gender, age, or level of competition. Studies using languages other than English were excluded in the analysis of the validity and reliability of the session-RPE method. Other studies were examined to explain the rationale of the session-RPE method and the origin of RPE.Results: A total of 950 studies cited the Foster et al. study that proposed the session RPE-method. 36 studies have examined the validity and reliability of this proposed method using the modified CR-10.Conclusion: These studies confirmed the validity and good reliability and internal consistency of session-RPE method in several sports and physical activities with men and women of different age categories (children, adolescents, and adults) among various expertise levels. This method could be used as “standing alone” method for training load (TL) monitoring purposes though some recommend to combine it with other physiological parameters as heart rate.

Attribution theory is one of the psychological dynamic theories that explainsand describes people's perception of facts. Therefore, the aim of this research wasto study success and failure attributions in athletes and coaches. The population ofthis study consisted of athletes and coaches of national teams (elite) and clubteams (sub–elite) in swimming, badminton, karate, taekwondo, table tennis andwrestling. 120 male players and 12 coaches were selected through multistageconvenience sampling method. Then, data were collected by attribution stylesquestionnaire (ASQ). The data were analyzed by multivariate ANOVA at P˂0.05.The findings showed that elite athletes expressed more unstable and specificattributions in failure conditions. In contrast, sub–elite athletes expressed morestable and general attributions in failure conditions (P≤0.0001). As well, thecoaches of elite athletes expressed more stable and specific attributions than thecoaches of sub–elite athletes in success dimension (P≤0.0001). The results showedthat the casual attribution of athletes (elite and sub-elite) and their coaches (eliteand sub-elite) expressed elite athletes and coaches' privilege as elite athletesexpressed that most of the reasons for their success were internal, stable andgeneral. Also, athletes and coaches stated different attributions in the samesituation. It is recommended that coaches encourage their athletes to attempt moreto express all of their competencies in the competitions.

Research question:The aim of this article is to analyse which objectives the national sport associations are pursuing with the introduction of league systems, which league constructs were chosen in order to adjust the league systems to the peculiarities of individual sports, and which enabling effects the specific construction of the league systems should have for the development of high-performance sport in individual sports. Research methods:For data collection first a document analysis was carried out, based on published league statutes and regulations from all 42 currently existing individual sport leagues in Germany. Second, qualitative problem-focused interviews with league organisers from 18 individual sports (36 interviews in total) were conducted. For the data analysis, a qualitative and quantitative content analysis was executed. Results:The leagues within individual sports are primarily concerned with sporting and organisational objectives. They supplement the individual competition system in a beneficial way: they enable the athletes to improve their sporting performance by taking part in regular (team) competitions at differentiated performance levels, strengthen the clubs as institutions educating sporting talents and provide opportunities to the clubs and the national sport associations to promote the sport towards athletes, spectators, sponsors and the media. Implications:The structural comparison aids the individual sport associations in optimising league governance to fortify the league's contribution to the development of high-performance sport. From a scientific perspective, the fundamental explorative work in this new research field contributes to the literature on the governance of sport leagues by adding findings about a competition format known from team sport to a new context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]