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The purpose of this study was to investigate how rhythmic gymnastics coaches perceive the factors influencing sports talent development. Participants (30 female coaches) were administered a demographic survey, an open-ended questionnaire (a structured interview), and the Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ PL). Mixed strategies (quantitative and qualitative) were used in the analysis. The research revealed two types of facilitators (essential vs. favorable), and two types of inhibitors (preclusive vs. disruptive). Within the essential facilitator factors, coaches most often indicated long-term motivation. Social support was perceived as a main favorable talent development factor. The child’s inadequate approach to training and inadequate parental involvement were indicated as the main preclusive talent development factors. Difficult situations (e.g., health problems) were enumerated as a major disruptive factor. The studied group of coaches recognized the Individualized Approach to Athlete (M=4.24) as the most important environmental factor that positively influences the development of talented athletes. Celem badań było poznanie opinii trenerek gimnastyki artystycznej na temat czynników wpływających na rozwój talentu sportowego. W badaniach z udziałem 30 trenerek wykorzystano ankietę demograficzną, pytania otwarte (wywiad ustrukturyzowany) oraz polską wersję Kwestionariusza Środowiska Rozwoju Talentów (TDEQ PL). W analizie wyników zastosowano strategie mieszane (ilościowe i jakościowe). Badanie ujawniło dwa rodzaje facylitatorów (niezbędne oraz sprzyjające) i dwa rodzaje inhibitorów (uniemożliwiające oraz zakłócające). W ramach czynników niezbędnych trenerki wskazywały najczęściej długoterminową motywację. Wsparcie społeczne było postrzegane jako główny czynnik sprzyjający rozwojowi talentów. Nieodpowiednie podejście dziecka do treningów oraz nieodpowiednie zaangażowanie rodziców zostały wskazane jako główne czynniki uniemożliwiające rozwój talentu. Sytuacje trudne (np. problemy zdrowotne) zostały wymienione jako główny czynnik zakłócający. Trenerki uznały zindywidualizowane podejście do zawodnika za najważniejszy czynnik środowiskowy, który pozytywnie wpływa na rozwój utalentowanych gimnastyczek artystycznych.

For an athlete to be successful at the professional level, he or she should be characterized by extraordinary preparation in four areas: physical, technical, cognitive (related to game strategy, perception, and decision-making), and emotional (coping, emotional control). This study aimed to determine the level of selected cognitive traits in handball players while considering their sports level and assigned position on the court. Fifty handball players participated in the study. Participants consisted of 35 national team players, six first-division players, and nine second-division players. There were no significant differences between players from the elite (national team) and the sub-elite (I and II divisions) group. The results identified major differences in selective attention and short-term memory between handball players assigned to different positions (goalkeepers, compared to players in other positions, had lower attention and short-term memory). Thus, it is possible to develop a more effective psychological training program. However, it must be remembered that the results showed great variability among handball players. With this in mind, individual differences should be taken into account when planning psychological interventions.

Aim. The purpose of this study is: (a) to examine how swimming coaches perceive their communication skills and preferences; (b) to better understand the behaviour of coach-athlete communication during practice sessions; (c) to explore similarities and differences between coaches’ declared and actual communication behaviour. Basic procedures. To accomplish this purpose, 10 swimming coaches (6 males, 4 females; mage=31 years) were invited to take part in the two-part study. First, the participants were asked to answer 6 questions about their communicational behaviours towards children during typical swimming practices. Then, during a real swimming session, both verbal and non-verbal communication was recorded (content of the message, recipient of the message, body posture, gestures, proxemics, vocal aspects). Results. The obtained results show that the coaches used six of communication behaviours. The results revealed a discrepancy between the coaches’ declared and observed communication preferences. The data analysis shows that the coaches provided both feedback (40.7%) and feedforward (59. 3%) information. In the research, it is shown that swimming teachers used non-verbal messages more often (63%) than verbal ones. Conclusions. In the teaching process, it is important that the trainer/coach provides not only information regarding the tasks to be performed but also information improving the atmosphere and also the quality of the exercises performed.

The chapter is dedicated to psychological aspects linked to sport career termination by high-performance athletes, the level of which is expressed by e.g.: Olympic successes. In the fi rst part, the path of development of the interest in the transition issue occurring in the course of sport career was presented. The second part is dedicated to an overview of the most important research reports concerning the circumstances of career termination by Olympic athletes as well as the course of their further development (after professional career termination). In the last part, suggestions and recommendations on the development of competences which facilitate the process of coping during and after the termination of the last transition phase in sport career are presented.

An athletic career is a succession of stages and transitions (normative and non-normative), which may have decisive effects on either maintaining a satisfactory and/or successful course or deciding about premature career termination. The main purpose of this study was to identify differences between swimmers (Mage = 21.32, SD = 2.62) who after undergoing the transition from junior to senior level either: (a) continued their career hoping to improve their performance regardless of low success at the elite level&mdash, Group I, or (b) decided on premature athletic career termination&mdash, Group II. The criteria for inclusion included having undergone the transition from junior to senior level and having competed at elite level for at least a year (M = 4.14 years, SD = 1.74). The participants were administered a demographic survey and a structured interview. The results revealed differences in developmental stages. The exploration phase was longer (MGroup I = 5.8 yrs, SD = 2.04, MGroup II = 4.6 yrs, SD = 2.4, Z = &minus, 1.902, p = 0.057), the commitment phase was shorter (MGroup I = 3.6 yrs, SD = 1.3, MGroup II = 4.6 yrs, SD = 1.7, 1.735, p = 0.083), the number of hours of structured practice were (MGroup I = 5975, SD = 2474, MGroup II = 7623, SD = 2660, Z = &minus, 1.928, p = 0.054), the number of perceived costs were (Group I = 22, Group II = 34, 2.209, p = 0.0027), and the most often pointed benefits of a sporting career were (Group I&mdash, 94% health &amp, physical fitness, Group II&mdash, 88% personal growth &amp, life skills). Furthermore, essential inhibitors and facilitators of athletes&rsquo, development were identified. The findings of the study have practical applications for athletes, coaches, parents and sport psychology professionals. For instance, appropriate social support can help to prevent elite athletes&rsquo, premature career termination from professional sport during and after their normative transition from junior to senior level.

The study was designed to examine how active and former athletes across a different sports level perceived coaching behavior. Eighty competitive athletes (44 males and 36 females; 21.89 ±1.48 years of age; 8.35 ± 3.65 years of competitive experience) from the University School of Physical Education in Cracow, Poland, participated in the study. They represented both individual (n = 50) and team sports (n = 30). Seventeen participants were internationally renowned and 63 were recognized for competitive excellence at a national level. The participants responded to a demographic survey and the Coaches’ Behaviors Survey. The qualitative analysis procedures were employed to extract themes from open-ended questions. It was confirmed that coaches who perceived their athletes as more skilled, also treated them differently. Female athletes as compared with male athletes, more frequently pointed at the leniency in coach’s behavior towards highly skilled athletes, and perceived it as a factor inhibiting athletic development. Additionally, women often found individualization of the training process as a behavior reinforcing development. Less accomplished athletes more often pointed out to “a post-training session interest in the athlete” as directed only towards more accomplished counterparts; however, they indicated “leniency and favoring” less often than the athletes with international achievements. They also listed “excessive criticism” as a type of behavior hindering development, but they indicated coaches’ “authoritarianism and distance” less frequently than the more accomplished counterparts. The study added data to the discussion of the Pygmalion effect and the phenomenon of the self-fulfilling prophecy both in general (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968; Harris and Rosenthal, 1985; Jussim, 1989) and sport psychology (Harris and Rosenthal, 1985; Horn et al., 1998; Solomon and Kosmitzki, 1996; Solomon et al., 1998; Solomon, 2001).

The article presents the results of a study focusing on the family situation, education and interpersonal relations of adults (26–35 years old) who in their adolescence (16–19 years old) displayed exceptional giftedness. One group of those surveyed were national academic award winners (90). The control group consisted of 90 people of no outstanding academic achievement. The research found many differences between these two groups, both in the family situation and in interpersonal relations. High achievers were raised in families of higher social and professional status, and almost 72.2% of them decided to continue their academic career after they had graduated from university. The national academic award winners showed higher scores in shyness and lower scores in sociability in interpersonal relations.

This article focuses on the problems of adults who in secondary school were high ability learners. The main point of interest of the research presented here is job satisfaction among gifted people and their temperament structure. The authors are interested whether there exist correlations between the investigated variables both in the entire group of gifted individuals as well as in the subgroup of those gifted in the humanities and in the control group. The research results show that between the group of gifted people and the control group there appear significant differences in vigorousness (VG) and activity (AC). The studied groups differ as to the kind and extent of the fulfilment of expectations concerning professional career. Gifted individuals, in comparison to the control group, are more satisfied with their jobs.

The article described a rare clinical case of perinatal cardiomyopathy as a form of dilated cardiomyopathy of unknown etiology.Perinatal cardiomyopathy was diagnosed on the eighth day after delivery in a patient with fever and diagnosis of generalized infection (pneumonia) that masked the symptoms of heart disease. Signs of cardiomyopathy were confirmed by the ehocardiographic study on the ninth day after the delivery.The patient was hospitalized, perinatal cardiomyopathy and pneumonia were treated, resulting in the patient’s condition improved, and there was complete resolution of pneumonia and normalization of laboratory values., В статье описан редкий клинический случай перинатальной кардиомиопатии как формы дилатационной кардиомиопатии с неизвестной этиологией.Перинатальная кардиомиопатия была диагностирована на восьмые сутки после родов у пациентки с лихорадкой и диагнозом общей инфекции (пневмонии), что маскировало симптомы болезни сердца. Эхокардиографическое исследование, проведенное на девятые сутки после родов, подтвердило признаки кардиомиопатии.Больная находилась в стационаре, где проводилось лечение перинатальной кардиомиопатии и пневмонии, в результате чего ее состояние улучшилось и произошло полное разрешение пневмонии и нормализация лабораторных показателей.

A 67-year-old woman with nephrotic syndrome as a complication of membranous glomerulonephritis associated with chronic active hepatitis B virus infection developed factor V inhibitor following emergency aortic aneurysm surgery followed by massive blood transfusions and haemodialysis. On the second postoperative day, prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time increased and were unresponsive to fresh frozen plasma. Epistaxis and urethral bleeding were observed, followed by mucosal mouth bleeding. A very low factor V activity less than 5% was found and a factor V inhibitor was detected at 7.76 Bethesda Units. Treatment with corticosteroids was successful. In this patient, several conditions known to predispose to the generation of factor V inhibitor occurred simultaneously. Four months later, factor V inhibitor (225 Bethesda Units) recurred and the patient died of intracerebral haemorrhage.

The article focuses on short-time psychological intervention in sport. lt presents aims of such an intervention, its phases and rules. The authors are convinced that psychological intervention in sport is not identical if compared to short-time intervention in crisis. In sport, this intervention is usually strongly connected to sportsman's task and that is way some special knowledge and competence is expected from a psychologist (or a physician).

Psychologists have long attached great importance to the issue of individual differences, investigating, among others, abilities, intelligence, creativity, temperament, and personality. The present chapter is devoted to individual differences primarily as manifested in the effectiveness of performed actions, i.e., related to intelligence and abilities. The first part shows the positioning of the issue of giftedness in the psychology of individual differences. The second part is devoted to methodological issues and discusses the leading theories and research methods. The third part concerns the levels of individual differences, from the physiological mechanisms of the phenomenon (e.g., the use of mismatch negativity in the study of interindividual differences regarding intelligence) to manifestations of individual differences in particular fields of human activity (e.g., styles of learning or temperament). The fourth part presents an analysis of the social consequences of individual differences (i.e., identification, selection, and education). The concluding section presents trends in the development of research on individual differences in giftedness.