The present study aimed to measure the symptoms of Yips and examine their reliability and validity. Of the 883 participants, approximately 28% (n=247, mean age= 30.93 years, SD=10.27; 103 women) reported experiencing Yips and were included in the main analysis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor structure comprising “Physical” and “Psychological” symptoms. Robust maximum likelihood estimation supported an acceptable model fit. High internal consistency was observed for both subscales. Construct validity was confirmed through correlations with the relevant subscales of the Trait Anxiety Inventory for Sports in a subsample of 72 athletes. Measurement invariance was also supported across sex and competition levels. These results suggest that the Yips Symptoms Scale is a reliable and valid measure, and that further validation using physiological and observational methods (e.g., electromyography) is warranted.
People living with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are less likely to participate in sports and exercise than the general population and people with other chronic conditions. A comprehensive understanding of influences on physical activity participation is needed in order to develop effective physical activity-enhancing interventions. Research on physical activity barriers and facilitators has been conducted in English-speaking and European countries, but not in Japan. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore influences on exercise and sport participation experienced by Japanese people living with SCI. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 adults living with SCI in Japan (5 men and 4 women; mean age = 52 ± 13yrs). Using pragmatism and the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior) model as guiding frameworks, the data were analyzed with a thematic analysis and directed content analysis. Two principal themes were identified which provide broad insights on the physical activity influences experienced by Japanese people with SCI: participation depends on meeting someone, and disablism limits participation. Content analysis showed that participants experienced physical activity influences related to all six dimensions of the COM-B model, but especially barriers related to physical opportunity, physical capability, and social opportunity. These findings inform three key recommendations to improve sport and exercise participation among people living with SCI in Japan: improve access to information, create opportunities for peer connections, and improve and enforce accessibility policies.
Decision-making in baseball fielding requires fast and accurate assessments of multiple visual cues, including ball trajectory and runner movement. This study investigated the relationship between gaze behavior and decision-making performance during defensive plays, specifically focusing on the selection of the appropriate base to throw to. Twenty collegiate baseball fielders participated in a video-based decision-making task using a head-mounted display. Participants viewed first-person perspective videos simulating a defensive situation with one out and a runner on third base and were asked to decide whether to throw to first base or home plate. Decisions were made by pressing a button during the interval between bat–ball contact and ball capture, reflecting the real-time constraints of actual gameplay. Decision accuracy, decision time, and response bias were measured. Eye-tracking data were also collected to analyze gaze behavior such as the number of fixations and gaze transitions between areas of interest. Results revealed that decision accuracy peaked when participants made an intermediate number of fixations per trial. Gaze transition patterns showed that participants initially fixated on the ball in most trials. Trials in which participants gazed at home plate, runner, or other areas were associated with significantly longer decision times. Moreover, trials involving gaze transitions to other areas were associated with significantly lower decision accuracy. Regarding response bias, participants who spent more time viewing the ball were more likely to make assertive throw decisions by choosing home plate, whereas those who made more gaze transitions between areas of interest tended to make more conservative choices, such as selecting first base. These findings suggest that efficient gaze behavior, characterized by an optimal number of fixations and appropriate allocation of gaze, are crucial for making fast and accurate decisions during defensive plays in baseball.
As an athlete, including collegiate athletes, it goes without saying that daily training, a diverse diet, and adequate rest are essential for optimal athletic performance. Among these, ''sleep'' plays a critical role in recovering the body from the demands of intense training. Life skills are thought to be effective in improving the quality of sleep. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the relationship between subjective sleep quality, mental health, and the acquisition of LS in collegiate athletes, with a focus on gender differences. The participants were 153 student-athletes (98 males, 55 females; mean age 21.50±0.35 years) from S University in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The survey was conducted by the course instructor outside of regular class hours. As a result, in female athletes, there was a tendency for negative correlations between poorer sleep quality and the subscales of Life Skills, including ''Best Effort,'' ''Courtesy/Manners,'' and ''Responsible Behavior,'' as well as the overall LS score (all p < .10). However, a positive correlation was observed with a higher level of satisfaction with their current life (r = 0.28, p < .05). On the other hand, both male and female athletes showed a tendency for a negative correlation with ''Best Effort,'' and it was found that longer training hours were associated with improved sleep quality. These findings suggest that in higher education institutions, sleep should be positioned as a crucial activity to support Life Skills education and to ensure the smooth balancing of academic and athletic life for university student-athletes. Furthermore, there is a need for efforts to educate student-athletes on the importance of sleep, and it is essential for them to develop sleep management behaviors (skills) to the point where they can practice them unconsciously in their daily lives
This study aimed to investigate the influence of trait anxiety on information processing in athletes, a topic that has yet to be examined thoroughly. We compared the information processing stages of individuals with high and low levels of trait anxiety using event-related potentials (ERPs). A total of 24 male collegiate athletes participated (age: 20.1 ± 1.3 years) in this study. ERPs (Go-N2, Go-P3, NoGo-N2, and NoGo-P3) were measured while participants performed the oddball task. The high trait anxiety group demonstrated delayed latency of NoGo-P3. However, reaction time was unaffected by trait anxiety. These findings indicate that athletes’ trait anxiety affects neural information processing while leaving behavioral indicators, such as reaction time, unaffected. This insight has substantial implications for understanding the mechanisms by which trait anxiety contributes to performance deficits in athletes. Moreover, this study has the potential to inform new psychological support strategies to address performance impairments related to trait anxiety.
The unique physical and psychological benefits of Chinese calligraphy practice (i.e., relaxing the body, soothing anxiety, facilitating mind flow, and enhancing self-control) are well-suited to athletes and sports contexts, but calligraphy interventions in sports are few. Our researchers used a mixed research approach to investigate the effects of confidence verse calligraphy practice on self-efficacy (general self-efficacy, sport state confidence, and specialized self-efficacy) in skill-accurate athletes. In a 2 × 3 mixed experimental design, we found that both confidence verse calligraphy practice and neutral character calligraphy practice increased athletes’ general self-efficacy and sport state confidence, and qualitative analyses revealed that this enhancement effect was characterized by a reduction in negative thoughts and emotions when experiencing frustration, but that there were no differences between the two types of writing content. This research is the first attempt to apply calligraphy practice to improve self-efficacy and extends the mental training methods for Chinese national level athletes (i.e., national first-class and above).
The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of depressive symptoms with sleep patterns, chronotype and health-promoting behaviours among Taiwanese university students. Gender and year group differences were also examined. A total of 237 university undergraduates from over 30 different universities in Taiwan (126 males, 111 females, mean age = 20.68 years, SD = 1.46) participated in this study. A self-report online questionnaire was used to assess the sleep behaviour (sleep duration, sleep quality), individual chronotype, health-promoting behavior (nutrition, social support, physical activity), and depression. Correlation analysis revealed that depression was positively correlated with poor sleep quality and later chronotype, and negatively associated with focus on nutrition. Poor sleep quality was negatively related to focus on nutrition. The linear regression analyses found that poor sleep quality and later chronotype positively predicted depression, and nutrition and physical activity were negative predictors of depression. Hence, interventions that target these specific factors can be more effective in mitigating depression among university students.
The field of sports vision is becoming increasingly popular with more research and a rise in practitioners aiming to improve the performance of athletes through training their visual skills. However, whilst it has been suggested that different sports have different visual requirements, there is no easy way to screen for these without having to rely on extensive testing of the visual abilities of elite athletes within the sport, which is often not a practical option. Consequently, in this paper, we designed and tested a screening questionnaire to elicit visual skills information from experts within the sport of field hockey in a quick and easily applicable manner. Descriptions of 23 visual skills were rated on a 5-point Likert scale by 481 participants to show how important they are perceived to be for field hockey players. All participants were involved in field hockey as players, coaches, or umpires. The same questionnaire was completed at a second time point by 129 of the original respondents to assess stability over time. Principal components analysis showed that the 23 visual skills loaded onto four visual skillsets. The perceived importance of these differed, with a perception that skills associated with visual interception and spatial positioning are more important than skills associated with maintaining focus on and recognising visual objects. Our findings suggest that the tool could be useful both to guide the focus of visual skills research in different sports and as a practical aid to coaches looking to systematically select the focus of visual skills training for their players.
This study examines whether (a) psychological safety mediates the relationship between coach leadership and voice and (b) acceptance of innovation moderates indirect effects between coach leadership, psychological safety, and voice. A survey was conducted on 319 student-athletes (191 men, 126 women, and two others, M age 20.13±0.35) who were members of university athletic clubs in Japan and who continued to compete. Mediation analysis revealed that the relationships between the coach leadership (Modeling the way for others to follow, Relational Adjustment, and Dedicated Leadership) and voice were partially mediated by psychological safety. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis revealed two things in cases where student-athletes perceived a higher-than-average acceptance of innovation. First, psychological safety fully mediated the relationship between coach leadership (Modeling the way for others to follow, Relational Adjustment) and voice. Second, psychological safety partially mediated the relationship between Dedicated Leadership and voice. On the other hand, when student-athletes perceived low acceptance of innovation, moderated mediation analysis indicated that coach leadership (Modeling the way for others to follow, Relational Adjustment, Dedicated Leadership) had no direct or indirect effect on the voices. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the factors that lead student-athletes to voice their thoughts and feelings without concern or hesitation.
Swimming, known as one of the most prestigious Olympic sports, represents a highly sought-after aspiration for athletes around the globe. A notable aspect of sports performance is the intricate interplay between mental well-being and physical performance, wherein an individual's mental state significantly influences their athletic capabilities. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the effects of mental imagery and music on sprint swimming performance. A pre-and post-intervention study design was employed, involving 40 participants aged 18–24 years, encompassing both male and female athletes. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three research conditions: mental imagery, music, and control groups, with gender matching applied. Over four weeks, the mental imagery group engaged in 12 sessions of auditory prerecorded imagery scripts, while the music group listened to their preferred music during the same number of sessions. The control group did not undergo any interventions. The findings of the study indicated that both music and mental imagery positively influenced sprint swimming performance.
Physical activity (PA) is a green and effective way to maintain health. Research in the field of motivation in PA is always an important research topic for researchers and policymakers in maintaining public health, but few studies focus on the development of motivation in PA research. Summarize the research strengths, hotspots, and stages of scientific evolution in the field of motivation in PA by performing visualization analysis which used CiteSpace software on 2375 publications including from January 1st, 1980, to January 31st, 2024, in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC). The findings are as follows: (1) Over the past thirty years, the field has developed rapidly, with current characteristics aligning with the third stage of the four-stage model of scientific evolution. (2) Core countries and core institutions have been formed, with the most influential country being the United Kingdom, and the most influential institution being Brown University. (3) The research hotspot focuses on intervention research in the field of motivation in PA under self-determination theory (SDT). This study provides researchers with an overview of the development in the field of motivation in PA research. It offers valuable information to researchers for identifying potential collaborators (institutions) and better positioning their research directions.
Although motherhood is a well-documented time when recreational sport pursuits decline, researchers have shown that some women participate in sport after becoming mothers. Recreational running is one sport where mothers (re)negotiate their subjectivity in ways that resist constraining good mother ideals by expanding strategies to enhance well-being. There remain nuanced tensions in this process that are less understood, particularly in terms of how mother runners negotiate training and competing. In this study, we used relativist narrative inquiry to explore these tensions and performance strategies of five North American competitive mother runners with young children, theorized as stories in cultural narratives. We used thematic narrative analysis to identify a theme of patience with the process: it's a long and winding road. We then shifted to storytellers to present the meanings of this theme as three accessible creative non-fiction (CNF) letters of advice to other potential mother runners. Advice letters outlined strategies pertaining to the physical self, a flexible mindset and social support. We reflect on the central theme in relation to narratives of good motherhood, sport performance, and discovery, and the implications for psycho-social tensions and performance strategies. CNF advice letters show the pedagogical potential of different kinds of stories to learn more about the constraining and empowering aspects of sport in mothers’ lives, in cultural context.
University athletes have a limited time (usually four years) of eligibility to perform for their institutions. The dynamic nature of university athletics in the United States results in a continuous influx of newcomers to the various teams. Furthermore, athletes with diverse cultural backgrounds have to adapt to the team culture to be able to perform at their highest level. Considering that, the integration of new athletes is a process that happens on a large scale at the beginning of every season and can have an impact on their performance throughout the season and beyond. Delineating the tactics coaches employ to facilitate this process warrants considerable attention. In this study, the authors focused on the onboarding process of newcomer university athletes who have a significant difference between their culture and the team culture. The authors paid special attention to the university athlete's perception of the ability of their coach to structure the onboarding process. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure athlete perceptions of tactics used by their coach during the onboarding process of newcomers into university athletics, based on Churchill (1979) and DeVellis’ (2016) scale development procedures.
This paper presents a case of implementing a MAC-based intervention, empowered by SDT principles, delivered by the coach. As the MAC-based approach becomes dominant in the sport psychology field and SDT is a leading motivational approach applied to sports coaching, a 10-session program was delivered by the head coach to a group of 28 gymnasts. The intervention included psychoeducation on core MAC principles (e.g., values, acceptance, defusion) and was guided by the coach's efforts to fulfill the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The intervention program protocol aligned with the coach's reflections are presented in each session. In conclusion, despite some constraints, this intervention framework holds potential for contributing to youth athletes' performance, well-being, and psychological development.
There has been considerable discussion for more than 50 years of how scientists and practitioners in elite level sport can work collaboratively to ensure that evidence-based practice augments the sport performance and human development of elite amateur and professional athletes. The bridging of these two, often disparate competencies, science and practice, though considered at the conceptual level, continues to be scarcely evidenced within the international sport science community. Much of the research that frames the experiences of elite athletes and their consequent needs, is heavily influenced by scientists, often without direct reciprocity to bridge science, theory, and applied context. The knowledge influencing these interventions has derived from qualitative methods, such as semi-structured interviews, surveys, and focus groups, as well as a breadth of psychometric assessments. Though these approaches to gathering robust data are a necessary part of inquiry, they often produce decontextualized data collection strategies and results, which can lead to generalized, ineffective practices in sport performance environments. Within this submission, the first author cooperated with an international team of scientist-practitioners who are well versed in elite sport to delineate ecologically sound science-practice reciprocity. The authors consider the strengths and weaknesses of conventional qualitative research strategies in terms of their utility and the parlance of evidence into intervention and world-class performance. Two emerging, context driven approaches to inquiry are proposed; arts-based methods and an idiosyncratic approach to ethnography to encourage the reader toward an expanded selection of inquiry approaches from which better understanding and intervention can be generated. This contribution conclude with summary points to open further possibilities for innovative science to practice approaches.
Burnout symptoms are a detrimental concern many athletes have at some point throughout their athletic careers. In order to assist athletes with performing at their optimal level, there is a need to better understand the burnout phenomena and the ways it can interact with other performance variables, such as grit. Given that grit is a predictor of success in a variety of domains (e.g., Duckworth & Yeager, 2015; Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014; Fernández-Martin et al., 2020), the purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between grit and burnout. It was hypothesized that there would be an inverse correlation between grit and burnout. Grit and burnout data was collected from Division I student-athletes (n = 241) towards the end of their competitive seasons. Further, the student-athletes year in college was considered as a potential moderator between grit and burnout. The results indicated that student-athletes who scored higher in grit, also scored higher in burnout, hence the hypothesis was not supported. Additionally, there was a stronger positive relationship between grit and burnout for first-year students and sophomores, when compared with juniors and seniors. It is plausible athletes who are grittier are more likely to persevere through stress and challenges, including burnout symptoms, especially during their first two years of college. Athletes higher in grit may also be investing more effort into their sport, which could be increasing symptoms of burnout, as well. The results of this study warrant further investigation to clarify the interaction between grit and athlete burnout.
Our special issue comprises a diverse collection of ten research and review articles, each offering unique insights into the psychological dimensions of athletic performance. From studies examining the role of resilience in overcoming extreme score shifts to explorations of the mental toll caused by external crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflict, these papers provide a broad spectrum of perspectives. The issue digs into critical topics such as the influence of crowd dynamics, athlete-coach relationships, and the psychological challenges of breaking long-standing records, all while highlighting innovative methodologies like ecological approaches and creative non-fiction. Together, these ten papers underscore the complexity of the psychological factors that impact athletes’ success and well-being, offering both theoretical advances and practical applications for the sporting world.
We focus on the construct of team resiliency in analyzing data from NBA games hitting a 20-point deficit in the first half during the 1997/8 to 2021/2 seasons to determine the frequency of comebacks and the ability to mount a game winning resurgence temporally. First, we found that 20-point deficits and comebacks were more likely in recent seasons. Yet overcoming the odds and mounting a successful comeback were still achieved in only 7 % of the 3,942 qualified games. Moreover, games, that reached the 20-point deficit much earlier, were more likely to be overturned (i.e., comebacks) as they seemed not to reflect true differences in abilities between the teams in contention but a random tilt towards one team and then a correcting shift towards its opponent (i.e., regression to the mean). Also, games that hit the 20-point mark and were then tied did not show a winning momentum towards the resurging team. These trends should put emphasis on team resilience strategies at the participatory level of players and coaches through practice simulations and communication as well as through empirical research to identify specific team correlates with these extreme point shifts. Lay Summary: We studied NBA games hitting a 20-point deficit during the first half for the 1997/8–2021/2 seasons. Deficits and comebacks were more common in recent seasons. Games reaching the deficit faster were more likely to end in a comeback. Deficits games that tied did not show momentum towards the resurging team.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided athletes with an entirely new unforeseen circumstance, as many collegiate sport events and seasons were halted or canceled, forcing athletes into premature and non-normative retirement from sport. In the current study we analyzed the relationship between demographic factors, psychological distress, COVID worries, resilience, and athletic identity while controlling for student-athletes’ year of eligibility and NCAA division. Three-hundred and twenty-five student-athletes (232 females; 88 males; 5 non-binary) participated in the study by completing a demographic survey, the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, and the COVID-specific worries questionnaire, which were administered electronically through a Qualtrics survey link. A stepwise hierarchical regression analysis revealed that (a) being either a senior (β = -0.15, p = .03) or a junior (β = -0.12, p = .01) was associated with lower levels of athletic identity; and (b) higher psychological distress scores were positively related to athletic identity (β = 0.14, p = .01). A path analysis revealed that resilience predicted psychological distress (β = -0.159, p = .01), which in turn predicted both COVID worries (β = 0.43, p < .01) and athletic identity (β = 0.12, p = .03).
