It gives me great pleasure to share some of the activities we have been developing this year. In addition to the special issue on Gender that we published early this year in partnership with IAPESGW, the elected ISCPES Board has been undertaking various responsibilities. ISCPES continues its work in three main directions: publication, research and events. In terms of publication, the journal International Sport Studies has continued its regular publication schedule, and interest in publishing in it has increased enormously! Our Co-Editors-in-Chief, Maria Luisa M. Guinto and Richard Peter Bailey, together with the editorial team, have been doing a great job coordinating the workflow and maintaining quality. We appreciate the addition of Walter Ho as Associate Editor to the editorial team. Our ISCPES Book Series, published by Routledge, is also proud to announce the publication of Physical Education in India. Tradition, Development, and Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Usha Nair. The book features nearly 50 contributors, and Usha Nair has done an impressive job coordinating its compilation. We have two more book proposals in progress at this stage! On March 12th, we celebrated our first 2026 webinar. On International Women’s Day, the theme of the webinar was: 'Empowering Women Through Sport: Student Voices on Women’s Participation in Sport'. The event was held together with the students from the Master Program in Sport Administration of the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU), who served as speakers. We had speakers from China, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Thanks to the logistical support from Ms. Iya Macharadze and the technical team from RIOU. In August, we will celebrate our 2nd webinar. For more information, please check our webpage! In terms of research, the International Study on Quality Physical Education (ISQPE), coordinated by Dr Walter Ho, was launched in July 2026. The purpose of the research project is to develop a benchmark and evaluation tool that can be used internationally to investigate the overall performance and developmental proficiency across four issues in physical education: 1. Inclusion in QPE, 2. Extended Learning in Sport, Exercise and Physical Activities, 3. Classroom Learning, and 4. Use of the Latest Technology in Physical Education. The invitation to participate as a researcher is still open! Finally, I am pleased to announce that our ISCPES 24th Biennial Conference will take place from 6 to 8 October 2027 in the beautiful city of Monterrey, Mexico. It will be hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Autonomous University of Nuevo León) at the Faculty of Sport Organization (FOD). Please include it in your academic agenda for 2027. Further information will be available on our website!
Physical education (PE) can contribute to whole-person development, yet its potential is often constrained by mind–body dualism, narrow performance priorities, and limited teacher preparation. This systematic review examined how holistic PE has been conceptualised, enacted, evaluated, and challenged in research published from 2015 to 2025. Following PRISMA guidance, six databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies. After title, abstract, and full-text screening, 35 studies addressing holistic PE in formal educational settings were included. An inductive, domain-based thematic synthesis combined open coding with thematic clustering across four predefined domains: conceptualisations, practices, outcomes, and challenges. The analysis generated 152 codes, 189 subthemes, and 15 meta-themes. Across the literature, holistic PE was commonly framed through physical and health literacy, embodiment, whole-person health, and the development of personal and social resources. Reported practices included embodied, reflective, culturally responsive, and interdisciplinary approaches. Outcomes extended beyond physical competence to cognitive development, social and emotional learning, values, agency, and health literacy. Persistent barriers included standardised assessment, mind–body dualism, weak cultural integration, and insufficient teacher preparation. Based on these findings, the review proposes the Holistic Physical Education Ripple Framework (HPERF), informed by the Tai Chi symbol and systems thinking. HPERF represents holistic PE as an evolving ecosystem in which concepts, practices, outcomes, and challenges interact dynamically. It provides a flexible structure for curriculum design, reflective teaching, evidence mapping, and future longitudinal research.
Numerous studies have shown that athletes’ dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with sports performance, psychological skills, and mental toughness. Purpose: This study tested whether self-confidence mediates the association between mindfulness and mental toughness among Thai national athletes and investigated whether sport type moderates this mediation model. Participants included 408 Thai national athletes (Mage = 22.52, SD = 5.92) representing individual (n = 219) and team sports (n = 189). Data were collected using the Mindfulness in Sport Questionnaire (Thai version), the Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2R) for self-confidence, and the Thai Mental Toughness Questionnaire. Internal consistency for all scales ranged from 0.76 to 0.97. The results demonstrated that mindfulness significantly predicted both self-confidence and mental toughness, with self-confidence acting as a partial mediator. The moderated mediation analysis (Model 59) was significant (Index of Moderated Mediation = 0.105, 95% CI [0.021, 0.208]). Specifically, the mindfulness-confidence linkage (Path a) was stronger in team sports, whereas the confidence-mental toughness relationship (Path b) was more pronounced in individual sports. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the mindfulness–self-confidence–mental toughness pathway. Within the Thai context, mindfulness is positioned as a 'naturalised grounding' derived from Buddhist heritage, offering a unique baseline for elite athletes. Finally, the findings suggest that coaches should implement sport-specific mental training—focusing on filtering social noise for team sports and bolstering internal belief for individual sports
There is increasing interest in the association between psychological well-being, motivation, physical literacy, self-regulation, and physical education. While the impact of each of these variables on students’ health is well established, a comprehensive review of their interconnections has been limited. A thematic literature review was conducted using Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar, searching for English-language studies published from 2020 to 2024. The keywords were “self-regulation”, “motivation”, “physical education”, and “psychological well-being”. After selection, 82 peer-reviewed articles and relevant books were included from different cultural contexts, using longitudinal, cross-sectional, and survey-based designs. The findings were integrated using a thematic synthesis approach. The review highlights the significance of self-regulation in enhancing physical performance, stress management, attention control, and positive attitudes towards exercise, which are related to psychological well-being and academic success. Motivation, particularly students’ motivation, has been identified as a key factor in the development of physical literacy and long-term physical activity engagement. These constructs co-occurred and mutually reinforced one another across studies, with self-regulation and motivation jointly predicting both physical and psychological performance outcomes and indicators of psychological well-being. Improving self-regulation and motivation in physical education could contribute to better psychological well-being and physical literacy among students. These findings have important implications for the development of evidence-based educational programs, educational strategies, and educational policies to promote resilience, lifelong physical activity, and balanced student development.
Recently, there has been an increase in mental disorders among university students, which constitutes a public health problem. Therefore, factors such as unhealthy lifestyles and academic pressure significantly influence the emotional well-being of this population. An analytical, observational, and cross-sectional study at an exploratory level was conducted. This study aimed to analyse the relationship between Physical Activity, lifestyle, and mental health (anxiety, depression, and stress) in 60 chemical sciences students (25 men and 35 women, 22 ± 2.33 years old). The DASS-21 mental health assessment scale, the FANTASTIC lifestyle questionnaire, and the IPAQ-short Physical Activity questionnaire were administered. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and Spearman correlation coefficients. The results showed that 90% of participants met the WHO recommendations for Physical Activity. No associations were found between Physical Activity and emotional symptoms. In contrast, a significant relationship was found between lifestyle and symptoms of depression (p = 0.003), anxiety (p = 0.035), and stress (p = 0.004). Students who reported an excellent lifestyle had a higher proportion of moderate-to-severe symptoms across all three subscales. This finding, although limited by the sample size (n = 60), suggests the need to explore whether the lifestyles and characteristics of chemical science students could act as potential psychological risk factors in this population. The results indicate that, in the sample studied, lifestyle showed a stronger association with mental health outcomes than physical activity.
