Towards More Sustainable Sports: Analyzing the Travel Behavior of Adolescent Soccer Players in Southern Norway
Mitigating climate change is a global challenge demanding effort from all sectors, and sports are no exception. While transportation is one of the key issues regarding sustainable sports, the methods by which children and adolescents get to practice have not received much attention. The objectives of this study were, therefore, to present how adolescents in Southern Norway travel to soccer practice and assess how the mode of transportation is related to sex, socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, and distance from home to practice. Cross-sectional data were collected from 558 adolescent soccer players (398 boys and 190 girls) representing 30 different clubs from settlements of varying rurali…
Born to Score? The Relationship between Left-Handedness and Success from the 7-Meter Line
An asymmetry in the prevalence of left-handedness vs. right-handedness in society has supposedly resulted in negative frequency-dependent advantages for left-handers in interactive sports. The aim of this study was to test whether these advantages apply to handball by examining whether being left-handed is beneficial when executing 7 m shots, a highly unimanual movement. All 1,625 7 m shots at the men’s 2016–2022 European championships were analyzed using a Bayesian two-level analysis. While the results did not indicate that left-handers were more likely to score from any single 7 m shot, left-handers were overrepresented among the designated shooters compared to both the population as a wh…
Self-regulated Learning in Physical Education: An Analysis of Perceived Teacher Learning Support and Perceived Motivational Climate as Context Dependent Predictors in Upper Secondary School
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between teacher learning support, motivational climate and self-regulated learning in upper-secondary school physical education. A sample consisting of 554 upper secondary school students from Norway (Mage = 17.05, SD = 0.91) answered a survey pertaining to their everyday experiences in physical education. A multiple regression based structural equation model indicated that teacher learning support, ego-involving motivational climate and task-involving motivational climate were all significant positive predictors of self-regulated learning, with teacher learning support emerging as the most prominent predictor. These …
Are the playoffs different from the regular season? A comparison of in-game statistics in Icelandic elite handball
There are many axioms in sport that are taken at face value. One of them is that the playoffs are somehow totally different from the regular season. The aim of this study was to test that axiom by comparing in-game statistics during the regular season and the playoffs in the semi-professional Icelandic elite men’s handball league. Data from 724 games (648 regular season games and 76 playoff games; 1448 data points) across five seasons were analysed using a two-level logistic regression analysis. The variables of interest were pace, fast breaks, legal stops, penalty throws given, 2-minute suspensions, and saves. The results indicated no meaningful differences in fast breaks, penalty throws g…