0000000000437269
AUTHOR
Line Dverseth Danielsen
Mental toughness in elite and sub-elite female soccer players
Mental toughness (MT) is seen as an important psychological factor in the athletic success of elite athletes. Research on the subject has usually concerned male athletes. Our purpose was to investigate whether there are differences in mental toughness between female players who compete in an elite league and those who play at lower levels. In total, 298 female soccer players (M = 20.7 years, SD = 3.7 years) from three levels of Norwegian soccer responded to the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire. The MT Constancy subscale was removed from analysis due to an unacceptable Cronbach alpha (0.57). The results revealed that elite league players had significantly higher MT Global scores than th…
Athletes as ‘Cultural Architects’: A Qualitative Analysis of Elite Coaches` Perceptions of Highly Influential Soccer Players
The main purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of highly influential players\ud in elite soccer. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten elite coaches to determine\ud their perceptions of the characteristics, emergence and impact of highly influential players.\ud The interview guide was anchored in coaching literature and leadership theory, and after\ud exploring the interview data in this frame, we decided to label these athletes as cultural\ud architects. The results of the analysis revealed three general dimensions of cultural architects\ud in elite teams: a) Personal characteristics, which include elements related to their\ud achievements on the soccer pitc…