Search results for "athlete"

Resting electrocardiogram and blood pressure in young athletes and nonathletes : A 4-year follow-up

2022

A follow-up data on electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure (BP) changes in adolescent athletes are scarce. We compared ECG and BP between adolescent athletes and non-athletes in a 4-year follow-up. A total of 154 youth sports clubs (SC) in Finland and 100 secondary schools for comparison data participated in this observational follow-up study. Those who maintained or adopted SC participation are referred to as “Always athletes” (n=137), those who never participated in SC as “Never athletes” (n=108) and those who dropped out of SC during the follow-up as “Changers” (n=116). The mean age of the participants was 15.5 (0.6) years in all study groups at baseline. Resting ECG including heart …

Modulations of corticospinal excitability following rapid ankle dorsiflexion in skill- and endurance-trained athletes

2022

Abstract Purpose Long-term sports training, such as skill and endurance training, leads to specific neuroplasticity. However, it remains unclear if muscle stretch-induced proprioceptive feedback influences corticospinal facilitation/inhibition differently between skill- and endurance-trained athletes. This study investigated modulation of corticospinal excitability following rapid ankle dorsiflexion between well-trained skill and endurance athletes. Methods Ten skill- and ten endurance-trained athletes participated in the study. Corticospinal excitability was tested by single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) at three different latencies following passive rapid ankl…

The Italian approach to the dual careers of University student-athletes

2019

In the last decade, the topic of the dual careers of student-athletes has received increasing attention across Europe, both from many scholars in several different fields and from the European Union. In the European Union lexicon, the term ‘dual career’ means that an athlete can combine, without unreasonable personal effort, their sporting career with education and/or work in a flexible way through high-quality training in order to protect their moral, health, educational and professional interests without compromising either objective, with a particular focus on the continued formal education of young athletes. The basic idea behind several dual career programs to aid the student-athlete i…

Sport Science on Women, Women in Sport Science

2019

Coaches’ Perceptions of Athletes’ Psychobiosocial States : The Case of Three Tennis Coach-Athlete Dyads

2018

Considering the limited attention paid to interpersonal aspects of emotions, this study explored coaches’ perceptions of athletes’ performance-related states and how they used this information for its regulation. Using a case study approach, three coach-athlete dyads from competitive tennis took part in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Individualized profiling of psychobiosocial states was used to assess athletes’ states in most and least successful performances and as a way of data triangulation. Findings indicated that the coaches paid attention to bodily, motor-behavioural, and operational components of a performance state, and used this information to appropriately adapt their res…

Effects of a 10-day high-intensity interval training mesocycle on physical performance in male judo athletes

2020

Judo is an Olympic combat sport where the competition emphasizes several consecutive 20-30 seconds high-intensity efforts interspersed by short recovery periods. High-intensity block training has been found to be an efficient way to develop physical performance, wherein shorter training periods are focused on developing one or two chosen physical abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 10-day high-intensity interval training period on the performance in male judo athletes. The study included pre and post-tests as well as a 10-day training intervention. The subjects were 19-28 years old men who had competed at least at the Nordic level during the last year (n…

Effects of aging and training on sprint performance, muscle structure and contractile function in athletes

2009

Cross-sectional studies were conducted to examine sprint running, anaerobic energy production and muscle properties in male sprinters aged 17-88 years. In addition, a 20-week training intervention was carried out to determine whether older runners can further improve their neuromuscular and performance characteristics by a greater emphasis on strength training. With age, sprint performance declined gradually (5-6%/decade). The slowing of maximum speed was characterized by a reduction in stride length and an increase in contact time along with lower ground reaction forces (GRF) and smaller leg and vertical stiffness during the contact phase. Stride frequency showed small decline while swing …

Monitoring Training and Recovery during a Period of Increased Intensity or Volume in Recreational Endurance Athletes

2021

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of progressively increased training intensity or volume on the nocturnal heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), countermovement jump, perceived recovery, and heart rate-running speed index (HR-RS index). Another aim was to analyze how observed patterns during the training period in these monitoring variables were associated with the changes in endurance performance. Thirty recreationally trained participants performed a 10-week control period of regular training and a 10-week training period of either increased training intensity (INT, n = 13) or volume (VOL, n = 17). Changes in endurance performance were assessed by an incremen…

Career Transitions of eSports Athletes : A Proposal for a Research Framework

2017

eSports has boomed, the number of eSport athletes has grown rapidly, and many teenagers aspire to a have career in eSports. However, eSports athletes' careers involve many problems, such as career-entry difficulties, straining life habits, burnout, premature retirement, and post-career dilemmas. Despite a growing research interest in eSports, a void of knowledge exists regarding eSports athletes' career aspects. To address the gap in research, this paper aims to take an initial step by proposing a framework for eSports athletes' career transitions. The framework combines two approaches from sport psychology and sport literature. The framework can help eSports athletes, coaches, and other st…

Negotiating female judoka identities in Greece : A Foucauldian discourse analysis

2015

Abstract Objectives The objectives of this paper are to trace the discourses through which female Greek judokas articulate their sporting experiences and to explore how they construct their identities through the negotiation of sociocultural beliefs and gender stereotypes. Design This article is based on interview data from a larger ethnographic research with women judo athletes, grounded in a cultural praxis framework. Method Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted during fieldwork in Greece. Interview data were analyzed drawing on a Foucauldian approach to discourse analysis. Results We identified four concepts—biology, gender, femininity, and judo/sport—that were central to unearth…