Search results for "athletes"
showing 10 items of 728 documents
Modification of Diurnal Cortisol Secretion in Women’s Professional Basketball. A Pilot Study
2021
Elite basketball training causes high levels of physiological stress, which can lead to negative physiological disorders in female athletes. The aim of this study was to establish the impact of physical activity on the rhythm of salivary cortisol secretion in elite female basketball players over one week. The population sample included 9 women professional basketball players. The control group was made up of 9 women who did not do any exercise. Saliva samples were collected from all participants at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on training days. Samples from the basketball group showed a significantly higher cortisol secretion. Moreover, from the second night, the pattern of cortisol secretion o…
A new testing device for the role of the trunk in force production and in balance control in disabled sitting athletes
2017
In cross-country sit-skiing all athletes compete in a sitting position, but some of them have the ability to control their trunk more than others. The trunk plays an essential role in two performance determinants: propulsion generation and balance maintenance. The aim of the study is to design a new testing device assessing athletes’ responses to these propulsion determinants. The new device was composed of a seat surrounded by a sensorized aluminum frame. To assess propulsion generation, two force sensors were mounted in the anterior and posterior side of the frame, while two force sensors were embedded in two ropes elongated from the top of the frame. To measure trunk control, the device …
Development of School and Sport Burnout in Adolescent Student-Athletes: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study.
2018
We investigated the development of school and sport burnout in adolescent student-athletes (N Time 1 = 391, N Time 2 = 373) during their first year in upper secondary school using an embedded mixed-methods design. The questionnaire-based data were analyzed with growth mixture modeling and four burnout profiles were identified among student-athletes. From the found burnout profiles, two were typical for the interviewed subsample of elite athletes (n = 17), that is, burnout risk and non risk profiles. We generated rich descriptions of well-being and ill-being, showing that elite athletes in two burnout profiles differed in their experienced demands and resources related to individual and envi…
Critical factors influencing international sporting success of the Philippines : the athletes' perspective
2017
The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the recent declining performance of the Philippines in international sporting competitions by identifying and evaluating relevant factors that are critical to its international success through the perspective of the national elite athletes. An evaluation of the organizational effectiveness of the national sports governing bodies provides explanation to the poor performance of the country in major international competitions such as the Southeast Asian (SEA)Games. One of the most recent approaches used in measuring organizational effectiveness is the Sport Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS) model. Th…
‘Don’t ever mix God with sports’: Christian religion in athletes’ stories of life transitions
2019
Sport psychology researchers have increasingly recognized the need to adopt a holistic perspective when seeking to understand athletes’ adaptation to life transitions. The present study sought to understand how religion influences athletes’ journeys in sport and experiences of life transitions. Two Christian elite athletes participated in life story interviews which we analyzed via narrative analysis. Although the participants narratively separated religious belief from sport, religion, as a source of basic world assumptions and values, provided a broader framework of meaning and continuity in their sport lives. Yet, both stories involved a growing distance to institutional religious practi…
Identity tensions in dual career : the discursive construction of future selves by female Finnish judo athletes
2019
To date, few studies have explored how changes in the practices, policies, and politics of sport and education may be implicated in how young athletes think about and plan for the future. Drawing on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks, this paper explores whether and how dual career (DC) policies and practices in Finland guide female judo athletes’ imaginings about their future. Discourse analysis was used to analyse interviews with three adolescent (aged 16) and three young adult (aged 20, 23, and 27) elite female judo athletes. Differences were found in the ways the athletes in the different age groups constructed their future athletic, civic and gendered selves. We …
Composite vignettes of Swedish male and female professional handball players’ career paths
2019
The aim of this study was to describe gender-specific career paths of Swedish professional handball players. A reanalysis of Ekengren et al. (2018) career interviews with nine male and nine female players led to creating two composite vignettes using the athletes’ own words, accounted for typical features in the male and female players’ career paths. Seven themes were identified in the analysis of the men’s transcripts and eight themes derived from the women’s transcripts. Further, the themes of both vignettes were aligned with career stages described in our previous study (Ekengren et al. 2018). The male players’ vignette is interpreted as a performance narrative congruent with elite handb…
A longitudinal transitional perspective on why adolescents choose to quit organized sport in Norway
2021
Abstract The present study used a prospective cohort design to explore the reasons why young athletes decided to quit playing handball. The theoretical underpinnings were drawn from the fields of career transition, motivation, and meaningful experiences in organized youth sport. Thirty-four athletes were included in a larger research project exploring the complex interplay of psychosocial factors during the transition period from lower-to upper-secondary school in Norway. In this study, the data collection involved three sources: individual interviews with the 10 athletes who decided to leave their teams during the study period (five girls and five boys), and individual open-ended questionn…
From athletic talent development to dual career development? A case study in a Finnish high performance sports environment
2020
The focus of dual career (DC) research has shifted from exploring individual experiences within Athletic Talent Development Environments (ATDEs) toward understanding the impact of the environment and the broader cultural context on individuals’ developmental trajectories in Dual Career Development Environments (DCDEs). To comply with national and EU recommendations for socially responsible elite sport, many successful ATDEs list DC as one of their primary values and advertise themselves as DCDEs in order to attract more athletes. The present study aimed to evaluate whether and how a talent development environment for youth athletes in Finland has transformed from an ATDE to DCDE by explorin…
Effects of a Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model Intervention in Competitive Youth Sport
2021
The aim of this study was to implement the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model in a competitive context analyzing the differences between the intervention and the control group on personal and social responsibility, prosocial behaviors, and self-efficacy in youth soccer players. Participants were 34 youth soccer players between the ages of 14 and 16 years old (15.18 ± 0.72) divided into two different soccer teams of 17 members, corresponding to the control and intervention groups. The implementation of the TPSR model took place during 9 months, including initial and ongoing coach training (3 months), program implementation (three sessions per week lasting 90 min during …