Understanding enjoyment within the context of the children-to-youth sport transition in Norwegian soccer: A mixed methods study.

Enjoyment has emerged as a critical factor in understanding dropout and participation in the Norwegian youth soccer context (Persson et al., 2020; Solstad et al., 2022). Moreover, the children-to-youth sport transition within this context represents a shift in underlying values and aims (Hjelseth, 2016). The purpose of this mixed methods study was thus to investigate youth soccer players' enjoyment within the children-to-youth sport transition context. The quantitative phase consisted of 214 soccer players (28.2 % girls, Mage = 12.56 years) who completed a questionnaire, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The quantitative data informed the selection of participants for qualitative interviews in the next phase. A total of 10 soccer players (6 boys and 4 girls) who had reported different levels of enjoyment were interviewed. Coding reliability thematic analysis was applied to analyze the qualitative data. The results indicated that expectation of success and the mastery-approach goal had a positive relationship with enjoyment. The qualitative data further revealed that love for the sport, being with friends, and learning and mastery were sources of enjoyment for the players. A key finding was that players experienced increased seriousness in the transition, which may have a negative impact on their enjoyment. In conclusion, coaches should emphasize players' expectations of success, learning, and intrapersonal mastery, while creating a team culture that values friendship and passion for the sport. These strategies can enhance enjoyment, potentially sustaining youth participation in soccer during the children-to-youth sport transition.

Enriching the lives of children with acquired brain injury and their caregivers: experiences from peer mentorship sports camps.

Peer-based community interventions have shown promise in improving health management and fostering coping skills and psychosocial functioning among individuals with a disability. Active Rehabilitation camps are examples of peer-based community interventions that provide structured, time-limited peer mentorship in conjunction with sports and leisure activities. These camps hold potential benefits for individuals with acquired neurological injury. However, the specific impact of Active Rehabilitation camps on children or individuals with acquired brain injury remains unexplored. In this longitudinal, qualitative study, we explored children with an acquired brain injury and their caregivers' experiences with an Active Rehabilitation camp in Norway through observations and interviews with nine children and ten caregivers. Using an abductive thematic analysis, we identified an overarching theme: Active Rehabilitation peer mentorship camps enrich the lives of children with acquired brain injury and their caregivers. The theme contains three sub-themes: (1) Interacting with peers made me wiser, (2) Nudging from peer mentors made me feel better, and (3) A sense of companionship through meeting peers. Peer mentorship, sports and leisure activities, and the safe camp atmosphere benefitted children with acquired brain injury and their caregivers. The children gained knowledge, motivation, and self-worth, and their caregivers had greater impetus to prioritize their children's independence. Meeting peers and peer mentors led to friendships and sustained social connections. The Self-Determination Theory was of assistance in explaining the informants' experiences. Active Rehabilitation camps provide children with acquired brain injury and their caregivers with an opportunity to develop better coping skills, improve psychological functioning, and build more robust social networks.

Ironic processes of concentration and suppression under pressure: A study on rifle shooting in Norwegian elite biathletes.

In rifle shooting, suppressing unwanted thoughts can backfire in one's performance, causing athletes to behave contrary to their desired intention and further deteriorate their performance. PURPOSE: This study examined how priming attentional and negative cues affected participants' shooting performances toward ironic error targets under cognitive load conditions in Stroop task across two experiments. METHODS: Semi-elite biathletes (Experiment 1, n = 10; Experiment 2, n = 9) participated in the study. The study used a within-subject quasi-experimental design, particularly a one-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance and a 2 × 2 fully repeated measures analysis of variance, to determine the participants' hit rates and shooting response times (RTs). In both experiments, the participants completed the reverse-Stroop-based target shooting performance under low- and high-cognitive load conditions while receiving frequent priming attentional and negative cues. RESULTS: The findings from Experiment 1 suggest that regulating repetitive priming attentional thoughts is efficacious in mitigating the likelihood of ironic performance errors and interference effects. The results of Experiment 2 show that repetitive priming negative cues resulted in negligible ironic error hit rates and slower RTs in target hits under high-cognitive load conditions. The Bayesian analyses provided evidence supporting the null hypotheses. CONCLUSION: Trying to control repetitive priming attentional and negative thoughts reduces ironic performance errors to a similar degree under cognitive load conditions among biathletes, regardless of interference effects. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of suppressing task-relevant negative instructions in reducing the likelihood of ironic performance errors under pressure.

Psychological Determinants in Biathlon Performance: A U23 National Team Case Study.

BACKGROUND: The present investigation examined what psychological factors athletes perceived to impact their competition performance and what training strategies and focus the athletes considered to be the most important. METHODS: We recruited six participants (three females, three males) from the Norwegian Biathlon Federation's national U23 and junior teams, and all participated. We used semi-structured interviews to gather the data and used thematic analyses to examine our findings. RESULTS: The findings centered around the intricate relationship between psychological factors, particularly self-efficacy, anxiety, attention control, and performance, in biathlon shooting. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing a holistic approach to biathlon training entails harmonizing physical and psychological elements with personalized psychological training regimens.

Physical Stress and Determinants of Shooting Performance Among Norwegian Special Forces Operators.

However, there is a lack of conceptual understanding of the factors influencing performance decrements in prone shooting. The present study examines how one can simulate a combat scenario by inducing acute physical stress, ultimately impacting one's shooting performance (SP). The relationship between participants' physical level and SP was measured in several ways. The SP of members of the Norwegian Navy Special Operations Forces (SOF) (N = 30) was measured before and directly after acute exercise-induced stress caused by a 200-m uphill run (90% HRmax). Under acute physical stress, participants took less time to fire five rounds (total 15.5 ± 10.9 s faster), and the probability of hitting the target was unaffected (92%). In terms of more sensitive measures, score was significantly reduced and shot-group dispersion increased (64 ± 90 cm2, p < 0.01, d = 0.72), mainly due to increased vertical dispersion (2.5 ± 4.6 cm, p < 0.01, d = 0.53). Age, trait somatic anxiety and the Big Five Inventory item "openness" explained 45.2% of the variance in shooting score in the pre-physical stress condition. In the post-physical stress condition, pre-test shooting score, the number of months deployed, and shooting time predicted 32.9% of the variance in shooting score. The change in SP (pre-post) showed the concentration disruption scale was the best predictor of the reduction in shot score (20.1%). From a practical point of view, maintaining the probability of hitting the target with reduced shooting time post-physical stress could be viewed as superior performance for SOF.