Positive youth development and gender differences in high performance sport.

We examined positive youth development within a high performance sport environment. Youth football players (N = 455; Males = 315; Females = 140) completed a range of questionnaires including: the Youth Experiences Survey for Sport; Self-Confidence subscale of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised; Sport Competence Inventory; Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Sport Scale; and the modified Coach-Athlete Relationship questionnaire. The players reported a relatively high level of self-confidence, competence and positive youth experiences. They felt a strong coach-athlete relationship and displayed higher levels of prosocial than antisocial behaviour. Males scored significantly higher than females on self-confidence, perceived self-competence, antisocial behaviour to teammates and opponents, relationship with their coach, and cognitive skills. Findings suggest a relationship between high performance sport environments and positive youth development.

The developmental and professional activities of female international soccer players from five high-performing nations.

We study the developmental and professional activities engaged in by 86 female adult soccer players from the senior national teams of Australia, Canada, England, Sweden, and the United States of America. Players completed the Participation History Questionnaire (PHQ) to elicit the amount and type of activities engaged in across their developmental and professional years, including milestones, soccer-specific activity and engagement in other sport activity. Greater specialisation than diversification characterised their childhood developmental activities, including all players starting in soccer in childhood and accumulating more hours in soccer activity than other sports during this period. However, interindividual variation further characterised these childhood activities, with a proportion of players diversifying into other sports and/or soccer play to a greater or lesser degree during childhood when compared to the other players. The amount of coach-led soccer practice increased for all players across their development culminating in an average of 15-16 h/wk across a 40-week season in early adulthood. In contrast, the amount of engagement in other sports and soccer peer-led play varied between players but generally decreased across adolescence to negligible amounts in late adolescence. Findings are commensurate with the deliberate practice framework and early engagement.

Distinct trajectories of athlete development: A retrospective analysis of professional rugby league players.

Contemporary models of athlete development (e.g., Development Model of Sport Participation) suggest attainment benefits from early age multi-sport "sampling" behaviour before progressive transition into "invested" single-sport involvement in teenage years compared to intensive early-age specialisation. However, specific examinations of these development patterns across a number of team sports and cultural contexts remains limited. This study involved a large sample of professional Australian Rugby League (RL) players (N = 224) who progressed along the RL system pathways. It defined two contrasting athlete development trajectories based upon initial entry into formal age group representative teams ("Early": U16, U18; "Later": U20+) to compare their developmental participation patterns using the National Rugby League Athlete Development Questionnaire (NRLADQ). Between-Within Analyses of Variance (BW-ANOVA)'s identified interaction effects as the 'Later' group reported lower volumes of deliberate practice from 10-20 years, RL-game involvement from 10-20 years, deliberate play from 5-12 years, and a later reduction in other sporting involvement. Group differences in RL-related deliberate practice and play were supported by qualitative descriptions of training at age-categories. CONCLUSION: RL professional senior elite success level can be attained via early intensified specialised investment and accelerated youth success as well as by a rather decelerated, much less cost-intensive participation pattern.

Observations of youth football training: How do coaches structure training sessions for player development?

We used systematic observation tools to explore the structure (i.e., activity and inactivity) and sequencing (i.e., the types of activities used) of football coaching sessions in Australia following the implementation of a new National Curriculum. Youth soccer coaches (n = 34), coaching within the Skill Acquisition (U11-U13 n = 19) and Game Training (U14-U17 n = 15) phases of the Football Federation Australia National Curriculum participated. Participants were filmed during a regular coaching session, with systematic observation of the session undertaken to provide a detailed analysis of the practice activities and coach behaviours. Findings indicated a session comprised of Playing Form activities (40.9%), Training Form activities (22.3%), inactivity (31%), and transitions between activities (5.8%). Coaches prescribed more Training Form activities (e.g., individual (5.4%) and drills (15.1%)) early in the session and progressed to Playing Form activities (i.e., small-sided games (15.3%) then larger games (24.8%)) later in the session. Most inactivity reflected the players listening to the coach - either in a team huddle (9.9%) or frozen on the spot during an activity (16.5%). In addition, coaches generally spent over 3 min communicating to players prior to explaining and introducing an activity regardless of when in the session the activity was scheduled.

Key attributes of expert NRL referees.

Experiential knowledge of elite National Rugby League (NRL) referees was investigated to determine the key attributes contributing to expert officiating performance. Fourteen current first-grade NRL referees were asked to identify the key attributes they believed contributed to their expert refereeing performance. The modified Delphi method involved a 3-round process of an initial semi-structured interview followed by 2 questionnaires to reach consensus of opinion. The data revealed 25 attributes that were rated as most important that underpin expert NRL refereeing performance. Results illustrate the significance of the cognitive category, with the top 6 ranked attributes all cognitive skills. Of these, the referees ranked decision-making accuracy as the most important attribute, followed by reading the game, communication, game understanding, game management and knowledge of the rules. Player rapport, positioning and teamwork were the top ranked game skill attributes underpinning performance excellence. Expert referees also highlighted a number of psychological attributes (e.g., concentration, composure and mental toughness) that were significant to performance. There were only 2 physiological attributes (fitness, aerobic endurance) that were identified as significant to elite officiating performance. In summary, expert consensus was attained which successfully provided a hierarchy of the most significant attributes of expert NRL refereeing performance.

The effects of physical exertion on decision-making performance of Australian football umpires.

Decision-making is a key component of an umpire's in-game performance, with each decision potentially having a direct impact on the result of the game. Additionally, umpires have to be physically fit to ensure they keep up with the gameplay. While research has identified the decision-making demands and running demands of umpires separately, few have explored the relationship between them. The aim of this investigation was to examine the relationship between physical exertion and decision-making performance of Australian football umpires at the sub-elite and junior levels. A total of 18 Australian football umpires (sub-elite, n = 10; junior n = 8) performed 10 × 300 m runs, with each repetition immediately followed by a video-based decision-making test, then 1 min of recovery. A Mann-Whitney U assessment indicated a significant difference between the sub-elite and junior level umpires for decision-making accuracy (U = 13.00, z = -2.43, P = 0.016, r = -0.5). However, there was no significant difference in response time (U = 28.00, z = -1.07, P = 0.315, r = -0.25). The sub-elite umpires completed the running efforts in significantly less time than the junior umpires (P < 0.05). Further, there was no significant correlation between decision-making performance and running times for either skill level (P > 0.05). This suggests decision-making performance may not be affected by physical exertion. Therefore, it may be suggested coaches of football umpires allocate more time to the decision-making development of their umpires instead of focusing largely on the physical fitness side, as is currently the trend.

Perfectionism and sport-specific engagement in elite youth soccer players.

It is acknowledged that the time invested in sport-specific activities contributes to higher levels of performance. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impact of personality traits, such as perfectionism, on engagement in sport-specific activities. In the current study, we examine whether elite youth soccer players who demonstrate higher and lower levels of perfectionistic strivings tendencies can be differentiated based on their sport-specific engagement. The Sport Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale 2 and an adapted Player History Questionnaire were completed by 419 elite youth male soccer players competing at the Australian age-related national youth championships (under 13, n = 133; under 14, n = 166; under 15, n = 120). A quartile split approach was used to separate higher (n = 100) and lower (n = 107) perfectionistic strivings groups. Findings revealed the higher perfectionistic strivings group accumulated more time in sport-specific activities, including coach-led practice, individual practice, peer-led play and indirect involvement in soccer when compared to individuals with lower perfectionistic strivings tendencies. Descriptive analysis indicates this equates to approximately 159 h a year (i.e. 17 h coach-led practice, 22 h individual practice, 60 h of peer-led play and 60 h of indirect involvement) more than the lower perfectionistic strivings group. In summary, the results suggest players with varying levels of perfectionistic strivings may be differentiated based on their engagement in soccer-specific activity in a sample of elite youth players in Australia, and suggests that perfectionistic strivings may have an adaptive influence on sport-specific engagement.

Gritting One's way to success - Grit explains skill in elite youth soccer players beyond (deliberate) practice.

Practice is one of the most important predictors of skill. To become an expert, performers must engage in practice for a prolonged time to develop the psychological characteristics necessary for outstanding performance. Deliberate practice (DP), that is focused repetitive activities with corrective feedback, is particularly beneficial for skill development. The amount of accumulated DP differentiates experts and novices. However, the predictive strength of DP weakens considerably when it comes to differentiating between differently skilled experts, leaving a way clear for other non-practice related factors to exercise their influence. In this paper, we demonstrate using a large sample (388) of elite youth soccer players that one such factor, the personality trait of grit, predicts expertise level both directly and indirectly. Grittier players accumulated more time in coach-led team practice, the activity, which is arguably closest to DP in team sports, which in turn predicted the skill level. Other practice activities, such as self-led training or playing with peers, were not predictive of skill level, neither were they influenced by grit. Grit, however, continued to exert a direct positive influence on the skill level of players even after accounting for the hours of DP accumulated. Overall, a standard deviation of change in the grit score resulted in at least a third of standard deviation improvement in skill. Our findings highlight the need for the inclusion of additional factors in theoretical frameworks in situations where the predictive power of traditional expertise factors, such as practice, is limited.

Developing players for athlete leadership groups in professional football teams: Qualitative insights from head coaches and athlete leaders.

Athlete leadership groups (ALGs) are a widely used yet under researched approach to leadership in professional sports teams. Athlete Leadership Groups (ALGs) represent a shared athlete leadership model whereby a small group of players are selected as athlete leaders and appointed to a formal 'leadership group' (i.e., an ALG) that shares team leadership responsibilities with the coach. Although athlete leadership has been linked to improved team outcomes, inadequately trained athlete leaders can have a detrimental effect on team functioning and performance. The aim of this study was to provide coach and athlete leader's perceptions of the development opportunities that have been afforded to players to prepare them for their role in an ALG. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 head coaches and 14 players from leadership groups drawn from 17 teams across four professional football leagues (i.e., Super Rugby, National Rugby League, A League and Australian Football League) in Australia and New Zealand. Results illustrate that athlete leaders benefit from developing enhanced understanding of leadership as a multidimensional relational process, recognising various leadership styles, preferences, and how to leverage their influence with teammates. However, it is evident this theoretical knowledge alone is insufficient to equip players for a professional team ALG role. Players need opportunities to practice their developing leadership skills in authentic and appropriately challenging situations with support and facilitation. Findings point to the importance of systematic, individually tailored leadership development that includes scaffolded, structured experiential learning and meaningful interactions with other successful high-performance leaders. Further, this study reinforces the value of guided reflective practice in leadership development and how this process can enhance learning and transfer from leadership development initiatives. Finally, this study adds weight to calls from other researchers for coaches to be consistently intentional in employing leadership development strategies.

The role of repetitive thinking and spirituality in the development of posttraumatic growth and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Both post-traumatic growth (PTG) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with spirituality and different kinds of repetitive thinking, such as deliberate rumination (DR) and intrusive rumination (IR), respectively. This study aimed to examine if spirituality modifies the relationship between types of rumination and trauma outcomes. Ninety-six students completed an online survey of four questionnaires in a cross-sectional online survey: The Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, the Event Related Rumination Inventory, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short form and the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory- Revised. Findings revealed that spirituality was related to DR and PTG, but not to IR or PTSD symptoms. Moderation analysis showed that spirituality significantly moderated the relationship between PTG and DR, but not the relationship between PTSD and IR. These findings indicate that while spirituality has no relationship with negative outcomes of trauma, it may help individuals to ruminate in a constructive manner in order to develop positive outcomes.

The Practice Environment-How Coaches May Promote Athlete Learning.

The coaching environment is the primary teaching and learning medium for the development of athlete skills. Therefore, by understanding how practice environments are designed to facilitate learning, coaches can make decisions around the structure of specific activities and behavior to promote athlete learning and development. This short review examines the coaching environment literature, with a particular focus on the structure and content within a practice session. The review will highlight the specific activities coaches utilize to develop athletes technical and tactical skills. Further, the coaching behaviors used to promote athlete learning is discussed, and how coach athlete interactions may influence learning. Finally, we provide applied recommendations for coaches, and highlight areas for future coaching science research.

Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study.

Introduction: The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the performance field in the form of a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance under pressure. Methods: International experts were recruited from four performance domains [(i) Defense; (ii) Competitive Sport; (iii) Civilian High-stakes; and (iv) Performance Neuroscience]. Experts rated constructs from the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework (and several expert-suggested constructs) across successive rounds, until all constructs reached consensus for inclusion or were eliminated. Finally, included constructs were ranked for their relative importance. Results: Sixty-eight experts completed the first Delphi round, with 94% of experts retained by the end of the Delphi process. The following 10 constructs reached consensus across all four panels (in order of overall ranking): (1) Attention; (2) Cognitive Control-Performance Monitoring; (3) Arousal and Regulatory Systems-Arousal; (4) Cognitive Control-Goal Selection, Updating, Representation, and Maintenance; (5) Cognitive Control-Response Selection and Inhibition/Suppression; (6) Working memory-Flexible Updating; (7) Working memory-Active Maintenance; (8) Perception and Understanding of Self-Self-knowledge; (9) Working memory-Interference Control, and (10) Expert-suggested-Shifting. Discussion: Our results identify a set of transdisciplinary neuroscience-informed constructs, validated through expert consensus. This expert consensus is critical to standardizing cognitive assessment and informing mechanism-targeted interventions in the broader field of human performance optimization.

Assessing the Ecological-Context Strengths of School-Based Talent Development Programs in Rugby League.

Purpose: Adopting an ecological perspective, the study explored the context-strengths of three successful school-based TDEs in rugby league. Method: Utilizing a mixed methods approach, incorporating validated psychometric questionnaires (N = 118) and semi-structured interviews, various stakeholder perspectives (N = 30; i.e., current/past students and coaches) were triangulated and corroborated to identify TDE ecological strengths. Results: Compared to benchmark TDE data, and supplemented by descriptions of TDE features and processes, results confirmed strong coherence to "effective" factors in TDE literature. Collective "ecological strengths" included quantitative findings of a highly supportive culture, shared "person" and "athlete" desired outcomes, and a long-term focus; and qualitative features of high behavioral expectations, strong values of hard work, and the promotion of personal ownership in athlete development. Opportunities to enhance TDE effectiveness were also identified, with psychological skill development (e.g., self-reflection, coping) and balancing intra-rugby league pathway demands (i.e., competition/training loads) highlighted. Conclusion: Findings identify characteristics, components, and processes of school-TDE environments associated with successful athlete development in schools and beyond (i.e., transition into an athlete development pathway).

Exploring the Experiences and Well-Being of Australian Rio Olympians During the Post-Olympic Phase: A Qualitative Study.

Research about the Olympic Games has primarily focused on preparing athletes for competition. Less attention has been paid to the post-Olympic-phase (POP) and athlete well-being during this time. This study explored Australian Olympic athletes' experiences following the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, including the factors that may have contributed to or challenged their well-being during this time. Eighteen athletes participated in semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis revealed that when Olympic performance appraisal met prior expectations, when athletes planned for a return to work or study, and when support from a variety of sources was readily available, this positively influenced athletes' well-being during the POP. When these factors were not in place, more challenging post-Games experiences were present, and well-being was compromised. The findings contribute to the broader literature on elite athlete well-being and at an applied level, may be used to inform targeted programs that focus on supporting athletes after an Olympic campaign.

Rationale and study protocol for the Movement Oriented Games Based Assessment (MOGBA) cluster randomized controlled trial: A complex movement skill intervention for 8-12 year old children within 'Made to Play'.

There is a positive relationship between children's movement competence and physical activity, with a further relationship established between physical activity and childhood obesity. The Movement Oriented Games Based Assessment (MOGBA) is a delivery and assessment intervention designed to improve children's complex movement skills, based on principles of motor development and assessment theories. MOGBA aims to improve children's movement competence, physical fitness and self-perceptions (physical and game) and increase children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). MOGBA is to be used in the 'Made to Play' initiative, involving 105 sports and activity programs across 21 countries, involving over 25 million children. A multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial will take place across three global sites (UK, Ireland and Australia). Each site will recruit eight primary schools (four experiment, four control) with each school providing two separate classes of children from age ranges 8-12 years (Site n = ~300, total n = 904). After baseline assessments, schools will be randomly allocated to an experimental or wait-list control group. Following two half-day workshops, trained facilitators will deliver the MOGBA intervention for 9 weeks. The main intervention components include delivery of 14 games-based activities with associated assessments of children's movement and differentiation to meet children's needs by manipulating space, effort and relationships. The primary outcome of the trial is to improve children's' movement competence (The Dragon Challenge), with secondary outcomes of improving children's' in-activity and leisure-time MVPA (5-day accelerometer), physical fitness (standing long jump and push ups) and self-perceptions (physical and game). Data will be analysed using multilevel modelling approaches. The MOGBA intervention has been designed to improve children's movement competence and scalable interventions based on MOGBA could be applied across programs within the Made to Play initiative, globally. The trial is registered at the Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12619001320145p, 27 Sep 2019).

Lung Transplant Index: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Limited long-term survival is a recognized problem in adolescent/young adult lung transplant recipients. A quality improvement (QI) initiative included the development of a Lung Transplant Index (LTI) composed of key elements that we used as a comprehensive approach to screen and identify potential harms in this at-risk patient population. METHODS: A single-center, uncontrolled QI study was completed from January 2014 to February 2019. The elements of the LTI are events that should have occurred within the most recent 12 months. If an element did not occur, it was counted as a missed element of preventing harm and summated later serving as the LTI score. Implementation of the LTI occurred on January 1, 2015, with a retrospective chart review of patients seen in clinic the prior year serving as baseline measures for comparison. RESULTS: The year before implementing the LTI, numerous opportunities failed to identify preventable harm in our adolescent/young adult lung transplant population. The LTI resulted in a sustained reduction of these missed opportunities without negatively influencing patient/family satisfaction with lengthening of the clinic visit. CONCLUSIONS: A single-center QI initiative identified preventable harms in an adolescent/young adult lung transplant population and reduced the number of preventable harm elements not performed. Future work is needed to determine if this type of QI initiative is associated with less healthcare utilization.

Psychological talent predictors in youth soccer: A systematic review of the prognostic relevance of psychomotor, perceptual-cognitive and personality-related factors.

Within the multidimensional nature of soccer talent, recently there has been an increasing interest in psychological characteristics. The aim of this present research was to systematically review the predictive value of psychological talent predictors and provide better comprehension of the researchers' methodological approaches and the empirical evidence for individual factors (i.e., psychomotor, perceptual-cognitive and personality-related). Results highlighted heterogeneous study designs (e.g., participants, measurement methods, statistical analyses) which may limit the comparability of studies' findings. Analyzing the number of included studies, psychomotor (n = 10) and personality-related factors (n = 8) received more consideration within the literature than perceptual-cognitive factors (n = 4). In regard to empirical evidence, dribbling (0.47 ≤ d ≤ 1.24), ball control (0.57 ≤ d ≤ 1.28) and decision-making (d = 0.81) demonstrated good predictive values as well as the achievement motives hope for success (0.27 ≤ d ≤ 0.74) and fear of failure (0.21 ≤ d ≤ 0.30). In conclusion, there is growing acceptance of the need for more complex statistical analyses to predict future superior performance based on measures of current talent. New research addresses the necessity for large-scale studies that employ multidisciplinary test batteries to assess youth athletes at different age groups prospectively.

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter's perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment.

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players.

Developing empathy as a foundation of client-centred practice: evaluation of a university curriculum initiative.

BACKGROUND: The foundation of client-centred practice is the therapist's capacity to view the world through the client's eyes and to develop an understanding of the lived experience of disability. PURPOSE: This paper describes the evaluation of an educational initiative promoting student empathy to the lived experience of disability. METHODS: Pairs of first-year occupational therapy students visited adults with disabilities who shared their knowledge and experience of living with a disability. Students reflected on their visits in journals, which were later analyzed using pattern matching. FINDINGS: Students appeared to appreciate the co-existence of health and disorder and demonstrated a holistic understanding of living with a disability. Little attention was focused on cultural and institutional environments. Students struggled to define the nature of their relationship with their tutors. Practice Implications. The evaluation confirmed our belief that this educational initiative could facilitate student empathy, consistent with critical features of client-centred practice.

Talent identification and selection in elite youth football: An Australian context.

We identified the perceptual-cognitive skills and player history variables that differentiate players selected or not selected into an elite youth football (i.e. soccer) programme in Australia. A sample of elite youth male football players (n = 127) completed an adapted participation history questionnaire and video-based assessments of perceptual-cognitive skills. Following data collection, 22 of these players were offered a full-time scholarship for enrolment at an elite player residential programme. Participants selected for the scholarship programme recorded superior performance on the combined perceptual-cognitive skills tests compared to the non-selected group. There were no significant between group differences on the player history variables. Stepwise discriminant function analysis identified four predictor variables that resulted in the best categorization of selected and non-selected players (i.e. recent match-play performance, region, number of other sports participated, combined perceptual-cognitive performance). The effectiveness of the discriminant function is reflected by 93.7% of players being correctly classified, with the four variables accounting for 57.6% of the variance. Our discriminating model for selection may provide a greater understanding of the factors that influence elite youth talent selection and identification.