Competitive Sport Environment Research Articles

Enhancing on-pitch learning capabilities with data analytics and technologies in elite sports

ABSTRACT Research question: We have explored the utilisation of data analytics and technology in elite sports and the role it plays in enhancing on-pitch learning capabilities. In the competitive, complex, and dynamic professional sports environment, margins are small and critical for the success of a team or club. It is essential for sports organisations to keep learning individually and collectively to strengthen their ability to improve on-pitch. In this paper, we explore how data analytics and technology enable sports teams to develop learning organisation capabilities to add-value on-pitch by increasing their knowledge base. Research methods: Data for this study were gathered through 33 interviews with elite sport industry experts from football (Premier League, Championship), cricket (First Class County Clubs) and rugby (Rugby League). It includes seven sports directors, 12 managers and coaches, six players and former players, six performance analysts, one member of the medical staff, and one sports analytics academic. Results and findings: Our findings add to the understanding of players, coaches, and teams as learning entities, and discuss how they capture and transform data into knowledge with the use of data analytics and technology, which is then utilised to inform on-pitch practices and decision making. We provide a blueprint framework explaining how a sport club can add value on-pitch by achieving a learning organisation status, through the use of data analytics and technology. Implications: This paper contributes towards the continuing discourse regarding data analytics and technology utilisation within the sports industry, in the on-pitch domain. There has been limited academic research published to date on data analytics and technology use in professional sports, particularly with respect to investigating it from a learning organisation theory perspective.

Selection and Cultivation of Young High Jumpers in Competitive Sports Environment of School

Selection and Cultivation of Young High Jumpers in Competitive Sports Environment of School

Indicators of Efficiency, Efficacy and Effectiveness for Football: A Proposal Combining Physical and Technical Aspects

The performances of high-performance sports have developed over time, indisputably due to the professionalization of the modalities, which have provided athletes with exclusive dedication to sports practice. However, the technologies incorporated into training define the great champions within the competitive sports environment. This work aims to discuss Efficiency, Efficacy, and Effectiveness Indicators (3Es) in soccer capable of incorporating physical aspects, measured by the physiology departments, and technical-tactical aspects identified in the scouting developed in the performance analysis department. Simulations are performed for the proposed indicators to assess their consistency in the developed processes (efficiency), in the short-term results (efficacy), and in long-term transformations (effectiveness).

FINANCIAL VALUE OF UKRAINIAN PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS IN RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOTBALL MIGRATION INDICATORS

Introduction. Indicators of financial and economic support and migration of football players create preconditions for the formation of a highly competitive sports environment in professional football clubs and in the Ukrainian Premier League. The aim of the study is to analyze the quantitative indicators of migration of football players in the Ukrainian Premier League in relation to the financial and economic support of professional football clubs and to systematize the results. Materials and methods: analysis and generalization of data of scientific and methodical literature sources and the Internet, pedagogical observations, content analysis of materials of official sites of professional football clubs of the Ukrainian Premier League, official sites of the Ukrainian Football Association and the Ukrainian Premier League, methods of mathematical statistics. Results. The relationship between the financial value of Ukrainian athletes and migrant footballers, who are declared in the competition of the Ukrainian Premier League of the season 2021-2022, is analyzed. Conclusions. Analysis of the financial value of professional football clubs of the Ukrainian Premier League in relation to the migration of football players allows us to state that the leaders of the sports rating are the most financially capable teams: «Shakhtar» (Donetsk) and «Dynamo» (Kyiv), with a total the transfer value of the players is € 179,700,000 and € 136,100,000 respectively. The average cost of a migrant player in the leading professional football clubs of the Ukrainian Premier League «Shakhtar» (Donetsk) is 8,800,000 €, «Dynamo» (Kyiv) ‒ 3,420,000 €. Analysis of the transfer value of domestic athletes and migrant footballers in the application letters of the Ukrainian Premier League shows the absence of direct and inverse linear relationships, which suggests the presence of complex multilevel dependencies that require processing by more complex mathematical and statistical methods and preliminary grouping of available experimental data

The effect of adolescent athletes’ achievement goal orientation and perception of error on their sport-confidence

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of achievement goal orientation and perception of error on the sport-confidence of adolescent athletes and the moderating effect of perception of error in a competitive sports environment to provide basic data for improving the sport-confidence of adolescent athletes. The subjects of the study were middle and high school athletes (N = 300, Males = 218, Females = 82) registered in institutions under the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. Results revealed that athletes’ achievement goal orientation positively predicted sport-confidence and these pathways were moderated by athletes’ perception of error. The implications for athletes and researchers from those results are discussed.

Choking under pressure in archery

In high pressure situations, individuals may perform well below expectations. This is called “choking under pressure” and we study it in the context of a competitive sports environment. We construct a unique dataset on archery to study whether performance deteriorates at the end of a match, when two players compete in a tiebreak. Our results suggest that pressure plays a key role: overall performance deteriorates in the tiebreak. This effect is even more pronounced in the tiebreak of the most important tournaments, but only for women.

Competitive youth athletes: are they choosing between God and sports?

ABSTRACT Competitive youth athletes have demanding schedules that require prioritising regular family activities. Specifically, Christian families often choose to skip church services to attend athletic events. Parents and competitive youth athletes from across the United States were invited to complete surveys which explored youth athletes’ and their parents’ perceptions of the competitive sport environment, the child’s level of spirituality, and the influence of church attendance on the child’s spirituality. The results suggested the parents were aware of the child’s experiences in sport and involvement in church, but they were not aware of the child’s level of reliance on faith to cope with the demands of sport. Additionally, there was no difference in spirituality levels of children regardless of how frequently they attended church. The implications of the study are that Christian youth athletes use their faith to overcome challenges of competition, and factors outside of church attendance contribute to a child’s spiritual development.

DO TRAINING REGIMEN AND COMPETITIVE LEVEL AFFECT BODY IMAGE DISSATISFACTION (LEANNESS AND MUSCLE TONE) IN FEMALE ATHLETES?

ABSTRACT Introduction Studies that seek analyze the relationship between sport variables and body image are importants, because indicate if the competitive sport environment influence on body feelings of athlete. Objective To analyze the relationship between sports variables (training regimen and competitive level) and dissatisfaction in regard to leanness and muscle tone in female athletes. Methods One hundred and eighty female athletes aged over 12 years from various sport disciplines participated in the study. We used the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) to assess dissatisfaction in regard to leanness. The dissatisfaction subscale of Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS) was used to evaluate dissatisfaction with muscle tone. Training regimen (frequency x daily hours of training) and competitive level were acquired through a questionnaire developed by the actual investigators. Results The findings indicated a statistically significant relationship between the training regimen (F(1, 179)=4.01; p=0.047) and competitive level (F(2, 178)=3.59; p=0.031) and the BSQ scores. Moreover, the results indicated a statistically significant relationship between the training regimen (F(1, 179)=4.01; p=0.047) and the competitive level (F(2, 178)=3.59; p=0.031), with DMS dissatisfaction subscale scores. Conclusion Sports variables (training regimen and competitive level) were related to dissatisfaction in regard to leanness and muscle tone, although they demonstrated different magnitudes. Level of evidence III; study case-control.

Predicting Athlete Mental Health Stigma Using the Theory of Reasoned Action Framework

Recent evidence suggests that attempts to tackle mental health stigma in athletes should include psychological theory to understand the competitive sport environment. Using the Theory of Reasoned A...

Relative age effect and dropout causes in a multisport club setting. Is there a special reason to give up?

Abstract Aims: The aim of the present study was 1) compare the drop-out rates between athletes born in different trimesters of the competitive year from different sports and 2) identify the causes pointed by the dropped-out athletes born in different selection year trimesters to disengage from the competitive sports environment. Methods: Data from 966 athletes who left the competitive sports context were analyzed under the Relative Age Effect (RAE) theoretical framework during 3 consecutive seasons. The drop-out rate and the reason to quit the competitive environment were analyzed by a routine club questionnaire. Results: An expected reverse RAE on drop-out rates was identified, in which the early born athletes were overrepresented (p<0.001). Regarding the reasons to disengage from competitive sports environment, no reason emerged as the main cause to dropout between athletes born in different selection year trimester. Conclusion: It was concluded that despite the common assumption that personal psychological issues related to RAE in late born athletes are important factors influencing sports disengagement, the relationship between drop-out and RAE is more complex and multifactorial.

Axis-I psychiatric morbidity in a sample of Egyptian competitive athletes

Background Competitive sport environment puts athletes under a significant amount of psychological burden and stress. Despite the great effort and recent interest in athletic achievements, studies on the prevalence of mental health disorders in athletes are still lacking. Aim This study aimed to provide an insight into the prevalence of different psychiatric morbidities in a sample of Egyptian competitive athletes and to identify the association of psychiatric morbidity prevalence with the athlete's sex, weekly training hours, sport type, and sport injury as a unique experience facing the athletes. Participants and methods A total of 101 competitive athletes were recruited from some of the sporting clubs in Cairo and Giza by using a stratified random sampling method. They were interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) diagnoses. Results SCID-I showed that 31.6% of the participants had current Axis-I psychiatric diagnosis, whereas 34.7% of them reported a history of past psychiatric morbidity. Phobic and adjustment disorders were the most common current psychiatric disorders among athletes. Depressive disorder not otherwise specified and dysthymia were encountered more in female athletes, and substance use was more common in their male counterparts. Combat players had the highest rate of adjustment disorder (48%), whereas the power games athletes had the highest rate of drug abuse (12%). Significant physical injury during the past year was associated with high rates of dysthymia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social phobia. Conclusion Athletes in Egypt showed among them a high rate of Axis-I psychiatric diagnoses, which could not be ignored and necessitates professional mental health attention for early detection and intervention.

The first 25 years of the Queensland Rugby Football League: Claims to legitimacy in annual reports

Despite the cultural importance of sporting organizations, little academic attention has been paid to the legitimizing role of their annual reports. In this paper we examine the role of annual reports in establishing the legitimacy of a new organization, the Queensland Rugby Football League (QRFL), founded in 1908. Contextualized with media reports from newspapers of the day, 12 annual reports from QRFL’s first 25 years are analysed and interpreted using insights from legitimacy theory. Through the presentation of audited financial statements and persuasive narrative accounts of its operations and success, QRFL made claims to pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy as it sought to establish a niche as a new football code and organization. This contextualized study situates the annual reports in their historical landscape, providing insights about how they contributed to QRFL’s efforts in overcoming the liability of newness in a competitive sports environment.

Toward a Theory of Coaching Paradox

Multiple tensions exist as part of the coaching process. How a coach responds to these tensions is a fundamental determinant of an athlete or team’s fate. In today’s highly competitive, socially demanding, and ever-changing sports environment, and as the expectations on coaches become more complex, the paradox becomes a critical lens to understand and assist contemporary coaches. This article defines the paradox based on a synthesis of existing literature and proposes an organizing framework for categorizing tensions relevant to coaching. This review draws distinctions between the paradox and other similar constructs, such as dilemmas and dialectics. In doing so, it is suggested that tensions are inherent and persistent to the coaching process and that purposeful management of paradoxical forces over time can lead to a tradition of success. Together, the review of literature and frameworks provide the foundations of a paradoxical perspective of coaching, offer clarity, provoke discussion, and fuel future research.

Relationships between perfectionistic strivings, perfectionistic concerns, and competitive sport level

ObjectiveTo determine if the level of competitive sport in which people participate is related to levels of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns in sport. DesignA cross-sectional correlational design was employed. MethodA total of 383 (245 female, 138 male) undergraduate students (M age = 20.99 years, SD = 3.40) identified the level of competitive sport in which they were currently involved (i.e., no sport, recreational sport, moderately competitive sport, and highly competitive sport). Participants also completed a domain-specific measure of perfectionism that assessed perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns in sport. ResultsResults from sequential regression analyses indicated that competitive sport level explained a significant amount of variance in perfectionistic strivings (p < .001) when the overlap between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns was controlled. Competitive sport level did not explain a significant amount of variance in perfectionistic concerns when the overlap between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns was controlled. ConclusionsFindings indicate that higher (more competitive/serious) levels of competitive sport are associated with higher perfectionistic strivings in sport. Discussion focusses on the potential roles that (a) the competitive sport environment may have upon the development of perfectionistic strivings in sport, and (b) perfectionistic strivings may play in enabling athletes to compete at higher levels of competitive sport.

Blowing the Whistle Off the Field of Play

Unethical behavior within collegiate sports departments appears to be commonplace. Athletic programs at a number of high-profile universities have been sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the past decade. When athletic departments participate in corrupt behavior, the possibility of whistle-blowing exists. Although organizational scholars have developed theoretical models describing whistle-blowing processes, it is unclear whether these models accurately depict whistle-blower’s experiences in the collegiate sports industry. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to generate a model describing the experiences of whistle-blowers operating in the intercollegiate sports industry. Thirteen whistle-blowers were interviewed for this study; analysis of case studies revealed that whistle-blowing occurred over five stages and was significantly affected by the collegiate athletics context. Of particular consequence was the hypermasculine, highly competitive collegiate sports environment.

Retaining Sport Coaches: A qualitative Assessment of Retention Strategies at Sport Clubs in South Africa

Retaining key employees in any organization is critical to the sustainability and long term success of the organization. Sport organizations are no exception. In today’s competitive and professional sport environment, coaching resources are vital for the development of future sport ‘stars’. Researchers, in their examination of strategies affecting sport performance, conclude that sport coaches are one of the critical success factors in sport performance. In this regard it is of utmost importance that sport organizations retain their staff and specifically coaches to face the challenges in in a highly competitive environment. Coach turnover is a common phenomenon that most sport organizations experience. Trends in coach turnover both nationally and internationally reveal that sport coaches do not stay long in most of the popular sports. The increasing demands of fans and the media place tremendous pressure on both the organization and coach to deliver better results and performance. Unlike many corporate organizations where employees leave due to stressors, lack of commitment in the organization and job dissatisfaction, sport coaches are forced to leave either because fans are dissatisfied with their performance or management perceive that they are not contributing to achieving the objectives of the organization. Currently it is difficult to assess actually what strategies sport organizations use to attract and retain sport coaches. The purpose of this exploratory study was, therefore, to identify strategies sport clubs have in place to retain sport coaches. In order to collect information-rich data, a qualitative research approach utilising telephonic interviews was adopted for the study. The rationale for using this approach lies in the fact that real-life experiences of the respondents involved in the phenomenon being researched would be obtained. Emerging from the content analysis of the data were the following strategies used by sport clubs to retain their coaches: compensation, training and development, participatory decision making, provision of resources, participation in the budgeting process, and contracts. It was concluded that it is important for sport organizations to have an in-depth knowledge of the needs of coaches. While it is important to acknowledge that despite the implementation of various retention strategies, not all sport coaches are guaranteed to remain in the club; it is almost certain that coaches whose needs are not met are more likely to leave. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n2p651

What Motivates Donors to Athletic Programs

In the highly competitive college sport environment, many varsity sport programs have financial systems independent from the academic side of the university. These programs function on multimillion dollar budgets partially funded through ticket sales, licensed merchandise, and television rights. However, donations from alumni and boosters account for the most substantial portion of many athletic budgets. Fund-raising efforts in this environment have not had available models of donor behavior from which to streamline solicitation efforts. Using the Existence Relatedness Growth (ERG) Theory as a guide, this article fills this gap by reporting on the development and testing of an integrated model of college donor motives: A Model of Athletic Donor Motivation (MADOM). Using a sample of college sport donors ( N = 532), the results yield a psychometrically sound eight-factor measurement scale: A Scale of Athletic Donor Motivation (SADOM). Study implications and practical applications of the scale are discussed.

Sport-Related Concussion: “How many is too many?”

The long-term effects of multiple sport-related concussions are currently at the center of debate in the popular press and scientific community. The question, "How many concussions are too many," is frequently asked in the competitive sport environment by parents, athletes, and coaches. While research suggests that a history of concussion influences the risk and recovery from subsequent concussion, studies investigating the long-term effects of multiple concussions are less conclusive. This paper reviews the literature on multiple concussions and the potential long-term consequences of these injuries. Furthermore, this paper addresses how concussion history can inform clinical and return-to-play decisions. Recent studies incorporating novel brain imaging and electrophysiological technology for assessing residual impairment from multiple concussions are reviewed and the clinical implications of this work are discussed.

Self-Regulatory Processes Employed During Self-Modeling: A Qualitative Analysis

Self-modeling involves the observation of oneself on an edited videotape to show a desired performance (Dowrick &amp; Dove, 1980). While research has investigated the effects of self-modeling on physical performance and psychological mechanisms in relation to skill acquisition (e.g., Clark &amp; Ste-Marie, 2007), no research to date has used a qualitative approach to examine the thought processes athletes engage in during the viewing of a self-modeling video in a competitive sport environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the self-regulatory processes of ten divers who viewed a self-modeling video during competitions. After competition, the divers were asked four questions relating to the self-modeling video. Zimmerman’s (2000) self-regulation framework was adopted for deductive analysis of the responses to those questions. The results indicated that a number of self-regulatory processes were employed, and they were mainly those in the forethought (75%) and self-reflection (25%) phases of Zimmerman’s model. Directions for future research in self-regulation and self-modeling are discussed.

Attitudes towards the risk of HIV transmission in sport

Objective. There is a real risk of transmitting HIV through open wounds during participation in sport. The aim of this study was to investigate athlete s knowledge and attitudes towards HIV transmission in a competitive sport environment how their sporting codes, demographics, knowledge and interaction with colleagues influenced their attitudes. Design. A questionnaire was administered to elite athletes (N = 575) competing in 11 sport codes including high, medium and low-risk sports, and undergraduate students (N = 46) from a Sport Science Department. Athletes from all economic backgrounds, who competed at national, provincial or at first-division level, were included in this study. The questionnaire was distributed during national tournaments and training sessions. Results. Sixty-three per cent of athletes believed that a risk of HIV transmission exists in sport participation. Fiftyeight per cent believed that they had a right to know if a teammate/opponent was HIV-positive, and 62% believed that all athletes should be tested for HIV. Fifty per cent of the respondents indicated that they would participate against individuals who were HIV-positive. Most athletes (88%) believed that more education on HIV transmission in sport was needed and 58% felt that HIV should be a notifiable disease in sport. Forty-six per cent of the athletes indicated that they would participate in competition even though they were HIV-positive. Conclusion. The threat of infection or transmission did not deter athletes who were afflicted or unafflicted with HIV from participating in competitive sports. South African Sports Medicine Vol.17(1) 2005: 11-18