Competitive Team Sports Research Articles

Media interpretation of sports-related concussion in Irish rugby union: reinforcing or reshaping the sport ethic?

Given that ‘sports injury reaches most people indirectly as a set of images transmitted by the mass media’, this article examines the role that the Irish media performs in promoting narratives surrounding sports-related concussion (SRC). Through a thematic analysis of the media coverage of two elite Irish rugby players’ concussion experiences, the article critiques whether the media’s presentation of SRC challenges the traditional norms of competitive team sport. A central dual narrative emanated out of the media’s framing of SRC, demonstrating both growing concern over the injury and a culture of risk continuing to exist. While concerns over SRC were emphasised, the narrative that playing through pain is a core ethos of sports participation was also reinforced. As such, the Irish media can be seen to simultaneously promote notions of caution towards SRC whilst solidifying the idea that certain ‘sport ethic’ dimensions remain significant to athletes themselves.

Effectiveness and Kinematic Analysis of Initial Step Patterns for Multidirectional Acceleration in Team and Racquet Sports.

The ability for quick multidirectional accelerations is crucial for athletic performance in team and racquet sports. So far, there has been little research dedicated to different initial step patterns usually applied by players. Therefore, the present study investigated the kinematic characteristics and effectiveness of the following step patterns: Jab Step (JS), Pivot Step (PS), Gravity Step (GS) and Counter Step (CS). Twenty-two male competitive team and racquet sport athletes completed maximum lateral accelerations utilizing the step patterns. Following familiarization with each step pattern, three 5 m sprints (5 m STs) into both directions (left & right) were completed. Sprint times, the translation of the center of mass (CoM) and joint angles were obtained using three-dimensional motion analysis. 5 m STs of the CS were faster compared to the GS and PS for both directions. A detailed distance-time analysis revealed that for shorter distances only the JS was faster than the GS. Regarding the sequence in which the maximum angular velocities (max. ) in the hip, the knee, and the ankle were reached during the push off, there was a proximal-to-distal sequence for the JS and the CS, but a distal-to proximal sequence for the GS and the PS. The results reveal that the JS and the CS are superior for accelerations towards the lateral direction. Specifically, they indicate that the JS is more suitable for covering very short distances and the CS is superior for covering further distances. In addition, the distal-to-proximal sequence of max. during the push-off in the GS and the PS might indicate lower kinematic efficiency.

An extended validation of the Communal Coping Strategies Inventory for Competitive Team Sports: A multilevel approach

A questionnaire that can properly measure communal coping in sport is required to further investigate and understand how individuals in a team collectively cope with stressful sport situations. The Communal Coping Strategies Inventory for Competitive Team Sports (CCSICTS; Leprince et al., 2019) needed to be validated at the collective level and in its situational form to be used in broader sport situations. The aims of the present work were to improve and further validate the factorial structure of the CCSICTS at both individual and team levels. With a sample of 380 French athletes, representing 56 teams, Study 1 showed support for a multilevel, hierarchical and four-dimensional factorial structure of the revised version of the CCSICTS at both individual and team levels. With a sample of 641 French athletes, representing 75 teams, Study 2 confirmed the factorial structure obtained in Study 1 at individual and team levels, and its validity in sport-specific situations. The results of both studies also highlighted a bifactorial structure, allowing interpretation of communal coping as an overall team capacity to adapt to stress. As such, the psychometric qualities of the CCSICTS-R have been established at individual and team levels. The CCSICTS-R enables proper and distinct measurement of the characteristics of communal coping in sport (i.e., hierarchical, multidimensional, multilevel, both situational and dispositional) and can be used from both research and practical perspectives.

REVIEWING THE KENYAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM THROUGH A DE-COLONIZATION EFFORT

Physical education is an educational process that uses physical activity as a means to help individuals acquire skills, fitness, knowledge, and attitudes that contribute to their optimal development and well-being. The history of PE in Africa dates back to pre-colonial times. In the pre-colonial period, traditional African physical activities and recreation were characterized by being local and community-based. The recreational and physical activities reflected the lifestyle of the said community paying attention to the specific needs of that particular community. People engaged in traditional games and sports activities such as wrestling, racing exercises, stick fights, hunting with the use of spears and arrows, board games, bullfights, dances, and rustling among others. These activities were mainly driven by the need for survival and prestige. At the advent of colonization, the Europeans introduced western and European education systems in Africa and most of their colonies. Western-oriented physical education was also introduced and this opened the door to European games and competitive and team sports. This was propagated at the expense of local and traditional African physical activities which were perceived as barbaric. Consequently, physical education as a subject attracted a cold reception right from the onset. However, even though viewed negatively, the same aspects of physical education aspects introduced by the colonialists have persisted in post-colonial Africa. Very little has changed in terms of the content as well as the approach to teaching. This has seen the subject relegated to the periphery in favor of what is considered academic subjects. In addition to its being viewed as being too much western-oriented, physical education has also been criticized for having been introduced to achieve other non-educational objectives such as military training, training of lower-rank civil servants, the transmission of middle-class values of conformity and also for deferred gratification, and social control. Consequently, to date despite numerous studies linking physical education participation and cognitive development, it has been difficult to show that link in Africa. The emphasis on competitive team sports that were introduced by the colonialists has also seen the subject being viewed as of no value beyond the school, especially for those with no interest in sports. This paper argues that for physical education to play its rightful role within the education sector, there is a need to decolonize the teaching of the same. Teachers need to contextualize the games and sports so as to make them more relevant to the participants. They also need to emphasize how the skills learned and knowledge gained can be useful beyond school life and this will make the subject more meaningful for the participants.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0261/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Gendered associations between e-cigarette use, cigarette smoking, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour in a sample of Canadian adolescents.

To examine associations between e-cigarette use, cigarette smoking, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour among a large sample of Canadian adolescents (Grades 9-12) by sex. Cross-sectional data from 55,629 students who participated in COMPASS Year 6 (2017-2018) were used. Exposures included e-cigarette use and cigarette smoking. Outcomes included meeting recommendations for moderate- to vigorous- physical activity (MVPA;≥60 min/d), muscular strengthening exercises (MSE;≥3 time/wk), and recreational screen time (ST;≤2 h/day) and participating in intramurals or competitive team sports. Logistic regressions were performed after adjusting for relevant covariates. Male adolescents showed higher prevalence of e-cigarette use (40.0% vs 31.3%) and cigarette smoking (4.4% vs 2.9%) than females. Both males and females who used e-cigarettes were more likely to meet MVPA and MSE recommendations, but less likely to meet the ST recommendation than those who did not use e-cigarettes. E-cigarette use was also consistently associated with more sport participation in males, however, among females the results were mixed. Current cigarette use was associated with meeting the MVPA recommendation and less participation in intramurals in males; however, in females, current cigarette smoking was consistently associated with less participation in any sports. Former cigarette use was associated with participation in competitive team sport within school and meeting the MSE recommendation in females only. This study found that associations between e-cigarette use and cigarette smoking with physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sport participation are largely gendered. Identifying differential co-occurrence of risk behaviours by gender is important for future health promotion efforts targeting physical activity among adolescents.

The Correlation Between the Strength of the Shoulder and Trunk Muscular Systems in Elite Adolescent Water Polo Athletes.

Introduction Water polo is a competitive team sport played in the water between two teams of seven players each. Water polo players must have swimming speed, strong abdominal and back muscles, and strong shoulder muscles to cope with this sport's special conditions. In this study, we investigate the possible association of shoulder and trunk muscle systems in adolescent water polo athletes of high demands. Materials and methods The research included 42 water polo players aged 14-16, who train regularly for at least five years, six times a week, and participate in national championships and national teams. The athletes were evaluated on the strength and torque of these muscular systems using the isokinetic dynamometer Biodex System 4 Pro (Biodex Medical Systems, Inc, Shirley, NY). The correlation of the results was done using the statistical package SPSS 21. Results The correlations revealed statistically significant differences in trunk extension in combination with the shoulder external/internal rotation ratio. Also, most of the correlations occurred between the trunk and non-dominant limb of the athletes and, more often, in the female athletes. Furthermore, for the hand grip, the male athletes showed a greater difference in strength between the dominant and the non-dominant member than female athletes. Finally, the evaluation of the trunk extension/flexion ratio and external/internal rotation ratio for the shoulder joint showed that many athletes are outside the normal range and need targeted strengthening. Conclusion The negative correlation coefficient between trunk extension/flexion and shoulder external/internal rotation indicates that the trunk extension mechanism helps for better internal rotation of the shoulder. Therefore, water polo players should focus on the training of the stretching mechanism of the trunk and also give weight to achieving a balance between the competing muscular systems of the trunk and the shoulder. Thus, athletes can maximize their skills and, at the same time, protect themselves from injuries.

Managing the Wellbeing of Elite Rugby Union Players from an Occupational Safety and Health Perspective.

The intense, physical contact nature of rugby union often encourages the normalization of risk-taking behaviour resulting in a relatively high acceptance of risk. This study aims to explore safety culture in rugby union from an OSH perspective, with the purpose of assisting coaches and management in their decision-making processes to improve players’ health, welfare, and long-term well-being. In terms of data collection, this study involved semi-structured interviews with senior support staff (n = 15) in elite rugby union. Interview transcripts underwent inductive analysis prior to an abductive analysis that was guided by an established occupational-safety-and-health (OSH) framework. Rugby union players’ safety can be considered from two dimensions: management’s commitment to safety (i.e., safety prioritization, safety empowerment, and safety justice), players’ involvement in safety (i.e., safety prioritization, and trust in other players’ safety competence, and players’ safety concern for the opposition players). Within the themes identified, players’ attitude towards their opponents’ safety which has been rarely considered as a factor for injury prevention is also discussed in this study. If sport support staff (i.e., managers/coaches/medical) can become more involved in players’ performance-orientated training using OSH management processes to aid in their decision-making, their exists the capacity to benefit players’ safe return to play after injury rehabilitation. Meanwhile, directing the development of appropriate behavioural educational interventions to raise safety-awareness amongst players can improve their long-term health and well-being and provide them with the necessary safety and health information to support their own decision-making processes. As a multidisciplinary design, this study contributes new multidisciplinary insights that have the potential to advance managerial practices utilizing an OSH perspective, including decision-making supporting risk alleviation for safety and long-term health and wellbeing initiatives in competitive team sports.

Collectivism Impairs Team Performance When Relational Goals Conflict With Group Goals.

This research challenges the idea that teams from more collectivistic cultures tend to perform better. We propose that in contexts in which there are tradeoffs between group goals (i.e., what is best for the group) and relational goals (i.e., what is best for one's relationships with specific group members), people in less collectivistic cultures primarily focus on group goals but those in more collectivistic cultures focus on both group and relational goals, which can lead to suboptimal decisions. An archival analysis of 100 years of data across three major competitive team sports found that teams from more collectivistic nations consistently underperformed, even after controlling for a number of nation and team characteristics. Three follow-up studies with 108 Chinese soccer players, 109 Singapore students, and 119 Chinese and the U.S. adults provided evidence for the underlying mechanism (i.e., prioritizing relational goals over group goals). Overall, this research suggests a more balanced view of collectivism, highlighting an important context in which collectivism can impair team performance.

Correlation of Body Composition and Coordination of Specific Footballers’ Position among Professional Football Players

The game of football is a competitive team sport that requires an essential component of motor fitness, body composition, psychological, technical, and tactical components for enhanced performance. This study assessed the correlation of body composition and coordination of specific footballers’ positions among professional football players. This study utilised a correlational research design. Participants in this study comprised twenty-nine (29) football players who play for a professional team in Nigeria. There were 12 forwards, 6 midfielders, 4 goalkeepers, and 7 defenders among the participants. The participants’ hand-eye coordination was evaluated using the alternate hand wall toss test. The beurer diagnostic scale was used to measure the participants’ body fat percentage and muscle mass. Results were analysed using pearson’s product moment correlation and linear regression. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. A significant positive moderate correlation was observed between muscle mass and coordination among forwards (r = 0.550, p = 0.044). There was no significant correlation between muscle mass and coordination among defenders, midfielders, and goalkeepers. Likewise, there was no significant correlation between body fat percentage and coordination among football players in all the playing positions. The hand-eye coordination of forwards is significantly correlated with their muscle mass. In other words, a forward’s muscle mass affects their degree of hand-eye coordination. Therefore, football regulatory bodies and trainers could utilise the muscle mass of forwards to predict their hand-eye coordination ability. This finding should be considered by the coaches and governing bodies of football teams before designating players to playing positions in the game of football. Furthermore, there is a need for training programs specifically designed to monitor and enhance the muscle mass of forwards in a football team in order to enhance hand-eye coordination.

Simple mechanism rules the dynamics of volleyball

In volleyball games, we define a rally as the succession of events observed since the ball is served until one of the two teams on the court scores the point. In this process, athletes evolve in response to physical and information constraints, spanning several spatiotemporal scales and interplaying co-adaptively with the environment. Aiming to study the emergence of complexity in this system, we carried out a study focused on three steps: data collection, data analysis, and modeling. First, we collected data from 20 high-level professional volleyball games. Then we conducted a data-driven analysis from where we identified fundamental insights that we used to define a parsimonious stochastic model for the dynamics of the game. On these bases, we show that it is possible to give a closed-form expression for the probability that the players perform n hits in a rally using only two stochastic variables. Our results fully agree with the empirical observations and represent a new advance in the comprehension of team-sports competition complexity and dynamics.

Competitive Team Sport Without External Referees: The Case of the Flying Disc Sport Ultimate

ABSTRACT Ultimate is a competitive team sport that is played, even at the highest level of competition, without external referees. The key to Ultimate as a self-refereed sport is the so-called ‘Spirit of the Game’. As this paper aims to show, the Spirit of the Game closely resembles Habermas’s theory of communicative action. This suggests that Habermas’s theory might be used to spell out the philosophical presuppositions of the Spirit of the Game. Most importantly, the requirements for players to serve as referees of their own game specified in the ‘Rules of Ultimate’ turn out to be reformulation of the four validity claims of communicative action. Moreover, the Spirit of the Game can be interpreted as aiming towards facilitating real-life decision-making procedures that resemble as much as possible Habermas’s concept of an ideal speech situation. On the other hand, Ultimate might serve as a case study for exploring how Habermas’s idea of rational deliberation works in the practice of a competitive sporting environment. Most importantly, it makes manifest that self-refereeing is a trust-based system. This suggests that communicative rationality can only unfold its power—the unforced force of the better argument—within a context in which participants trust that everyone participates in good faith towards the common goal of finding the best decision. Hence, investigating the case of Ultimate allows us to draw broader conclusions about the requirements for rational deliberation to work in practice.

The Birthplace Effect in 14-18-Year-Old Athletes Participating in Competitive Individual and Team Sports.

The birthplace (the place where an athlete was born) effect (BPE) has been found to be one of the environmental variables associated with early talent development and the achievement of a high level of proficiency in sport. The purpose of the current study is twofold: (1) to calculate the BPE in 14–18-year-old athletes who participated in individual and team sports and (2) examine how coaches perceived this effect. The participants were 1397 athletes (390 females and 1007 males) who competed in 5 individual (gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, and track and field) and 5 team (basketball, soccer, team handball, volleyball, and water polo) sports, as well as 147 coaches who provided their preliminary thoughts about the BPE. Data analyses revealed that although the BPE was not found to be associated with cities of a similar size, it was observed that growing up in cities of small and medium sizes was more beneficial than growing up in towns or cities of other sizes. Most of the coaches believed that certain characteristics of the place or city where the athlete grew up (e.g., proximity to sport facilities) could contribute positively to the athlete’s development. We discuss how the BPE data can aid policymakers in developing a sport policy associated with early phases of talent development.

Exploring the relations between participation in youth sport and parenting strategies used in adulthood

ABSTRACT Past researchers found that youth sports participation was associated with improvements in youth mental health, academic achievement, emotional regulation, and behavior. This study focuses on whether those who participated in team sports as youth might exhibit more effective parenting styles and strategies than those who did not. Data were collected through an online survey of 525 Pennsylvania residents with a child between the ages of 3 and 17. Data were collected in October 2020. Youth who participated in recreational or competitive team sports were more positively involved with their children than others. Recreational sports participants used more positive discipline strategies than others; this trend was not observed for competitive athletes. Competitive team sport participation was associated with more inconsistent discipline and poorer supervision of children, a trend not found among recreational athletes. Further study is needed to assess change in youth competencies over time and by degree of participation.

The Influence of a Competitive Field Hockey Match on Cognitive Function.

Despite the known positive effects of acute exercise on cognition, the effects of a competitive team sport match are unknown. In a randomized crossover design, 20 female and 17 male field hockey players (19.7 ± 1.2 years) completed a battery of cognitive tests (Visual Search, Stroop, Corsi Blocks, and Rapid Visual Information Processing) prior to, at half-time, and immediately following a competitive match (or control trial of seated rest); with effect sizes (ES) presented as raw ES from mixed effect models. Blood samples were collected prior to and following the match and control trial, and analyzed for adrenaline, noradrenaline, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cathepsin B, and cortisol. The match improved response times for a simple perception task at full-time (ES = –14 ms; P < 0.01) and response times on the complex executive function task improved at half-time (ES = –44 ms; P < 0.01). Working memory declined at full-time on the match (ES = –0.6 blocks; P < 0.01). The change in working memory was negatively correlated with increases in cortisol (r = –0.314, P = 0.01; medium), as was the change in simple perception response time and the change in noradrenaline concentration (r = –0.284, P = 0.01; small to medium). This study is the first to highlight the effects a competitive hockey match can have on cognition. These findings have implications for performance optimization, as understanding the influence on specific cognitive domains across a match allows for the investigation into strategies to improve these aspects.

A Moderated Mediation Analysis of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Well-Being and Sport Readiness of Italian Team Sports Players: The Role of Perceived Safety of the Training Environment.

Background: The protective restrictions (e.g., lockdowns, quarantines, social and physical distancing) consequent to the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 posited new challenges to athletes practicing competitive team sports. This study aimed to gain an understanding of the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being and sports readiness to train and to compete of competitive female and male athletes practicing outdoor (i.e., rugby, soccer) and indoor (i.e., volleyball, basketball) team sports who were active during the Italian first and second waves of COVID-19. Methods: An online survey assessing demographic characteristics, perceived safety of the training environment, COVID-19 risk, fear of COVID-19, well-being, and sport (training and competition) readiness was administered to 619 team sports players. We examined differences by gender, previous COVID-19 experience, and team sport setting (i.e., outdoor vs. indoor). A moderated mediation analysis was conducted to assess the impact of perceived COVID-19 risk and fear of COVID-19 on athletes’ well-being and sports readiness, using perceived safety of the training environment as a mediator and gender and sport setting as moderators. Results: Indoor team sports and female athletes showed higher perceived COVID-19 risk, while athletes with no-COVID-19 experience reported higher fear of COVID-19. Perceived COVID-19 risk (directly and via perceived safety of the training environment) and fear of COVID-19 were negatively associated with athletes’ well-being and sports readiness. Conclusions: This study highlighted an understanding of the psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the role of the perceived safety of the training environment on athletes’ well-being and sports readiness. Future studies may advance safety-based interventions to promote well-being and a safer return to sport.

Prevalence and Patterns of Sport Supplements Use among Gym Attendants and Competitive Athletes in North Cyprus

Aims: The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the prevalence, motivation for use, information and purchase sources of supplements among male competitive team sports athletes and recreational gym users in North Cyprus.&#x0D; Study Design: The sample size was calculated based on the total population size according to the reports obtained from the gyms and the records of the related federations (soccer, basketball, volleyball) of TRNC. For a confidence level of 95 % and a confidence interval of 2.5 %; the required sample size was calculated as 804. The study covered more participants to ensure the statistical power to remain over 80 %. Calculations were performed with G*Power (for Mac Version 3.1.9.3).&#x0D; Place and Duration of Study: 8 gyms located in 6 different districts in Northern Cyprus between june2020 and July 2020.&#x0D; Methodology: A structured questionnaire measuring prevalence and patterns of supplements was administered to 902 participants (329 gym attendants, 562 team sports athletes, 18-40 years old, men). Statistical differences between sex, age group and sports participation were done by using a Chi-square analysis. Differences were considered significant at a p-value &lt;0.05.&#x0D; Results: Overall, 54% of all subjects reported use of dietary supplements, showing a significantly higher percentage among gym attendants (62%) compared to team sport athletes (50%). The most popular dietary supplement among all subjects was protein (46.9%), followed by amino acids (22.6%), multivitamins (20.7%) and creatine (18.8%). Overall, the most important reasons for using supplements were increasing strength (52%), increasing energy (37.6%), insufficient nutrition (32.4%) and increase durability (32.4%). Trainers were the most common source of information for both groups and overall (33.5%), followed by gym friends for the gym attendants and pharmacies for the team sport athletes (30.2%).&#x0D; Conclusion: The prevalence was higher among the gym attendants compared to competitive athletes. This finding is in conflict with the related literature. It might be explained by the low level of competition and athletic performance in North Cyprus. The most popular source of information was trainers in our study and these findings were in compliance with the related literature.

Three-sided football: DIY football and social transformationalism

ABSTRACT Devised as an illustrative example of ‘triolectics’, Danish artist and philosopher Asger Jorn first conceived of three-sided football (3SF) in 1962 as a way to radically transform the world. However, 3SF remained a purely abstracted philosophical concept until 1994 when a group of anarchists, architects and artists decided to play the game for the first time. Since these early experiments, 3SF has been played and developed across the globe, from anti-racist football festivals in Germany, contemporary art installations in France, through to youth outreach programs in Colombia. Far beyond its emergent context, the game continues to resonate for a myriad of social actors in search of bottom-up ways to enact transformational change in contemporary culture. Drawing from forty-four semi-structured interviews with players, coaches, curators and activists, this paper provides the first ethnography into 3SF and privileges much needed perspectives into how ‘DIY Football’ initiatives are actively redefining individual and collective relationships to sport and politics in informal volunteer settings. Utilising the work of Bourdieu as a useful conceptual heuristic, it details how participants reflect upon, and negotiate, the challenges of reaching beyond the ‘doxic logics’ of binary competitive team sport. Moreover, how the democratic ‘desportised’ spaces of 3SF transcend quotidian sporting contexts and offer distinct forms of political renewal, social inclusion and practical education. This study further contends that the horizontalist non-hierarchical nature of the game develops critical consciousness and community leadership for those involved in the play.

Comparisons of Daily Energy Intake vs. Expenditure Using the GeneActiv Accelerometer in Elite Australian Football Athletes.

Salagaras, BS, Mackenzie-Shalders, KL, Nelson, MJ, Fraysse, F, Wycherley, TP, Slater, GJ, McLellan, C, Kumar, K, and Coffey, VG. Comparisons of daily energy intake vs. expenditure using the GeneActiv accelerometer in elite Australian Football athletes. J Strength Cond Res 35(5): 1273-1278, 2021-To assess validity of the GeneActiv accelerometer for use within an athlete population and compare energy expenditure (EE) with energy and macronutrient intake of elite Australian Football athletes during a competition week. The GeneActiv was first assessed for utility during high-intensity exercise with indirect calorimetry. Thereafter, 14 professional Australian Football athletes (age, 24 ± 4 [SD] y; height, 1.87 ± 0.08 m; body mass, 86 ± 10 kg) wore the accelerometer and had dietary intake assessed via dietitian-led 24-hour recalls throughout a continuous 7 days of competition period (including match day). There was a significant relationship between metabolic equivalents and GeneActiv g·min-1 (SEE 1.77 METs; r2 = 0.64; p < 0.0001). Across the in-season week a significant difference only occurred on days 3 and 4 (day 3: energy intake [EI] EI 137 ± 31 kJ·kg-1·d-1; 11,763 ± 2,646 kJ·d-1 and EE: 186 ± 14 kJ·kg-1·d-1; 16,018 ± 1973 kJ·d-1; p < 0.05; d = -1.4; day 4: EI: 179 ± 44 kJ·kg-1·d-1, 15,413 ± 3,960 kJ·d-1 and EE: 225 ± 42 kJ·kg-1·d-1; 19,313 ± 3,072 kJ·d-1; d = -0.7). Carbohydrate intake (CI) was substantially below current sports nutrition recommendations on 6 of 7 days with deficits ranging from -1 to -7.2 g·kg-1·d-1 (p < 0.05), whereas daily protein and fat intake was adequate. In conclusion, the GeneActiv provides effective estimation of EE during weekly preparation for a professional team sport competition. Australian Footballers attempt to periodize dietary EI to varying daily training loads but fail to match expenditure on higher-training load days. Specific dietary strategies to increase CI may be beneficial to achieve appropriate energy balance and macronutrient distribution, particularly on days where athletes undertake multiple training sessions.

Gender-collaborative training in elite university sport: Challenging gender essentialism through integrated training in gender-segregated sports

Competitive teamsport at university level is predominantly segregated by gender in many western countries, despite concerns that gender segregation in sport can perpetuate sexism and gender inequality. While policies and activities seek to challenge sexism and gender inequality, the use of gender collaboration within a gender-segregated system as a method to achieve this has received little attention. In this article, we draw on a year-long ethnography of elite sport and 48 in-depth interviews with elite male and female athletes at a British university to explore the impact of various forms of gender mixing during training, which we call ‘gender-collaborative training’. While men’s and women’s teams competing against each other in practice matches resulted in gender-essentialist narratives attributing difference to biology, gender-integrated practices and workouts provided opportunities for men and women to train together without the gendered sport-specific associations that can reproduce sexism. We call for gender-collaborative training to be adopted by gender-segregated teams, and suggest that where there is resistance to any integration, teams start with mixed physical workouts and progress to mixed sport-specific training and then mixed competitive training.

The relationships between perfectionism, angry reactions, and antisocial behavior in team sport.

Perfectionism involves extreme requirements for perfection that may give rise to antisocial behaviour in team sport. To test this possibility, we first examined pathways linking self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism to antisocial behaviour. We then examined pathways linking other-oriented perfectionism to antisocial behaviour via angry reactions to poor teammate performance. A cross-sectional design was employed. Competitive team sport athletes (n = 257, Mage = 20.71 years, s = 4.10) completed measures of perfectionism, angry reactions to poor teammate performance, and antisocial behaviour. In testing the first aim, we found that self-oriented perfectionism shared no relationship with antisocial teammate behaviour and a negative relationship with antisocial opponent behaviour. By contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism shared positive relationships with antisocial behaviour toward teammates and opponents. In testing the second aim, we found that other-oriented perfectionism shared positive indirect relationships with antisocial behaviour toward teammates and opponents via angry reactions to poor teammate performance. In line with recent theoretical assertions, these findings suggest that there may be a darker side to perfectionism that is related with antisocial behaviour in team sport.