Athletic Success Research Articles

Power‐VR: Interactive 3D virtual environment to increase motivation levels of powerlifters during training sessions

AbstractMotivation is one of the important factors that increase the success of athletes, especially who lift weights. It increases not only the success of the athletes but also influences other notions such as increasing self‐confidence, decreasing anxiety, and improving endurance. Although motivation has a key role in the performance of athletes, most of the athletes may be fully motivated only in competition environments. However, being motivated only in competition environments is not enough for athletes since they spend most of their time in training. If they are motivated in training environments as motivated as in competition environments, they can increase their performance, however, being motivated during training sessions is not easy since there are not enough motivational factors, such as spectators, in training environments. In order to solve this problem, this study aims to increase the motivation levels of powerlifters during training sessions by developing a virtual competition environment. In this environment, the athletes experience a virtual competition environment by using HTC Vive. To understand the efficiency of the virtual environment, it was tested with 32 professional athletes. The findings illustrated that using VR technology was beneficial to increase the level of motivation of powerlifters during training sessions.

What It Means to “Win” in Small College Athletics: Strategic Contingency Theory and Alternative Success

The purpose of this study was to gain a deep understanding of how athletics success is defined and operationalized for small colleges in Division III athletics. Strategic Contingency Theory was utilized as a framework to examine and better understand how the small college athletics department operates “successfully.” The underlying premise of Strategic Contingency Theory is that an organization must adapt in order to survive. In-depth interviews were conducted with NCAA Division III Athletics Directors, campus administrators (e.g., President, Provost, Vice President for Enrollment Management), and Faculty Athletics Representatives to better understand how university and athletics administrators define athletics program success at small colleges. In all, 33 interviews were conducted across seven states at 11 different Division III institutions where student-athletes comprise 20% or more of the student body.

The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Relationship between Approach Motivational System and Sports Success among Elite Speed Skating Athletes and Physical Education Students.

Background: While the association between self-efficacy and sports success has been well established in previous studies, little is known regarding whether the basic approach motivation system contributes to this relationship in athletes. The study examines associations between self-reported temperamental approach disposition, self-efficacy, and predispositions to sports success in athletes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between August 3 and 30 November 2020. The participants were 156 athletes, aged 16–34 years (M = 21.57, SD = 3.58, 41.67% women), in two groups: 54 elite athletes in speed skating (EASS) and 102 physical education students (PES). The online survey consisted of the Reinforced Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and Sports Success Scale (SSS). Results: There were no differences in self-efficacy and sports success in terms of gender, sports discipline, and level of competitions. The Behavioral Activation System (BAS) results were lower in the EASS sample compared with in the PES group. Self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the relationships between BAS and sports success among athletes, with sport discipline as a moderator between BAS and self-efficacy. Sports success in speed skating relies strongly on BAS, while a weak link has been found in other sports disciplines. Conclusions: BAS is directly correlated to sports success and indirectly related through self-efficacy. Mental training should be focused on maintaining self-efficacy and reward motivation in athletes to increase their sports success.

The Emergence of the Asian American Sporting Body: Michael Chang and Model Minority Discourse in the Post-Reagan Era

This research stems from an interest in the sudden rise of Asian American athletes' crossover appeal, both as athletes and as celebrities, within the conservative backlash climate of the post-Reagan United States. In this article, I examine the cultural meanings attributed to former professional U.S. tennis player Michael Chang (from 1988 to 2003) and offer counternarratives to tropes of American diversity and inclusiveness commonly found in stories about him. I first discuss the model minority discourse and its implications. Then I examine how the model minority discourse was embodied through the media's Orientalist representation of Chang's Asian American body and how his model minority identity was used to make sense of the Asian American athletic body's success in the White-centered tennis field. Finally, I examine Chang's images in television advertisements and explore how these images satisfied the New Right's conservative desire to create a rugged-individual persona to prove that the American dream remained a possibility without state intervention, even for minorities.

Optimalisasi Asupan Cairan dengan Tekanan Darah dan Denyut Nadi pada Atlet PS Sleman Development Center

Physical exercise is an important key to support athlete's success. Optimal nutritional intake is needed to support the performance. Dehydration cases in teenage soccer athletes are high. Inappropriate fluid intake, both in type and amount, has an effect on blood pressure and heart rate instability. It is necessary to identify factors that can affect blood pressure and heart rate instability in athletes based on fluid intake. Fluid intake data is measured by the SQFFQ (Semi Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire) Fluids questionnaire. The data was statistically analyzed using the Krusikal Wallis test. Blood pressure and heart rate data using digital tensimeter. As many as 96% of athletes at PS Sleman Development Center have not consumed fluids as needed. The average fluid intake of soccer athletes was 2,797.61 ± 1,100.64 ml. The average systolic blood pressure of athletes was 118.25 mmHg, diastolic pressure was 73.67 mmHg, and heart rate was 72.78 times/minute. There was a significant association in energy drink intake with changes in heart rate (p<0.05), but no significantly difference in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p>0.05). The fluid intake of athletes was still relatively lacking and has not matched the volume, type, and period of training.

The Relationship of the Physical Profiles of Kick Boxers Participating in the 2019 World Championships with Their Flexibility Levels and Success Status

Athletes are characterized by body composition and size characteristics that are thought to affect success in any sports branch. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the physical profiles and flexibility levels of elite kickboxers participating in the 2019 Senior Kickboxing World Championships and their success status. A total of 303 kickboxers (85 women and 218 men) participated in the study. The athletes who were ranked (in the first 4 athletes according to the official results) were evaluated in the group of successful athletes and those who did not enter were evaluated in the group of unsuccessful athletes. Physical profile and flexibility measurements of the athletes were made. Mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values were given as Descriptive Statistics of kickboxers. Statistical analyzes were evaluated with Independent Sample T Test, Mann-Whitney U Test and Pearson Correlation Analysis. Significance level was accepted as p<0.05 in the analyzes. The height of the successful male kickboxers in the kick light (KL) branch was found to be significantly higher than the unsuccessful male kickboxers (p=0.00). While the muscle mass and bone mass values of the successful male kickboxers in the KL branch were found to be significantly higher than the unsuccessful group (p=0.03; p=0.03), basal metabolism values were also higher than the unsuccessful group (p=0.03). According to the results of Pearson Correlation Analysis, a negative significant result was found between age and success in male kickboxers (r=-0.199; p<0.01). Keywords: Kick boxing, physical profile, flexibility, success.

Interpersonal perceptions of personality traits in elite coach-athlete dyads

IntroductionThe extent to which coaches and athletes can effectively work together is an essential consideration in the pursuit of athletic success. This is particularly important at the elite level due to the high pressures on tangible outcomes, such as reaching the podium of a major competition. This study sought to explore and explain how both coaches and athletes identify personality traits in themselves and their partners to manage and maintain a positive relationship. MethodsUsing a mixed methodological design underpinned by critical realism, four elite coach-athlete dyads (four male coaches, one male athlete, three female athletes) were purposefully recruited from a single sport. Each participant completed the 44-item Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) on their own and their partner’s perceived personality traits. The data generated were used to inform the discussions in follow-up, individual semi-structured interviews with all participants. ResultsThe interview data were analysed using thematic analysis, which generated three higher themes and seven lower order themes. The three higher order themes were perceived compatibility, relationship persona and collective personality. ConclusionThe present investigation has identified what coaches and athletes perceive to be the key personality characteristics to manage and maintain a successful working relationship.

Relative and Chronological Age in Successful Athletes at the World Taekwondo Championships (1997-2019): A Focus on the Behaviour of Multiple Medallists.

The aims of this study were to investigate the relative and chronological age among taekwondo world medal winners (by gender, Olympic 4-year period, Olympic weight category; N = 740), and to study the behaviour of multiple medallists (N = 156) to monitor changes in weight categories and wins over time. The observed birth quartile distribution for the heavyweight category was significantly skewed (p = 0.01). Female athletes (22.2 ± 3.5 years) achieve success at a significantly younger age (p = 0.01) than their male counterparts (23.6 ± 3.3 years). In the weight categories, female flyweights were significantly younger than those welterweights (p = 0.03) and heavyweight (p = 0.01); female featherweights were significantly younger than those heavyweights (p = 0.03). Male flyweights and featherweights were significantly younger than those welterweights and heavyweights (p = 0.01). When a taekwondo athlete won a medal several times, he/she did so within the same Olympic weight category group and won two medals in his/her career (p = 0.01). Multiple medallists of the lighter and heavier groups did not differ in the number of medals won but in the time span in which they won medals (p = 0.02). The resources deployed by stakeholders to achieve success in these competitions highlight an extremely competitive environment. In this sense, the information provided by this study can be relevant and translated into key elements.

What is the Impact of Post-Season Bowl Participation on a Football Program's On-Field Success, Recruiting and Revenues?

Previous research examines the impact college athletic success has on state appropriations, donations, student applications, and academic reputation, but not on the impact college athletic success has on an individual athletic program directly. Since nearly 70% of post-season bowl game Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) participants incur bowl game financial losses, are there future benefits from post-season bowl game participation for the football program? The empirical results show prior post-season bowl participation has positive impacts on current recruiting and revenues, but not performance. Finally, 92% of programs cover their current bowl game financial losses from higher future variable revenues attributed to current bowl participation.

If you build it, will they come? Assessing coaches’ perceptions of a sport psychology website

Sport psychology has become widely applied in coaching practices to assist in athletic success. Despite the increased use, there is a lack of evidence-based sport psychology information available to coaches in the form of informal sources. The aim of this study was to conduct a pilot test to explore coaches’ perceptions and use of an evidence-based sport psychology website. Eight coaches participated in semi-structured interviews. Based on engagement, five of the coaches’ data was analyzed using thematic analysis on their experiences and revealed two main themes, website use and website enhancements. The remaining three coaches’ data was analyzed for their reasons for having limited engagement with the website and used to help identify ways it could be enhanced. In general, coaches perceived the website to be a reliable source that offered practical information (e.g. worksheets) that could be used directly with athletes, and was perceived as easy to navigate and to access information. There were, importantly, various improvements suggested for the website including delivery modality and guides for navigating the order for reading the information. This study offers evidence on the value of online resources in providing coaches with informal and evidence-based sport psychology learning opportunities, and also addresses a number of barriers to engagement as insight for website developers.

A survey of elite and pre-elite athletes\u2019 perceptions of key support, lifestyle and performance factors

BackgroundSuccess at the elite level in sport is often attributed to physical prowess, technical skill, and mental attitude. However, underpinning these factors are various lifestyle, support and social factors that may contribute to successful performance, but which may be absent from athlete development programs.MethodsAn online survey was used to investigate athlete perceptions of lifestyle practices and support services amongst 135 Australian Olympic, Paralympic, National, and state-level athletes across 25 Olympic sports.ResultsInternational athletes perceived psychological skills and attributes, along with strong interpersonal relationships as vital to their success, and they also rated ‘Recovery practices’ as very important and made extensive use of available support services. These athletes also indicated that they would have liked access to these services earlier in their careers, a wish that was reiterated by the sub-elite athletes. Furthermore, athletes wanted greater knowledge, mentoring, and autonomy earlier in their careers, and the importance of ‘athlete wellbeing’ as well as ‘athletic performance’ was evident in a number of contexts.ConclusionsAn athlete development system into which these are included may assist in generating an environment that facilitates athlete success, repeated podium performances, retain athletes in high-performance sport for longer, encourage human-flourishing, wellbeing and smooth transitions for retiring athletes.

Black Man in the Huddle: Stories from the Integration of Texas Football by Robert D. Jacobus

Reviewed by: Black Man in the Huddle: Stories from the Integration of Texas Football by Robert D. Jacobus J. Anthony Guillory Black Man in the Huddle: Stories from the Integration of Texas Football. By Robert D. Jacobus. Foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2019. 280 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, index. $29.95 cloth. Robert D. Jacobus's Black Man in the Huddle interrogates the oral history accounts of men who participated in the desegregation of high school and college football in Texas. Jacobus is primarily interested in the experiences of black student athletes who were born in or who came to Texas to participate in interscholastic or intercollegiate football. He also examines the testimony of white and Latino student athletes and their coaches. Though Jacobus allows his subjects to speak for themselves, he frames his text around a few basic points that serve as a means of illuminating the experiences of young [End Page 168] men who navigated often hostile terrain to find athletic and academic success. An important claim Jacobus makes is that, despite differences in racial tensions from one city to the next, common themes often reverberated as African Americans negotiated a nuanced Jim Crow system designed to keep African Americans in an inferior status. Jacobus also argues that resistance to desegregation could be explained by the demographics and geography of a particular desegregating town. According to Jacobus, for cities where African American populations were smaller in size, the process of desegregation was easier than in spaces where the numbers of black residents were large enough to rival their white counterparts. Jacobus also claims that proximity to the former Confederacy helped to determine resistance to desegregation. The result was that spaces like Dallas, Houston, and East Texas were slower to desegregate while spaces like Corpus Christi and San Antonio desegregated relatively early. One of the reasons Jacobus's text is valuable is that it analyzes the reasons why black players elected to stay at black high schools or colleges and why they chose to enter desegregated spaces. Jacobus probes black former student athletes who traveled outside the South to play college football. He reveals that close ties, academic resources, and the presence of other black students helped to provide black student athletes with enough incentive to persist, matriculate, and ultimately graduate from white colleges located outside the South. Jacobus's book is an excellent addition to the study of school desegregation and the desegregation of sports institutions. This is a text for both fans and scholars of sport history. It uses first-person accounts to explain how players—black, white, and Latino, along with their coaches—negotiated this complex set of social, political, and athletic issues related to desegregation in the post–Brown v. Board of Education era to achieve athletic and academic success. J. Anthony Guillory Department of History University of Texas at Arlington Copyright © 2022 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

The Effect of Academic Performance on Athletic Success in Collegiate Athletic Programs

The Effect of Academic Performance on Athletic Success in Collegiate Athletic Programs

Cestovní deníky československých sportovců

The travel diaries of important personalities enrich historical research with the subjective perception of the new places explored. It is no different for sportsmen and women who wrote down their observations during their foreign trips with the national team. So far, these materials have not been used for the study of the history of physical education and sport, nor in other fields. The aim of this study is to introduce this new source of information. Only the most successful athletes are selected to represent their country in international competitions. In any era, it is both an honour and a responsibility. In the past, if the event took place abroad, many saw it as an opportunity to make new discoveries. Some felt the need to record their findings in writing in the form of a diary. This then became an autobiographical source, which was usually not written for public reading. It thus preserves often research-valuable information from the author’s inner world, reflecting the world around them. The source is useful not only for the study of the history of sport, but also for the study of travel and international relations.

The Dice Are Loaded: Schools’ Social Class Composition and Athletic Contests

Research shows that social class differences in high school sports participation are large and growing. However, focusing on sports participation may obfuscate large social class differences in sports performance among participants. The authors develop theoretical predictions on the basis of exclusion (middle-class youth perform sports better) and inclusion (working-class youth perform sports better). To test these predictions, the authors analyze the relationship between high schools’ social class composition and success in high school athletics using data on more than 200,000 contests in school fixed-effects models. The findings indicate that predominantly middle-class schools beat economically integrated and predominantly working-class schools by large margins, supporting exclusivity perspectives. Also, predominantly working-class schools win as much as economically integrated schools, providing evidence of inclusion, but inclusion is much weaker than exclusion. The authors conclude that sports performance among youth is highly stratified by social class.

Kinanthropometric measurements: A better understanding from an athlete's perspective

Kinanthropometry is a newly emerging research specialization. It is a study which emphasizes on the proportion, structure, size, human maturation, and gross motor function to understand the benefits of human development, exercise, performance, and nutrition for medicine, education, and government in the service of humanity with respect to individual rights. Since athletic success depends heavily on proportionality for a given sport, the function of kinanthropometry is significant as it allows us to consider about the physical dimension by comparing two aspects and then determine the relative importance of the body dimensions. A better and in-depth understanding of kinanthropometric measures will help in enlisting the importance of various structures of the body along with their characteristic features to suggest athletes in specific sports with a functional advantage. A better understanding will help both the athlete and the coach to work in a more defined and specific direction.

Searching for cultural, historical, ethical and philosophical roots of sport in archaic and classical Greek philosophy

Already the Homeric period meant a high social status for successful athletes. However, it was exclusive; it excluded those whose time was needed to work for a living. Democratization in Athens and the militarization of sport in other fields had brought the spread of sport to the wider classes. Xenophanes became the first critic of the sport as a philosopher. Sophists, in turn, emphasized the importance of educational training for life, including sports education. Although the character of the historical Socrates is problematic, it is generally believed that Socrates left behind the legend of a physically immensely disposed, resilient man. Plato consolidated the role of sport through his role in social philosophy. Specifically, he spoke of the importance of the virtue ἀνδρεία. Although Aristotle characterizes kalokagathia and defined the role of sport within virtues, he was critical in its evaluation. He refused to practice sports if it led to a deterioration of the body. Partly archaic, especially classical Greek philosophy provided a theoretical rationale for recognizing sport as a meaningful activity, but also its critique.

Coaching effectiveness and coach–athlete relationship model offers possibilities solution for competitive anxiety of young athletes

Background: Coaching effectiveness leads to successful athletes, including athlete's development and performance, positive psychological progress and athlete outcomes. The coach–athlete relationship referred to all the conditions where the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of coach and athlete are mutually and casually related to each other. While, anxiety is an experience of an unpleasant athlete's psychological and physiological feeling. However, the existing literature on the influence of coaching effectiveness and the coach–athlete relationship does not investigate specifically competitive anxiety.Aims and Objectives: This current study aims to investigated athletes' perception of coaching effectiveness, coach–athletes' relationship and competitive anxiety experience of the athletes.Methods: One hundred and fifty-two (n = 152) athletes from various team sports completed a questionnaire pack assessing the study variables. The coaching effectiveness scale, coach–athlete relationship questionnaire and competitive state anxiety inventory-2 were used as an instrument for this study.Results: Results revealed that there were significant correlations between all the factors of coaching effectiveness and all the factors of the coach–athlete relationship. However, the anxiety assessment indicated a positive, negative significant correlation with the factors of coaching effectiveness and factors of the coach–athlete relationship. Further, there were no significant differences among all the factors of coaching effectiveness between genders except 'technique effectiveness'. Next, there were no significant differences in the coach–athlete relationship between genders except for 'commitment'. However, results revealed that there were significant differences in anxiety assessment except 'cognitive anxiety' between genders.Conclusion: The competitive anxiety experience of athletes the performance of the athletes is based on how effective their coaches to influence the athletes and how they work together. Thus, do coaching effectiveness and coach–athlete relationship stand out as the fundamental factors in issues of athlete's anxiety? It might be yes as the effectiveness of the coach and relationship with the athletes is the main causes that determine the enthusiasm of a team and the athlete's confidence.

Development Of Futsal Playing Skills Application Based On Web-Based Futsal Analysis System (FAST)

This study aims to determine the level of success of futsal athletes in applying playing skills. This research was conducted at the Unesa Futsal GOR with a sample of 25 athletes from the Unesa Women's Futsal UKM. The method used in this research is Waterfall Methods. This method is a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) approach. The results of this study are the FAST application can display graphs and the percentage of success, failure of athletes in carrying out basic technical movements. It can be concluded that the FAST application is suitable for use by coaches to determine futsal playing skills.

The Effect of Winter Mountaineering Training on Athlete Success and Permanency of Learning

Introduction and Purpose: The aim of this research is to examine the effects of athlete success and permanency of learning the winter mountaineering training given by the Turkish Mountaineering Federation. The research group consists of a total of 105 participants, 21 women (20%) and 84 men (80%) who attended the winter mountaineering training course organized by the Turkish Mountaineering Federation. Materials and Methods: In this study, quasi-experimental design was used in the research. A multiple-choice achievement test of 25 questions which includes knowledge and practice issues related to winter mountaineering education was prepared. The reliability analysis of the achievement test was made with the “ITEMAN” program. The pre-test-post-test data of the study were collected on 20-27 January 2019 on Zigana Mountain, and 4 weeks later, the permanency test data was collected on 28 February 2019 on Erciyes Mountain. In data analysis, for correlated samples (repeated measures) one-factor ANOVA and for repeated measurements two-factor ANOVA analyzes were performed. Findings: There was a significant difference between the pre-test-post-tests-permanency test total, knowledge, and application scores of the athletes. It is seen that the achievement scores of male and female athletes before and after the training do not differ significantly. Results: According to the research results; It has seen that the winter mountaineering training given by the Turkish mountaineering federation has a positive effect on the knowledge and practice levels of the athletes and has an important contribution in the context of the permanency of learning. In addition, it was determined that the success scores of female athletes who received training were higher than male athletes.