scholarly journals Current Perspectives on Profiling and Enhancing Wheelchair Court Sport Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Paulson ◽  
Victoria Goosey-Tolfrey
Keyword(s):  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Individualized Approach ◽  
Paralympic Sport ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Physical Capacities ◽  
Court Performance

Despite the growing interest in Paralympic sport, the evidence base for supporting elite wheelchair sport performance remains in its infancy when compared with able-bodied (AB) sport. Subsequently, current practice is often based on theory adapted from AB guidelines, with a heavy reliance on anecdotal evidence and practitioner experience. Many principles in training prescription and performance monitoring with wheelchair athletes are directly transferable from AB practice, including the periodization and tapering of athlete loads around competition, yet considerations for the physiological consequences of an athlete’s impairment and the interface between athlete and equipment are vital when targeting interventions to optimize in-competition performance. Researchers and practitioners are faced with the challenge of identifying and implementing reliable protocols that detect small but meaningful changes in impairment-specific physical capacities and on-court performance. Technologies to profile both linear and rotational on-court performance are an essential component of sport-science support to understand sport-specific movement profiles and prescribe training intensities. In addition, an individualized approach to the prescription of athlete training and optimization of the “wheelchair–user interface” is required, accounting for an athlete’s anthropometrics, sports classification, and positional role on court. In addition to enhancing physical capacities, interventions must focus on the integration of the athlete and his or her equipment, as well as techniques for limiting environmental influence on performance. Taken together, the optimization of wheelchair sport performance requires a multidisciplinary approach based on the individual requirements of each athlete.

scholarly journals Sports Foods and Dietary Supplements for Optimal Function and Performance Enhancement in Track-and-Field Athletes

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Peeling ◽  
Linda M. Castell ◽  
Wim Derave ◽  
Olivier de Hon ◽  
Louise M. Burke
Keyword(s):  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Track And Field ◽  
Supplement Use ◽  
Optimal Function ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Health Function ◽  
Specific Scenario

Athletes are exposed to numerous nutritional products, attractively marketed with claims of optimizing health, function, and performance. However, there is limited evidence to support many of these claims, and the efficacy and safety of many products is questionable. The variety of nutritional aids considered for use by track-and-field athletes includes sports foods, performance supplements, and therapeutic nutritional aids. Support for sports foods and five evidence-based performance supplements (caffeine, creatine, nitrate/beetroot juice, β-alanine, and bicarbonate) varies according to the event, the specific scenario of use, and the individual athlete’s goals and responsiveness. Specific challenges include developing protocols to manage repeated use of performance supplements in multievent or heat-final competitions or the interaction between several products which are used concurrently. Potential disadvantages of supplement use include expense, false expectancy, and the risk of ingesting banned substances sometimes present as contaminants. However, a pragmatic approach to the decision-making process for supplement use is recommended. The authors conclude that it is pertinent for sports foods and nutritional supplements to be considered only where a strong evidence base supports their use as safe, legal, and effective and that such supplements are trialed thoroughly by the individual before committing to use in a competition setting.

Developing Athletes in the Context of Sport and Performance Psychology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc J. Martin ◽  
David J. Hancock ◽  
Jean Côté
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Performance Psychology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Early Specialization ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Athletic Development

Talent development in sport is achieved through years of preparation and requires constant interaction between personal and contextual resources. Accordingly, extensive research has been dedicated to understanding factors that contribute to sport performance. Literature suggests the factors influencing athletic development can be classified in terms of the physical environment, the social environment, and engaging learning activities. Investigations pertaining to the physical environment suggest the importance of appropriate settings, which can relate to the sport organization or the larger community. Researchers must also cogitate the activities in which athletes take part. These considerations involve the maturational status of athletes, the volume of deliberate practice and play, and early specialization versus diversification. Finally, the salience of the social environment in relation to sport performance cannot be overlooked. Not surprisingly, the relations established with social agents (i.e., coaches, peers/teammates, parents) can facilitate or impede the developmental process. Consequently, the development of athletes in the context of sport and performance psychology extends past the individual and is influenced by several factors that must be discussed.

scholarly journals Performing One's Age: Cultural Constructions of Aging and Embodiment in Western Theatrical Dancers

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Schwaiger
Keyword(s):  
Chronological Age ◽  
Contemporary Dance ◽  
Major Injury ◽  
Job Instability ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Dance Companies ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Physical Capacities ◽  
Cultural Constructions ◽  
Cultural Constraints

These two comments highlight contrasting approaches to aging for Western theatrical dancers. The first, a quote from movement practitioner Elizabeth Cameron-Dalman, reflects the expectation in Western cultures that professional dancers fortunate enough to have escaped major injury will not stay in their careers beyond their early to middle thirties. Consequently, despite some notable exceptions, there are few mature dancers regularly performing in classical and contemporary dance companies throughout these cultures. This expectation is based on a tacit, naturalized belief that beyond this age dancers' bodies become increasingly unable to cope with the physical demands of performing and that therefore they must retire. Furthermore, this is assumed to be a universal effect, rather than one that is relative to the individual dancer's physical capacities. By contrast, the second comment suggests that dancers can negotiate cultural constraints and continue their dance practice and performance in midlife and beyond.While some social pressures that influence retirement from dancing might have a direct (although not necessarily causal) relationship with chronological age, there are many reasons why dancers might retire from performing in their perceived prime. Comments from the interviews in my study suggest that these reasons can include financial and job instability, difficulty competing with younger dancers for scarce contracts, and increasing problems in maintaining peak physical condition as dancers age (Leach 1997, 47–49). These are complex issues and at present not clearly understood, but they suggest that age as a stand-alone category or as a means of defining a cohort has little meaning and limited utility in accounting for the cessation of dancing.

scholarly journals Archery: Emotion Intensity Regulation to Stay in the Zone during Olympic Competition

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Jolly Roy ◽  
Edin Suwarganda
Keyword(s):  
Sport Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Performance Score ◽  
Performance Outcome ◽  
Individual Zone ◽  
Emotion Intensity ◽  
Target Set ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

<p>Understanding emotional influence that affect sport performance in archery helps to design the appropriate intervention in athlete’s preparation. The present study examined the effect of emotion intensity from four Olympic level recurve archers on error scores and performance outcomes; compared individual emotion intensities of three competing archers during Olympic competition with previously established individual optimal zone; and examined the influence of being “in or out of individual zone” relating the archer’s achievement with the individual target set by the coach and performance outcome during Olympic competition. The results revealed that unpleasant dysfunctional emotion (N-) had the most influence on performance score. The in-out of zone results derived from the archers data lend support to emotion-performance relationship.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluación del uso de métodos de recuperación entre los corredores populares españoles (Evaluation of the use of recovery methods amongst Spanish amateur runners)

Retos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 823-833
Author(s):  
Abel Nogueira ◽  
Alfonso Salguero del Valle ◽  
Olga Molinero González ◽  
Sara Márquez Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Daily Activity ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Long Distance Running ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Recovery Methods

  La práctica de ejercicio físico implica la utilización de gran cantidad de recursos energéticos. Para poder seguir rindiendo a nivel deportivo como para tener la energía suficiente para poder satisfacer las demandas derivadas de la actividad cotidiana se requiere de una adecuada recuperación, especialmente cuando hablamos de personas que no se dedican de forma profesional al deporte. La fatiga es un estado multifactorial que aparece cuando se produce un desequilibrio entre las demandas del deporte y las capacidades físicas y psicológicas de quienes lo practican. Las carreras de media y larga distancia son unas de las especialidades deportivas de mayor exigencia, de ahí que la aparición de la fatiga muscular aguda profunda sea más notoria, con lo que cobra especial relevancia la necesidad de llevar acabo un entrenamiento invisible planificado, y plantear las estrategias de recuperación adecuadas a las necesidades de cada deportista. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue evaluar la frecuencia de uso de los diferentes métodos de recuperación (entrenamiento invisible) que utilizan los corredores populares que participan en pruebas de larga distancia (entre 5 km y 42 km). La revisión de la literatura facilitó la elaboración de un cuestionario ad hoc, que fue administrado a una muestra de 495 corredores populares españoles. Según los resultados obtenidos, se pudo apreciar que los recursos más utilizados, fueron los relacionados con la alimentación, suplementación y el control del rendimiento; siendo los corredores implicados en distancias más largas los que en mayor medida afirmaron utilizarlos.  Abstract. Physical exercise involves implementation of a large amount of energy resources. In order to continue performing, both at a sporting level and at meeting the daily activity demands, an adequate recovery is required, especially when we talk about non-professional athletes. Fatigue is a multifactorial process that emerges when there is an imbalance between activity demands and physical and psychological capabilities of each athlete. Middle and long-distance running races are one of the most demanding events in which muscle fatigue is more noticeable, warranting the need of a planned ‘invisible training’ and recovery strategies adapted to the individual needs. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the use frequency of the different recovery methods (invisible training) used by popular runners who participate in long distance events (between 5 km and 42 km). An ad-hoc questionnaire was developed from the literature review, which was administered to a sample of 495 Spanish amateur runners. According to the results obtained, it was seen that the most used methods/strategies were related to diet, food supplements and performance monitoring; being the runners involved in longer distances the ones who usually claimed to use them.

Effects of Cooperation and Competition on Performance, Emotion, and Effort: Goal and Means Interdependence

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Christopher Ring ◽  
Maria Kavussanu ◽  
Andrew Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Individual Performance ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Social Interdependence ◽  
Interdependence Theory ◽  
Social Interdependence Theory ◽  
Performance Effects ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

Social interdependence theory proposes that task structure influences performance via social interaction. Using this framework, we examined sport performance. Fifty-six males performed a basketball task under four conditions: as an individual (individual, perform your best) and as a member of a team of two (cooperation, where teammates sought to better their individual performance; means independent competition, where two teams competed sequentially to outperform the other team; means interdependent competition, where two teams competed simultaneously to outperform the other team). Task performance (points) was better during means independent competition than other conditions. Anxiety and effort peaked during the competitions and enjoyment was greater during competition and cooperation than during the individual condition. Emotions, effort, and actions are discussed as explanations for the performance effects. Social interdependence theory provides a valuable framework to understand emotion, motivation, and performance. Team competition can be used to promote effort and enhance performance in sport.

Humanistic Theory in Sport, Performance, and Sports Coaching Psychology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca K. Dickinson ◽  
Tristan J. Coulter ◽  
Clifford J. Mallett
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sports Coaching

As a basic psychological framework, humanistic theory emphasizes a strong interest in human welfare, values, and dignity. It involves the study and understanding of the unique whole person and how people can reach a heightened sense of self through the process of self-actualization. The focus within humanism to encourage and foster people to be “all they can be” and develop a true sense of self links to a strengths-based approach in sports coaching and the defining principles of positive psychology. In the field of sport and performance psychology, positive psychology has been influential as a discipline concerned with the optimal functioning and human flourishing of performers. Since the 2000s, many sport and performance psychologists have embraced positive psychology as a theoretical basis for examining consistent and superior human performance. However, in the modern history of psychological science, positive psychology is not a new phenomenon; rather, it stems from humanism—the traditional “third wave” in psychology (after the dominance of psychoanalytic and behaviorist approaches). Sport is recognized as a potentially influential context through which people at all levels and backgrounds can thrive. The tendency to focus on performance outcomes, however—winning and losing—often overshadows the potential of sport to achieve this aspirational goal. As evidence of this view, many high-performing athletes are commenting on their distressing experiences to reach the top and the “culture of fear” they have been exposed to as they pursue their own and others’ (e.g., institutional) ambitions (e.g., medaling at the Olympic Games). Humanism concerns itself with the quality of a person’s life, which includes, but also extends beyond such objective and classifying achievements. It is a person-centered approach to understanding the individual and his or her psychological, emotional, and behavioral reality. It seeks to help people define this reality more clearly in such a way that will help them feel good and perform at a high level. Humanism has been, therefore, an important school of thought for improving the lives and experiences of people who play sport as well as those who perform in various other contexts.

Personal Goals of Older Female Twins

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Salmela-Aro ◽  
Sanna Read ◽  
Jari-Erik Nurmi ◽  
Markku Koskenvuo ◽  
Jaakko Kaprio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Environmental Effect ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Genetic Effect ◽  
Additive Genetic Effect ◽  
Personal Goals ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
The Individual

This study examined genetic and environmental influences on older women’s personal goals by using data from the Finnish Twin Study on Aging. The interview for the personal goals was completed by 67 monozygotic (MZ) pairs and 75 dizygotic (DZ) pairs. The tetrachoric correlations for personal goals related to health and functioning, close relationships, and independent living were higher in MZ than DZ twins, indicating possible genetic influence. The pattern of tetrachoric correlations for personal goals related to cultural activities, care of others, and physical exercise indicated environmental influence. For goals concerning health and functioning, independent living, and close relationships, additive genetic effect accounted for about half of the individual variation. The rest was the result of a unique environmental effect. Goals concerning physical exercise and care of others showed moderate common environmental effect, while the rest of the variance was the result of a unique environmental effect. Personal goals concerning cultural activities showed unique environmental effects only.

THE ROLE OF PHAGE THERAPY IN THE FORMATION OF THE INTESTINAL MICROECOSYSTEM

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-191
Author(s):  
Gladkov S.F. ◽  
Perevoshchikova N.K. ◽  
Chernykh N.S. ◽  
Pichugina Yu.S. ◽  
Surkova M.A.
Keyword(s):  
Intestinal Microbiota ◽  
Allergic Diseases ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Immunological Tolerance ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Selective Decontamination ◽  
Genetic Characteristics ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Intestinal Infections ◽  
The Individual

The current adverse situation associated with the presence of a pandemic of allergic diseases is due to the lack of a scientifically based concept of treatment and prevention. The increased interest of researchers from different countries in the formation of immunological tolerance by modeling the intestinal microbiota is of high importance. Methods of influence on the microbial communities of the child's intestine should be as delicate as possible, taking into account the individual genetic characteristics of the microecosystem and the possibility of anaphylaxis. Until now, probiotic drugs have been widely used to correct dysbiosis, but data is gradually accumulating that there is no convincing evidence base for their use for the treatment and prevention of atopy. The use of bacteriophages is very relevant and one of the promising, actively studied areas of correction of intestinal biocenosis today, which are an alternative to antibiotic and probiotic medications. Selective decontamination of representatives of opportunistic flora, as the main factor in the implementation of the atopic phenotype, makes it possible to preserve and accelerate the formation of a unique and individual composition of the intestinal microbiota of the child, which can form an immunoregulatory balance. More than a century of experience in the use of bacteriophages indicates the safety of their use. Today, bacteriophages are actively used in various fields of practical medicine − obstetrics-gynecology, perinatology, urology, pediatric otorhinolaryngology, in the treatment of purulent-septic and intestinal infections. In some cases, bacteriophages are very effective against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The active personalized use of bacteriophages in real clinical practice will make it possible to solve a number of serious, long-standing health problems in the Russian Federation and to win a world priority in this direction.

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