scholarly journals Helping Youth Athletes Thrive: An Exploratory Study of the Youth Tennis Market in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob G. Emery

<p>This project investigated the commercial opportunities for innovation in the youth tennis market. A lean startup methodology approach was adopted for business development within the project. The first study consisted of interviewing players, parents and coaches involved in the youth tennis environment in New Zealand. It was found that the key problems identified by athletes were psychological challenges while both coaches and parents struggled with relationship management. The second study surveyed athletes from a wide range of sports to test if the findings from the first study would generalise to other sports as well as investigating reasons why athletes may not have engaged with existing sport psychology products and services. The results showed the findings in the first study did extend to other youth sports and highlighted a lack of knowledge and perceived efficacy as well as financial cost as barriers to use for existing sport psychology products and services. A literature review relating to the problems identified during the research for this project documents motivational, goal-setting and self-regulatory mechanisms which could be incorporated into a product or service to assist youth athletes. A third, and final, study tested potential mediums for a commercial offering as well as reaction to several features. The findings support the use of a mobile phone application and features relating to communication, motivation, goal-setting, and self-regulation were all supported. A business case presents a path to commercialisation for a mobile phone application addressing the problems faced by youth athletes utilising key research identified in the literature review. This project was able to identify a clear market need, uncover solutions and present the next steps in developing a commercially viable product.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob G. Emery

<p>This project investigated the commercial opportunities for innovation in the youth tennis market. A lean startup methodology approach was adopted for business development within the project. The first study consisted of interviewing players, parents and coaches involved in the youth tennis environment in New Zealand. It was found that the key problems identified by athletes were psychological challenges while both coaches and parents struggled with relationship management. The second study surveyed athletes from a wide range of sports to test if the findings from the first study would generalise to other sports as well as investigating reasons why athletes may not have engaged with existing sport psychology products and services. The results showed the findings in the first study did extend to other youth sports and highlighted a lack of knowledge and perceived efficacy as well as financial cost as barriers to use for existing sport psychology products and services. A literature review relating to the problems identified during the research for this project documents motivational, goal-setting and self-regulatory mechanisms which could be incorporated into a product or service to assist youth athletes. A third, and final, study tested potential mediums for a commercial offering as well as reaction to several features. The findings support the use of a mobile phone application and features relating to communication, motivation, goal-setting, and self-regulation were all supported. A business case presents a path to commercialisation for a mobile phone application addressing the problems faced by youth athletes utilising key research identified in the literature review. This project was able to identify a clear market need, uncover solutions and present the next steps in developing a commercially viable product.</p>


Author(s):  
Glyn C. Roberts ◽  
Christina G. L. Nerstad ◽  
P. Nicolas Lemyre

Motivation is the largest single topic in psychology, with at least 32 theories that attempt to explain why people are or are not motivated to achieve. Within sport psychology research, there are a plethora of techniques of how to increase and sustain motivation (strategies to enhance agency beliefs, self-regulation, goal setting, and others). However, when explaining the conceptual undergirding of motivation in sport, the why of motivation, two theories predominate: Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Both theories predict the same outcomes, such as increased achievement striving, sustained behavior change, and perceptions of well-being, but they differ in why those outcomes occur. AGT assumes that individuals cognitively evaluate the competence demands and meaningfulness of the activity, and that those perceptions govern behavior. SDT assumes that individuals are driven by three basic needs, competence, autonomy, and relatedness, and the satisfaction of those needs govern behavior. The following discusses both theories and concludes that each has their strengths and weaknesses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Amaury Lambert

In our model of the COVID-19 epidemic, infected individuals can be of four types, according whether they are asymptomatic (A) or symptomatic (I), and use a contact tracing mobile phone application (Y ) or not (N). We denote by R0 the average number of secondary infections from a random infected individual. We investigate the effect of non-digital interventions (voluntary isolation upon symptom onset, quarantining private contacts) and of digital interventions (contact tracing thanks to the app), depending on the willingness to quarantine, parameterized by four cooperating probabilities. For a given ‘effective’ R0 obtained with non-digital interventions, we use non-negative matrix theory and stopping line techniques to characterize mathematically the minimal fraction y0 of app users needed to curb the epidemic, i.e., for the epidemic to die out with probability 1. We show that under a wide range of scenarios, the threshold y0 as a function of R0 rises steeply from 0 at R0 = 1 to prohibitively large values (of the order of 60−70% up) whenever R0 is above 1.3. Our results show that moderate rates of adoption of a contact tracing app can reduce R0 but are by no means sufficient to reduce it below 1 unless it is already very close to 1 thanks to non-digital interventions.


2010 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-400
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Nakayama ◽  
Yuka Miyaji ◽  
Seishi Kato ◽  
Nobuhisa Sakurada ◽  
Noriyuki Ueda ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 362-367
Author(s):  
H.M. Harman ◽  
N.W. Waipara ◽  
C.J. Winks ◽  
L.A. Smith ◽  
P.G. Peterson ◽  
...  

Bridal creeper is a weed of natural and productive areas in the northern North Island of New Zealand A classical biocontrol programme was initiated in 20052007 with a survey of invertebrate fauna and pathogens associated with the weed in New Zealand Although bridal creeper was attacked by a wide range of generalist invertebrates their overall damage affected


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1566
Author(s):  
Ernesto Mesa-Vázquez ◽  
Juan F. Velasco-Muñoz ◽  
José A. Aznar-Sánchez ◽  
Belén López-Felices

Over the last two decades, experimental economics has been gaining relevance in the research of a wide range of issues related to agriculture. In turn, the agricultural activity provides an excellent field of study within which to validate the use of instruments employed by experimental economics. The aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics of the research on the application of experimental economics in agriculture on a global level. Thus, a literature review has been carried out for the period between the years 2000 and 2020 based on a bibliometric study. The main results show that there has been a growing use of experimental economics methods in the research on agriculture, particularly over the last five years. This evolution is evident in the different indicators analyzed and is reflected in the greater scientific production and number of actors involved. The most relevant topics within the research on experimental economics in agriculture focus on the farmer, the markets, the consumer, environmental policy, and public goods. These results can be useful for policy makers and researchers interested in this line of research.


2021 ◽  
pp. jech-2020-216108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Campbell ◽  
Lukas Marek ◽  
Jesse Wiki ◽  
Matthew Hobbs ◽  
Clive E Sabel ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has asked unprecedented questions of governments around the world. Policy responses have disrupted usual patterns of movement in society, locally and globally, with resultant impacts on national economies and human well-being. These interventions have primarily centred on enforcing lockdowns and introducing social distancing recommendations, leading to questions of trust and competency around the role of institutions and the administrative apparatus of state. This study demonstrates the unequal societal impacts in population movement during a national ‘lockdown’.MethodsWe use nationwide mobile phone movement data to quantify the effect of an enforced lockdown on population mobility by neighbourhood deprivation using an ecological study design. We then derive a mobility index using anonymised aggregated population counts for each neighbourhood (2253 Census Statistical Areas; mean population n=2086) of national hourly mobile phone location data (7.45 million records, 1 March 2020–20 July 2020) for New Zealand (NZ).ResultsCurtailing movement has highlighted and exacerbated underlying social and spatial inequalities. Our analysis reveals the unequal movements during ‘lockdown’ by neighbourhood socioeconomic status in NZ.ConclusionIn understanding inequalities in neighbourhood movements, we are contributing critical new evidence to the policy debate about the impact(s) and efficacy of national, regional or local lockdowns which have sparked such controversy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2110039
Author(s):  
Asphat Muposhi ◽  
Mercy Mpinganjira ◽  
Marius Wait

Although the ban on plastic bags is gaining in prominence as a policy option to manage plastic bag litter, there are mixed views on its rationale and effectiveness. This study employs a systematic literature review to understand considerations, benefits and unintended consequences of banning plastic bags. The review’s results pointed to the limited success of a plastic bag ban owing to lack of suitable alternatives, limited state capacity to monitor and enforce the ban, thriving black market, structural and instrumental power of the plastic industry. The power of the industry was manifested by the covert practice of deflecting accountability to consumers by focusing on business-oriented solutions, including an inclination towards self-regulation. The findings of this study underscored the need for a global treaty to address the transient nature of plastic bag litter and moving away from the symbolic gesture of targeting only plastic shopping bags but considering the environmental impact of all forms of plastic such as straws, foamed plastics, plastic bottles and caps. There is a general consensus in literature that the end of plastic shopping bags is not nigh due to their utilitarian benefits. This study therefore recommends the promotion of a circular economy focusing on ecological modernisation, sustainable plastic bag manufacturing and recovery strategies such as recycling as a long-term strategy. A significant strand of literature reviewed also recommends the adoption of community-driven approaches such as voluntary initiatives as opposed to a plastic bag ban as they proved to be effective in promoting environmental citizenship behaviours in countries such as Finland.


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