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This study aimed to explore the temporal relationships between psychological states and performance among players in the National Hockey League (NHL). We used an intensive longitudinal design, with 22 players reporting their psychological states daily between 7 February 2024, and 14 March 2024. Performance was measured using Game Score (GS), a composite metric based on weighted performance variables to provide an overall objective measure of individual performance, commonly used by teams in the NHL. Bayesian multilevel models were utilised to analyse the data, focusing on temporal effects between psychological states and performance. The results showed that none of the other psychological states predicted subsequent performance. In the opposite direction, performance predicted several different psychological states the following day, where better performance positively predicted positive states and negatively predicted negative states. In summary, psychological states appear to have a small effect on how NHL players perform, whereas how they perform seem to affect a wide range of psychological states the following day.

Background: Participating in youth sports can benefit individuals’ psychological (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms,improved self-esteem), social (e.g., improved social skills, learning to work with others as a team), and physical health-related outcomes (e.g., higher physical activity levels, lower body fat), aligning with global sustainable developmentgoals. Nevertheless, little is known about the magnitude concerning the effects of youth sport participation on suchhealth-related outcomes compared with nonparticipation over time from childhood to adulthood. In this paper, wesystematically review the extant longitudinal research and estimate the effects of youth sport participation on severalpsychological, physical, and social outcomes compared with nonparticipation.

Methods: Electronic database searches were employed to identify English-language peer-reviewed studies pub-lished from the earliest date until October 4, 2024. By using a priori criteria for inclusion and exclusion, we included46 out of 4588 identified individual studies in the systematic review and 38 of the eligible studies for calculationof Cohen’s d effect size estimates.

Results: Together, the follow-up measurements of the included studies varied from 1 to 54 years after baseline,and the sample sizes ranged from 76 to over 50,000 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that youth sport partici-pation had positive and statistically significant low- to medium-sized effects on physical activity, health and wellbeing,and negative small- to medium-sized effects on unhealthy body composition and mental ill-being over time.

Conclusions This study provides evidence that participating in youth sports can have health-promoting effectsthroughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This advocates for collaborative efforts among national gov-ernments, sport governing bodies, communities, and sports clubs to create an accessible and inclusive youth sportenvironment where young people can thrive and reap the health benefits of sport participation.

Objectives: Elite athletes face numerous psychological challenges that can increase their risk of developing mental health problems. Therefore, interventions to promote the mental health of athletes are crucial. Many coaches and sports psychologists use mindfulness and acceptance-based methods to enhance athletes' performance and well-being. This study examined the experiences of elite student-athletes who participated in an online-based mental training programme. The aim was to understand how these students perceive online mental training, identify challenges and opportunities, and assess their impact on coping with challenges and self-reflection.

Methods: A qualitative research design was employed, using semi-structured interviews to capture participants' experiences. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Twenty students from two sports high schools in Sweden completed an online mental training programme based on Gardner and Moore's (2007) Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment programme. Ten students participated in semi-structured interviews with four girls and six boys aged 17-19.

Results: Our research yielded four themes: (1) mental training can quickly become demanding, (2) I need to share with someone to develop myself, (3) it can be difficult to talk about the mental aspects, and (4) I now approach the world differently.

In conclusion, coaches and sports psychologists can improve online mental training through personalised feedback, increased interactivity and engagement, the creation of support and community, continuity and regularity, and integration of different methods and techniques in daily activities and practice. Considering these factors, we can adapt online mental training to meet student-athletes needs and optimise their experiences.

The present study examined levels of emotional exhaustion, a key symptom of burnout, in Swedish professional and semiprofessional sport coaches in comparison to the normative values specified in the Maslach Burnout Inventory manual, and to the clinical cutoffs developed by Kleijweg, Verbraak, and Van Dijk. The sample contained 318 Swedish coaches (M_age = 42.7 years, 12% female) working at least 50% full time away from both team (60%) and individual (40%) sports. Our study shows that, in general, coaches in this sample experience lower average levels of exhaustion than normative samples both regarding the Maslach Burnout Inventory and clinical cutoffs. Two groups of coaches did, however, stand out. Coaches living in single households as well as coaches working part time had higher risk of severe levels of emotional exhaustion. These results place coach exhaustion levels in relation to other occupations and highlight that in this sample, the coaching profession does not stand out as more emotionally exhausting than other occupations.

Denna rapport sammanfattar det av Arvsfonden och Riksidrottsförbundet finansierade projektet ”Golf för nya vänner”. Huvudsyftet med projektet var att nå ut med golfsporten till nyanlända och delvis etablerade personer med invandrarbakgrund. Andra delsyften fanns också och de var framförallt att använda att använda golfen för att skapa möjligheter till att få nya sociala nätverk via golfklubbarna och att dessa i förlängningen skulle kunna generera andra utfall som språkträning, kontakter för att få jobb eller bara att få vänner med stark bakgrund i det svenska samhället. Data till projektet har samlats in via intervjuer med nyckelpersoner i och runt projektet samt avstämningar med hur många deltagare olika delar av projektet haft.Sammanställning av den data som finns ser vi att ungefär 20 procent av de som startar i projektet tar grönt kort och ungefär tio procent fortsätter att spela efter det att de tagit grönt kort. Det verkar tydligt att det är lite enklare att få äldre personer att fortsätta spela medan personer under 30 oftare slutar trots att de tagit grönt kort. Ofta ser detta ut att bero på faktorer som inte bara har med vad de tycker om golfsporten att göra utan tidsbrist kopplade till skola, jobb och familj ser ut att spela in. Projektet har haft svårt att nå ut till flickor och kvinnor. Detta är inte unikt för detta projekt varken jämfört med golfen i stort eller idrott för personer med utomeuropeiskt ursprung men ska ändå tas i beaktning. Jämfört med andra liknande projekt som på liknande sätt försökt nå ut till personer utanför golfen och få dem att bli golfare står sig utfallen trots allt bra och de osäkerheterna kopplade till pandemin bör teoretiskt göra att siffrorna från Golf för nya vänner är lägre än de hade kunnat vara. De bi-effekter som vi börjat se i projektet med ”trickle down-effekter” där barn till personer som varit med också engagerats i knatteverksamhet är väldigt intressanta och tyder på att Golf för nya vänner trots allt lyckats sätta stora spår hos vissa deltagare. De engagerade klubbarna har med tiden börjat lära sig strategier för rekrytering där ”gatekeepers” som varit med i projektet själva engagerar sig i rekryteringsprocessen. Om klubbar ligger i mindre kommuner med närmare vägar till nödvändiga kommunkontakter jämfört med större kommuner med längre väg till dessa kontakter skiljer sig dessa strategier något. Andra bieffekter kan vara rent ekonomiska för klubbar där samhällsengagemanget de visar i inkluderingsfrågor också förenklar kontakter med makthavare och ökar intresse från sponsorer.

The present study examined relationships between golfers’ self-perceived emotions (e.g., irritability, nervousness, tension), task-oriented coping, perceived control, and performance during a golf competition. We implemented a process-oriented golf analysis in which competitors rated these variables hole-by-hole in a competitive golf round. Within a two-level Bayesian multivariate autoregressive model, we showed that (a) within persons, emotions and task-oriented coping were reactions that stemmed from performance on the previous hole; and (b) between persons, player skill level predicted both better scores and the ability to limit the influence of negative affect on performance. These findings highlight the complex nature of the relationship between emotions and performance. Future studies might use a similarly ecologically valid research design to more precisely measure aspects of time and potentially moderating effects of player skill level and personality. An increased understanding of the dynamic relationship between emotions and performance can promote the development of effective psychological interventions for optimal performance outcomes.

There is limited knowledge of the talent selection strategies used by national sporting organizations to identify and develop talented players in basketball. Therefore, we aimed to explore differences in selection strategies between European youth basketball national team programs, and how they relate to the program’s success. Specifically, we examined differences in the number of youth national team players and within-country variance in the 1988-1999 generations between 38 countries (n men = 38, women = 32). Further, we tested if the number of youth national team players and within-country variance was related to the national teams senior ranking, youth ranking, and youth-to-senior player promotion, using generalized Bayesian multilevel models. We further checked the moderating effect of the sport’s popularity in each country.On average, 15.6 ± 2.0 male and 12.4 ± 1.8 female players were selected per generation. Over a third of the national teams consistently selected a higher or lower number of players than the average, with a difference of 8.1 players (95% CI [5.8, 10.8]) for men and 7.6 players (95% CI [5.4, 10.0]) for women between the countries with the highest and lowest average. When licensed players were used as moderator, the differences decreased but did not disappear, in both genders. There was an above 99.2% probability that a higher number of players was positively related to higher men’s senior and youth rankings, and women’s youth ranking. Within countries, generations with a higher number of youth players generated more senior players, with a probability of 98.4% on the men’s, and 97.3% on the women’s side. When licensed players were used as moderator, the probabilities for these relationships remained largely unaffected, apart from women’s youth ranking, which sank to 80.5%.In conclusion, the selection strategy in basketball national team programs varies between European countries and selecting a higher number of players possibly relates to better long-term performance and more players promoted to the senior national teams. These findings show that talent development programs should make conscious decisions about their selection strategies as it can affect their success.

The aims of the study were to: (a) analyse the re-selection patterns in European youth basketball national teams, and (b) investigate how the chance of re-selection is influenced by the initial selection age and relative age of the players, as well as the long-term performance of the country at the youth level. The sample consisted of 8362 basketball players (5038 men, 3324 women) born 1988-1997 who have participated in at least one U16, U18 or U20 European youth basketball championship between 2004 and 2017. The results from the survival analysis showed that around 75% of male and 80% of female players participating in a championship were re-selected the following year. Also, initial selection age, relative age effect, and the country long-term performance influenced the re-selection rates, with relationships being different between men and women. To conclude, the results of the present study show that the re-selection process by which players progress in European youth national basketball teams is complex and influenced by several different factors.

Coaching athletes is highly rewarding yet stressful, especially at the elite level wheremedia, fans, and sponsors can contribute to an environment that, if not well-managed by the coach,can lead to burnout. Coaches who display perfectionistic tendencies, such as striving for flawlessness,may be particularly vulnerable—even more so if they are overly critical of themselves and havea tendency to ruminate over their performance, or if they are attempting to convey an image offaultlessness, or both. A total of 272 coaches completed a battery of inventories assessing burnout,perfectionistic thoughts, and the tendency for perfectionistic self-presentation. All variables correlatedsignificantly: coaches with higher scores on exhaustion scored higher both on perfectionistic thoughtsand self-presentation. However, when three subscales of perfectionistic self-presentation wereconsidered separately, lower and nonsignificant correlations emerged. We believe that this can beexplained by the heterogeneous group of coaches participating in this study. Whereas all coaches mayat times ruminate privately—self-oriented perfectionism—about their perceived failure to performto expectations, not all may feel the pressure to present themselves to others as faultless—a moresocially prescribed perfectionism. This finding warrants further investigation, preferably comparingcoaches at dierent levels of public scrutiny.