We examined a model, informed by self-regulation theories from the health psychology literature, which included goal adjustment capacities, appraisals of challenge and threat, coping, and well-being. Two-hundred and twelve athletes from the United Kingdom (n 147)= or Australia (n = 65), who played team (n = 135) or individual sports (n = 77), and competed at international (n = 7), national (n = 11), county (n = 67), club (n = 84), or beginner (n = 43) levels participated in this study. Participants completed measures of goal adjustment capacities and stress appraisals two days before competing. Athletes also completed coping and well-being questionnaires within three hours of their competition ending.The way an athlete responded to an unattainable goal was associated with his or her well-being in the period leading up to and including the competition. Goal reengagement positively predicted well-being, whereas goal disengagement negatively predicted well-being. Further, goal reengagement was positively associated with challenge appraisals, which in turn was linked to task-oriented coping, and task-oriented coping positively associated with well-being.When highly-valued goals become unattainable, consultants and coaches could encourage athletes to generate alternative approaches to achieve the same goal or help them develop a completely new goal in order to promote well-being among athletes

Considerable changes to higher education approaches, as a response to the global coronavirus pandemic, has increased the stress on university students. The impact of these changes has had an effect on the negative emotional symptoms being experienced, which can lead to more severe mental health issues. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine the prevalence of anxiety, depression and stress during the coronavirus lockdown. A systematic review of three electronic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed and Medline) was conducted, with 13 studies from different European countries reporting data on students and their negative emotional symptoms identified. The random-effects model was used to perform the meta-analysis on anxiety, depression and stress. The overall pooled prevalence rate was 55% (95% CI: 45–64%) for anxiety, 63% (95% CI: 52–73%) for depression and 62% (95% CI: 43–79%) for stress. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on negative emotional symptoms has been serious with studies reporting high prevalence rates for these. Isolation, reduced social contact, duration of quarantine and restrictions, which are the characteristics of a lockdown, played an important role in increased negative emotional symptoms for students. Countries have to be aware of this situation and develop mental support strategies to mitigate the impact.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate high performance athlete perceptions of strength and conditioning coaches, specifically, (1) their character traits, (2) the effective behaviours that display these traits, and (3) how these relationships were fostered. Using the 3+1 C’s model of coach–athlete relationships as a framework (Jowett, 2007), 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with high performance athletes (six female; six male) representing a variety of sports (i.e., freestyle wrestling, triathlon, field hockey, cycling, rowing, rugby union, netball, table tennis, and ice hockey). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 53 years (M = 29, SD = 9). Interviews took between 19–47 min and were transcribed verbatim. The transcripts equated to a total of 188 pages of data that were analyzed, coded, and further grouped into higher-order themes and general dimensions. The findings revealed 14 higher-order themes categorized under the 3+1 C’s general dimensions of closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation.

The professionalization of sports coaching has led to a constant need to develop and improve coaching performance and behavior. As a result, reflective practice has become common place within coaching and relevant to the development of sports coaches. This study aims to develop on traditional reflective processes, by identifying how video can be used to assist the learning process of coaches. Nineteen inexperienced coaches recounted their experience of using a video recording of a personal coaching practice, concentrating on: (a) the reflective process, (b) the use of video to assist this process, and (c) the practicalities of video reflection. Content analysis suggests increases in cognitive understanding of the coaching process and improvement in coaching performance are experienced through this form of reflection. Initial results suggest that video reflection can help improve inexperienced sports coaches by highlighting strengths and weaknesses in performance that may be overlooked by traditional methods.

The aim of this case study was to investigate the emotional factors and coping strategies used by a professional rugby union player during rehabilitation from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. A dominant (qualitative) - less dominant (quantitative) mixed methodological approach was established concurrent with the athlete’s rehabilitation. Twice monthly interviews and a self-report diary were completed throughout the rehabilitation process. Six questionnaires were used to assess specific aspects of injury rehabilitation identified from previous literature, including emotional response, coping, social support, and perceived autonomy. Content analysis of each phase of the rehabilitation process established 34 higher-order themes split into two general dimensions: Influential Emotions or Coping Strategies. Findings highlight the benefit of problem-focused coping to improve autonomy and confidence. A sequential movement through a series of emotions (shock, depression, relief, encouragement, and confidence building) was also identified.