Jon Radcliffe

Committed relationships and enhanced threat levels: Perceptions of coach behavior, the coach–athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping among athletes

The purpose of this study was to assess an a priori model that included perceptions of coach behavior, coach–athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping. A total of 274 athletes from the United Kingdom, Austalia, and Hong Kong completed relevant measures that assessed each construct. Our results revealed that perceptions of coach behavior were associated with aspects of the coach–athlete relationship and stress appraisals. In particular, closeness was positively associated with challenge appraisals and negatively with threat appraisals. However, commitment was positively associated with threat, indicating that there might be some negative implications of having a highly committed coach–athlete relationship. Further, commitment was also positively associated with disengagement-oriented coping, which has previously been linked to poor performance and lower goal-attainment. Applied practitioners could monitor athlete’s perceptions of the coach–athlete relationship, particularly commitment levels, and provide training in appraising stress and coping to those who also score highly on threat and disengagement-oriented coping, but low on task-oriented coping.

The perception of psychology and the frequency of psychological strategies used by strength and conditioning practitioners.

Abstract Radcliffe, JN, Comfort, P, and Fawcett, T. The perception of psychology and the frequency of psychological strategies used by strength and conditioning practitioners. J Strength Cond Res 27(4): 1136–1146, 2013—The study aimed to first examine the frequency of the psychological skills and strategies of strength and conditioning practitioners and second distinguish between demographic differences in relation to psychological skills and strategy use. The Strength and Conditioning Sport Psychology Questionnaire was developed to measure the frequency of use of 11 subscales. These consisted of goal setting, imagery, self-talk, mental toughness, attention control, relaxation, stress management, adherence, activation, self-confidence, and ego management. Each subscale demonstrated acceptable internal validity ale (mean interitem correlations ranged as 0.227–0.427). The instrument allowed up to 5 open-ended responses concerning skills considered most important to strength and conditioning practice and up to 5 psychological attributes considered detrimental within strength and conditioning. One hundred and two participants met the inclusion criteria (90 men and 12 women; age 34.7 ± 9.7 years; experience 7.4 ± 5.2 years; part time 36.5%; full time 63.5%). The respondents were registered with the following organizations: United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association: 41, National Strength and Conditioning Association: 48 and Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA): 48. Goal setting was found to be the most frequently used skill with mental imagery the least used with significant differences identified in the frequency of skill use. The strategies deemed to be most important were motivation and confidence with the most debilitating factors identified as a lack of motivation and a lack of confidence. When comparing demographics, overall skill use varied between practitioners with different experience with more experienced practitioners having greater skill use, both overall and particular individual skills. Participants accredited by the ASCA had a greater psychological skill use than those accredited by other bodies.

Profiling the Responses of Soccer Substitutes: A Review of Current Literature

Depending upon competition regulations, the laws of soccer allow between three and an unlimited number of substitutions that can be made on either a permanent or rolling basis. Substitutes are typically introduced to minimise/offset the effects of fatigue, alter tactics, replace players deemed as underperforming or injured, and/or give playing time to youth players or to squad members returning from injury. While the match-day practices of substitutes include participation in the pre-match warm-up, and sporadic periods of rewarm-up activity, it is currently unclear as to whether these pre-entry preparations facilitate optimal match performance thereafter. Acknowledging the contextual factors that possibly influence substitutes’ performance, this review summarises the presently available literature on soccer substitutes, and makes recommendations for future research. Literature searching and screening yielded 13 studies, which have typically focused on characterising: (1) the patterns, including timing, of substitutes’ introduction; (2) indices of match-performance; and (3) the emotional experiences of soccer substitutes. The majority of substitutions occur after the first-half has ended (i.e. at half-time or during the second-half), with introduced players exceeding the second-half physical performances of those who started the match. Observations of progressive improvements in running performance as playing time increases, and findings that substitutes mostly experience negative emotions, highlight the potential inadequacies of pre-match preparations, and present future research opportunities. Additional work is therefore needed to confirm these findings and to determine the efficacy of current preparation strategies, thereby providing opportunities to assess then address substitutes’ pre-pitch entry preparations, on-field performance and emotional responses.

The Perceived Psychological Responsibilities Of A Strength And Conditioning Coach.

Abstract Radcliffe, JN, Comfort, P, and Fawcett, T. The perceived psychological responsibilities of a strength and conditioning coach. J Strength Cond Res 32(10): 2853–2862, 2016—Research is limited in exploring the specific psychology-oriented responsibilities of the strength and conditioning professional. The present research explored the psychological responsibilities adopted by accredited strength and conditioning coaches. Participants comprised 10 coaches working within the United Kingdom, 3 within the United States, and 5 within Australia offering a cross-section of experience from various sport disciplines and educational backgrounds. Participants were interviewed either in person or via Skype. Thematic clustering was followed using interpretative phonological analysis to identify common themes. Over half (61%) of the respondents reported that their position as a strength and conditioning coach required additional psychology-oriented responsibilities. These comprised a counseling role in the absence of a psychologist and the use of “softer skills” in a mentoring role to the athlete during a challenging situation. The coach could play an influential role in shaping the mentality of the team. The coach identifies how the role results in working to relay information from the athlete to other support staff and similarly from the support staff to the athlete. In addition to identifying the resonant psychology-oriented responsibilities, discussion is made with specific focus on the ethical boundary within which strength and conditioning coaches must reside regarding the competencies to provide psychological support.

A qualitative analysis of the psychological responsibilities of strength and conditioning practitioners

Previous literature has shown a small but positive effect of exercise on cognitive function in young people (Chang et al [2012]. Brain Research, 1453, 87-101), though this relationship is complicated by factors such as the mode, intensity and duration of exercise, the components of cognitive function examined and the timing of the cognitive tests relative to exercise. Specifically, bilateral coordinative exercise (exercise with a greater cognitive involvement) has been demonstrated to improve subsequent attention in adolescents (Budde et al [2008]. Neuroscience Letters, 441, 229-223). The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of a circuit of aerobic and coordinative exercises on Stroop test performance in adolescents. Following approval from the institutions ethical advisory committee, 34 adolescents (age: 13.2±0.3 years; height: 155.4±6.0 cm; body mass: 50.2±9.9 kg) completed a familiarisation session followed by two (exercise and resting) experimental trials. Sixty minutes following provision of an ad libitum breakfast (matched for subsequent experimental trial), participants completed the 15 min bout of exercise or continued to rest. The exercise consisted of a circuit of 10 exercises (alternate aerobic and coordinative exercises), each completed for 1 min with 30 s rest between stations. The Stroop test, measuring attention and executive function, was completed 30 min pre-, 5 min post- and 60 min post-exercise. Heart rate during the exercise was 158±15 beats.min-1. Response times were not different across the morning on the exercise and resting trials, between the baseline and complex levels of the Stroop test (trial by session time by test level interaction, P=0.408). However, there was a significant trial by session time by test level interaction for accuracy on the Stroop test (P=0.039).Upon further analysis, this was due to an improvement in accuracy 5 min post-exercise on the baseline level of the Stroop test (exercise + 2.1%, resting -1.8 %; trial by session time interaction, P=0.010), an effect which was not evident on the complex level (trial by session time interaction, P=0.543). The findings of the present study suggest that the accuracy of attention and executive function (as assessed by the Stroop test) is enhanced immediately following circuits based exercise in adolescents, but that this effect is not evident 60 min post-exercise. There was no effect of the circuits based exercise on response times on the Stroop test. These results have implications for school policy makers, given the importance of cognitive function (and in particular executive function) for academic performance.

Barriers to the inclusion of psychological strategies within strength and conditioning

Previous literature has shown a small but positive effect of exercise on cognitive function in young people (Chang et al [2012]. Brain Research, 1453, 87-101), though this relationship is complicated by factors such as the mode, intensity and duration of exercise, the components of cognitive function examined and the timing of the cognitive tests relative to exercise. Specifically, bilateral coordinative exercise (exercise with a greater cognitive involvement) has been demonstrated to improve subsequent attention in adolescents (Budde et al [2008]. Neuroscience Letters, 441, 229-223). The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of a circuit of aerobic and coordinative exercises on Stroop test performance in adolescents. Following approval from the institutions ethical advisory committee, 34 adolescents (age: 13.2±0.3 years; height: 155.4±6.0 cm; body mass: 50.2±9.9 kg) completed a familiarisation session followed by two (exercise and resting) experimental trials. Sixty minutes following provision of an ad libitum breakfast (matched for subsequent experimental trial), participants completed the 15 min bout of exercise or continued to rest. The exercise consisted of a circuit of 10 exercises (alternate aerobic and coordinative exercises), each completed for 1 min with 30 s rest between stations. The Stroop test, measuring attention and executive function, was completed 30 min pre-, 5 min post- and 60 min post-exercise. Heart rate during the exercise was 158±15 beats.min-1. Response times were not different across the morning on the exercise and resting trials, between the baseline and complex levels of the Stroop test (trial by session time by test level interaction, P=0.408). However, there was a significant trial by session time by test level interaction for accuracy on the Stroop test (P=0.039).Upon further analysis, this was due to an improvement in accuracy 5 min post-exercise on the baseline level of the Stroop test (exercise + 2.1%, resting -1.8 %; trial by session time interaction, P=0.010), an effect which was not evident on the complex level (trial by session time interaction, P=0.543). The findings of the present study suggest that the accuracy of attention and executive function (as assessed by the Stroop test) is enhanced immediately following circuits based exercise in adolescents, but that this effect is not evident 60 min post-exercise. There was no effect of the circuits based exercise on response times on the Stroop test. These results have implications for school policy makers, given the importance of cognitive function (and in particular executive function) for academic performance.