Miquel Torregrosa

Relationships among motivational climate, satisfaction, perceived ability, and fair play attitudes in young soccer players.

The present study examined relationships among perceptions of motivational climate, perceived ability, satisfaction and fair play attitudes in young soccer players. Participants were 472 male Catalan players (from 10 to 14 years). Results indicated that perceptions of a task-involving climate were positively associated with satisfaction in practices and self-referenced perceived ability and were inversely related to rough play attitudes and normative perceived ability. In addition, perceptions of an ego-involving motivational climate were related positively with normative perceived ability and with favorable attitudes towards winning in a soccer game. The differences across motivational climate profiles groups revealed that the highest level of acceptance of rough play was found in the subgroup with a low-task/high-ego orientation. In contrast, the lowest level of acceptance of rough play was found in the opposite subgroup of high-task/low-ego. The findings support the importance of creating a task-involving climate in sports.

Elite athletes' image of retirement: the way to relocation in sport.

Abstract Objectives: To add a prospective view of retirement to the existing research in career transition based on retrospective data. Methods: Using a grounded theory approach, 18 active athletes were interviewed and the data were content analysed. Results: Three different stages related to athletes’ view of retirement were conceptualised: (a) initiation/training stage; (b) maturity performance stage; and (c) anticipation of retirement stage. Our data suggest that active elite athletes gradually build an image of retirement from competitive sports during his/her sporting carrer. Conclusions: Systematic prospective studies on retirement contribute to a better picture of career transitions in sports and can assist in counselling top-level athletes. In our work, we have outlined that retirement is seen as much less problematic when it is planned as a process rather than an event. In the case of Spanish elite athletes, we would recommend that retirement from sport be viewed as a relocation in sport.

Commitment, Enjoyment and Motivation in Young Soccer Competitive Players

Building upon Decis and Ryan (1985) Self-determination theory as well as the sportive behavioral correlates of the model of Commitment (Scanlan et al., 1976), this study tries to establish the relationship between motivation and commitment in youth sport. For this purpose 454 young competitive soccer players answered the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ) during the regular season. The SMS measures the three dimensions of the Motivational continuum (the Amotivation, the Extrinsic Motivation and the Intrinsic Motivation). The SCQ measures the Sportive Commitment and its composing factors such as the Enjoyment, the Alternatives to the sport, and the Social Pressure. Our findings provided a clear pattern of the influence of motivation in sport enjoyment and commitment, outlining the positive contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enjoyment and commitment. Amotivation, contributes positively to alternatives to sport and negatively to enjoyment and commitment, It should be noted that extrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to enjoyment whereas intrinsic motivation has a higher contribution to commitment.

How coaches' motivations mediate between basic psychological needs and well-being/ill-being

Purpose: The purpose of the present research was to test how behavioral regulations are mediated between basic psychological needs and psychological well-being and ill-being in a sample of team-sport coaches. Based on self-determination theory, we hypothesized a model where satisfaction and thwarting of the basic psychological needs predicted coaches’ behavioral regulations, which in turn led them to experience well-being (i.e., subjective vitality, positive affect) or ill-being (i.e., perceived stress, negative affect). Method: Three-hundred and two coaches participated in the study (Mage = 25.97 years; 82% male). For each instrument employed, the measurement model with the best psychometric properties was selected from a sequence of nested models sustained by previous research, including exploratory structural equation models and confirmatory factor analysis. These measurement models were included in 3 structural equation models to test for mediation: partial mediation, complete mediation, and absence of mediation. Results: The results provided support for the partial mediation model. Coaches’ motivation mediated the relationships from both relatedness need satisfaction and basic psychological needs thwarting for coaches’ well-being. In contrast, relationships between basic psychological needs satisfaction and thwarting and ill-being were only predicted by direct effects. Conclusion: Our results highlight that 3 conditions seem necessary for coaches to experience psychological well-being in their teams: basic psychological needs satisfaction, especially relatedness; lack of basic psychological needs thwarting; and self-determined motivation.

Retiring from elite sports in Greece and Spain.

The main objective of the present study was to compare the athletic retirement of elite Greek and Spanish athletes in terms of (a) pre-conditions of retirement, (b) transitional period, and (c) consequences of the transition. For this purpose, elite athletes from Greece (n = 76) and Spain (n = 57) described in retrospect their experience leaving competitive sports through the Retirement from Sports Survey (Alfermann, Stambulova, & Zemaityte, 2004). Separate one-way ANOVAs and chi-square tests revealed differences and similarities between the transitional processes of athletes from the two countries. More similarities than differences were detected in the retirement of Greek and Spanish athletes. Based on these commonalities, we proposed a Southern European perspective on the topic. According to the present results the main characteristics of this pattern could be the lack of retirement planning, high athletic identity after the sports career, and predominance of relocation in the sports world after retirement.

Less time, better quality. shortening questionnaires to assess team environment and goal orientation

When assessing team environments in youth sport, participants often spend substantial time responding to lots of items in questionnaires, causing a lack of efficiency (i.e. time and effort) and a decrease of data quality. The purpose of this work was to create short-forms of the questionnaires PeerMCYSQ, SCQPeer, TEOSQ, and also to analyse the existing short-form of the SCQCoach. In Study 1 we developed the short-forms of the instruments. We shortened the questionnaires by using both theory driven and data-driven criteria. In Study 2, we used also qualitative and quantitative data with the aim of validating the short-forms. Finally, in Study 3 we tested the last version of the short-forms and sought evidences concerning their criterion validity. The results showed evidence that supports the psychometric merit of these short-forms: (a) significantly less missing values were obtained; (b) all the factors obtained alpha values above .70; (c) confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the short-forms fitted the hypothesized models well; (d) correlations between variables were coherent with expectations, and (e) structural equation modeling results showed significant paths consistent with previous literature. On average, our participants only spent a third of the time used to complete the original questionnaires.

Perceived distributed effort in team ball sports

Abstract In this study, we explored the multifaceted concept of perceived mental and physical effort in team sport contexts where athletes must invest individual and shared efforts to reach a common goal. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 15 Catalan professional coaches (3 women and 12 men, 3 each from the following sports: volleyball, basketball, handball, soccer, and water polo) to gain their views of three perceived effort-related dimensions: physical, psychological, and tactical. From a theoretical thematic analysis, it was found that the perception of effort is closely related to how effort is distributed within the team. Moreover, coaches viewed physical effort in relation to the frequency and intensity of the players’ involvement in the game. They identified psychological effort in situations where players pay attention to proper cues, and manage emotions under difficult circumstances. Tactical effort addressed the decision-making process of players and how they fulfilled their roles while taking into account the actions of their teammates and opponents. Based on these findings, a model of perceived distributed effort was developed, which delineates the elements that compose each of the aforementioned dimensions. Implications of perceived distributed effort in team coordination and shared mental models are discussed.

Spanish adaptation and validation of the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports

This paper presents the Spanish adaptation of the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports. In the process of adaptation, we preferred cultural and linguistic equivalence to literal translation. Therefore, we gathered qualitative evidence based on the judgements of a multidisciplinary group of experts (n = 6) and focus groups (n = 10). Concerning cultural and linguistic equivalence, we found differences between the original and the adapted version in the editing of 16 items. Generally, these differences were deemed necessary to guarantee the cultural and metric equivalence between the original and the adapted version. As to the subsequent quantitative phase, data were obtained from 263 athletes from different sports and different levels (Mage = 20.30, SD = 3.08). The results showed acceptable levels of internal consistency (α values ranged from .70 to .83) and supported the original model of eight factors. In addition, a structural model including pre-competitive anxiety offered further evidence in regard to the link between self-talk and competitive anxiety. Lastly, some implications concerning the methodology are discussed.

Development and Validation of the Perception of Distributed Effort in Team Sports Questionnaire (DETSQ).

Underpinned by the team cognition perspective, we present the Perception of Distributed Effort in Team Sports Questionnaire (DETSQ). To examine the multidimensional conceptualization of perceived distributed effort in team sports (Beniscelli, Tenenbaum, Schinke, & Torregrosa, 2014), we conducted three studies aimed at developing the DETSQ. In Study 1, we generated items and obtained evidence of content and substantive validity. Consistent with the conceptual framework, we selected the items to reflect three forms of perceived effort: physical, psychological, and tactical. In Study 2, we ran a series of exploratory structural equation models (SEMs)to refine the DETSQ internal structure using the responses from 257 team sport athletes. The result was a 13-item, 3-factor model. In Study 3, we further examined the internal validity of the questionnaire, along with its reliability; measurement invariance across gender, age, and competitive level; and the convergent and consequential aspects of construct validity. The analyses provided evidence to support the psychometric properties of the DETSQ. The discussion focuses on the implication of the DETSQ for processes involving team cognition and suggestions for further research on the perception of distributed effort in team sports.

The Effect of Coaches’ Controlling Style on the Competitive Anxiety of Young Athletes

Framed on a Self-Determination Theory perspective, the purpose of this study was to explore the predictive capacity of coaches’ interpersonal controlling style on the competitive anxiety of young athletes, considering the mediating effect of the athletes’ controlled motivation on this relationship. The sample consisted of 1166 athletes, aged between 9 and 18, who ranked their perceptions of coaches’ controlling style, as well as the reasons for participating in sport and their competitive anxiety before or during competition. The structural models assessing both the direct effect of the controlling style on the anxiety and the complete mediated effect of the controlled motivation on this relationship revealed good fit indices. However, a significant difference of the chi-square was obtained when comparing these models to the partial mediation model, providing evidence of this last model to be more adequate to describe the relationship between coaches’ controlling style and athletes’ competitive anxiety. Positive significant effects of coach controlling style on the three forms of competitive anxiety were found (βCS-SA = 0.21, p < 0.001; βCS-W= 0.14, p < 0.001; βCS-CD= 0.30, p < 0.001) indicating that coach controlling style could be an antecedent for athletes’ anxiety in a direct way. Although this style also predicts athletes’ motivation to participate, this indirect path seems to predict competitive anxiety in a less clear way. We discuss our results facing them up to Vallerand’s hierarchical model postulates, focusing on the relevant influence of coaches on the young athletes’ experience in the sport context.