Investigating the perceived effectiveness of digital technology for elite athlete support in golf

Digital technologies have enabled vast and varied amounts of data to be captured on elite athletes. The data is intended for use by athletes, coaches and support team e.g. physiotherapists, sports scientists for many purposes including performance development or injury prevention. However, the usefulness of such digital technologies and the information gathered is only beneficial if deemed effective by all those involved. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of digital technology for elite athletes’ development and support from athlete, coach and support team perspective in golf. Interviews were conducted with athletes, coaches and support team for a sport where digital technologies were used to facilitate training. The results of the study uncovered four categories that helped to understand how effectiveness was perceived which were “The Influence on Psychological Well-being and Proprioception”, “Measurement Uncertainty”, “Environment” and “Type, Ease and Frequency of Use”. Exploring these categories provided insight into the best practices for digital technology integration into elite athlete support and ultimately can help shape future developments of digital technologies.</div

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Pushing boundaries: Women in Sport and Exercise Conference, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, June 11–12, 2019

The Women in Sport and Exercise Academic Network (WiSEAN) was established in 2016 to grow, strengthen and promote research on women in sport and exercise, with the ultimate goal of optimising women’s athletic success and their participation

Factors influencing the Quality of the Coach-Athlete Relationship During the Specialisation Phase in Female Football

The Coach-Athlete Relationship (CAR) is a dynamic and dyadic relationship formed between athlete and coach that is supportive of enhanced levels of coaching effectiveness, athlete wellbeing and sport performance. However, a paucity of research exists that has explored coach and athlete perceptions of effective CARs across developmental stages in female sport. Following ethical approval, female footballers (n = 18) and high-performance football coaches (n = 6) in specialisation phase age groups (U12, U14, U16), on the FA female talent pathway, completed the coach or athlete version of the coach-athlete relationship questionnaire (CART-Q), and qualitative open-ended questions exploring coach-athlete perceptions of effective CARs. CART-Q scores were directly compared across specialisation phase age groups; responses to open-ended questions were thematically analysed using a constant comparison method and presented as direct textual quotations. The findings indicated: positive trends (complimentarity; co-orientation), stable trend (commitment), and unstable trend (closeness) for CART-Q scores across age groups. Significantly, closeness scores (U16) were lower in comparison with all other age groups. Furthermore, qualitative responses identified that perceptions of CAR supportive conditions varied across age-groups: establishing ‘trust’ and an ‘open dialogue’ emerged as common themes for all age groups; ‘feeling listened to’ emerged as a common theme in the U16 age group only. Findings suggest that gender and athlete developmental-stage represent influential criteria determining perceived CAR effectiveness in sport. It is recommended that future research is grounded in the context of female sport, and that applied practitioners fully consider the influence of developmental and psychological differences

Stroboscopic Visual Training for Coaching Practitioners: A Comprehensive Literature Review

Background: The importance of vision and its impact upon an athlete’s performance has long been recognized by elite athletic communities. In recent decades, stroboscopic training methods have been developed to help train athletes from a visual, perceptual, and cognitive perspective using strobe glasses. Objective: Herein a comprehensive literature review was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of strobe glasses in training collegiate and professional athletes. Methods: This comprehensive literature review investigates the origins, attention influences, tasks, practitioner takeaways, and cost feasibility of stroboscopic visual training.Results: The findings from this review show promise of benefits from utilizing strobe glasses during training scenarios, particularly for improving fast or impulsive tasks. Strobe glasses can be accommodated into varying sporting environments and training regimens while being affordable to athletic, coaching, and training departments or centers. Studies investigating the direct influence of stroboscopic training on subsequent performance demonstrate viable methods for strengthening fundamental visual abilities. Notably, these fundamental abilities have been shown to correlate with improved game performance. Though early results are promising, there are still significant areas for further research and more comprehensive designs of stroboscopic training studies. Conclusion: This review highlights potential benefits and existing research gaps concerning the use of stroboscopic eyewear as an intervention method in sports. The delineation of optimal applications for strobe glasses is undetermined; however, information presented in this review can be meaningfully applied by coaching practitioners who are considering adopting the technology

Considering intervention efficacy: the effect of a pre-shot routine on competitive youth golf performance

A pre-shot routine enables athletes to focus on well rehearsed cues (Schmidt &amp; Pepper, 1998). Pre-shot routines are commonly discussed in golf literature as well as in consultation. Research on routines is scattered; a consistent line of inquiry has not studied all three components of a pre-shot routine (e.g, cognitive, behavioral, and relaxation). Studies have begun to suggest that elite players create their own routines (Cohn, Rotella, &amp; Lloyd, 1990); and thus routines may be particularly beneficial for youth sport performers. Lastly, the literature is still missing studies that employ sound methodological designs, comprehensive interventions teaching adequate mental skills that form a pre-shot routine and social validation of the protocol and results with youth participants. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential efficacy of a pre-shot routine on improving competitive youth golf putting and approach shot performance. The research question was will learning the psychological components (e.g. cognitive cues, behavioral focusing strategies, and relaxation) of a pre-shot routine improve approach shot and putting performance of competitive youth golfers? There were two aims that addressed this research question. The first aim was to determine the impact of learning the mental skills components of a pre-shot routine on the total number of approach shots and putts in tournaments during the competitive season. The hypothesis was that learning a pre-shot routine would result in participants becoming more consistent and/or improved sport performance (e.g, decreasing total number of approach shots and putts per round). The second aim was to examine the potential impact of learning the pre-shot routine on competitive performance from the participants' perspectives and involved them in evaluating the intervention and its impact on their competitive performance. Three youth high school golfers participated in a 10 week program to learn 3 mental skills (i.e, cue words, deep breathing, &amp; behavioral focusing strategy) that would form a pre-shot routine. Participants' competition and practice scorecards were collected, and the total number of strokes per round were graphed and examined for performance improvements. Also, participants completed self-report surveys after each tournament round that asked them to indicate their perceived ability to focus on each hole and whether they adhered to their pre-shot routines. Lastly, participants completed interviews after learning each skill and at the end of the program to evaluate the overall intervention protocol. Performance improvements were observed for 2 participants putting and approach shot performance. Participants found the intervention to be helpful and agreed that their performances (i.e, ball striking, overall performance, iron, wood, &amp; sand shots) improved. Practical implications for sport psychology consultants and future directions were forwarded