Swinxsbee: A Shared Interactive Play Object to Stimulate Children’s Social Play Behaviour and Physical Exercise

This paper describes a study on the influence of personal and shared play objects on the amount of social interaction. The study makes use of Swinxs, a commercially available game console that uses the strength of digital games to facilitate physically active games that can be played indoor or outdoor. A Frisbee-like object called Swinxsbee has been designed to support new game possibilities for Swinxs and stimulate social interaction. The results of a user evaluation show that children playing with shared objects engage in more social interaction than children playing with personal objects. Furthermore we observed that when games require much physical activity, this might have a negative influence on the level of social interaction, while games demanding creativity might have a positive influence

A phenomenological exploration of coping responses associated with choking in sport

The likelihood of choking in sport is moderated by the athlete’s choice of coping strategy. Yet a lack of consensus exists with regards to which strategies encourage or prevent the choke. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to explore, through qualitative methods, the coping responses perceived to be associated with choking episodes. Semi-structured interviews were completed with six elite golfers who had experienced both choking and clutch performances under pressure. It was revealed that avoidance coping strategies (e.g. rushing and denial) were considered to precede and/or accompany their choking episodes, whilst approach coping strategies (e.g. pre- and post-shot routines, cognitive restructuring and simulated practice) were associated with their clutch performances. Such findings are discussed within the context of the extant choking literature, and used to inform recommendations for practitioners working with choking-susceptible performers