The influence of training load, exposure to match play and sleep duration on daily wellbeing measures in youth athletes

This study assessed the influence of training load, exposure to match play and sleep duration on two daily wellbeing measures in youth athletes. Forty-eight youth athletes (age 17.3 ± 0.5 years) completed a daily wellbeing questionnaire (DWB), the Perceived Recovery Status scale (PRS), and provided details on the previous day’s training loads (TL) and self-reported sleep duration (sleep) every day for 13 weeks (n = 2727). Linear mixed models assessed the effect of TL, exposure to match play and sleep on DWB and PRS. An increase in TL had a most likely small effect on muscle soreness (d = −0.43;± 0.10) and PRS (d = −0.37;± 0.09). Match play had a likely small additive effect on muscle soreness (d = −0.26;± 0.09) and PRS (d = −0.25;± 0.08). An increase in sleep had a most likely moderate effect on sleep quality (d = 0.80;± 0.14); a most likely small effect on DWB (d = 0.45;± 0.09) and fatigue (d = 0.42;± 0.11); and a likely small effect on PRS (d = 0.25;± 0.09). All other effects were trivial or did not reach the pre-determined threshold for practical significance. The influence of sleep on multiple DWB subscales and the PRS suggests that practitioners should consider the recovery of an athlete alongside the training stress imposed when considering deviations in wellbeing measures

Factors that are most influential in children's continued and discontinued participation in organised sport :The role of sport injury and injury risk perceptions

Sport participation is popular among millions of children in countries throughout the world. The well-documented health benefits of children's sport participation are important to help reduce childhood obesity and the burdens of other associated childhood diseases. Despite efforts to promote sport participation, unfortunately involvement for some children can be short-lived with sport dropout (or attrition) rates being relatively ltigh, particularly during adolescence. Although research investigating the area of child sport dropout began more than 30-years ago, there is still much to learn about the issue, and correspondingly it has been identified as a major concem by both sport practitioners and researchers. Whilst previous studies have uncovered some factors that distinguish children who do and do not drop out of sport, a detailed examination of the published literature is required to characterise these issues further and to identi fy where knowledge gaps exist more fully