Team Denmark’s sport psychology professional philosophy 2.0

In 2008, Team Denmark established a sport psychology team with the aim to enhance the quality and consistency of applied sport psychology services in Danish sport. The team began their work by creating a professional philosophy (Henriksen, Hansen, & Diment, 2011). Since this publication, the team has worked closely with Danish athletes, coaches and sport federations in consultations, training and competitions, including at numerous World and Europeans Championships as well as several Olympic Games. Lessons learnt on the job, the introduction to new theoretical perspectives, insights from supervision, and formal professional education have resulted in the continual development of the team’s professional philosophy. The purpose of this article is to present a revised version of Team Denmark’s professional philosophy; including: (1) the vision for the team; (2) basic beliefs and values; (3) the psychological theories that interventions are based upon; (4) Team Denmark’s Sports Psychological model which describes the content and focus of the team’s work; and (5) the concrete psychological services that delivered. High quality service requires coherence across all five levels of the philosophy.In 2008, Team Denmark established a sport psychology team with the aim to enhance the quality and consistency of applied sport psychology services in Danish sport. The team began their work by creating a professional philosophy (Henriksen, Hansen, & Diment, 2011). Since this publication, the team has worked closely with Danish athletes, coaches and sport federations in consultations, training and competitions, including at numerous World and Europeans Championships as well as several Olympic Games. Lessons learnt on the job, the introduction to new theoretical perspectives, insights from supervision, and formal professional education have resulted in the continual development of the team’s professional philosophy. The purpose of this article is to present a revised version of Team Denmark’s professional philosophy; including: (1) the vision for the team; (2) basic beliefs and values; (3) the psychological theories that interventions are based upon; (4) Team Denmark’s Sports Psychological model which describes the content and focus of the team’s work; and (5) the concrete psychological services that delivered. High quality service requires coherence across all five levels of the philosophy

What is this thing called “Post-Olympic Blues”? An Exploratory Study Among Danish Olympic Athletes

The post-Olympic period is a challenging and stressful period in which many athletes can experience a range of negative psychological reactions. This has led to the coining of the term ‘post-Olympic blues.’ The purpose of this study is to explore the post-Olympic mental health of Danish athletes with the specific aim to investigate the number of Danish athletes experiencing ‘post-Olympic blues’ after the Tokyo Olympics. Forty-nine Olympic athletes completed measures of well-being (Short-Warwick-Edinburg-Mental-Wellbeing-Scale), depression (Patient-Health-Questionnaire-9), and anxiety (Generalized-Anxiety-Disorders questionnaire) one month after the Olympics Games.  The results indicated that 27% of athletes reported either below average well-being or moderate to severe depression scores, with 16% reported both below average well-being and moderate to severe depression scores. Female athletes reported significantly higher depression than male athletes, with no significant gender difference in well-being or anxiety. No significant age differences were found. No statistically significant results were found between athletes’ goal achievement and mental health, however, there was a tendency that athletes who failed to meet performance expectations reported more negative experiences post-Games. The current results are discussed with regards to developing a clear definition of post-Olympic blues, practical implications, and future research

Catalytic Synergy Using Al(III) and Group 1 Metals to Accelerate Epoxide and Anhydride Ring-Opening Copolymerizations

The controlled synthesis of polyesters via epoxide/anhydride ring-opening copolymerization is a versatile and generally applicable method to make many sustainable polymers, but catalyst activities are limited and the required catalyst loadings are typically high. Here, novel heterodinuclear complexes, featuring Al(III)/M(I) (M = Na, K, Rb, Cs), show exceptional activities for phthalic anhydride and cyclohexene oxide copolymerization (catalyst = Al(III)/K(I), turnover frequency = 1072 h–1, 0.25 mol % catalyst loading vs anhydride, 100 °C). The Al(III)/K(I) catalyst is also tolerant to low loadings, maintaining a good performance at 0.025 mol % catalyst vs anhydride loading and 0.005 mol % vs epoxide. It rapidly polymerizes other epoxide/anhydride combinations yielding various semi-aromatic, rigid, and/or functionalizable polyesters and also shows activity in carbon dioxide/epoxide copolymerizations. The results of structure–activity, X-ray crystallography, polymerization kinetics, and density functional theory investigations support a mechanism with chain growth alternation between the metals. The rate-limiting step is proposed to involve epoxide coordination at Al(III) with K(I) carboxylate attack. Future exploitation of abundant and inexpensive Group 1 metals to deliver synergic polymerization catalysts is recommended

Catalytic Synergy Using Al(III) and Group 1 Metals to Accelerate Epoxide and Anhydride Ring-Opening Copolymerizations

The controlled synthesis of polyesters via epoxide/anhydride ring-opening copolymerization is a versatile and generally applicable method to make many sustainable polymers, but catalyst activities are limited and the required catalyst loadings are typically high. Here, novel heterodinuclear complexes, featuring Al(III)/M(I) (M = Na, K, Rb, Cs), show exceptional activities for phthalic anhydride and cyclohexene oxide copolymerization (catalyst = Al(III)/K(I), turnover frequency = 1072 h–1, 0.25 mol % catalyst loading vs anhydride, 100 °C). The Al(III)/K(I) catalyst is also tolerant to low loadings, maintaining a good performance at 0.025 mol % catalyst vs anhydride loading and 0.005 mol % vs epoxide. It rapidly polymerizes other epoxide/anhydride combinations yielding various semi-aromatic, rigid, and/or functionalizable polyesters and also shows activity in carbon dioxide/epoxide copolymerizations. The results of structure–activity, X-ray crystallography, polymerization kinetics, and density functional theory investigations support a mechanism with chain growth alternation between the metals. The rate-limiting step is proposed to involve epoxide coordination at Al(III) with K(I) carboxylate attack. Future exploitation of abundant and inexpensive Group 1 metals to deliver synergic polymerization catalysts is recommended