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The Relationship Between Cold-Water-Immersion Activities, Mental Health, Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Mental Toughness

Annmarie Mullooly and Dylan Colbert

While a breadth of literature has asserted the potential physiological benefits of cold-water-immersion (CWI) activities (such as sea swimming, ice baths, and cold showers), analyses on their possible psychological effects is more limited. The current analysis (N = 164) aimed to explore the relationship between CWI and a number of psychological variables pertaining to mental health and psychological fortitude by comparing those who engage in CWI via various modalities (n = 120) and at various levels of frequency to those who do not (n = 44). When controlling for levels of daily stress, engagement in cold-water activities was found to be associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as higher levels of resilience, self-efficacy, and mental toughness. Furthermore, analyses suggested a “dosage effect” as more frequent CWI was associated with significantly more positive levels of mental toughness and self-efficacy.

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A Second-Generation Mindfulness-Based Intervention Focusing on Flow State: A Samatha-Based Training

Daliang Zhao

Currently, there is no empirical research on second-generation mindfulness training in the field of sport psychology. This study designed Samatha-based training (SBT) according to the principles of Samatha (a Buddhist practice) and preliminarily tested its influence on flow state. A total of 22 martial-arts-routine athletes were divided into two groups: the SBT group (n = 10) and the wait-list group (n = 12). The 7-week intervention demonstrated that SBT significantly enhanced the scores in present-moment attention, awareness, and flow state. These results support the effectiveness of SBT as a novel second-generation mindfulness-based intervention. Furthermore, the concept of mindfulness is discussed from the Samatha perspective, and subsequently, the reason that SBT promotes flow state was explored from a new perspective.

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Transitioning From Traditional Sport to Esport: Exploring Sport Psychology Practitioners’ Experiences

Jonathan Brain, Alessandro Quartiroli, and Christopher R.D. Wagstaff

Sport psychology practitioners are increasingly operating in the esport domain. Yet it remains unclear how practitioners who have exclusively been trained in traditional sport develop a contextually grounded understanding of their practice in esport. This study, framed from an ontological relativism and epistemological interpretivism approach, involved semistructured interviews with 10 qualified practitioners (three female, seven male) who transitioned from traditional sport to esport. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and presented via three composite vignettes: (a) My wish was to feel a part of the team, but there’s no team; (b) To be honest, did I have assumptions going into esport? Absolutely!; and (c) Esport is the wild, wild west. Our findings offer insights on the hurdles associated with transitioning from traditional sport to esport, thus highlighting the important role that esport organizations, training routes, and educational institutions have in supporting practitioners to ethically and effectively work in this domain.

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Coach Servant Leadership and Athlete Serving Behaviors: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Positive Affect

Shohei Takamatsu and Yujiro Kawata

This study argues, based on macro theory, which integrates self-determination and broaden-and-build theories, that a coach’s servant leadership enhances athletes’ intrinsic motivation and positive affect, thus enhancing their serving behaviors toward their teammates. In Study 1, data were collected from 600 athletes belonging to university athletic clubs in Japan through an online survey. In Study 2, data were collected from a university with one of the largest sport faculties in Japan at two time points—with 311 university athletes at Time 1 and 269 athletes, 3 months later, at Time 2. The results revealed that intrinsic motivation and positive affect sequentially mediated the positive relationship between coach servant leadership and athlete serving behaviors. The findings contribute to the development of the servant-leadership literature by demonstrating a new pathway from servant leadership of coaches (leaders) to serving behaviors of athletes (followers) based on macro theory.

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Two Confessional Tales of Trainee Sport Psychology Practitioners’ Experiences of Operating in Trinidad and Tobago

Jonathan Brain, Heather Hunter, George H. Franklin, Alessandro Quartiroli, Christopher R.D. Wagstaff, and Daniel J. Brown

We present two confessional tales of our transnational experience as U.K.-based trainee sport psychology practitioners working in a professional sport organization in Trinidad and Tobago. We first provide contextual elements of our placement before sharing the confessional tales regarding the nuances of providing sport psychology services in a cultural context different from the one in which we are currently training. In the confessional tales, we share some challenges and hurdles we experienced relating to our culturally led assumptions. The tales are titled “Boundary Issues” and “Punctuality Is a Privilege.” We then share some reflections in which we explore our lessons learned about cultural humility and describe our underestimation of our cultural arrogance and the challenges experienced during our cultural reflection process. We conclude this professional practice paper by offering several practical implications for trainees and qualified sport psychology practitioners to consider when developing a culturally grounded approach to practice.

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Korean Dual-Career Judokas’ Junior-to-Senior Transition: A Longitudinal Study

Hee Jung Hong and Seung Han Hong

This study adopts the athletic career transition model to explore the experiences of Korean dual-career (DC) judokas during their junior-to-senior transition using a longitudinal approach. We recruited 12 Korean elite judokas, all of whom were in their first year of university during their initial interview. Participants were organized into three focus groups, with three rounds of interviews conducted over approximately 2 years, totaling nine focus-group sessions. Thematic analysis was applied, which led to the identification of three key themes: (a) multifaceted challenges, (b) coping strategies, and (c) perceived needs of DC athletes prioritizing sport over study. The results indicate that Korean DC judokas share some common challenges (e.g., increased training demands, balancing their studies with training demands) with their European counterparts, but they also face unique challenges (e.g., managing weight control, laundry duties, and relationships with senior judokas) specific to the Korean judokas. Their coping strategies include both internal resources (e.g., focusing on performance target, utilizing resilience) and external ones (e.g., seeking social support), emphasizing the critical role of psychological support during their junior-to-senior transition. Proactive psychological support is recommended through a specialized system tailored to this group. Given that Korean DC judokas significantly prioritize sport over education, this system should also address balancing both sport and education.

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Volume 38 (2024): Issue 3 (Sep 2024)

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The Effectiveness of Progressive Muscle-Relaxation Techniques in Improving Affective Well-Being Among Female Athletes During Menstruation: A Randomized Controlled Study

Ichrak Abdelkefi and Sana Jarraya

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of progressive muscle relaxation on affective well-being (anxiety and mood), cognitive variables (sustained attention and reaction time), and aggressive behavior in female athletes during menstruation. Forty-five athletes age 18–22 years were randomly assigned to three groups: an experimental group (n = 15) undergoing eight sessions of 30-min progressive muscle relaxation, a breathing group (n = 15) engaging in eight sessions of 30-min deep breathing, and a control group (n = 15) receiving no intervention. The participants were evaluated during menstruation, at baseline, and after the intervention. Results showed significant improvements in mood ( η P 2 = .27 ) and anxiety ( η P 2 = .2 ) in the experimental group compared with the breathing group and the control group. No significant effects were found for aggressive behavior and cognitive variables. Progressive muscle-relaxation training is beneficial for improving mood and reducing anxiety in sportswomen during menstruation.

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Bulletin Board

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Increasing Anaerobic Power in Cycling By Implementing Embodied Self-Talk

Rafael Mateos, Inés C. Ruiz, and Javier Horcajo

The current study employed a within-participant design to analyze the effects of head movements in three conditions (i.e., head nodding, head shaking, and no head movements) during positive (motivational) self-talk among 22 male cyclists. After the self-talk and head-movements task, physical performance (i.e., anaerobic power) was assessed using a Wingate Test for each experimental condition. Each cyclist participated individually on three separate days, completing one of the three experimental conditions each day. We hypothesized and found that the head-nodding condition resulted in greater physical performance (i.e., mean and peak power) than the no-head-movements condition. This is the first time that head nodding has been shown to improve physical performance compared with no head movements during encouraging and self-assuring self-talk. Relevantly, these findings emphasize the importance of focusing on athletes’ nonverbal behavior (e.g., head movements) when engaging in positive (motivational) self-talk to perform better.