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This study examined (a) the developmental trajectories of athlete burnout perceptions, (b) the gender differences on these trajectories, and (c) the interactions in the developmental trajectories of the three burnout dimensions. A five-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 895 athletes (47.6% female; M _age = 15.67). Results of multilevel growth models revealed that during adolescence, “reduced sense of accomplishment” linearly decreased and was higher for girls than boys. Moreover, “emotional/physical exhaustion” increased then decreased, and seemed to have been attenuated at time points in which athletes also had higher levels of “sport devaluation.” Finally, “sport devaluation” increased over time with higher increases for girls than boys. Results of our study depicted the general and the gendered shape of the trajectory of burnout perceptions during adolescence, and underlined the advantages of considering the multifaceted nature of burnout to enable a deeper examination of the within-person synergies in the development of the three dimensions.

The purpose was to determine whether traditional learn-to-swim progressions, leading to a 10-m front and 10-m back swim, were developmentally valid for children with physical disabilities. Forty children (22 boys, 18 girls) ages 5 to 12 years participated. They were classified according to disability type, functional sport classification, mode of ambulation, and flotation device use. Developmental validity was assessed by testing the children on rhythmic breathing, front float, front glide, front swim, back float, back glide, and back swim. Each skill was deemed successful if the child accomplished all performance criteria of that skill. Atypical progression was evident if a child performed a skill without the ability to perform skills previously listed in that progression. Atypical progression occurred in 32 (80%) children in the front skills and 22 (55%) in the back skills, which indicates that the traditional learn-to-swim progressions for both the 10-m front swim and the 10-m back swim were not developmentally valid for most children with physical disabilities in the conducted research.

In 2011, the Innovation Group of Leading Agencies of the International Council for Coaching Excellence initiated a project aimed at supporting the identification and development of the next generation of high performance coaches. The project, entitled Serial Winning Coaches, studied the personalities, practices and developmental pathways of professional and Olympic coaches who had repeatedly achieved success at the highest level of sport. This paper is the third publication originating from this unique project. In the first paper, Mallett and Coulter (2016) focused on the development and testing of a novel multilayered methodology in understanding a person through a single case study of a successful Olympic coach. In the second, Mallett and Lara-Bercial (2016) applied this methodology to a large sample of Serial Winning Coaches and offered a composite account of their personality. In this third instalment, we turn the focus onto the actual practices and developmental pathways of these coaches. The composite profile of their practice emerging from the analysis revolves around four major themes: Philosophy, Vision, People and Environment. In addition, a summary of the developmental activities accessed by these coaches and their journey to success is also offered. Finally, we consider the overall findings of the project and propose the concept of Driven Benevolence as the overarching operational principle guiding the actions and behaviours of this group of Serial Winning Coaches.

Nine teacher candidates from each of two PETE programs, University A and University B, developed teaching portfolios over three consecutive semesters of comparable courses. University A teacher candidates underwent a deliberate, developmental portfolio intervention based on the Teaching/Learning Framework (Sprinthall & Thies-Sprinthall 1983), while University B candidates employed a series of portfolio categories based on reflective practice theory (Wallace, 1991) to guide their developmental growth. All teacher candidates completed Rest’s (1986) Defining Issues Test (DIT) to determine one dimension of teacher developmental growth, moral/ethical judgment. They shared perceptions of the portfolio process through focus group interviews and portfolio questionnaires as qualitative data sources. Findings indicated a significant within-group difference for University A teacher candidates, while both university groups demonstrated similarities in perceptions of the portfolio process. A crucial programmatic difference between institutions was University A’s use of the Teaching/Learning Framework, which likely led to statistically significant, positive growth on DIT gain scores. This is the first study of its kind in PETE, indicating positive teacher development from a specific and deliberate intervention designed to guide the portfolio process.

The purposes of the current study were to identify mental toughness profiles in adolescent cricketers and examine differences between these profiles on developmental assets and negative emotional states. A sample of 226 community cricketers (125 New Zealanders and 101 Australians; male n = 210) aged between 10 and 18 years (M _age = 14.41 years; SD = 2.11) completed a multisection, online survey containing measures of mental toughness, developmental assets, and negative emotional states. The results of hierarchical (Ward’s method) and nonhierarchical (k means) cluster analyses revealed three mental toughness profiles characterized by low, moderate, and high levels of all five mental toughness assets (i.e., affective intelligence, desire to achieve, self-belief, attentional control, resilience). Those cricketers with high levels of mental toughness reported possession of more developmental assets and lower levels of negative emotional states when compared with cricketers with the moderate levels of mental toughness. No statistically significant differences existed between the moderate and low levels of mental toughness profiles. These findings provided preliminary evidence to suggest that mental toughness might be viewed not only from the traditional view of optimal performance but also from a stance that may represent a contextually salient representation of thriving in youth sport settings.

The concurrent validity of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) and the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND) was investigated in an Australian sample of 38 girls and 91 boys aged 9–12 years (M = 11.15, SD = 0.81). The MAND identified 44 children with motor impairment (MI) and 85 children without MI. The overall decision agreement between the two measures in identifying MI was .64. The DCDQ had a sensitivity of .55 and a specificity of .74. The DCDQ was accurate in identifying children with moderate or severe MI but identified less than half of the children with mild MI.

The purpose of this study was to describe the developmental stepping movements of 5 infants with Down syndrome who participated in a pediatric strength intervention. Pretest and posttest data were collected with the Hawaii Early Learning Profile Strands, Battelle Developmental Inventory, and specially designed gait analysis. An 8-week individualized pediatric strength intervention was implemented according to theoretical principles of progressive interactive facilitation (Cowden, in press). Posttest data and the Snyder-McLean (1987) intervention developmental quotient suggested an increase in the subjects’ rates of motor development during intervention as compared to their lifetime rates prior to intervention. One subject showed increased rate and distance, 2 subjects acquired independent upright locomotion, and 1 subject established independent sitting movements and creeping patterns. One subject was unable to complete the study.

The development of motor skill proficiency during childhood is cumulative and influenced by physical growth and maturation, genetic potential, affordances in the physical and social environment, and the interactions between these factors. Therefore, typically during childhood, the trajectory of change in motor proficiency is positive. To lend developmental validity to the revision of the Test of Gross Motor Development—3rd edition (TGMD-3), this longitudinal study examined whether the skills and subtests of the TGMD-3 changed as might be expected from grade 3 to grade 4 among 277 children. The findings of this study lend support to the developmental validity of the TGMD-3 in that (1) there was within-individual change in the expected direction for both locomotor and ball skills, (2) consistent with the majority of research, boys had significantly higher ball skills scores than girls in both grade 3 and grade 4, and (3) the mean percent of maximum possible scores were in the range of approximately 60–75, which demonstrates that the majority of 8- and 9-year-old children had not reached a ceiling on this test.

Are children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) more dependent on vision for constructing movements than children without DCD? How important is visual feedback of the hand and how important is visual specification of the goal in this respect? These questions were studied in 10 children with DCD, 3 girls and 7 boys, ranging in age between 7 and 16 years. Each child was matched against a child of the same sex and age without DCD. The task was to pick beads, one at a time, from one cup and carry them to another cup. With the aid of a mirror arrangement and a curtain, visual information about the performing hand and the cups and beads was manipulated. The movements were monitored with an optoelectronic device (SELSPOT II). The results showed that the children with DCD made movements that were both slower and much more variable than those of their age-matched peers, The withdrawal of visual information affected both groups of children in similar ways. However, one boy with developmental disorders revealed a remarkable decrease in performance when the task was carried out without visual information of either the hand or the cups and beads.