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The main purpose of this study was to investigate the ethnic and racial composition of male and female basketball players in the First Division of the English National Basketball League during the 1996/97 season. The secondary purpose was to compare the racial composition of players by playing position. Finally, a subsidiary purpose was to describe the racial and gender composition of coaches and assistant coaches in the women’s National Basketball League. Data were collated from team rosters of all teams comprising the First Division of the women’s and men’s National Basketball League in the 1996/97 season. The ethnic and racial designation of players (N = 270) and coaches (N = 23) was established from information supplied by each club or from individual players. There were significant differences in participation rates for British male and female players; there was an over-representation of black females in the forward position, and an over-representation of white male coaches in women’s teams. The present findings reflect the limited participation rates of females in general, and more specifically, the limited participation rates of women from ethnic minority groups.

We examined independent and combined influences of asynchronous music and dominant attentional style (DAS) on psychological and psychophysical variables during exercise using mixed methods. Participants (N = 34) were grouped according to DAS and completed treadmill runs at three intensities (low, moderate, high) crossed with three music conditions (motivational, oudeterous, no-music control). State attentional focus shifted from dissociative to associative with increasing intensity and was most aligned with DAS during moderate-intensity exercise. Both music conditions facilitated dissociation at low-to-moderate intensities. At high exercise intensity, both music conditions were associated with reduced RPE among participants with an associative DAS. Dissociators reported higher RPE overall during moderate and high intensities. Psychological responses were most positive in the motivational condition, followed by oudeterous and control. Findings illustrate the relevance of individual differences in DAS as well as task intensity and duration when selecting music for exercise.

Theories suggest that external stimuli (e.g., auditory and visual) may be rendered ineffective in modulating attention when exercise intensity is high. We examined the effects of music and parkland video footage on psychological measures during and after stationary cycling at two intensities: 10% of maximal capacity below ventilatory threshold and 5% above. Participants (N = 34) were exposed to four conditions at each intensity: music only, video only, music and video, and control. Analyses revealed main effects of condition and exercise intensity for affective valence and perceived activation (p < .001), state attention (p < .05), and exercise enjoyment (p < .001). The music-only and music-and-video conditions led to the highest valence and enjoyment scores during and after exercise regardless of intensity. Findings indicate that attentional manipulations can exert a salient influence on affect and enjoyment even at intensities slightly above ventilatory threshold.

The main objective of the current study was to examine the impact of musically induced emotions on athletes’ subsequent choice reaction time (CRT) performance. A random sample of 54 tennis players listened to researcher-selected music whose tempo and intensity were modified to yield six different music excerpts (three tempi × two intensities) before completing a CRT task. Affective responses, heart rate (HR), and RTs for each condition were contrasted with white noise and silence conditions. As predicted, faster music tempi elicited more pleasant and aroused emotional states; and higher music intensity yielded both higher arousal (p < .001) and faster subsequent CRT performance (p < .001). White noise was judged significantly less pleasant than all experimental conditions (p < .001); and silence was significantly less arousing than all but one experimental condition (p < .001). The implications for athletes’ use of music as part of a preevent routine when preparing for reactive tasks are discussed.

The main objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate young tennis players’ use of music to manipulate emotional states, and (b) to present a model grounded in present data to illustrate this phenomenon and to stimulate further research. Anecdotal evidence suggests that music listening is used regularly by elite athletes as a preperformance strategy, but only limited empirical evidence corroborates such use. Young tennis players (N = 14) were selected purposively for interview and diary data collection. Results indicated that participants consciously selected music to elicit various emotional states; frequently reported consequences of music listening included improved mood, increased arousal, and visual and auditory imagery. The choice of music tracks and the impact of music listening were mediated by a number of factors, including extramusical associations, inspirational lyrics, music properties, and desired emotional state. Implications for the future investigation of preperformance music are discussed.

The present study examined the impact of motivational music and oudeterous (neutral in terms of motivational qualities) music on endurance and a range of psychophysical indices during a treadmill walking task. Experimental participants (N = 30; mean age = 20.5 years, SD = 1.0 years) selected a program of either pop or rock tracks from artists identified in an earlier survey. They walked to exhaustion, starting at 75% maximal heart rate reserve, under conditions of motivational synchronous music, oudeterous synchronous music, and a no-music control. Dependent measures included time to exhaustion, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and in-task affect (both recorded at 2-min intervals), and exercise-induced feeling states. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze time to exhaustion data. Two-way repeated measures (Music Condition × Trial Point) ANOVAs were used to analyze in-task measures, whereas a one-way repeated measures MANOVA was used to analyze the exercise-induced feeling states data. Results indicated that endurance was increased in both music conditions and that motivational music had a greater ergogenic effect than did oudeterous music (p < .01). In addition, in-task affect was enhanced by motivational synchronous music when compared with control throughout the trial (p < .01). The experimental conditions did not impact significantly (p > .05) upon RPE or exercise-induced feeling states, although a moderate effect size was recorded for the latter (η_p ² = .09). The present results indicate that motivational synchronous music can elicit an ergogenic effect and enhance in-task affect during an exhaustive endurance task.

The authors investigated the effects of respite–active music (i.e., music used for active recovery in between high-intensity exercise bouts) on psychological and psychophysiological outcomes. Participants (N = 24) made four laboratory visits for a habituation, medium- and fast-tempo music conditions, and a no-music control. A high-intensity interval-training protocol comprising 8 × 60-s exercise bouts at 100% W _max with 90-s active recovery was administered. Measures were taken at the end of exercise bouts and recovery periods (rating of perceived exertion [RPE], state attention, and core affect) and then upon cessation of the protocol (enjoyment and remembered pleasure). Heart rate was measured throughout. Medium-tempo music enhanced affective valence during exercise and recovery, while both music conditions increased dissociation (only during recovery), enjoyment, and remembered pleasure relative to control. Medium-tempo music lowered RPE relative to control, but the heart rate results were inconclusive. As predicted, medium-tempo music, in particular, had a meaningful effect on a range of psychological outcomes.