Background： The influence of self-presentation concerns on the adolescent sport experience has received scant empirical attention. The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine the relationship among...Background： The influence of self-presentation concerns on the adolescent sport experience has received scant empirical attention. The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine the relationship among self-presentational concerns and pre-game affective states among middle and high school aged football players. Methods： American football players （n = 112; mean age = 15.57 years） completed a measure of self-presentational concerns （SPSQ, McGowan, et al., 2008） a week prior to the measurement of selected pre-game affective states （i.e., attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity, and fear）. Results： Regression analyses revealed that concerns about appearing athletically untalented negatively contributed to the significant prediction （p 〈 0.001） of pre-game attentiveness, /3 = -0.43, Radj ^2 19.5% （p 〈 0.001）, and self-assurance, /3 = -0.38, R^dj = 11.9% （p 〈 0.01）. Conclusion： These findings highlight the importance of reducing self-presentational concerns in promoting positive pre-game mental states that likely impact the quality of athletes＇ competitive play and experience. Copyright @ 2012, Shanghai University of Sport. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.展开更多
Purpose： In age-restricted youth sport, the over-selection of athletes born in the first quarter of the year and under-selection of athletes born in the last quarter of the year has been called the relative age effe...Purpose： In age-restricted youth sport, the over-selection of athletes born in the first quarter of the year and under-selection of athletes born in the last quarter of the year has been called the relative age effect （RAE）. Its existence in youth sports like soccer is well established. Why it occurs has not been identified, however, one thought is that older players, generally taller and heavier, are thought to improve the team＇s chances of winning. To test this assumption, birth dates and match outcome were correlated to see if teams with the oldest mean age had a systematic advantage against teams with younger mean ages. Methods： Player birth dates and team records （n = 5943 players on 371 teams; both genders; U11-U16） were obtained from the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association for the highest level of statewide youth competition. Results： The presence of an RAE was demonstrated with significant oversampling from players born in the I st vs. the 4th quarter （overall： 29.6% vs. 20.9% respectively, p 〈 0.0001）. Mean team age was regressed on match outcomes （winning %, points/match, points/goal, and goals for, against, and goal difference）, but there was no evidence of any systematic influence of mean team age and match outcomes, except possibly in U11 males. Conclusion： Selecting players based on physical maturity （and subsequently, on age） does not appear to have any systematic influence on match outcome or season record in youth soccer suggesting that the selection process should be focused on player ability and not on physical maturation.展开更多
文摘Background： The influence of self-presentation concerns on the adolescent sport experience has received scant empirical attention. The purpose of this investigation was to prospectively examine the relationship among self-presentational concerns and pre-game affective states among middle and high school aged football players. Methods： American football players （n = 112; mean age = 15.57 years） completed a measure of self-presentational concerns （SPSQ, McGowan, et al., 2008） a week prior to the measurement of selected pre-game affective states （i.e., attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity, and fear）. Results： Regression analyses revealed that concerns about appearing athletically untalented negatively contributed to the significant prediction （p 〈 0.001） of pre-game attentiveness, /3 = -0.43, Radj ^2 19.5% （p 〈 0.001）, and self-assurance, /3 = -0.38, R^dj = 11.9% （p 〈 0.01）. Conclusion： These findings highlight the importance of reducing self-presentational concerns in promoting positive pre-game mental states that likely impact the quality of athletes＇ competitive play and experience. Copyright @ 2012, Shanghai University of Sport. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
文摘Purpose： In age-restricted youth sport, the over-selection of athletes born in the first quarter of the year and under-selection of athletes born in the last quarter of the year has been called the relative age effect （RAE）. Its existence in youth sports like soccer is well established. Why it occurs has not been identified, however, one thought is that older players, generally taller and heavier, are thought to improve the team＇s chances of winning. To test this assumption, birth dates and match outcome were correlated to see if teams with the oldest mean age had a systematic advantage against teams with younger mean ages. Methods： Player birth dates and team records （n = 5943 players on 371 teams; both genders; U11-U16） were obtained from the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association for the highest level of statewide youth competition. Results： The presence of an RAE was demonstrated with significant oversampling from players born in the I st vs. the 4th quarter （overall： 29.6% vs. 20.9% respectively, p 〈 0.0001）. Mean team age was regressed on match outcomes （winning %, points/match, points/goal, and goals for, against, and goal difference）, but there was no evidence of any systematic influence of mean team age and match outcomes, except possibly in U11 males. Conclusion： Selecting players based on physical maturity （and subsequently, on age） does not appear to have any systematic influence on match outcome or season record in youth soccer suggesting that the selection process should be focused on player ability and not on physical maturation.
