| 1. |
- Becker-Larsen, Astrid, et al.
(author)
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"Organizing for excellence" : stress-recovery states in the Danish national orienteering team during a training camp and the 2015 World Championship
- 2017
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In: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 639-640
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Elite level athletes are under considerable pressure to perform, why energy management is a natural part of the life of elite athletes. Energy management is particularly important during periods of high demand on their resources, such as during training camps and competitions, which are often intense and do not allow sufficient time for recovery. Research on recovery has mainly focused on individual physical and physiological strategies. In the 2015 World Championship, the Danish national orienteering team was the best nation, winning four gold medals. In the present study we examined: (a) the stress-recovery states of the Danish orienteers during a three-week preparatory training camp and the following 2015 World Championship, and (b) their perceived sources of stress and recovery during the two events. The study was designed as mixed-method with the RESTQ-sport questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a coach’s journal as the data sources used longitudinally during the camp and the championship. Results revealed: (a) well-balanced stress-recovery states among all athletes during the entire period; and (b) perceived sources of stress and recovery classified into organizational, social, personal, and athletic. The athletes themselves stated that their well-balanced stress-recovery states positively affected their learning, well-being, and performance. The organizational strategies played a key role in reducing athletes’ unnecessary stress and in facilitating individual recovery. We suggest that “organizing for excellence”, keeping in mind athletes' energy management, is a special task for coaches and managers when preparing for camps and competitions.
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| 2. |
- Becker-Larsen, Astrid, et al.
(author)
-
“Organizing for Excellence” : Stress-Recovery States in the Danish National Orienteering Team during a Training Camp and the 2015 World Championship
- 2017
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In: Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum. - Malmö : Malmö University. - 2000-088X. ; 8, s. 87-111
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Elite athletes push themselves physically and psychologically to their limits in order to develop as athletes and to deliver top performances. To succeed, the athletes must manage their energy. This is particularly important in the periods of high demand on the athletes’ resources (Kellmann, Altenburg, Lormes, & Steinacker, 2001). These include training camps and competitions, because such events are generally intense and likely to induce increased stress, and their schedules often do not allow sufficient time for recovery (Elbe & Kellmann, 2007; Foster, Snyder, & Welsh, 1999). In 2015, the Danish national orienteering coach decided, as a new initiative, to include a three-week training camp in their preparation for the World Championship. The coach was aware that such a long period of intense focus on orienteering would require efficient energy management in the athletes. Therefore, the coach supported the research team in this study aimed at monitoring the athletes’ stress-recovery states during the preparatory camp and the World Championship, with further exploration of the athletes’ perceived sources of stress and recovery during the same period. From a research perspective, the present study is exclusive because of monitoring world-class athlete-participants during their preparation and participation in their most important event. From an applied perspective, searching for efficient processes for energy management during long-term training camps and competitions might become a frontier for improvement of athletes’ preparation and performance.
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| 3. |
- Becker-Larsen, Astrid, et al.
(author)
-
“Organizing for Excellence” : Stress-Recovery States in the Danish National Orienteering Team during a Training Camp and the 2015 World Championship
- 2017
-
In: Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum. - : Department of Sport Studies, Malmö University. - 2000-088X. ; 8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Energy management is a natural part of the life of elite athletes. This is particularly important during periods of high demand on their resources, such as during training camps and competitions, which are often intense and do not allow sufficient time for recovery. In the 2015 World Championships, the Danish national orienteering team was the best nation, winning four gold medals. In the present study we examined: (a) the stress-recovery states of the Danish orienteers during a three-week preparatory training camp and the following 2015 World Championships, and (b) their perceived sources of stress and recovery during the two events. The study was designed as case study with the RESTQ-sport questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a coach’s journal as the data sources used longitudinally during the camp and the championships. Results revealed: (a) well-balanced stress-recovery states among all athletes during the entire period; and (b) perceived sources of stress and recovery classified into organizational, social, personal, and athletic. The organizational strategies played a key role in reducing athletes’ unnecessary stress and in facilitating individual recovery. We suggest that “organizing for excellence”, keeping in mind athletes’ energy management, is a special task for coaches and managers when preparing for camps and competitions.
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| 4. |
- Biasin, Elisa, et al.
(author)
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Anisotropy enhanced X-ray scattering from solvated transition metal complexes
- 2018
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In: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. - 0909-0495. ; 25:2, s. 306-315
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Time-resolved X-ray scattering patterns from photoexcited molecules in solution are in many cases anisotropic at the ultrafast time scales accessible at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). This anisotropy arises from the interaction of a linearly polarized UV-Vis pump laser pulse with the sample, which induces anisotropic structural changes that can be captured by femtosecond X-ray pulses. In this work, a method for quantitative analysis of the anisotropic scattering signal arising from an ensemble of molecules is described, and it is demonstrated how its use can enhance the structural sensitivity of the time-resolved X-ray scattering experiment. This method is applied on time-resolved X-ray scattering patterns measured upon photoexcitation of a solvated di-platinum complex at an XFEL, and the key parameters involved are explored. It is shown that a combined analysis of the anisotropic and isotropic difference scattering signals in this experiment allows a more precise determination of the main photoinduced structural change in the solute, i.e. the change in Pt - Pt bond length, and yields more information on the excitation channels than the analysis of the isotropic scattering only. Finally, it is discussed how the anisotropic transient response of the solvent can enable the determination of key experimental parameters such as the instrument response function.The analysis of time-resolved X-ray scattering patterns collected at an XFEL upon photoexcitation of a di-platinum complex in solution is described. The analysis quantitatively considers the anisotropy of the signal.
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| 5. |
- Book, Robert T., et al.
(author)
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Empowering youth athletes against the odds : Successful talent-development environments in underserved communities
- 2019
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In: Abstract book. ; , s. 321-321
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The research on the career pathways of professional athletes is well established in sport psychology, yet this field is lacking insight into the lives of athletes whose formative years were spent primarily in an American underserved community (Stambulova & Wyllemann, 2014). Using the Holistic Ecological Approach as a framework, this PhD project’s aim is to begin to understand how professional athletes were able to circumvent the environmental hardships and still reach the professional level of their chosen sport (Henriksen, 2010; Henriksen & Stambulova, 2017). This study involved in-depth, biographical interviews with N = 10 professional athletes who overcame significant adversity. Through the analysis of the data, many commonalities emerged. Key transitional and existential relationships, an understanding that sport was a way out of hardship and an ability to shift and persist through adversity, were key themes identified in the data. However, considering multi- and equifinality, no two lives are exactly the same and life stories can converge and diverge at many different junctions. Thus, this presentation will contain a brief summary of two athletes who overcame many of the same obstacles, reached a similar level in their sport, yet it is clear that their environment shaped them in drastically different ways.
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| 6. |
- Book, Robert T., et al.
(author)
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Towards investigating athletic talent developmentenvironments in underserved communities in the United States
- 2018
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In: The Science and Practice of Racket Sport for Improved Performance and Health: Special Focus on Table Tennis. - Halmstad : Halmstad University. - 9789163971297 ; , s. 69-70
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: This presentation will focus on the content of PhD project of the first author who has had extensive experiences of working in American schools within underserved (i.e., poor) communities. In spite of lacking resources, some of these schools are able to contribute into developing high performance athletes in various sports (including racket sports) and empowering them to achieve the success against the odds. These real life examples served as an inspiration to investigate such athletes’ career pathways and environments in which they had grown up.Aim and theoretical framework: The aim of this project is to acquire knowledge regarding the challenges and barriers faced by athletic talent development environments in underserved communities (UATDEs) and how successful UATDEs manage to help athletes achieve athletic and personal success against the odds. The study is based on the holistic ecological approach (Henriksen, 2010; Henriksen & Stambulova, 2017), and particularly on the athletic talent development environment (ATDE) model. The model was previously applied to study ATDEs in Scandinavia with its high social and economic equality. Conversely, in the United States, with its large income gap, many underserved communities struggle to produce elite athletes, and little investigation has been conducted surrounding such environments.Project design and method: The project will consist of three studies. Study 1will focus on exploring career pathways to athletic success and related environmental and personal factors in American athletes with low SES background through a series of interviews. Another series of interviews will be used in Study 2 to examine key stakeholders' perspectives on challenges faced and strategies implemented in UATDEs. In Study 3, the case study approach will be used to investigate two successful UATDEs within American communities and identify shared features responsible for their talent development success.Expected results: It is expected that Study 1 will reveal that athletes at the UATDEs were forced to deal with hardship and overcome a number of challenges that made them more resilient compared to those from affluent circumstances. From Study 2 it is expected to identify a spectrum of complicated issues (e.g., lack of funding, less access to practice time, lower moral, high stress and low levels of communication and support) that the UATDEs deal with. The anticipated results from Study 3 are that successful UATDEs have unique but also shared features that may form the basis for developing UATDE frameworks as an expansion of the holistic ecological approach.
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| 7. |
- Haldrup, Kristoffer, et al.
(author)
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Ultrafast X-Ray Scattering Measurements of Coherent Structural Dynamics on the Ground-State Potential Energy Surface of a Diplatinum Molecule
- 2019
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007. ; 122:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report x-ray free electron laser experiments addressing ground-state structural dynamics of the diplatinum anion Pt2POP4 following photoexcitation. The structural dynamics are tracked with <100 fs time resolution by x-ray scattering, utilizing the anisotropic component to suppress contributions from the bulk solvent. The x-ray data exhibit a strong oscillatory component with period 0.28 ps and decay time 2.2 ps, and structural analysis of the difference signal directly shows this as arising from ground-state dynamics along the PtPt coordinate. These results are compared with multiscale Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations and demonstrate how off-resonance excitation can be used to prepare a vibrationally cold excited-state population complemented by a structure-dependent depletion of the ground-state population which subsequently evolves in time, allowing direct tracking of ground-state structural dynamics.
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| 8. |
- Henriksen, Kristoffer, et al.
(author)
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Creating optimal environments for talent development
- 2017
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In: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 242-243
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The holistic ecological approach (HEA) to talent development in sport shifts researchers’ attention from the individual athletes to the broader environment in which they develop. The HEA provides a theoretical grounding, ecologically inferred definitions of talent development, two working models, and methodological guidelines. The HEA highlights two interconnected ways of analyzing athletic talent development environments (ATDE). First, there is a focus on the structure of the environment, particularly the roles and cooperation of key persons. Second, there is a focus on the organizational culture of the team. A number of in-depth case studies of successful talent development environments in Scandinavia have shown that while each environment is unique, they also share a number of features. They are characterized by proximal role modeling; an integration of efforts among the different agents (family, coaches, management etc.); inclusive training groups rather than early selection; a focus on long-term developmental rather than on early success, and a “strong and coherent” organizational culture. Moving from ecological research to ecologically informed practice, we add applied principles and provide an example of how these principles were used in developing a culture for goal directedness in a group of under-17 players in a football academy in Denmark. The case example demonstrates two main ideas: (1) a team’s organizational culture influences the athletes, or in popular terms the characteristics of culture become the character of the athletes; and (2) the coach plays a vital part in creating and maintaining a team culture. Together, the eight common features of successful ATDEs, the case examples, and the applied HEA principles can serve as a guide for practitioners aiming to improve talent development environments in sport.
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| 9. |
- Henriksen, Kristoffer, et al.
(author)
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Creating optimal environments for talent development : A holistic ecological approach
- 2017
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In: Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport. - Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge. - 9781138951778 - 9781315668017 ; , s. 271-284
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The authors introduce the holistic ecological approach (HEA) to talent development in sport, which proposes a shift in research attention from the individual athletes to the broader developmental context or environment in which they develop. This introduction includes ecologically inferred definitions of talent development and of the athletic talent development environment (ATDE), research guidelines and two working models. In combination these key elements serve as a guide for further research. The authors proceed to present two cases: a successful kayak environment and an ineffective golf environment, both studied from the HEA perspective. A comparison of successful environments in different sports reveals that while each environment is unique, they in many ways employ the same principles in their work. This leads to a presentation of eight common features of successful ATDEs. Moving from ecological research to ecologically informed practice, the authors add applied principles and provide an example of how these principles were used to improve the performance culture of the Danish national orienteering team. Together, the eight features, the case example, and the applied guidelines can serve as a guide for practitioners aiming to improve talent development environments in sport.
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| 10. |
- Henriksen, Kristoffer, et al.
(author)
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Successful and Less Successful Interventions with Youth and Senior Athletes : Insights from Expert Sport Psychology Practitioners
- 2019
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In: Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology. - Champaign : Human Kinetics. - 1932-9261 .- 1932-927X. ; 13:1, s. 72-94
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study is focused on reflections of expert sport psychology practitioners about their interventions with competitive youth and senior elite athletes. Two objectives include: (1) to identify key structural components used by practitioners to describe sport psychology interventions and integrate them into an empirical framework, and (2) to analyze the practitioners’ experiences in regard of their successful and less successful interventions in competitive youth and elite senior sport contexts using the empirical framework. We conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve internationally recognized sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) and analyzed the data thematically. The empirical framework derived from the SPPs’ accounts contains eight structural components integrated into two categories: (1) the content and focus (with three components, e.g., adaptation of content), and (2) the organization and delivery of interventions (with five components, e.g., initiation and assessment of athletes’ needs). Using the empirical framework we found differences between successful and less successful interventions and between youth and senior contexts in terms of needs assessment, adaptation and breadth of content, athlete-practitioner relationship, and intervention settings. The empirical framework might inform SPPs in their efforts to design, implement, and evaluate their services in these two contexts.
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