Abstract
Jermyn, S, Neill, CO, and Coughlan, EK. The acute effects from the use of weighted implements on skill enhancement in sport: A systematic review.
J Strength Cond Res
35(10): 2922–2935, ...2021—Weighted implements are used before competitive performance with the aim of enhancing motor skill execution on return to the standard implement. The purpose of this review was to analyze the existing literature pertaining to the acute effects of weighted implements on respective sporting performance. Following a systematic screening process, 25 studies were identified. This review highlighted the effects of (a) weighted balls and bats on throwing and batting performance and (b) indoor weight throw implements on indoor weight throw performance. Studies reported conflicting effects on immediate performance post–warm-up with the respective implements. Notably, although overweighted bats and overweight attachments are a prominent preparatory tool in baseball, this review found consistent and repeated evidence of degraded batting performance in striking-based studies. Decreased bat velocity, altered swing patterns, subjective-objective mismatches of bat speed and weight, temporal accuracy errors, and inadequate recalibration to the standard bat were identified as acute effects. This review identified an obvious dearth of research into the acute effects of weighted implements on motor skills in other sports with equally complex perceptual motor patterns, such as football (soccer), golf, rugby, basketball, and American football. Future weighted implement research should investigate the acute effects of respective implements on motor skill performance in other sports, such as those aforementioned, with the purpose of exploring relevant implications for preparatory strategies and immediate performance on return to the standard implement.
Research examining decision-making in sports has predominantly used experimental approaches that fail to provide a holistic understanding of the various factors that impact the decision-making ...process. The current study aimed to explore the decision-making processes of Senior (expert) and Academy (near-expert) Gaelic Football players using a focus group approach.
Four focus groups were conducted; two with Senior players (
= 5;
= 6) and two with U17 Academy players (
= 5;
= 6). In each focus group, short video clips of Senior Gaelic football games were played, and the action was paused at key moments. The group then discussed the options available to the player in possession, the decision they would make in that situation, and importantly, what factors influenced the final decision. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes that emerged from the focus groups.
Four primary themes emerged that affected the decision-making process. Three themes were related to information sources, namely, pre-match context (coach tactics and instructions, match importance, and opposition status), current match context (score and time remaining), and visual information (player positioning and field space, and visual search strategy), and the fourth theme related to individual differences (self-efficacy, risk propensity, perceived pressure, physical characteristics, action capabilities, fatigue) that moderated the decision-making process. Compared to the near-expert Academy players, the expert Senior players displayed a more sophisticated understanding of the various sources of information and were able to integrate them in a more complex manner to make projections regarding future scenarios. For both groups, the decision-making process was moderated by individual differences. A schematic has been developed based on the study findings in an attempt to illustrate the hypothesized decision-making process.
Performance improvement is thought to occur through engagement in deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is predicted to be challenging, effortful, and not inherently enjoyable. Expert and ...intermediate level Gaelic football players executed two types of kicks during an acquisition phase and pre-, post-, and retention tests. During acquisition, participants self-selected how they practiced and rated the characteristics of deliberate practice for effort and enjoyment. The expert group predominantly practiced the skill they were weaker at and improved its performance across pre-, post- and retention tests. Participants in the expert group also rated their practice as more effortful and less enjoyable compared to those in the intermediate group. In contrast, participants in the intermediate group predominantly practiced the skill they were stronger at and improved their performance from pretest to posttest but not on the retention test. Findings provide support for deliberate practice theory and give some insight into how experts practice and improve their performance beyond its current level.
Weighted football place-kicking acutely enhances the ball velocity (BV) of subsequent standard football place-kicks. However, there is a dearth of research examining the long-term effects of such ...interventions, with less evidence in existence among elite athlete cohorts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the individual effects of a 4 week, eight-session weighted Gaelic football intervention on BV of standard Gaelic football place-kicks among six elite male Gaelic football goalkeepers. This research design was based on a pre-, mid-, post-, and retention-test design. A linear mixed model analysis was employed, with time and participants as fixed effects, and the number of place-kicks per testing session as a random effect. Post hoc tests revealed significant changes in BV for five of the six participants (p < 0.05), with three participants experiencing significant BV increases from pre-test to post-test (p < 0.05), while no significant differences were found between post-test and retention-test. The remaining three participants experienced no significant BV differences from pre-test to post-test and retention-test. These findings suggest that a weighted football place-kicking intervention can be a time-efficient means of maintaining and enhancing BV and, thus, kick distance, among elite goalkeepers during pre-season and in-season phases.
Coaching behaviours often derive from sporting traditions, instinct and previous experiences. Practitioners tend to follow traditional, inherited methods rather than adopt new evidence-based ...approaches associated with athlete development. This article reviews literature relating to theoretical constructs of a novel coach education framework (CEF) developed by the Irish Rugby Football Union. The three constructs included are: self-determination theory (SDT), explicit learning theories (ELT) and implicit learning theories (ILT). A total of 82 publications met the inclusion criteria (SDT: n = 18, ELT: n = 28, ILT: n = 36). This review supports the efficacy of these constructs in isolation for promoting effective coaching practices and provides a justification for future implementation of the framework and its evaluation. This framework may have the potential to address a shortfall in current coach education formats, which have traditionally focused on What content should be used for athlete development as opposed to How practitioners can coach more effectively.
Deliberate practice is defined as an activity that is highly relevant to improving performance. It is effortful, challenging, not inherently enjoyable, or immediately rewarding and underpinned by ...advanced cognitive processing. The authors examine the effect of increasing cognitive processing during deliberate practice on skill learning in intermediate-level performers using a novel approach and quasi-experimental design. Two matched groups of intermediate-level Gaelic football players practiced a kick they identified as being most relevant to improving performance during an acquisition phase and pre-, post-, and retention tests. During acquisition, participants rated practice for cognitive effort and enjoyment. An intervention group engaged in structured cognitive processing before, during, and after the kicking practice sessions, whereas a control group did not. Both groups improved kicking accuracy across pre-, post-, and retention tests; however, the intervention group improved accuracy significantly more than the control group. The intervention group rated practice greater for mental effort compared with the control group, while both groups rated practice low for enjoyment. The intervention group increased reflection and evaluation to a greater degree following practice compared with the control group. Findings highlight the value of applying the principles of deliberate practice and increasing cognitive processing to expedite learning in intermediate-level performers, with implications for skill learning across many professional domains.
This study reports on the development and 'in the wild' trialling of a chatbot (ChatPal) which promotes good mental wellbeing. A stakeholder-centered approach for design was adopted where end users, ...mental health professionals and service users were involved in the design which was centered around positive psychology. In the wild usage of the chatbot was investigated from Jul-20-Mar-21. Exploratory analyses of usage metrics were carried out using the event log data. User tenure, unique usage days, total chatbot interactions and average daily interactions were used in K-means clustering to identify user archetypes. The chatbot was used by a variety of age groups (18-65+) and genders, mainly those living in Ireland. K-means clustering identified three clusters: sporadic users (n=4), frequent transient users (n=38) and abandoning users (n=169) each with distinct usage characteristics. This study highlights the importance of event log data analysis for making improvements to the mental health chatbot.
Introduction: The ability to successfully complete a pass in football can positively impact the result of the game. While previous work has identified the importance of perceptual behaviours before ...and during passing action, there is a paucity of research analysing the impact of training interventions on pass performance.
Methods: A tri-phasic approach was employed to assess the impact of training with spatial occlusion goggles. Each phase was designed to assess participants' ability to control and pass a football during a representative experimental task. The study design consisted of a pre-test, 2-week training intervention, post-test and 2-week retention test.
Results: Significant improvements in response accuracy (p <.05) and response time (p <.05) were displayed across all three phases for those who wore occlusion goggles. Control error (p <.05) showed a significant improvement during phase one and phase two only. There were no sustained significant changes for those who did not wear the occlusion googles.
Conclusion: Findings suggest that guiding the visual system away from the lower limbs while receiving a football and towards relevant information, the movement of a particular participant, within the environment can improve pass accuracy and speed of pass following a training intervention with occlusion goggles.
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