No abstract

Over a decade ago, Hardy (2006) published his literature review that contained a working definition that has shaped subsequent studies about self-talk, contributing to the noticeable expansion of this research area. The rapid development of the self-talk literature in sport since then has bred the need to rethink how self-talk is conceptualized. The purpose of the present article was twofold: (a) to review how conceptualizations of self-talk and the associated research perspectives have changed during the past decade and (b) to introduce a new integrative conceptualization of sport self-talk. We identify two main developments that alter our view of what self-talk is, reinforcing the need for a new conceptualization: The identification of two distinct self-talk entities (organic self-talk and strategic self-talk); and the distinctions between spontaneous and goal-directed self-talk, as these emerged within organic self-talk. Consequently, we propose a new integrative conceptualization of self-talk. We believe that for such a conceptualization to be sufficient so as to guide future research, several attributes of self-talk ought to be recognized: the necessary and sufficient attributes that define self-talk, and important descriptive attributes, including overtness, interpretation, origins, and functions, which facilitate the understanding and the study of the self-talk phenomena.

There were two aims of this study: first, to investigate physical fitness and match performance differences between under-16 (U16) and under-18 (U18) female basketball players, and second, to evaluate the relationship between physical fitness and game-related performances. Twenty-three young, female, elite Spanish basketball players (16.2 1.2 years) participated in the study. The sample was divided into two groups: U16 and U18 players. The average scores from pre- and post-season physical fitness measurements were used for subsequent analyses. Anthropometric variables were also measured. To evaluate game performance, game-related statistics, including the number of games and minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game, were recorded for every competitive match in one season. When anthropometric and physical performance variables were compared between groups, the U18 group demonstrated significantly (p<0.05) higher values in upper (+21.2%) and lower (+27.11%) limb strength compared to the U16 group. Furthermore, no significant differences between groups were observed in match performance outcomes. Only two performance variables, steals and assists per game, correlated significantly with jump capacity, speed, agility, anaerobic power, repeated sprint ability and aerobic power (p ≤ 0.005). These findings can help optimize training programs for young, elite female basketball players.

Neuromuscular asymmetries have been previously associated with reduced performance. Similarly, maturation has shown that youth athletes may experience a loss of motor control, which could also lead to compromised physical performance. The present study aimed to evaluate and quantify the level of asymmetry among chronological and maturational groups. Forty-one youth tennis players performed the single leg countermovement jump (SLCMJ), star excursion balance test (SEBT) and a change of direction speed (CODS) test. Differences were found between the strongest and weakest limbs across all tests (p < 0.001), and also for SEBT in the posteromedial direction (p = 0.02), SEBT composite score (p < 0.01) in maturation groups, and for SEBT posterolateral direction (p = 0.03) and SEBT composite score (p = 0.01) in chronological groups. The SLCMJ showed the largest inter-limb asymmetries for the circa peak height velocity (PHV) group (19.31 ± 12.19%) and under-14 (U14) group (17.55 ± 9.90%). Chronological and maturation groups followed similar trends for inter-limb asymmetries, but the biological index showed larger asymmetry scores in the jumping test at PHV compared to that found in the chronological group (U14). These results show that inter-limb differences may be heightened during PHV. Practitioners can use this information to inform the decision-making process when prescribing training interventions in youth tennis players.