Highlights COVID-19 reduced the sleep quality, duration and intensity of training. Mood states can affect sleep quality, sleep hours, and rated perceived exertion. Emotional Intelligence is related to training behaviours in isolation periods. Isolation period has not affected men and women equally.

The spread of COVID-19 has altered sport in Spain, forcing athletes to train at home. The objectives of the study were: (i) to compare training and recovery conditions before and during the isolation period in handball players according to gender and competitive level, and (ii) to analyse the impact of psychological factors during the isolation period. A total of 187 participants (66 women and 121 men) answered a Google Forms questionnaire about demographics, training, moods, emotional intelligence, and resilience sent using the snowball sampling technique. T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare sport level and gender differences. Linear regressions were used to analyse the psychological influence on training. Handball players reduced training intensity (in the whole sample; p = 0.44), training volume (especially in professional female handball players; p < 0.001), and sleep quality (especially in professional male handball players; p = 0.21) and increased sleep hours (especially in non-professional female players; p = 0.006) during the isolation period. Furthermore, psychological factors affected all evaluated training and recovery conditions during the quarantine, except for sleep quantity. Mood, emotional intelligence, and resilience have an influence on physical activity levels and recovery conditions. In addition, training components were modified under isolation conditions at p < 0.001. We conclude that the COVID-19 isolation period caused reductions in training volume and intensity and decreased sleep quality. Furthermore, psychological components have a significant impact on training and recovery conditions.

In 2018, the Olympic shooting regulations were modified to increase the number of women’s shots from 40 to 60, equaling the number given to men. This research presented in this paper addresses two research issues: (1) has the performance of women’s shooting changed as a result of this increase in the number of shots? and (2) with the equalized number of shots in place, do women and men perform differently? This study included 292 shooters who competed in the 2016 and/or 2018 European Championships who all obtained top-50 results. Our sample included balanced quotas for sports (50% pistol and 50% rifle) and by category (50% women and 50% men). Both championships were held in the same facilities and in the same month of the season, but with the difference that in 2016, women had 40 shots and in 2018 they had 60 shots. We observed that women’s performances did not diminish for the pistol or the rifle category when their number of shots were increased. Men and women shot equally well with rifles, although the men’s performance with pistols was higher than that of women. We concluded that sports in which physical strength is a minor factor, as in the case of shooting, should revise their regulations in the interest of greater gender equality in sports.

Performance in basketball is multifactorial. One of the modifying factors is the “Relative Age Effect—RAE”. However, its impact depends on the sample characteristics and sport context. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the RAE on basketball competition performance by analysing peer-reviewed articles published until July 2020. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses systematic search guidelines, nine studies were identified in four databases: Sport Discus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Moreover, a study quality analysis using “Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology” guidelines was carried out. The results confirmed an impact of the RAE on competition performance in basketball (56% measurements) and a higher influence of the RAE on short-term collective performance (54% measurements). Statistical parameters were affected, especially in men and U14-U18 categories. No impact of the RAE reversal and no influence of the RAE on long-term collective performance were found. There was a higher impact of the RAE in men (71%), the U14-U18 categories (44%), and at the national level (40%) was identified. The RAE has a variable influence on basketball performance according to developmental constraints. Nevertheless, the findings should be considered based on the sport context due to the heterogeneity and variability of the identified results.

Several technologies, with varying economic costs, are used to measure the performance of Olympic sport shooters, including electronic targets, laser systems, and mobile phone applications. Nevertheless, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) does not currently accept any mobile applications as valid measurement systems. The objective of the study was to check the validity and reliability of the TargetScan ISSF Pistol & Rifle application, an automatic mobile application for measuring the performance of shooters via image analysis. A total of 1440 shots were fired by 24 shooters (720 shots each for the air rifle and air pistol events), and the target sheets were analyzed with the application installed on an iPhone X. The official competition results and the measurements from the application were then compared. The results showed an almost perfect reliability for air pistol shots (ICC = .999) and no significant differences between the official average scores and those measured by the application. The reliability was also high for air rifle shots (ICC = .998), but the average scores registered by the application were statistically lower than the official results. We concluded that TargetScan ISSF Pistol & Rifle is a low‐cost, valid, and reliable application for measuring amateur and semi‐professional shooting performance which may be useful to shooters, coaches, clubs, and federations worldwide.