No abstract

To advance understanding of the mechanisms allowing for team coordination (TC) in complex motor actions, we conducted a qualitative study with eight elite hand-to-hand circus acrobats. Data collection consisted of field observations, an open-ended interview with the participants’ head coach, and focus group interviews with all acrobats. Data analysis yielded three higher order themes: TC, collective efficacy (CE), and TC-CE linkage. Teammates’ shared and complementary mental models, as well as implicit and explicit communication dynamics, emerged as formative sub-themes of TC; self-efficacy and other’s-efficacy emerged as reflective sub-themes of CE. Our findings also suggest that TC is likely inter-related to CE in a systemic fashion. Practitioners should encourage the development of both shared and complementary models of thinking, while promoting verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Finally, increasing teammates’ confidence in themselves and in their teammates can help in the development of CE as well as the enhancement of TC.

No abstract

No abstract

Objectives: To explore coach-level, team-level, and country-level factors associated with performance in the UEFA Women's Champions League. Design: This study involved archival analysis of factual data on teams and coaches participating in the UEFA Women's Champions League (2011-12 until 2015-16). Method: Official data records were provided by UEFA. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis was used to predict performance in the UEFA Women's Champions League. Specifically, coaches' characteristics (level-1 variables), team factors (level-2 variables), and country information (level-3 variables) were tested as predictors of performance (final rank, ranging from 1 to 32). Results: Data analysis yielded a two-and three-level solution. The two-level solution was deemed more realistic and applied, and was chosen as the omnibus final model. Within the twolevel solution, years coaching experience in Champions League at level-1 (γ10 =-2.90), and number of times team has won Champions League (γ01 =-7.13) and number of international players (γ02 =-1.08) at level-2, predict final performance at the UEFA Women's Champions League (i.e., negative coefficient is indicative of performance improvement). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the quality of the team, positive cross-cultural effects from an international roster, and the experience of the coach are positively associated with performance in the UEFA Women's Champions League.