By bringing together the national German sports game community and an international scientific community in a joint conference, the 6th International Teaching Games for Understanding Conference (TGfU) Meets the 10th German Sports Games Symposium of the German Association of Sport Science (DVS), held July 25-27, 2016, at the German Sport University…

Over the past few years, the virtual landscape of South African higher education institutions has changed as a result of ubiquitous and ever-present technological initiatives that can potentially provide students with a flexible learning space. Within these learning spaces, Web 2.0 tools have transformed educators' pedagogical approaches to…

Competitive athletes' scores on the Profile of Mood States (POMS) test create an iceberg-like pattern known as the "Iceberg Profile." Their scores for tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion are low while their scores on vigor juts upward creating the "Iceberg Profile." Persons in a cooperative relationship are often…

The acquisition and the application of mental skills in sports and non-sport settings are discussed in this paper. The paper opens with an overview of the situation in Sweden; it is noted that 25% of the Swedish population have used mental training programs and that in the future all Swedes will have experienced such programs, since basic mental…

Although reports on the positive effects of fitness and exercise predominate in the exercise literature, some researchers describe frequent exercise as compulsive or addictive behavior. This paper addresses these "negative addictions" of exercise. As early as 1970, researchers recognized the addictive qualities of exercise. Short-term…

Two case studies illustrate the Fine-Tuning Effect and its benefit to participants in athletic competition. The Fine-Tuning Effect is the sharpening of psychological processes that enable physical skills to be expressed in a maximum fashion. Such techniques as muscle relaxation, visual imagery, guided fantasy, autogenic training, and meditation…

The form and content of preservice programs for physical education teachers are in the hands of those individuals who develop curricula. Courses in sports studies--such as the sociology of sports and sport psychology--need to be an integral part of such programs. Preservice preparation programs can be reorganized to contain this important element.…

The study reported here assessed individuals' selection of excessive exercise dependent behaviors as they relate to self-esteem, family environment, and perceptions of family members exhibiting dysfunctional behaviors or addictions. A survey was taken of exercisers from a stratified random sample of competitive triathletes selected from the…

This paper reports the findings of a study of the role of sports in the lives of U.S. Congressmen and focuses attention on six gifted athletes for whom sports provided preparation for government service. The word "hero" as used in this paper refers to former members of Congress who were admired for their athletic prowess and for their…

The purpose of this investigation was to describe and explain the social dynamics of America's second most popular recreational sport, weight lifting, as performed on a university campus. Data were collected and analyzed using the participant observation approach to grounded theory research. Several hypotheses evolved from this analysis: (1) it is…

Oxendine (1970) hypothesized that the arousal-performance relationship varies across tasks, such that gross motor activities will require high arousal for optimal performance while fine motor activities will be facilitated by low arousal, but adversely affected by high arousal. Although the effects of preparatory arousal on strength performance…

To determine the influence of successful or unsuccessful competitive outcomes and small or large margins of victory/defeat on performance, pairs of female undergraduate students "competed" against each other in a dart tossing contest. False feedback about the outcomes and margin of victory/defeat led subjects to believe they were winning every…

The extent to which an individual's experience with and participation in athletic activities is constrained by gender connotation of the sport, sex of the individual, and the individual's classification on the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) was examined. A Sports Participation Questionnaire was completed by 80 university students selected on the…

In the 1980s females in America are permitted and even encouraged to participate in youth sports. This social phenomenon, however, is of recent vintage since most youth sports programs did not initially welcome girls' participation. Three major factors in girls not having been provided equal opportunities in sport are physiological differences in…

A summary of the use of hypnosis in sport (Morgan 1980) has suggested that the evidence in this area is equivocal, particularly in strength, endurance, and psychomotor tasks. However, some experiments have demonstrated the potential use of hypnosis. This paper presents examples of two elite Australian athletes who achieve success using hypnosis or…