Several studies conducted on home advantage in sport have focused on game location and performance outcome. The purpose of this study was to examine three components of home advantage, such as the effect that game location has on self-efficacy, a critical psychological state, and assertive play, a critical behavioral state. Participants (N = 21) from one mid-sized, midwest, Division I soccer program completed the Modified State Sport-Confidence Inventory (MSSCI) prior to six home conference games and six away conference games. In addition, all 12-conference games were observed and coded according to four assertive behaviors of soccer players. Data were analyzed using a permutation test and Spearman's Rho with a level of significance set at .05. Results indicated there was no significant difference in self-efficacy between home and away games and no significant difference in assertive play between home and away games. No significance relationship was found for self-efficacy and assertive play. Possible limitations along with recommendations for the future are discussed. / School of Physical Education

Orientador: Deivis Perez Bispo dos Santos / Banca: José Sterza Justo / Banca: Paulo Roberto de Carvalho / Resumo: O presente trabalho buscou compreender como se configura o campo da formação profissional de jovens para o trabalho como atletas de futebol e como se desenvolvem os processos de subjetivação dos adolescentes no tocante à profissão a qual aspiram. A investigação foi desenvolvida nas categorias de base de um clube alocado no interior do estado do Paraná. Para efetuar esta pesquisa, o estudo foi composto por três momentos distintos. Primeiramente, contemplou a produção de uma narrativa acerca da história e da modernização do futebol no Brasil, dando ênfase aos processos, acontecimentos e eventos que conduziram a sua conversão em trabalho. O segundo momento se caracterizou pela revisão, análise e síntese do conceito de subjetivação à luz da Psicologia Histórico-Cultural. Por último, o exame e discussão do processo de formação e de subjetivação dos jovens atletas com base nos estudos e elaborações teóricas e nos dados que emergiram do campo investigado. Para esta etapa, optou-se pelos aportes teórico-metodológicos da Clínica da Atividade. Particularmente para a fase de recolha de dados, foi adotado o dispositivo da autoconfrontação simples. Tal dispositivo se baseia no princípio da coanálise da atividade cotidiana realizada pelos trabalhadores situados em contexto e tem o diálogo como fundamento para a emergência do conhecimento compartilhado sobre as maneiras de realizar a atividade e de se realizar na atividade. Neste sentido, oferece os subsídios necessários à compreensão dos processos de subjetivação no tocante à formação profissional neste cenário / Abstract: The present work sought to understand how the field of professional formation of youth people for the labor as soccer athletes is configured and how is developed the process of subjetivation of this teenagers for the profession they aspire to. The investigation was developed in the youth teams of a club located in a city of the Paraná state. In order to execute this research, the study was compound by three different moments. At first, it contemplated the production of a narrative about the soccer history and its modernization in Brazil, emphasizing the processes, facts and events which had made it became a job. Afterwards, we made a literature revision, an analyses and a discussion about the concept of subjetivation from the Historical-Cultural Psychology perspective. At last, the exam and discussion of the formation process and the subjetivation of the youth athletes, based on the studies and theoretical elaborations and on the data that were found in the field research. For this stage, we choose the theoretical-methodological contributions of the Clinic of Activity. Specifically for the dada collect stage, it was adopted the simple self confrontation device. This resource has as principle the co-analysis of the daily activity executed by the workers in their context and has the dialogue as the fundament to the emergence of the shared knowledge about the ways of to do the work and to be done by the work. Therefore, this study offers the necessary subsidies for the comprehension of the subjetivation process related to the professional formation in this field / Mestre

Grit and achievement motivation have been predictors of behavior in academia and military settings (Duckworth, Matthews, Peterson, & Kelly, 2007), but to date, research on their effects on sport performance has been limited. Given grit's predictive role in other performance domains, grit may be influential in athletes' long-term goal attainment, interacting with their achievement motives and leading to better performances. Athletes' trait levels of grit may influence how they understand and respond to messages received within motivational climates from key personnel such as from coaches and teammates. We examined potential moderating effects of grit on the relationship between motivational feedback and high school soccer players (N = 71, Mage = 15.81) performance on a soccer task, their desire to persist in the task, and their choices of task difficulty. We used hierarchical multiple regression to test the main effects of feedback and grit and to determine if grit moderated the effects of feedback on performance. Grit was a significant moderator of the feedback-shooting performance relationship, accounting for 3.9% of variance. Simple slopes analysis revealed a significant effect for low (B = 13.32, SEb = 4.44, p = .004, t = 2.99), but not high, (B = 2.11, SEb = 4.31, p = .63, t = .49), grit on task success. Grit was not a significant moderator of task difficulty selection or task persistence. These results suggest that for those high in grit, feedback about natural ability or hard work is not particularly influential on performance. However, for low grit athletes, type of feedback matters.

Grit is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals." Although studied in relation to various outcomes, such as retention and academic performance, few studies have examined variables that may contribute to grit's development. Further, few studies have examined this construct in relation to sport performance or within athletic environments, despite its clear connection to sport-related constructs like mental toughness and resilience. Thus, based in achievement motivation theory, this study examined the relations of the perceived motivational climate as defined by athletes' perceptions of the coaches' behaviors (task vs. ego), athletes' perceptions of their achievement goal orientation (task vs. ego), athletes' perceptions of their implicit theory (i.e., fundamental beliefs regarding whether or not ability can change; growth vs. fixed), and athletes' perception of their level of grit. Male varsity soccer players (N = 81; Mage = 15.80 ± .81) from a large metropolitan area in the south central U.S. completed questionnaires measuring these achievement motivation constructs. The full regression model was significant, accounting for 18% of the grit variance, F(6, 74) = 2.77, p = .017. Within the full model, having a growth mindset (β = .25, p = .035) and endorsing a task goal orientation (β = .36, p = .004) predicted higher levels of grit for the athletes. Neither the coach-created motivational climate, nor the athletes' ego orientation or fixed mindset, were significantly predicted their grit scores. Consistent with Dweck and Duckworth, components of achievement motivation theory, particularly related to a task or growth perspective, may play an important role in athletes' developing a perspective that allows them to work effectively and diligently toward long-term goals.

Thesis (PhD (Sport Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Stress and coping are complex phenomena that are not always fully understood. They are psychological factors that impinge on individuals and people’s responses in dealing with them are described and interpreted in various ways. This study compared the coping strategies used by football players from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The aim was to explore the role that the environment, ethnicity and culture play in players' responses to stressful situations. A sample of 33 players was drawn from a professional club in the Professional Premier Soccer League in the Western Cape, Republic of South Africa. Subjects were representative in terms of race, age, years of experience and playing positions. Eleven black, coloured and white players for each group were selected for individual interviews. Their ages ranged between 15 and 32 years. An interpretive-qualitative research methodology was employed. Semistructured interviews and a biographical questionnaire were used as tools to gather information. The data were analyzed using interpretive analysis or the immersion crystallization method. The results revealed that football players were exposed to stress and there were differences and similarities in the way they conducted themselves. The similarities were recorded on matters related to match situations e.g., pressure to perform, inclusion in a starting line-up, and unruly behavior of supporters. Differences were cited on issues related to language, culture, financial matters, poor playing conditions, negative evaluation of the team by others, losing matches, referees' decisions and being away from home. These differences were found both between and within ethnic groups. Players' perceptions of stress showed that black players were experiencing more stress than the other two ethnic groups and white players were experiencing far less stress than the other two groups. Despite this finding, the majority of players reported to have been in control of stressful situations. The perception of lack of control was reported by black and coloured players only. It appeared that background experience of stressful events was producing greater psychosocial consequences for non-white players than white players. The football players used multiple strategies to cope with their sport challenges and there were both differences and similarities within and between the ethnic groups in the use of these strategies. Subjects used problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, passive coping, and avoidance coping in stressful situations. Problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping were the dominant strategies employed by all three groups. Passive coping and avoidance coping were the lesser-used strategies and were employed by the three groups in situations where players felt that they could not exert control e.g., playing conditions or dubious referees' decisions. Self-criticism, not blaming others, adopting a negative approach, substance use/abuse and turning to religion were the strategies that appeared only in specific groups. This finding supports the hypothesis of differences in strategies related to differences in ethnic backgrounds. It was also revealed that football players were responding differently to stressful challenges that were presented at the different stages of the match. The dominant strategies used at the pre-match stage by the nonwhite group were: planning and preparation, relaxation, praying, focusing and concentration. At the same stage, white players used mostly focusing, concentration and planning. There were strong similarities between the groups in the use of these strategies. During the match stage, non-white players used active coping, positive approach, suppression of competitive activities, focusing and concentration. White players used similar strategies including emotional expression and mental disengagement. Different strategies were employed by players during the match stage, most of them being problem-focused strategies. In the post-match stage players used less-dominant coping strategies. Some strategies were used by players in all three ethnic groups and others appeared in specific groups only, e.g., substance use (coloured group) and passive thinking (white group). The study further revealed that coping strategies could be classified either as sport or non-sport related. A variety of sport-related strategies were found mostly during the pre-match and match stages. The nonsport related strategies appeared mostly during the post-match stage and were used mostly by non-white players. Concerning the processes involved in the selection of strategies, the study revealed that thought-out processes, automatic processes, influence of experience and a combination of processes were used to identify and select coping strategies. Processing of information was a preferred option used by the three groups of players to identify strategies and very few players used automatic processes. Between-group differences were found in the relationship between environmental background and previous experience and the players' selection of coping strategies. For black and coloured players this influence related mostly from factors outside their home environment. For white players it came from within their home situations. The study showed that factors that affected the players in selecting coping strategies, were both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factors included personal safety and protection, performance, self-control and personal experience. Extrinsic factors included stress, influence of others, institutional influences, social background, pleasing others, family obligation, opponents and research. White players used intrinsic and extrinsic factors with equal frequency. Non-white players on the other hand, used fewer intrinsic factors than extrinsic factors. The results also showed that relatively less-experienced players were inclined to use achievement motivation as a determining factor. Black players were influenced by one other factor that did not appear in the other groups, that is, family obligations. Finally, exhaustion, cultural differences, language, absence of a family support structure, peer pressure, home circumstances, communication, diet, substance use/abuse, being in a new environment, personality differences and high expectations were identified as factors that restrict the use of coping strategy. Exhaustion and cultural differences appeared across all three groups. Group differences were however observed in language, absence of a family support structure, peer pressure, home circumstances, high expectations, and absence of compliments. These restrictive factors were experienced differently within and between the three ethnic groups and originated from exposure, challenges, and experiences that players encounter in their daily life situations.