Coaches' Assessment of Players Physical Performance: Subjective and Objective Measures are needed when Profiling Players

Syncing to perform? A naturalistic uncontrolled prospective case study of emotional and physiological synchrony in a team of male volleyball athletes

Group processes are important for promoting relational and performance-related outcomes in sport; however, research exploring emotional and physiological synchrony and performance outcomes is rare. The objective of this study was to examine perceived emotional synchrony, physiological synchrony, and performance among male volleyball players using a naturalistic uncontrolled prospective case study approach over nine practices. Athletes participated in a coach-led pre-practice group visualization routine, while their heart rate and heart rate variability were continuously monitored. Athletes completed post-practice measures of emotional synchrony, and athletes and coaches completed ratings of individual and team performance. Emotional and physiological synchrony were not significantly correlated, but they were differentially related to performance outcomes, and there were significant interaction effects between physiological synchrony and time. Athletes' ratings of their own and their team's performance were associated with their perceived emotional synchrony. Coach performance ratings were associated with pre-practice team physiological synchrony but were unrelated to athletes' perceived emotional synchrony. Heart rate synchrony was associated with athlete and coach performance ratings and may be important for team dynamics and performance outcomes. The findings demonstrate evidence for emotional and physiological synchrony among athletes, providing a platform for future research examining processes and impacts of synchrony in sport.

Methodological Approaches to Talent Identification in Team Sports: A Narrative Review

Talent identification (TID) and talent development (TD) continue to receive significant investment from team sports organisations, highlighting their importance in attempting to identify potential elite athletes. Accompanying this continual pursuit to unearth future talent is an ever-increasing body of research aiming to provide solutions and strategies to optimise TID and TD processes. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide a summary and critical synthesis of the methodological approaches applied to TID in team sports and present considerations for future TID research. Specifically, this review highlights three key areas for consideration: (1) the timespan of the research design; (2) the use of monodisciplinary or multidisciplinary variables; and (3) the fidelity of the methodological approaches to the assessment of talent. The review highlights the benefits of longitudinal, multidisciplinary, and ecologically valid research designs for TID within team sports.