Sport Research and Studies
Articles and Videos
We’ve collated all of the important research in sport and distilled the results into the relevant facts and importantly, how to apply this knowledge. You may find our sections for our most recent articles, resources and materials, latest newsletters, or 5 Minutes with Bo Hanson video series valuable too.
Youth Sports, What Can They Learn From Finnish schools?
Sports in many ways is like education. Athletes need to be taught new skills, they need to be nurtured, especially in the conscious incompetence and unconscious competence stages of their learning where these new skills are still foreign to them, such as in youth sports, and athletes need to be given the best opportunities to grow and succeed by their Coaches and teammates. It is the overall environment, including a good Coach-athlete relationship, access to good equipment, training and competition environments, support mechanisms and athlete self-awareness that allows an athlete to be the best they can be. Similar to how a student given the best possible academic environment will thrive and grow into the best adult they can be.
Data Analytics in Sport: Science vs People
An article has been published in the MIT Technology Review looking at the best-selling book Moneyball by Michael Lewis and how it has changed the way people think about data analytics in sport.
Lewis’s book introduced the sporting world, and in particular those with the biggest vested interests, a method in which player performance was measured and assessed using algorithms and science driven by the ability to gather vast amounts of data about players and the play during a game.
And while this is exciting, and having and relying on all of this data is tempting, unless you can find a way to make it meaningful to athletes, it won’t work.
Former student-athletes blitzing the competition
We all know sports is good for us. We know it acts as a vehicle for life skills, gives us an opportunity to participate, be the best we can be and helps us develop resiliency during our training and in competition. But what you might not know is that former student-athletes are also stronger and more consistent, in areas of well-being outside of sports than non-student-athletes.
A national Gallup-Purdue Index study of nearly 30,000 US college graduates showed that former student-athletes are more likely to be thriving in four out of five areas of well-being that Gallup measures including purpose, financial, social, community and physical well-being.
Research on Abuse in Sport and Athlete Welfare
Recently Sports Illustrated published an important article titled, ‘Is the era of abusive college coaches finally coming to an end?’. The article highlighted alarming issues with modern collegiate athletics based on surveys of 20,000 college athletes, as well as the latest research in psychophysiology, psychology, depression, health and abusive leadership.
DISC Profiling Research into the Effectiveness of Developing Self-Awareness
Over the summer, Bo Hanson, Director of Athlete Assessments and David Hedlund, Assistant Professor of Sport Management at St. John’s University, New York presented at the National Coaching Conference in Morgantown.
The presentation focused on David’s ‘Research into the Effectiveness of Developing Sport Coaches’ Self-Awareness using DISC Profiling’. David previously presented accompanying research at the 2014 SMAANZ (Sports Management Association of Australia and New Zealand) Conference in Melbourne.
Athlete-Centered Coaching is Better – Research Paper
By Jason Drummond The following content has been adapted from a research paper written pursuant to a NRL high-performance Coach accreditation assessment task. Coaching is a dynamic, multidimensional process that involves interactions between the coach, athlete,
Graduate Sport Management Programs: Student Satisfaction
By Kate Ross, Athlete Assessments Recently Liz and I attended the 2014 NASSM Conference in Pittsburgh. The North American Society for Sport Management Conference often features the innovators of the Sport Management industry, and many lecturers
Leadership Research: Why People Follow Leaders
After reading ‘How Full is Your Bucket’ by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton Ph.D., I read another of Rath’s books titled ‘Strengths Based Leadership’. An important chapter of this book is all about why people follow leaders. For so long, leadership research has focused on asking leaders what they do. But with this focus of research, there is a very obvious point overlooked: You are a Leader only if others follow you.
Sports Coaching Challenges: Evolution of Athlete Conference
Compiled by Liz Masen, CEO of Athlete Assessments, the Coach Survey Summary Results. What are the top three sports coaching challenges faced?
Coach Survey Results: Evolution of the Athlete Conference
Collated by Liz Masen, Client Director of Athlete Assessments Coach Survey Summary Results 2009 In your role as a coach, how much formal leadership training / development have you participated in during the last 2 years?
Women’s Sports Fans: Vital Facts
By Liz Masen, Client Director at Athlete Assessments At Athlete Assessments, our role is to be experts in what makes our clients successful, and part of this is keeping you up to date with all the latest
Re-visiting Coach Behavior
By Dr. Chris Cushion, Loughborough University, UK How Effective is your Coaching Practice? (Used with Permission by Dr. Chris Cushion) The complex nature of the coaching process means that coaches’ behavior, and practice within it, is
Developing Women Coaches: Moving Forward
By Kate Ross – Athlete Assessments When we read Deborah Brake’s research paper on “Discrimination Inward and Upward: Lessons on Law and Social Inequality from The Troubling Case of Women Coaches“, we were inspired to provide
Sports high-performance Program Planning
By Jason Drummond, this article has been adapted from a research paper written pursuant to a NRL high-performance Coach accreditation assessment task.Within a high-performance program it is necessary to function within a high-performance plan.
Professional Development Topics for Coaches
By Bo Hanson – 4x Olympian, Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments The Professional Development Coaches Actually Want Recently Sports Coach UK released The Coaching Panel, the results of their survey of 1,200 coaches. It
Importance of Communication in Sports
Research shows effectively communicating goals of the team is critical, as a lack of understanding can lead to athlete disengagement with the team.
Factors and Obstacles Influencing Olympic Performance
When we find research we think is valuable, we do our best to pass it on to you! This research centers around the findings of the Athlete Development Division of the United States Olympic Committee in 2000, when they asked Olympians to list the five factors they believed contributed the most to their success. It also asked the Olympians to list the five most significant obstacles they had to overcome in order to achieve success in their sport. Three of the factors were identified as both a success factor and an obstacle.
Importance of Youth Sports Statistics
There are countless statistics linking a youth’s involvement in sport to both their emotional and physical health, in this article, we look at them.
Relationships Matter in Sport Infographic
Relationships (especially the coach-athlete relationship) matter in sport, as they are a significant performance factor. Featuring research and quotes from the NCAA, 2008 Olympic Study, Coaching Legends, and Journals, in this sport infographic you will find
Professional Development for Sports Coaches
Professional Development for Sports Coaches is critical. The best coaches know that to be the best, they must continue to develop professionally. But with the many types of Professional Development available, it can be difficult to discover the most effective way to improve coaching skills. With this in mind, we thought it would be valuable to pass on the results of ‘The Coaching Panel’, a recent survey by Sports Coach UK of 1,200 coaches. Within this study, one section focused on the Professional Development that Sports Coaches found most valuable in their careers.
Coach-Athlete Relationships Matter (Canadian Olympic Study)
In recent years, more attention has focused on the impact of the coach-athlete relationship on an athlete’s performance. Research from the 2008 Canadian Olympic Study showed that coach-athlete relationships significantly impact athlete performance.
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Learn more about Athlete Assessments
DISC Profiling
Learn how to master the people side of sport using DISC Profiling...
What We Do
We specialize in helping our clients create and sustain winning results...
Our Clients
See who we work with and read what they say about us...
