The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of coaches' perceptions of their role in the development of life skills in adolescent athletes in two different sport contexts. Semistructured interviews were held with 24 coaches: 12 coaching high school basketball and 12 coaching community swimming. All coaches followed a holistic, athlete-centered approach. Coaches described the life skills they taught, their motivations, and the strategies they used to foster life skills development in practice. Although some differences between the two contexts were identified, the overall results indicate that all coaches fostered the development of life skills through various teaching and transfer strategies, and that coaches had two main motivations: athletes' needs and their own values. The main results are discussed in light of the literature on life skills in sport and positive youth development, and in terms of methodological considerations. The study concludes with some practical recommendations for coaches.

Le Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) est utilisé pour évaluer la disposition à l'optimisme. Ce test est toutefois en anglais et est issu de la culture américaine, ce qui rend difficile son utilisation pour les recherches sur l'optimisme auprès de la population canadienne-française. Après avoir procédé à la traduction en langue française du LOT-R et à l'évaluation de l'équivalence transculturelle, la version canadienne-française a été administrée à 204 étudiants universitaires francophones. La mesure de cohérence interne a révélé un coefficient de 0,76, ce qui s'avère satisfaisant et comparable au coefficient de 0,78 obtenu par Scheier et al. La procédure test-retest, avec un intervalle de cinq semaines, a indiqué une stabilité temporelle très acceptable de 0,74 ( p Ͻ 0,001). Les analyses factorielles confirmatoires ont permis de conclure que la version canadienne-française du LOT-R possède une structure similaire à la version originale de l'instrument, soit un modèle à un facteur permettant aux termes d'erreurs des énoncés positifs de corréler entre eux. La version canadienne-française du LOT-R peut maintenant être utilisée en recherche au même titre que la version originale anglaise.Mots-clés : disposition à l'optimisme, LOT-R, traduction, équivalence transculturelle En psychologie, Michael Scheier et Charles Carver s'intéressent au concept d'optimisme depuis plus d'une vingtaine d'années. D'après la théorie que proposent ces chercheurs, les optimistes abordent la vie d'une manière différente des pessimistes, car ils 1 tendent à avoir des attentes positives face à l'avenir, c'est-à-dire à croire qu'il leur arrivera plus de bonnes choses que de mauvaises. À l'inverse, les pessimistes sont portés à avoir des attentes néga-tives face à l'avenir (Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1992Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 2002). Selon Scheier et Carver, la disposition à l'optimisme, basée sur les attentes générales des personnes, est un trait relativement stable de la personnalité qui influe grandement sur la façon dont les gens régularisent leurs actions face à des difficultés ou à des situations stressantes. Plus précisément, ces chercheurs perçoivent les attentes des gens comme étant un facteur déterminant dans l'apparition de deux classes générales de comportements : continuer à fournir des efforts, ou abandonner et changer de direction. Ils mentionnent également que les optimistes savent persévérer et affronter les problèmes auxquels ils sont confrontés. Plutôt que d'ignorer les difficultés, ils acceptent la réalité, effectuent les démarches nécessaires pour résoudre leurs problèmes et trouvent des solutions pour améliorer leur sort. Par conséquent, les optimistes maîtrisent avec plus de facilité les événements difficiles et stressants, qui ont ainsi sur eux des réper-cussions physiques et émotionnels moins grandes que sur les pessimistes. Bref, les optimistes semblent être totalement engagés dans leur vie; ils donnent le meilleur d'eux-mêmes et persévèrent dans l'adversité.Afin d'évaluer l'optimisme, Scheier et Carver (1985) on...

This study aimed to explore attentional foci and their temporal patterns in expert skaters in real competition situations. Individual self-confrontation interviews were held with 8 expert figure skaters while they watched their videotaped program performed in official competitions. Qualitative data analysis revealed that skaters used a substantial number of foci, which were classified by content and characteristics. Event listing was used to display the patterns of foci over time, revealing that skaters used distinct processes to prepare for, perform, and evaluate different program elements. These results highlighted the great flexibility and variability of attentional focus, according to circumstantial factors. Magill (2003) defines attentional focus as "the directing of attention to specific characteristics in a performance environment or to action-preparation activities" (p. 149). In sport psychology, researchers have focused on the effectiveness of different types of attentional focus. Broadening the perspective on this issue, studies on choking under pressure (Hill, Hanton, Matthews, & Flemming, 2009) have given rise to a number of explanatory theories (e.g., Beilock & Carr, 2001;Gucciardi & Dimmock, 2008;Masters & Maxwell, 2004) of how attentional focus disruptions can significantly hinder performance.To address these issues, most studies have used an experimental approach to compare the effects of various types of attentional focus on performance involving simple motor tasks or decontextualized sport tasks (e.g., simulated skiing, golf putting). Experimental approaches generally have two main features: The perspective is (a) dichotomous and (b) static. A dichotomous perspective places types of focus in opposition: internal and external (Nideffer & Sagal, 1998;Stevinson & Biddle, 1999;Wulf & Prinz, 2001), broad and narrow (Nideffer & Sagal, 1998), proximal and distal (Bell &Hardy, 2009), or associative and dissociative (Morgan & Pollack, 1977;Schomer, 1987;Stevinson & Biddle, 1999). In the static perspective, a single focus is associated with a discrete action. This focus is imposed by experimental conditions without considering either the preceding or succeeding foci.Recently, some alternate approaches have shed new light on attentional focus processes in athletes, notably by examining attentional focus in natural performance situations (Oudejans, Kuijpers, Kooijman, & Bakker, 2011). Experimental studies that oppose two focus types have produced inconsistent results (Bell & Hardy, 2009;Salmon, Hanneman, & Harwood, 2010). Some authors claim that this dichotomous perspective could limit our understanding of how athletes use attentional focus in natural performance situations (Bernier, Codron, Thienot, & Fournier, 2011;Salmon et al., 2010) confrontation interviews with eight professional golfers based on a video of their playing in two conditions: (a) during a training session and (b) during a competition. They inductively analyzed the collected qualitative data in order to precisely classify the at...

The first scientific papers on sport psychology consultants (SPCs) focused primarily on the professional practice of experienced SPCs. Since then, the scientific literature on SPCs has greatly diversified. The purpose of this review is to summarize and critically examine the findings of three scientifically studied topics on SPCs: SPCs' experiences, perceptions toward SPCs, and SPCs' effectiveness. Peer-reviewed scientific articles published in English were found in the main sport and psychology databases. The primary results in relation to each topic and the limitations of these papers are presented. The discussion examines future avenues from which to develop research on SPCs. Since Norman Triplett's first publication on the social facilitation of cyclists in 1897, the scientific study of sport psychology has greatly diversified. One aspect that has emerged from this field focuses on sport psychology consultants (SPCs) and their work. There are two main definitions of SPCs in the scientific literature. They can be seen as complementary because one focuses on the training requirements to become a SPC and the other on their role in applied sport psychology. Morris, Alfermann, Litunen, and Hall (2003) defined a SPC as a person trained in both psychology and sport science. Donohue et al. (2004) as well as Wrisberg, Simpson, Loberg, Withycombe, and Reed (2009) defined a SPC rather as a person who, during sport psychology consultations, supports athletes and coaches (stakeholders 1) in their development of mental and emotional skills with the aim to achieve optimal performance and improved well-being. A SPC might therefore be defined as a person who is trained in both psychology and sport and exercise science and who provides psychological support to stakeholders involved in sport. Note that, in addition to the term SPC, different terms in the

Key decision-makers among experts in a given field can sometimes be identified based on their role and responsibilities. The aim of the study is to compare perceptual-cognitive skills of experts with decisional responsibilities (setters in volleyball) with that of other volleyball experts. Eighty-two participants (26 setters, 36 other players and 20 controls) viewed 50 volleyball video sequences. Sequences stopped 120 ms before ball contact and participants, whose eye movements were recorded, had to predict the ball direction. Generalized Estimating Equations analysis revealed that setters and controls made more but shorter fixations than other players. However, both expert groups made better predictions than controls. Dynamics analyses of eye movements over time show that, right before ball contact, opposing players’ upper body is a most relevant attentional cue in all game situations. Results are discussed in terms of decision-making responsibilities to identify key decision-makers in volleyball and in general. They point towards specific perceptual-cognitive abilities found in setters and support the idea that they constitute a subgroup of experts, but that they are not “better” than other players in anticipating the game.