Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support versus control and students' life skills development in PE, and whether students' basic need satisfaction and frustration mediated these relationships. Design: Cross-sectional study. Method: English and Irish students (N = 407, Mage = 13.71, SD = 1.23) completed measures assessing perceived autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching, basic need satisfaction and frustration (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and life skills development in PE (teamwork, goal setting, social skills, problem solving and decision making, emotional skills, leadership, time management, and interpersonal communication). Results: On the bright side of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), correlations revealed that perceived teacher autonomy support was positively associated with students' basic need satisfaction and life skills development in PE. On the dark side of SDT, perceived controlling teaching was positively related to students' basic need frustration, but not significantly related to their life skills development. Mediational analyses revealed that autonomy and relatedness satisfaction mediated the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support and students' development of all eight life skills. Competence satisfaction mediated the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support and students' development of teamwork, goal setting, and leadership skills. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are important mechanisms that in part explain the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support and life skills development in PE. Therefore, teachers may look to promote students' perceptions of an autonomy-supportive climate that satisfies their three basic needs and helps to develop their life skills.

An external focus of attention, enhanced expectancies and autonomy support are key independent and interactive characteristics which enhance motor learning. These OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance Through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) characteristics have proven supportive of adult's motor learning yet, their effect on children's motor learning is comparatively under-explored. Fifty-five studies were systematically reviewed to outline the impact of OPTIMAL variables on children's motor learning, specifically foundational movement skills (FMS). Thirty-five studies examined an external focus of attention, whereas relatively few addressed enhanced expectancies (n = 12) and autonomy support (n = 8). Only 2 explored the interaction between OPTIMAL variables.Results show emerging evidence that OPTIMAL variables contribute to children's effective motor learning. Despite this initial support, there is a paucity of research regarding the impact of OPTIMAL variables across the full FMS range (i.e. a skewness towards object manipulation skills). Moreover, children's different developmental characteristics may moderate the beneficial effects of OPTIMAL variables. Additionally, the attentional and motivational mechanisms underpinning OPTIMAL learning in children requires future work (e.g. self-efficacy and perceived competence). Finally, there is a need for future combinatory research addressing OPTIMAL variables in children (e.g. enhanced expectancies with autonomy support). These results have theoretical and practical implications for movement specialists working with children and future OPTIMAL research.

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Background Stroboscopic visual training (SVT) has been shown to improve cognitive skills and perceptual performance by carrying out events under situations of intermittent vision. Aims The aim of this study was to investigate whether an SVT training period could improve the eye-hand coordination (EHC) performance on a practiced task for a group of sports participants. Methods Sixty-two male participants were randomly assigned to either a strobe group (SG n = 31), or control group (CG n = 31). The method employed a Sport Vision Trainer™ 80 sensor pad to measure the mean speed of reaction time of participants extinguishing randomly illuminated lights on an electronic board. One trial consists of 20 lights. One week following pre-testing on the Sport Vision Trainer™ (4 × 6 trials), a pre-training baseline assessment of 1 × 6 trials was conducted to measure their abilities to complete the EHC task. Four × six trials (480 lights) were then completed in the training phase with the CG continuing to train with unimpaired vision, whilst the SG wore Nike Vapor Strobe ® (controlled rate of 100 ms visible to 150 ms opaque). Post-training assessments were administered immediately, 10 min and 10 days after SVT each consisting of six trials (120 lights). A visual search (VS) non-trained transfer test was also administered pre-SVT and after 10 days. This involved an e-prime programme using a laptop where participants had to identify a target stimulus located amongst distractor stimuli. Results Treatment effects were observed at each time point. Baseline performance was significantly related to retention performance immediately (p = .003), 10-min post (p = .001) and 10 days post-training (p = .002). No significant differences were found for the VS test. Conclusion An acute SVT exposure using stroboscopic goggles significantly improved EHC performance. Future research should explore these mechanisms further using different exposure, frequencies, and focused identification of training drills as a complementary intervention for individual or team sports.

Objective: Concussion is a common injury in ice hockey and previous research suggests some misconceptions and unsafe attitudes amongst players. The purpose of this study was to assess sport concussion knowledge, attitudes and the effect of sport concussion history in UK based male ice hockey players across three levels of competition: professional, semi-professional, and amateur. Methods: Sixty-one participants across a number of UK ice hockey teams completed the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey (RoCKAS) and reviewed a series of statements to assess knowledge (CKI), attitudes (CAI) and misconceptions of concussion. Results: Level of competition and concussion history had no significant effect on CKI or CAI. A positive significant relationship exists between playing experience and CKI and CAI. Statements identified common misconceptions and areas of accurate knowledge regarding concussion symptoms suggesting that male ice hockey players have a higher-level knowledge compared to a sample of the UK general public. Playing experience was associated with increased knowledge and increasingly safe attitudes towards concussion. Conclusion: Despite knowledge relating to loss of consciousness and correct management of symptoms being generally accurate, there are worryingly unsafe attitudes regarding aspects of concussion. Such attitudes may well pose significant threats to player safety and longterm health.