Achim Conzelmann

Universität Bern | UniBe · Institute of Sport Science

The aim of this study was to examine patterns of sports-related and socioeconomic resources at the time of athletic retirement and their relation to the subsequent vocational career. We surveyed 341 former Olympic athletes representing Switzerland about their athletic, educational, and vocational careers. In order to adequately depict the heterogen...

Objectives (1) To assess the period prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections and willingness to vaccinate in Swiss elite athletes and (2) to evaluate whether sociodemographic and sport-related characteristics were associated with infection of SARS-CoV-2 in athletes. Methods A total of 1037 elite athletes (M age =27.09) were surveyed in this cross-secti...

Research concerning athletic career development in high-performance sport typically uses demographic data, sport characteristics or pursuing a dual career (i.e. having an educational or vocational career simultaneous to the athletic career) to identify developmental processes. In defiance of these attempts, considerable heterogeneity remains within...

The importance of achievement motivation for the development of athletic performance has been widely acknowledged. However, evidence on the relation of motivational characteristics from adolescence to elite performance level is still rare. The aim of the present study was to examine whether motivational patterns of U14 football players were associa...

This study tested the effectiveness of individual exercise and sport counseling in a nonclinical setting. The CO unseling based on M otives and goals in E xercise and spor T (COMET) approach focuses on individual motives and goals and aims to identify suitable activities. Participants experience different exercise and sport activities and reflect o...

Background The present study firstly aimed to identify context patterns in sport and exercise among adolescents at lower and upper secondary education. The organisational, social and competitive contexts of leisure-time sport and exercise were included as pattern indicators. The second aim was to examine the stability of these patterns across educa...

For many high-performance athletes, competing in the Olympic Games is a major goal. Achieving this goal requires more than ever substantial investments of time and personal resources towards the sports career over several years. Thus, some athletes neglect other areas of life (e.g. education), which can pose a problem for the time after high-perfor...

In sport and exercise promotion, it is important to consider goals because achieving these goals leads to a sense of well-being and behaviour adherence. Individuals often pursue multiple goals simultaneously. Therefore, it is also important to not only consider each individual's combination of goals but also to identify so-called "goal profiles". T...

There is continuing discussion in talent research on the best approach to developing sporting expertise through learning activities during early sport participation. Among other concepts, the specialized sampling model describes a pathway between early specialization and early sampling and yields promising results in Swiss football. As successful c...

Zusammenfassung Motivationale Aspekte, wie Motive und Ziele, sind für die Aufnahme und die Aufrechterhaltung sportlicher Aktivitäten von zentraler Bedeutung. Motive und Ziele verändern sich im Laufe des Lebens. Daher beschäftigt sich der Beitrag mit der Frage, welche Motive und Ziele in Abhängigkeit vom Lebensalter wichtig sind. Untersucht werden d...

Zusammenfassung Ein Ziel der Sport- und Bewegungsförderung ist, eine möglichst gute Passung zwischen der Person und dem Sport herzustellen. Dabei sind insbesondere die sportbezogenen Motive und Ziele von Menschen in den Blick zu nehmen. Denn werden diese befriedigt, so fördert dies das Wohlbefinden und die Bindung an die Aktivität. Folgende Motive...

Talent selection in rowing is often solely based on anthropometric and performance variables, even though psychological characteristics are considered to be important contributors to successful talent development. Because multidimensional talent models and holistic theories represent the state-of-the-art in talent research, we aimed to find pattern...

It is widely recognized that motivation is an important determinant for a successful sports career. Specific patterns of motivational constructs have recently demonstrated promising associations with future success in team sports like football and ice hockey. The present study scrutinizes whether those patterns also exist in individual sports and w...

Affective well-being is positively linked to regular exercise. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors that influence intra-individual variability of affective well-being. This study investigated (1) whether affective responses vary within an individual and (2) how affective responses are associated with a motive-incentive fit and a skil...

The current study presents the development and validation of a questionnaire on motivational competence in exercise and sport. Motivational competence characterises the self-determined ability to choose a suitable exercise and sport activity. Knowing one’s own preferences and what to expect in different activities helps people to make this choice,...

Counseling is seen as a promising method for promoting exercise behavior. The aims of this study were (1) to describe the design of a novel counseling approach based on motives and goals in exercise and sport (COMET). The COMET approach considers individual preferences, while focusing on identifying suitable types of activities. Furthermore, (2) im...

Background: In order to generate more effective interventions to promote exercise and sport in adolescence, a better understanding of the interaction of influencing factors across different levels is needed. In particular, motivation and volition for exercise and sport, as well as the context in which adolescents are doing exercise and sport, have...

Background: Schoolchildren’s personality development is considered a central goal of physical education (PE). With regard to the relationship between psychological well-being and global self-esteem over the life course, the promotion of positive self-esteem is an issue of particular significance. Past research revealed that PE taught with an indivi...

Die Frage der (positiven) Wirkungen sportlicher Aktivitäten auf die Persönlichkeitsentwicklung ist seit Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts ein zentrales Forschungsthema innerhalb der Sportpsychologie. Trotz einer Vielzahl von Studien konnte allerdings lange Zeit keine eindeutige Wirkung sportlicher Aktivitäten auf die Persönlichkeit nachgewiesen werden. Di...

The coach-rating scale for Achievement-Motivated Behavior in Individual Sports (AMBIS-I) was constructed to measure achievement motivation, not from athletes' own views but from coaches' perspectives. The tool was already checked for reliability as well as content, factorial, and concurrent criterion validity (Zuber and Conzelmann, 2019). To furthe...

Recommended multidimensional models for talent selection are difficult to implement for practitioners in the field. Furthermore, their application has not been established from a scientific point of view, with a lack of clarity concerning how to integrate manifold test results with respect to loading, interaction, and compensation phenomena. Conseq...

Ein variables Sammeln von Erfahrungen (z.B. Freies Spielen, Clubtraining, Ausüben ähnlicher Sportarten, polysportive Aktivität) innerhalb einer Sportart im Kindesalter scheint hinsichtlich einer erfolgreichen Karriere besonders wichtig.

In football it was recently demonstrated, that patterns of motivational constructs in young talented football players are relatively stable in early adolescence, and are associated with specific performance related outcomes (Zuber et al., 2015). The aim of the present study was to check whether the motivational patterns found in youth elite footbal...

Background: The first aim of the present study was to identify psychosocial patterns among adolescents at lower secondary school. Employing the motivation and volition process model and a socioecological framework, self-concordance, action planning, social support, and club-related exercise and sport activities were included as indicators. The sec...

Talent identification in rowing is often solely based on anthropometric factors and performance variables (e.g. Bourgois et al., 2010), even though psychological characteristics are considered to be important contributors to successful talent development (e.g. MacNamara et al., 2010). Since multidimensional talent models represent the state-of-the-...

The assessment of achievement motivation in the context of selection decisions in elite youth sports is associated with serious problems (e.g. socially desirable responses). In order to counteract such problems, an external rating scale for the assessment of the Achievement-Motivated Behavior in Individual Sports (AMBIS-I) from a coach’s perspectiv...

Classroom-based physical activity (PA) is gaining attention in terms of its potential to enhance children’s cognitive functions, but it remains unclear as to which specific modality of PA affects cognitive functions most. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of qualitatively different PA breaks on children’s cognitive outcomes. Children...

Dataset underlying the findings of the current study. (SAV)

Due to the tremendous popularity of youth football, practitioners in this domain face the ongoing question of the most effective solutions in early talent selection. Although the scientific community has suggested multidimensional models for some time, coach assessments and motor performance tests remain common. Earlier research has determined the...

Exercise- and sport-related motives and goals are important motivational factors in promoting exercise and sport among adolescents and young adults. However, at present, there is no well-validated instrument to assess these factors that considers age-specific characteristics. Therefore, the goals of this study were to adapt the existing Bernese Mot...

Table 1. Comparison of existing sport and exercise motive and goal questionnaires

Data Analysis and Results of Comparison of Non-Nested Models

Table 1. Standardized factor loadings of the initial factor validity and distribution characteristics

Background Given the strong relationship between executive functions and academic achievement, there has been great interest in improving executive functions. School‐based group interventions targeting executive functions revealed encouraging results in preschoolers and young school children; however, there is a paucity of studies in older primary...

Objectives: Acute bouts of physical activity may have an impact on children's executive functions. However, the role played by cognitive engagement (CE) during physical activity remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of the study was to disentangle the separate and/or combined effects of physical exertion (PE) and CE, induced by classroom-based physic...

Target group-specific intervention strategies are often called for in order to effectively promote exercise and sport. Currently, motives and goals are rarely included systematically in the design of interventions, despite the key role they play in well-being and adherence to exercise. The Bernese motive and goal inventory (BMZI) allows an individu...

German and English version of the original and updated BMZI. (DOCX)

Descriptive statistics of the items of the original and updated BMZI. Items with # were part of the updated version of the BMZI; items with * were newly phrased for the updated version of the BMZI. (DOCX)

Characteristics of learning activities in early sport participation play a key role in the development of the sporting talent. Therefore, pathways of specialisation or diversification/sampling are as well debated as the implementation of practice- or playoriented activities. The related issues are currently perceived as a two-dimensional construct...

Das Ziel des Erreichens von Spitzenleistungen hat im Sport eine lange Tradition und auch in der heutigen Zeit nichts von seiner Anziehungskraft verloren. Internationale sportliche Erfolge in möglichst vielen Sportarten sind in unserer Gesellschaft (implizit oder explizit) erwünscht und stoßen medial auf hohes Interesse. Der Spitzensport hat sich in...

Background: Cancer survival comes at a price: pediatric cancer survivors bear a high risk for a wide range of cognitive difficulties. Therefore, interventions targeting these difficulties are required. The aim of the present clinical trial is to extend empirical evidence about efficacy of cognitive and physical training in pediatric cancer survivo...

Although talent selection in professional soccer mainly relies on the subjective judgment of scouts and coaches, little is known to date about top-level soccer coaches’ conceptions of talent. Drawing on a constructivist approach, this mixed method study intends to give an in-depth insight into coaches’ subjective talent criteria and to investigate...

Even though positive relations between children's motor ability and their academic achievement are frequently reported, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Executive function has indeed been proposed, but hardly tested as a potential mediator. The aim of the present study was therefore to examine the mediating role of executive function in...

Dataset underlying the findings of the current study. (SAV)

Introduction Optimizing the learning environment for young players is crucial within talent development in football. According to this, there is an extensive debate on the specificity of practice in the context of early sport participation up to 12 years of age. Is it beneficial to specialize in one sport-specific domain or does sampling through se...

Multidimensional and dynamic talent models represent the current state of the art, but these demands have hardly ever been implemented so far. One reason for this could be the methodological problems associated with these requirements. This paper will present a proposal for dealing with this, namely for examining the development of young soccer pla...

Motor tests play a key role in talent selection in football. However, individual motor tests only focus on specific areas of a player's complex performance. To evaluate his or her overall performance during a game, the current study takes a holistic perspective and uses a person-oriented approach. In this approach, several factors are viewed togeth...

SPSS File containing row data. SPSS data file containing row data of all measuring points. (SAV)