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Sport Research Projects

Sport Research Projects

Sport-related research at Buckinghamshire New University covers a range of areas, including coaching, resilience in elite sport, disability sport, sport therapy and exercise sciences. Details of some current projects are shown below. The web pages for the BNU Human Performance Exercise and Wellbeing Centre have further details of our extensive facilities and our consultancy work.

 

Commissioned by Buckinghamshire County Council and activity partnership ‘Leap with Us’, Dr Ben Ives and Dr Ben Clayton completed a qualitative evaluation of the motivations and challenges for local disability sport and physical activity. Findings were collated to identify suggestions for future practice and creation of a sports provider’s guide for engaging disabled people in sport and physical activity.

Publications

Ives, Ben and Clayton, Ben (2017) Motivations and Challenges for Disability Sport and Physical Activity in Buckinghamshire. Buckinghamshire New University.

 

Hand cycling is a form of Paracycling used by individuals who are unable to ride a conventional road bike or tricycle due to either a spinal cord injury and/or physical impairment. Over the past two decades, the popularity of hand cycling as a sport has increased considerably. In 1999 hand cycling was formally recognised as a sport by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and has been included in the Paralympic Games since 2004.

There has been little previous research into factors that affect performance in competitive hand cycling with most previous research taking place in clinical rehabilitation settings.

In an initial study, Jonpaul Nevin and colleagues found that compared to endurance training only, an 8-week concurrent training intervention based upon a conjugated block periodisation model appears to be a more effective training regime for improving the performance capabilities of hand cyclists.

Jonpaul is undertaking another study to investigate and identify the physiological characteristics that relate to, and which can be used to predict, hand cycling performance. This research is being carried out in partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Publications

Nevin, Jonpaul, Waldron, Mark, Patterson, Stephen, Smith, Paul, Price, Mike and Hunt, Alex (2018) The Efficacy of an 8-Week Concurrent Strength and Endurance Training Programme on Hand Cycling Performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32 (7). pp. 1861-1868. ISSN 1064-8011

 

Velocity-Based Training (VBT) is an area of increasing interest within the field of strength and conditioning.

By monitoring movement velocity during resistance training the strength and conditioning practitioner can optimise training loads based upon an athlete’s conditional, day-to-day training readiness. The use of VBT may offer a unique approach to optimise strength gains and improve an athlete’s subsequent physical performance potential.

Jonpaul Nevin is conducting a research to investigate the long-term efficacy of VBT and make evidence-based recommendations by which to guide best practice in the use of this novel and exciting strength training method.

Publications

Nevin, Jonpaul (2019) Auto-Regulated Resistance Training. Does Velocity-Based Training Represent the Future? Strength and Conditioning Journal. ISSN 1524-1602

 

Professor Paul Morgan is undertaking a range of research projects around team resilience in elite sport, with collaborators from Nottingham Trent University and Loughborough University.

His research resulted in defining team resilience as a dynamic, psychosocial process which protects a group of individuals from the potential negative effect of the stressors they collectively encounter. It comprises of processes whereby team members use their individual and combined resources to positively adapt when experiencing adversity. Findings revealed four main resilient characteristics of elite sport teams: group structure, mastery approaches, social capital, and collective efficacy.

This research led to the development and initial validation of an inventory for the Characteristics of Resilience in Sports Teams (CREST). The CREST was argued to be a usable state-like measure of team-level resilient characteristics and vulnerabilities. The measure could be used in future process-oriented research examining adverse events and sports team’s pre- and post-adversity functioning.

Additional research has included resilience case studies in Rugby union teams and a longitudinal study of developing team resilience in a high level sports team.

Publications

Morgan, Paul BC (2019) Developing Team Resilience: A Season-long Study of Psychosocial Enablers and Strategies in a High-Level Sports Team. Psychology of Sport & Exercise. ISSN 1469-0202 (In Press)

Morgan, Paul BC, Fletcher, David and Sarkar, Mustafa (2017) Recent developments in team resilience research in elite sport. Current Opinion in Psychology, 16. pp. 159-164. ISSN 2352-250X

Decroos, Steven, Lines, Robin LJ, Morgan, Paul BC, Fletcher, David, Sarkar, Mustafa, Fransen, Katrien, Boen, Filip and Vande Broek, Gert (2017) Development and validation of the Characteristics of Resilience in Sports Teams Inventory. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 6 (2). pp. 158-178. ISSN 2157-3905

Worth, Piers, Bradley, Scott and Morgan, Paul BC (2016) Strengths-based approaches and resilience development: a perspective from sport psychology. AI Practitioner.

Morgan, Paul BC, Fletcher, David and Sarkar, Mustafa (2015) Understanding team resilience in the world's best athletes: A case study of a rugby union World Cup winning team. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 16 (1). pp. 91-100. ISSN 1469-0202

Burt, Edward and Morgan, Paul BC (2014) Barriers to systematic reflective practice as perceived by UKCC Level 1 and Level 2 qualified Rugby Union coaches. Reflective Practice, 15 (4). pp. 468-480. ISSN 1462-3943

Morgan, Paul BC, Fletcher, David and Sarkar, Mustafa (2013) Defining and characterizing team resilience in elite sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14 (4). pp. 549-559. ISSN 14690292