Blog Archives

The sport hormone?

This article about our research into the biopsychology of team performance recently appeared in The Lancet (Diabetes and Endocrinology). Check it out!  A review argues that the hormone oxytocin affects athletic performance, because of its role in modulation of emotional and social

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Football, My own research, Science General, Sport Science, Uncategorized

How fair is youth sport and is it helping our children? Understanding relative age effects in sport.

How can an apostle, a greek sculpture and his creation shed light on the (un)fairness that our children are surrounded by when they take part in their favourite sport. Here’s a great paper I think any parent, and trainers and

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Football, My own research, Science General, Sport Science

Children have a right to lose – but praise does matter!

In a recent NY-Times Opinion it it is argued that losing is good for you. I think that educators should stop focussing on some end-result and start finding out how to make children happy – then learning will follow. In a recent Opinion

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Football, Science General, Sport Science

Diving in football: When and why cheating pays.

The findings of a human-based deception study fit perfectly with deception behaviours in the animal world, according to its authors. “They really are just a bunch of animals running around the sporting field – they have the same simple motivations of

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Ecological Psychology, Football, Science General, Sport Science