Strategies to Improve Modifiable Factors of Athletic Success

Dear Colleagues,

Numerous factors contribute to athletic success. Unfortunately, some factors are outside of the influence of coaches, such as the genetic potential of the athletes they coach and the skill of the opposition their athletes face. Fortunately, coaches can influence numerous factors that influence the probability of athletic success by incorporating research from the fields of exercise physiology, nutrition, sport psychology, and skill acquisition into their coaching practice.

• Exercise physiology
  • How can we train athletes more safely and efficiently?
  • Are there better ways to monitor or promote physiological adaptations?
  • How can we improve the quality of sleep around training and competition?
• Nutrition
  • Can we improve upon dietary considerations prior to, during, and following training and competition to enhance performance and/or recovery?
  • Which nutritional supplements are safe and effective for performance enhancement?
• Sport psychology
  • How can we best prepare athletes to manage arousal and anxiety around training and competition?
  • How do we best train athletes to be resilient?
  • How can coaches create a positive team dynamic?
• Skill acquisition
  • Can we improve the speed at which players learn skills?

As a result, we are interested in submissions that coaches can implement to improve modifiable factors related to athletic success. This Special Issue welcomes the submission of original research, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, commentaries, opinion articles, and perspectives.

It is our hope this Special Issue attracts research that will improve current practice. As John Wooden once said, “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

Dr. Vincent Dalbo
Prof. Dr. Michael D. Roberts
Prof. Dr. David H. Fukuda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sports is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• coaching
• nutrition
• performance
• sport
• strength
• player monitoring
• internal or external load
• supplements