<p>The purpose of this study was to develop a self-perceived soccer-specific competence scale for youth players and to investigate the effects of coach feedback on the soccer competence of these players in actual competitive sport settings. Firstly, in order to develop the scale, the total of 611 Japanese male youth soccer players completed a questionnaire, which was composed of 60 items selected from a preliminary study. Participants were also asked to score their own ability as a soccer player out of a hundred. The players' scored assessment of their own ability was used as a criterion variable. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that soccer competence of youth players consisted of 9 sub-scales: passing and ball control with proper decision making, speed, motivation, endurance, dribbling skill, heading skill, defensive skill, physical strength and leadership. As the scale included individual ball techniques and group skill, physical fitness and mental fitness, which are essential elements of competitive soccer ability, it was considered to represent an adequate evaluation of selfperceived soccer competence in youth players. Additionally, players who had lower soccer ability scores showed significantly lower evaluation on the soccer competence scale than players who displayed higher scores. These results indicate that the soccer competence scale would provide a multi-dimensional and precise reflection of soccer competence in Japanese male youth players. Secondly, in order to investigate the effects of coach feedback on youth players' soccer competence, one coach and 15 male junior youth soccer club players participated in this study. The coach's feedback to the players was recorded for 7 months using VTR and subsequently categorized into seven domains: (1) positive, (2) negative, (3) instructive, (4) questioning, (5) organizing, (6) friendly, and (7) other. Both before and after the observation period, players were asked to complete the soccer competence questionnaire derived in the first study. This revealed that competence related to passing and ball control with proper decision-making and dribbling skill increased significantly throughout the observation period. However, coach feedback did not significantly affect the longitudinal change in soccer competence. On the other hand, with regard to defensive skill, although no significant longitudinal change was confirmed during the observation period, there was a negative association between the frequency of negative feedback and the defensive skill score. Finally, the limitations of this study and future issues were discussed.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational factors related to visually-impaired athletes practicing judo. It intended to clarify the reason why visually-impaired judo practitioners continue training in judo compared to their normal sighted counterparts.</p><p>The subjects were 38 male visually-impaired judo athletes aged 19-62 who participated in the All Japan Blind Judo Championships (the visually-impaired judo athlete group). A control group was formed made up of 38 male sighted judo players who were systematically drawn from prior research. Subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire containing 21 items related to possible reasons for continuing to do judo, such as, "character development", "positive feelings", "improving physical fitness", "improving mental condition", "attraction to martial arts", "personal goals", and "recreation".</p><p>Four factors were extracted from the sighted judo player group but five factors were extracted from the visually-impaired judo athlete group. Four of the factors—"positive feelings", "personal goals", "character development" and "improving physical fitness"—were common to both groups. Factors unique to each group were "sociability" in the visually-impaired judo athlete group, and "Jita Kyōei" in the control group.</p><p>The results of a simple comparison show that the scores for "fun", "future goals" and "popular" of the visually-impaired judo athlete group were significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.01). The "increasing health" score of the control group was significantly higher than the visually-impaired judo athlete group (p<0.05).</p><p>In summary, this study indicated similarities and differences in the reasons for continuing judo in visually-impaired and sighted judo players. It seems that "fun" and "sociability" are more important factors for continuing judo among visually-impaired judo athletes compared with sighted judo players.</p>