Violence in Canadian amateur hockey: the experience of referees in Ontario

The Frequency and Determinants of Positive and Negative Officiating Interactions and the Relationships with Mental Ill-Health Symptoms in Sports Officials

BACKGROUND

Concerns exist about the prevalence of abuse directed towards sports officials and its impact on their mental health; however, sports officiating can also be a rewarding experience.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to identify the frequency and determinants of both positive (e.g. praise, appreciation, apologies) and negative (e.g. verbal abuse, physical abuse, social media abuse) officiating interactions and to examine their independent contributions to mental ill-health symptoms.

METHODS

An online, cross-sectional survey was distributed to current or former sports officials operating on a voluntary or paid basis in the United Kingdom (UK). Participants completed validated measures of mental ill-health symptoms (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale) and daily hassles (LIVES-Daily Hassles Scale) and reported the frequency with which they experienced positive and negative officiating interactions.

RESULTS

A total of 320 sports officials (73.8% male; mean age ± standard deviation (SD) = 49.99 ± 15.86 years) completed the survey with the most represented sports including cricket (30.3%), rugby union (24.4%) and football (soccer) [16.9%]. Regular positive officiating interactions were experienced by 90.0% of sports officials and regular negative officiating interactions by 22.2%. Logistic regression analyses revealed that male sports officials (odds ratio (OR) = 3.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34, 11.65) were significantly more likely to experience regular positive interactions, while football officials (OR = 7.33; 95% CI = 1.38, 38.90) were significantly more likely to experience regular negative interactions. When controlling for daily hassles, age and sex, regular positive interactions were independently associated with lower odds of depression (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.15, 0.92) and anxiety (OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.13, 0.82) symptoms. However, regular negative officiating interactions were not independently associated with mental ill-health symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Positive officiating interactions were commonly experienced and independently predicted lower odds of mental ill-health symptoms. Approximately one fifth of officials reported regular negative interactions, although this was notably higher among football officials. No independent association existed between negative interactions and mental ill-health symptoms, and future research should determine if positive interactions help to offset the impact of negative ones for sports officials.

Reliability agreement in foul and penalty judgements between officials in the Swedish hockey league

Introduction

Officials are essential in terms of player safety and injury prevention, especially in contact team sports such as ice hockey, where numerous fast pace and high force contacts occur. If against the rules, these collisions can result in penalties. However, there is limited literature on the inter-rater reliability of the officials' decisions. Hence, the purpose was to investigate the theoretical reliability agreement between professional ice hockey officials in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

Method

Fifty video clips with different match situations were shown to 33 professional ice hockey officials in the SHL. Each situation was shown three times and the officials had 20 s between each video clip to answer which offence and penalty they would judge. The answers were anonymously collected using an online questionnaire. Fleiss' kappa was used to assess the reliability agreement between the referees, for each situation.

Results

The Fleiss' kappa values for all officials were 0.63 and 0.35 for offences and penalties, respectively. Referees and linesmen had similar kappa values for offences (0.64 vs. 0.64), as well as for penalties (0.38 vs. 0.35).

Conclusion

The results show that the suggested methodology can be used to identify situations where officials agree and disagree. In ice hockey, poor agreement regarding penalties can depend on the chosen offence as the rulebook limits the availability of penalties, based on the chosen offence. This can create issues, as there are situations where different offences are equally correct but will result in different penalties.

Implementing a scoping review to explore sport officials' mental health

Introduction

Sport officials are tasked with applying rules, maintaining fairness, and ensuring athlete safety. However, sport officials experience anxiety, burnout, and non-accidental violence, with the incidence of these events increasing worldwide. This has led to rising attrition rates among sport officials, with many sport organizations concerned for their operational capacity. The effects of anxiety, burnout, and non-accidental violence might contribute to or be indicative of sport officials' negative mental health outcomes. To develop a clear understanding of how sport officials' mental health is affected by their occupation, it is necessary to identify the mental health outcomes and predictors they experience, and to what extent. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify and examine the empirical research and policy documents surrounding sport officials' mental health.

Method

One thousand, two hundred six articles were identified across four databases: PubMed, Web of Science, SportDiscus, and PsycINFO. Next, a policy search was conducted on the respective international governing body websites from English-speaking countries for the 60 included sports. Following screening, 18 studies and one policy document met the inclusion criteria for exploring sport officials' mental health.

Results

Participants (N = 7,941) in the studies were mainly European male soccer and basketball referees. Most studies utilized quantitative inquiry (n = 15) rather than qualitative methods (n = 2) or framework development (n = 1). The research demonstrated that sport officials frequently experienced negative mental health outcomes and predictors including anxiety, depression, burnout, lower mental health literacy, and high levels of stigmatization towards mental health.

Discussion

These outcomes were influenced by gender/sex, age, and experience. There is a need to explore personal and environmental (including occupational) factors that cause or contribute to sport officials' mental health symptoms and disorders.

When hockey parents are motivationally imbalanced: Passion, need satisfaction, and verbal aggression toward officials

Spectators can engage in high levels of verbal aggression toward youth hockey officials. Often, the perpetrators of this aggression are the parents. Our aim was to test the motivational factors involved in explaining why hockey parents sometimes take things too far and engage in verbally aggressive behavior toward officials. We reasoned that verbal aggression toward officials would be a function of two forms of motivational imbalance. First, in line with the dualistic model of passion, we hypothesized that verbal aggression would be positively associated with hockey parents' obsessive passion, an imbalanced form of passion. Also, based on the compensatory model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion would be associated with imbalanced psychological need satisfaction involving high need satisfaction from being a hockey parent, but low global need satisfaction. We administered online surveys to Canadian hockey parents (N = 992) assessing their verbal aggression toward officials, passion for being a hockey parent, and psychological need satisfaction from being a hockey parent and in general. Using structural equation modeling, we found support for a model in which high need satisfaction from being a hockey parent and low need satisfaction in general were associated with obsessive passion. Obsessive passion, in turn, was associated with greater verbal aggression toward referees. These findings help reveal why some hockey parents insult, threaten, and engage in other forms of verbal aggression toward officials. They also highlight the importance of maintaining motivational balance among sport parents.

Can Referees Assess Head Contact Penalties Correctly in Canadian Youth Ice Hockey? A Video Analysis Study

OBJECTIVE

To help address the high concussion burden in Canadian youth ice hockey, our primary objective was to examine the concurrent validity of youth ice hockey referees' ability to assess head contacts (HCs) and associated penalties using video analysis methods after implementation of the "zero tolerance for HC" policy by Hockey Canada.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

PARTICIPANTS

Certified Level II-III referees in Alberta, Canada.

INTERVENTION

A secured online survey with 60 videos (10 to 15 seconds) containing a player-to-player physical contact with or without a HC from elite U15 (ages 13 to 14) youth ice hockey games.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Survey questions were completed by all referees for each video, including (1). 'Did you see a player-to-player contact?', (2). 'Should a penalty be assessed?', and if yes, (3). 'Which player, penalty type, and penalty intensity?' Referee assessments were compared with a consensus agreement from 2 national and member (top level) gold standard referees for concurrent validity through percent agreement and sensitivity/specificity measures.

RESULTS

Complete-case analysis of 100 referees (131 recruited) showed an overall median agreement of 83.5% (sensitivity = 0.74; specificity = 0.69) with the gold standard. Agreement with the gold standard was highest for HC infractions [85.1% (sensitivity = 0.80; specificity = 0.69)], followed by HC penalty type (81.5%) and penalty intensity (53.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

Concurrent validity through percent agreement was high (>80%) compared with the gold standard for identifying both HC and other infractions; however, it was moderate for penalty intensity. Although knowledge of identifying HCs and penalties in this survey was acceptable, this study suggests in-game factors (eg, game management and positioning) may be a primary limitation for HC enforcement.

The Role of Dynamic Social Norms in Promoting the Internalization of Sportspersonship Behaviors and Values and Psychological Well-Being in Ice Hockey

Conducted among parents of young ice hockey players, this field experiment tested if making salient increasingly popular (i.e., dynamic) social norms that promote sportspersonship, learning, and having fun in sports, increases parents' own self-determined endorsement of these behaviors and values, improves their psychological well-being, and impacts on their children's on-ice behaviors. Hockey parents (N = 98) were randomly assigned to the experimental condition (i.e., presenting dynamic norms that increasingly favor sportspersonship, learning, and fun) vs. control condition (i.e., presenting neutral information). Parents' motivations for encouraging their child to learn and to have fun in hockey were then assessed. Score sheets for the games that followed the study provided access to their children's on-ice behaviors (i.e., penalties), as indicators of sportspersonship. Parents in the experimental condition reported higher self-determination for encouraging their child to learn and have fun in hockey compared to parents in the control condition. Furthermore, children of parents in the experimental condition had more assists. A mediation model revealed that the dynamic norms manipulation increased parents' self-determined motivation for encouraging their child to learn and to have fun in hockey, which in turn, predicted higher psychological well-being (i.e., lower anxiety, more vitality). Together, these results provide support for the contention that highlighting increasingly popular social norms that promote sportspersonship, learning, and fun in sports, represents a promising strategy for creating positive social change in this life context.

Epidemiology of Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Ice Hockey: 2014-2015 Through 2018-2019

CONTEXT

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has sponsored women's ice hockey championships since 2001, and sponsorship has grown over time.

BACKGROUND

Routine examinations of injuries sustained by athletes are important for identifying and understanding patterns that can be used to inform sport safety practices.

METHODS

Exposure and injury data collected in the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program from 2014-2015 through 2018-2019 were analyzed. Injury counts, rates, and proportions were used to describe injury characteristics, and injury rate ratios were used to examine differential injury rates.

RESULTS

The overall injury rate was 5.89 per 1000 athlete-exposures; preseason injury incidence rose sharply during 2016-2017 through 2018-2019. Head/face injuries (15.2%), knee injuries (13.2%), and shoulder injuries (12.9%) were the most commonly injured body parts, and injuries were most often classified as contusions (18.9%), strains (18.7%), and sprains (15.5%). Concussion (11.9%) was the most commonly reported specific injury, and concussion rates notably increased during 2017-2018 through 2018-2019.

SUMMARY

Study findings were generally consistent with the existing epidemiological evidence. Injury incidence in preseason and the etiology of strains warrant further attention in this population.

"The Referee Plays to Be Insulted!": An Exploratory Qualitative Study on the Spanish Football Referees' Experiences of Aggression, Violence, and Coping

Referees are essential participants in the sport of football. They are responsible for enforcing the rules and achieving the necessary impartiality for the matches. Referees are often target of hostile reactions from fans, players, and coaches. However, few studies have focused on these experiences and the strategies they use to manage them. In order to fill this gap, a qualitative interview-based study was developed to explore the experiences of a group of football referees (four males and four females) on aggression, violence, and coping. A thematic analysis was developed combining inductive and deductive processes. Results indicated that the most frequent aggressions experienced were verbal abuse. Most of the aggressions from spectators were of a sexist nature. When aggressions were considered normal by referees, symbolic violence emerged. Racist aggressions were directed to the two Moroccan participants. Problem and emotional-focused coping strategies were identified. The two most common referee responses to coaches’ and players’ verbal abuse were penalties and send-off calls. Smiling and not considering insults as a personal matter were two emotional-focused coping strategies used toward spectator aggressions. Implications for the referees’ job and well-being as well as the quality of football competitions were highlighted to reduce aggressions and violence and to help referees to cope with hostile behaviors.

Determinants for traumatic orofacial injuries in sport: Extrinsic factors in a scoping review

BACKGROUND/AIM

Sports practices carry a risk for orofacial injuries and, to avoid them, preventive measures are necessary. The aim of this study was to investigate a web of extrinsic determinants for orofacial trauma in sports.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Through a scoping review, eight extrinsic risk factors for sports-related orofacial trauma emerged from the thematic analysis. These were sports modality, sports philosophy, competition rules, level of competition, accessory equipment, environmental conditions, acting regimen, pitch conditions, and human resources. The data collection was conducted on seven databases, using terms based on health science descriptors and keywords related to orofacial trauma and sports.

RESULTS

From the 1155 articles found, 157 were selected based on eligibility criteria and classified according to the mentioned factors. After the full reading of the articles, the most cited risk factor was sports modality while acting regimen and environmental factors were the least mentioned. Therefore, a scheme following the web of determinants was constructed with the purpose of establishing a risk profile, which was based on the interactions between the determinants and on the frequency that they were mentioned as contributors to injury. From this, it was observed that each traumatic event is possibly a result of the interrelationships among the eight suggested determinants.

CONCLUSION

Sports modality was the most cited extrinsic determinant observed in the literature, while environmental conditions and acting regimen were the least cited. In addition, more than establishing the determinants, it is necessary to comprehend how they relate, once preventive strategies should intercede on these relations, to help reduce sports injuries.

Hot and Cool Executive Function in Elite- and Amateur- Adolescent Athletes From Open and Closed Skills Sports

BACKGROUND

Executive functions (EFs) not only play an important role in shaping adolescent's goal-directed, future-oriented cognitive skills under relatively abstract, non-affective conditions (Cool EF), but also under motivationally significant, affective conditions (Hot EF). Empirical evidence suggest a link between EF, exercise and physical activity, specifically elite adult athletes appear to outperform amateur athletes in Cool EF; however, no previous studies have examined the relationship between Hot and Cool EFs and impulsivity during the developmentally sensitive period of adolescence comparing different types of sport (open- vs. closed-skills), and levels (elite athletes vs. amateurs).

METHODS

A total 86 boys and girls between 13 and 15 years of age (mean: 14.0, SD: 0.79) from different sports (track-and-field; team handball) were recruited. Participants were further divided into two groups: (a) 40 elite, and (b) 46 amateur athletes. They completed four Cool EF tasks including Trail-Making Test, Trail-Walking-Test, Flanker task, n-back-task, and one Hot EF task on Game of Dice task. Data on subjective impulsivity (UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale; Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-15) was also collected.

RESULTS

There was a significant overall effect for expertise in favor of elite athletes (Wilks' Lambda = 0.61, F(14,69) = 3.19, p = 0.001, η p 2 = 0.393), but no overall main effect for type of sport or an interaction for expertise by type of sport. Specifically, elite athletes showed significantly better performances on dual tasks. For Hot EF, there were no main effects for type of sport, expertise level, training experience or training duration. We also found positive correlations among Cool EF and impulsivity measures, and between Hot EF and Impulsivity, but no significant relationship between Cool and Hot EF.

CONCLUSION

The current understanding of the decisive cognitive abilities does not correspond to sporting reality, so that the tests frequently used are not sensitive enough to distinguish between elite and amateur athletes or different sports. However, it should also be remembered that the factors underlying complex sporting performance are multidimensional and are obviously difficult to trace back to selected partial aspects. Without being able to answer this question conclusively, we proposed a 4-D classification of experimental paradigms, in which we differentiate between tasks of different specificity, between Cool and Hot EF, and between task complexity, and type of sport.

Evaluation, management and prevention of lower extremity youth ice hockey injuries

Ice hockey is a fast-paced sport played by increasing numbers of children and adolescents in North America and around the world. Requiring a unique blend of skill, finesse, power and teamwork, ice hockey can become a lifelong recreational activity. Despite the rising popularity of the sport, there is ongoing concern about the high frequency of musculoskeletal injury associated with participation in ice hockey. Injury rates in ice hockey are among the highest in all competitive sports. Numerous research studies have been implemented to better understand the risks of injury. As a result, rule changes were adopted by the USA Hockey and Hockey Canada to raise the minimum age at which body checking is permitted to 13–14 years (Bantam level) from 11–12 years (Pee Wee). Continuing the education of coaches, parents and players on rules of safe play, and emphasizing the standards for proper equipment use are other strategies being implemented to make the game safer to play. The objective of this article was to review the evaluation, management and prevention of common lower extremity youth hockey injuries.

Update and Overview of Spinal Injuries in Canadian Ice Hockey, 1943 to 2011: The Continuing Need for Injury Prevention and Education

OBJECTIVE

To identify spinal injuries in Canadian ice hockey from 2006 to 2011 and to discuss data from 1943 to 2011 and impact of injury prevention programs.

DESIGN

Data about spinal injuries with and without spinal cord injury in ice hockey have been collected by ThinkFirst's (now Parachute Canada) Canadian Ice Hockey Spinal Injuries Registry since 1981 through questionnaires from practitioners, ice hockey organizations, and media.

SETTING

All Canadian provinces and territories.

PARTICIPANTS

All registered Canadian ice hockey players.

ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS

Age, gender, level of play, location, mechanism of injury.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Incidence, incidence rate, prevalence, and nature (morbidity) of the injuries.

RESULTS

Between 2006 and 2011, 44 cases occurred, 4 (9.1%) of which were severe. The incidence in the recent years continues to be lower than the peak years. From 1943 to 2011, 355 cases have been documented, primarily males (97.7%) and cervical spine injuries (78.9%), resulting from impact with the boards (64.2%). Check or push from behind (36.0%) was still the most common cause of injury, although slightly lower during 2006 to 2011. From 1943 to 2011, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and British Columbia/Yukon had the highest injury rates. Ontario and Quebec continued to show markedly different injury rates, with Ontario more than twice that of Quebec.

CONCLUSIONS

Current data for 2006 to 2011 indicate that spinal injuries in ice hockey continue to occur, although still at lower rates than the peak years 1982 to 1995. It is imperative to continue educating players and team officials about spinal injury prevention and to reinforce the rules against checking or pushing from behind to reduce the incidence of these serious injuries.