Development of a biographical mapping software (bioMAP) for the analysis of biopsychosocial health trajectories using the example of young top athletes – a brief report

Abstract

The complexity of developmental processes and the individuality of each athlete make highly individualized training management necessary. This poses a great challenge for coaches, not least because there is a lack of appropriate instruments for assessing and controlling the not-directly sport-related aspects of individual development. So far, existing instruments for the individualized control of performance development have primarily been based on medical and technological findings and algorithms. In order to fill the gap of instruments for individualized training management in the psychosocial field, biographical analyses are useful, as they provide information about developmental experiences of athletes. In this brief report, we describe the development of a software, which is based on the biographical mapping approach (Thiel et al., 2011) and which allows the graphic monitoring of health trajectories in young elite athletes. The software development was carried out in close cooperation with the German federal youth training base for Volleyball of the VC Olympia Berlin. In the extensive field test of the final bioMap software, an assessment was conducted with 24 young athletes (12 females, 12 males) aged 16 to 20 years. The bioMAP approach is an innovative, software-supported approach for the biographical reconstruction of developmental processes. Due to its easy use, it is ideal for elite-level sports. The bioMAP approach can not only be used for the monitoring of health, but also for the reconstruction of training and performance development.