Wellbeing, Health, and Performance in Sport and Physical Activity: Individual, Organisational, and Societal Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Sport and physical activity are intrinsically linked to both physical and mental health, as well as to individual and collective performance across the lifespan. A growing body of evidence demonstrates a bidirectional relationship whereby sport participation, physical activity behaviours, and performance demands influence mental and physical health outcomes, while psychological wellbeing, mental health status, and psychosocial resources in turn shape sport participation, performance capacity, adherence, and injury risk. Despite this interdependence, research often addresses these dimensions in isolation, limiting the translation of evidence into coherent, health-oriented sport systems.

This Special Issue aims to advance a focused and integrative understanding of the bidirectional links between sport, physical activity, performance, and mental health, with particular attention to how training load, performance expectations, participation contexts, and organisational environments affect mental and physical health, and how psychological wellbeing, resilience, and mental health conditions influence performance, engagement, and long-term participation in sport and physical activity.

Contributions are expected to explicitly examine these reciprocal pathways across different populations and contexts, including competitive and recreational sport, grassroots and organised sport systems, and population-based physical activity settings. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

(i) The effects of sport participation, physical activity dose, and performance demands on mental health, wellbeing, and physical health outcomes;

(ii) The influence of psychological wellbeing, mental health, and psychosocial factors on performance, participation continuity, injury prevention, and recovery;

(iii) Organisational, coaching, and environmental determinants that shape both health and performance outcomes; and

(iv) Preventive, safeguarding, and health-promoting strategies that support sustainable engagement and balanced performance development.

Original research articles, systematic and scoping reviews, high-quality evidence syntheses, brief reports, case reports, communications, and editorials are welcomed, particularly those adopting interdisciplinary approaches that integrate sport sciences, exercise psychology, and public health perspectives. By concentrating on the reciprocal dynamics between health and performance, this Special Issue seeks to provide actionable evidence to inform training practices, organisational policies, and public health strategies, contributing to sport and physical activity systems that are not only performance-oriented but also mentally and physically sustainable.

Dr. Simone Ciaccioni
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.

• community and grassroots sport
• equity and inclusion in sport
• interdisciplinary research in sport
• lifespan health
• mental health
• physical activity epidemiology
• training and performance
• psychological resilience
• public health
• safeguarding in sport
• sport science
• sustainable sport participation
• wellbeing