title: Organisational stress and coping in professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand

authors: Starck, Nick

subjects: Organisational Stress

abstract: Professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand are currently being faced with complex pressures and demands that go beyond the stress they encounter on the field. While these competitive stressors have been an area that has been well researched in the past, organisational stressors that exist between the player and the organisation in which they operate in, have been neglected. This exploratory study was aimed at identifying organisational stressors experienced by professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand, and the subsequent coping methods that they employ to combat such stress. 
Eleven professional rugby union athletes from the Waikato rugby team of New Zealand participated in this study. The athletes completed this through a face to face interview. Thematic analysis identified a wide range of organisational issues, including environmental, personal, leadership and team issues with selection and injuries being the most commonly identified sources of stress. Furthermore, major coping strategies identified were problem focussed coping, emotion focussed coping and maladaptive coping, with problem focussed coping methods being the most popular of use.
Understanding the unique organisational stressors and the subsequent coping strategies that the athletes of this study are employing to combat them fills a void on missing literature on the topic. A key implication is the awareness created for rugby union organisations. Findings challenge organisations to be aware of such issues players may be experiencing and encourage them to implement added support initiatives for those individuals. Directions for future research are discussed in the final chapter.

text: Organisational stress and coping in professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand Professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand are currently being faced with complex pressures and demands that go beyond the stress they encounter on the field. While these competitive stressors have been an area that has been well researched in the past, organisational stressors that exist between the player and the organisation in which they operate in, have been neglected. This exploratory study was aimed at identifying organisational stressors experienced by professional rugby union athletes of New Zealand, and the subsequent coping methods that they employ to combat such stress. 
Eleven professional rugby union athletes from the Waikato rugby team of New Zealand participated in this study. The athletes completed this through a face to face interview. Thematic analysis identified a wide range of organisational issues, including environmental, personal, leadership and team issues with selection and injuries being the most commonly identified sources of stress. Furthermore, major coping strategies identified were problem focussed coping, emotion focussed coping and maladaptive coping, with problem focussed coping methods being the most popular of use.
Understanding the unique organisational stressors and the subsequent coping strategies that the athletes of this study are employing to combat them fills a void on missing literature on the topic. A key implication is the awareness created for rugby union organisations. Findings challenge organisations to be aware of such issues players may be experiencing and encourage them to implement added support initiatives for those individuals. Directions for future research are discussed in the final chapter.

year: 2018

title: Report on the INTAV international tephra conference “Crossing New Frontiers: Tephra Hunt in Transylvania”, 24 June-1 July, 2018, Moieciu de Sus, Romania

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: The International Focus Group on Tephrochronology and Volcanism (INTAV) held a tephra conference, “Crossing New Frontiers: Tephra Hunt in Transylvania”, at Moieciu de Sus, near Braşov in the southern Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, from 24 June to 1 July, 2018. The conference encompassed many aspects of INTAV’s underpinning EXTRAS project: EXTending tephRAS as a global geoscientific research tool stratigraphically, spatially, analytically, and temporally in the Quaternary.

text: Report on the INTAV international tephra conference “Crossing New Frontiers: Tephra Hunt in Transylvania”, 24 June-1 July, 2018, Moieciu de Sus, Romania The International Focus Group on Tephrochronology and Volcanism (INTAV) held a tephra conference, “Crossing New Frontiers: Tephra Hunt in Transylvania”, at Moieciu de Sus, near Braşov in the southern Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, from 24 June to 1 July, 2018. The conference encompassed many aspects of INTAV’s underpinning EXTRAS project: EXTending tephRAS as a global geoscientific research tool stratigraphically, spatially, analytically, and temporally in the Quaternary.

year: 2018

title: An ashy septingentenarian: the Kaharoa tephra turns 700 (with notes on its volcanological, archaeological, and historical importance)

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: Most of us are aware of the basaltic Tarawera eruption on 10th June 1886: the high toll on life (~120 people), landscape devastation, and loss of the Pink and White Terraces. But this was not the first time that Mt Tarawera produced an eruption of importance both to volcanology and human history. This edition of the GSNZ Newsletter marks the 700th anniversary of the Kaharoa eruption – its septingentenary to be precise – which occurred at Mt Tarawera in the winter of 1314 AD (± 12 years) (Hogg et al. 2003) (Fig. 1). The importance of the Kaharoa eruption is at least threefold. (1) It is the most recent rhyolite eruption in New Zealand, and the largest New Zealand eruption volumetrically of the last millennium. (2) The Kaharoa tephra is an important marker horizon in late Holocene stratigraphy and geoarchaeology (Lowe et al. 1998, 2000), and in particular helps to constrain the timing of settlement of early Polynesians in North Island (Newnham et al. 1998; Hogg et al. 2003; Lowe 2011). (3) There is a link between the soils that developed on the Kaharoa tephra, the animal ‘wasting’ disease known as ‘bush sickness’, and the birth of a government soil survey group as an independent organisation (Tonkin 2012).

text: An ashy septingentenarian: the Kaharoa tephra turns 700 (with notes on its volcanological, archaeological, and historical importance) Most of us are aware of the basaltic Tarawera eruption on 10th June 1886: the high toll on life (~120 people), landscape devastation, and loss of the Pink and White Terraces. But this was not the first time that Mt Tarawera produced an eruption of importance both to volcanology and human history. This edition of the GSNZ Newsletter marks the 700th anniversary of the Kaharoa eruption – its septingentenary to be precise – which occurred at Mt Tarawera in the winter of 1314 AD (± 12 years) (Hogg et al. 2003) (Fig. 1). The importance of the Kaharoa eruption is at least threefold. (1) It is the most recent rhyolite eruption in New Zealand, and the largest New Zealand eruption volumetrically of the last millennium. (2) The Kaharoa tephra is an important marker horizon in late Holocene stratigraphy and geoarchaeology (Lowe et al. 1998, 2000), and in particular helps to constrain the timing of settlement of early Polynesians in North Island (Newnham et al. 1998; Hogg et al. 2003; Lowe 2011). (3) There is a link between the soils that developed on the Kaharoa tephra, the animal ‘wasting’ disease known as ‘bush sickness’, and the birth of a government soil survey group as an independent organisation (Tonkin 2012).

year: 2014