Recovery and stress states: did perceived control and goal attainment matters during tapering period?

We examined whether perceived control predict recovery and stress states during an ecological tapering period of 2-weeks that led to the target competition of the year for 39 expert adolescent swimmers (13 women and 26 men; Mage = 17.56; SD = 2.09 years). Swimmers completed quantitative measures (RESTQ-36-R-Sport; Perceived control; A -SAGS) before (Pre_Tapering) and after (Post_Tapering) the tapering period in order to monitor their recovery and stress states, perceived control and goal attainment. Regression analyses integrated perceived control and goal attainment as explicative variables, and Pre_Tapering covariates were included to the model. One of the main finding of this study is that perceived control predict both recovery and stress states. Complementary, goal attainment was a mediator of both the perceived control-recovery and stress states relations and provides support to better understand the cognitive process that underlies recovery-stress balance during tapering periods.