ABSTRACT
Typical daily life situations and events of a National Football League-player are delineated, indicating potential starting points for appropriate and effective monitoring in sports settings. Regular monitoring encompasses the assessment of training and competition loads as well as the consequences on an individual level. Monitoring recovery processes and stress levels has gained significance in professional sports in order to prevent potential detrimental consequences and to optimise performance. In order to obtain an overview of sport-specific as well as external factors affecting the overall recovery-stress state of an athlete, the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes provides a thorough evaluation. Stress for elite athletes may not only emerge from sport-specific stressors, but also from personal or social factors. These aspects can also be addressed with subjective instruments and can be evaluated via a coach-athlete dialogue. The monitoring of stress may then become a stressor itself, thereby exhibiting adverse effects.
