Dr Andrew Abraham

This book highlights the latest advances in coach education and development through collaborative research co-ordinated by the English Football Association, the only national governing body of sport to run a coaching research programme.

This book highlights the latest advances in coach education and development through collaborative research co-ordinated by the English Football Association, the only national governing body of sport to run a coaching research programme.

Expert performance in self-defence situations has not been the subject of rigorous empirical investigation. This study aims is broaden knowledge in self-defence, its development and the role of contact, pain and inju- ry in training, in order to stimulate future research activity. Semi-structured interviews with two Israeli krav maga experts centred on the development of expertise in self-defence. The interviews were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological framework; an induc- tive approach that captures the richness and complexity of the lived experience. Two analytically leading themes emerged concerning a) the characteristics of expert self-defence performance and b) the benefits, drawbacks and limitations of contact and pain in training activities. By examining the analytic observation through a theoretical lens with regards to (a) the key components of decision-making and mind-set and (b) contact, pain and injury in the training process, we point the direction for further avenues of inquiry in the context of self-defence performance and the development of the associated skills.

As a point of reference I congratulate Simon Jenkins on tackling the issue of professionalism in coaching. As he points out coaching is not a profession, but this does not mean that coaching would not benefit from going through a professionalization process. As things stand I find that the stimulus article unpacks some critically important issues of professionalism, broadly within the context of golf coaching. However, I am not sure enough is made of understanding what professional (golf) coaching actually is nor how the development of a professional golf coach can be facilitated by a Master of Science Degree (M.Sc.). I will focus my commentary on these two issues.

Recently there has been increased interest in using Recognition Primed Decision Making (RPD) to examine and understand decision making of sport coaches in time-limited situations. Furthermore, there is also an expectation that Type 2 classical decision making (CDM) would be used within coaching since time is often available to make judgements and decisions. Finally, given the scientific underpinnings available to coaches we would expect greater use of formalistic rules rather than substantive heuristics through the application of RPD and/or CDM in coaching. However, despite these ideas relatively little is known about the actual decision making behaviour of coaches in practice. Against this premise 12 long jump coaches were asked to identify the strength and weaknesses of a long jump athlete and offer a view on how they would work with the athlete. All coaches were then asked to identify what they would do if their first approach didn’t work. Findings suggest that coaches have an initial wish to engage in RPD type behaviour but drawing mainly on substantive heuristics. Uncertainty pushed coaches to become more considered, and formalistic. In conclusion, coaches have the capacity to be ‘expert’ in their DM behaviour but may not use this capacity unless pushed to.

The current study reports a qualitative phenomenological investigation of the development of expertise and the experience on learning environments in the domain of self-defence. Semi-structured interviews with two Israeli Krav Maga Experts are analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This inductive approach aims to capture the richness and complexity of the lived experience of the development of expertise in self-defence. Two analytic themes are presented here: developing expertise in self-defence from the view of the instructor and the good training partner, with an emphasis on its characteristics and the interaction between partners. We conclude by examining the analytic observation through a theoretical lens with regards to pedagogical practices for expert performance and optimal learning environments.

Coaching is no longer a subset of physical education or sport psychology but is rather an established vocation for research. In reaching such a position, we argue that a broad range of epistemologies have been used to investigate coaching such as sociology and cognitive psychology. However there is danger that, in the search for new ground, research becomes increasingly esoteric, having less and less impact on the domain that it is researching—namely coaching. As a step against this trend, we argue for and attempt to establish the commonalities across these research approaches suggesting that coaching is social, political, and pedagogical in nature. We accept that coaching is inherently complex but argue that coaches can be educated to cope with complexity through a professional judgment and nested decision making process. To facilitate this process, we offer a model for coaching that is inclusive of the commonalities across coaching research, summarizes our major theoretical points yet practical enough for application by coach educators and coaches.

Current research in coaching development infers that coaching is predominantly a decision-making process. The same and other research is not, however, informing the coaching development process due to a lack of a big picture approach. Consequently, there is a need for a model of coaching. In this paper, we offer such a model in the form of a schematic that reflects the coaching process from both a content and information-processing stance. To assess the validity of the schematic, 16 expert coaches were interviewed to elicit a complete description of their coaching process. The coaches were then shown a copy of the schematic and asked to comment on its design and content with respect to its accuracy in reflecting their coaching process. Following analysis of the interview, six general categories emerged: Roles, Goals, Typical Actions, Required Knowledge, Support for the Schematic, and Factors Influencing Development. The first four categories clearly displayed an implicit support for the schematic. Furthermore, all coaches offered explicit support for the schematic. Such strong support confirmed that the schematic was valid and could form the basis of focused interventions in coaching development.

Research to date provides two approaches to assessing coaching expertise. The first is behavioral assessment and the second is to assess coaches' knowledge base. However, we contend that both approaches are flawed due to their inability to adequately improve coach development by failing to answer three fundamental questions: What knowledge should be taught to novice coaches? What is the optimal method for teaching this knowledge? And how should we assess to encourage learning? Cognitive psychology has demonstrated that someone with expert cognitive skill is characterized as having expert declarative and procedural knowledge. Experts are further characterized by having greater organization of this knowledge. Thus the expert is able to apply expert knowledge in a more expert manner to solve complex problems in a specific domain. Properly exploiting ideas such as these can help direct future research to provide answers to the questions posed above.

The depiction and description of body techniques of combat have always been a part of martial arts culture. For example, self-defence techniques of the Israeli system of Krav Maga have routinely been depicted and described in books. More recently, the dissemination of similar knowledge has been presented within emerging modern technologies such as online videos and blogs. We argue, however, that such approaches limit and may even harm the development of professional judgement and decision making of self-defence coaches. By focusing on (a) the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge and (b) the complexity and non-linearity of self-defence situations, we point out the limitations of the depicted and described knowledge in these media (or channels) of communication. In essence, we argue that the focus on providing procedural knowledge to coaches promotes a view that self-defence skill development is linear. These foci ultimately will limit the adaptability of the coach in creating effective skill development programs for practitioners who need to be able to cope with complex dynamics of real world violence.

Research has attested to the importance of Decision Making (DM) as a key skill for coaches (Abraham et al., 2006: Journal of Sport Sciences, 24, 549–564). Despite considerable face validity to the concept, however, the exact nature of this DM has yet to be demonstrated. Accordingly, we examined the DM processes of 12 experienced athletics coaches (all male, mean age = 47, s = 4.2) asked to consider an athlete who was not progressing satisfactorily. Participants watched a video of a horizontal jumps athlete (unknown to the coaches) and were asked a series of structured questions about his strengths and weaknesses, main aims for future development, and exemplar activities which they would employ. Subsequently, their written responses were interrogated using a knowledge audit approach to identify the reasons underlying their decisions. Finally, the process was repeated, stimulated by a second video of the same athlete, showing a slight deterioration in his performance. Reflecting the tenets of Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM), participants initially employed a Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model (Klein, 1998: Sources of power: How people make decisions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), reflected by quick but well structured responses. According to this approach, already touted as a means of enhancing coach DM, experts rely on extensive knowledge bases to make judgments and decide how to act. This was the case with these participants, whose justifications for diagnosis made and actions suggested were almost exclusively grounded in “my experience tells me…” and “this looks like when … .” style explanations. Interestingly, however, when pressured by the second manipulation and suggestions that their initial diagnoses/plans were not working or even incorrect, coaches spontaneously reflected a “back to basics” approach which matched almost identically the structure suggested by Abraham et al. The only diversions from this derived structure were the interchange of two of the main structures, most commonly pedagogic with individual. Reflecting previous contentions, follow-up suggested this was due to a felt weakness in the pedagogy area, leading it to be considered as the last element rather than what research suggests as its more logical placement. Results provide insight into the DM processes habitually employed by coaches but also suggest important contrasts with the optimum approach. Findings carry important applications for evaluation and professional development in coaching.

Research to effectively inform the design and conduct of talent development environments (TDEs) is sparse, especially relating to the goals and systems involved. Accordingly, this paper provides a detailed picture of effective goals and systems within TDEs in a UK context. A thorough examination of the goals, nature, and systems of 16 coaches with significant expertise in talent development was carried out across 13 different sports. Inductive and deductive analysis revealed support for five main generic characteristics of effective TDEs: 1) Long-term aims and methods; 2) Wide-ranging coherent messages and support; 3) Emphasis on appropriate development, not early success; 4) Individualized and ongoing development; and 5) Integrated, holistic and systematic development. Implications for applied practitioners, policy makers, and researchers are explored.

Just as quality coaching is crucial for performance, so impactful coach development should be a central pillar of a psychologist's, governing body's, or even a government's development plan. Given this importance, and against a backdrop which suggests that many coach development initiatives may lack impact, we consider certain individual characteristics which may act to inhibit, limit or even prevent the impact of coach development programs. Based on theories of learning and knowledge perception, we propose that distinct sub-groups of high level coaches, which we term Vampires and Wolves, hold different views which may facilitate or limit their approach to professional development. We offer preliminary support for this contention through qualitative data which reflect these coaches' attitudes and behaviors. Finally, we invite comment and debate about how coach development can be best designed to optimally impact on coach and athlete performance.

Recently there has been interest in using examining coaching practice through a lens of Professional Judgement and Decision Making. One core theory of decision making, Recognition Primed Decision Making, examines how people make decisions in limited time scales. Alternatively, when time allows, there is an opportunity for people to engage in slower thoughtful and Type 2 judgement and decision making (DM). In both cases it is hypothesised that professional practitioners (coaches) should draw on formalistic scientific rather than substantive heuristics or rules to maintain a professional standard. However, despite these ideas relatively little is known about the actual decision-making behaviour of coaches in practice. Against this premise 12 long jump coaches were asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a long jump athlete and offer a view on how they would work to improve his performance. All coaches were asked to identify what they would do if their first approach didn't work. Findings suggest that coaches have an initial tendency to engage in RPD type behaviour but drawing mainly on substantive rules. Notably, uncertainty pushed coaches to become more considered, and formalistic. In conclusion, coaches have the capacity to be ‘professional’ in their DM behaviour but may not use this capacity as the first resort.

This case study explored the professional judgement and decision making process of an athletic trainer, specifically focusing on the athletic training of an elite jockey. Using the Professional Judgement and Decision Making theory as a framework, the study investigated the cognitive processes, beliefs, and factors that influenced the first author’s judgment and decision making as an athletic trainer. The study employed a personal-narrative autoethnography approach, incorporating practice logs/diaries, consultations with the jockey, behavioral observations, and reflections. By integrating classical, rule-based, and naturalistic decision making approaches, the findings of this study underlined the complexity of the athletic trainers’ judgement and decision making at different training levels—program, intervention, and session. At the program level, decisions were characterized by analytical planning, incorporating a deep understanding of the jockey’s goals and the riding biomechanics. At intervention level, decisions were guided by both perceptual information and an intuitive understanding of the jockey’s physical and psychological state, allowing for flexible and responsive training strategies. At the session level, rapid, intuitive judgements facilitated immediate adjustments to training plans, underscoring the dynamic nature of athletic training. In conclusion, this case study offered a unique glimpse into the professional judgment and decision making processes in athletic training, advocating for a reflective and open professional debate to advance the field. It calls for future research to explore these processes across multiple sports and trainers, enhancing the understanding and application of PJDM in athletic training.

Sport coaching is at a pivotal moment in its short history. The publication of the International Sport Coaching Framework by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) in 2013 has drawn attention to coaching world-wide and fostered a step change in the way coaching systems are understood and built. Within this evolving context, higher education institutions are increasingly playing a greater role in the education and development of coaches in many countries. One way in which they are doing so is through the delivery of partial or full sport coaching degrees. ICCE recognises this emerging landscape. In this article we present an introduction to the newly developed International Sport Coaching Bachelor Degree Standards. The Standards are the culmination of a 12-month process of cooperation and consultation between an expert group and the coaching community at large. They aim to respond to the needs of higher education institutions and serve as an internationally accepted reference point to aid the development of bachelor coaching degrees that prepare coaches to effectively support athletes and participants.

The ICCE International Coaching Degree Standards (ICDS) were published in 2016 to support the development of fit-for-purpose sport coaching bachelor degrees globally. The ICDS were very positively received by the international higher education sport coaching community and have become a highly utilized resource. In this session, members of the ICDS core development group will provide a brief history of the development of the standards, how they have been used to date and what lies in store for the future. This will include the development of the ICDS Endorsement Process, whereby higher education institutions can get their degrees assessed by ICCE experts leading to full, major or minor endorsement. Case studies of those organisations that have been endorsed to date will be presented. In addition, a new and innovative Erasmus+ project, CoachEd6 will be presented. The project, led by Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, and supported by ICCE is developing a series of units, based on the ICDS, that can be adapted by higher education institutions to create sport coaching full or partial degrees.

Rule changes in sport are relatively common. They are typically instigated in response to concerns around player safety (e.g. tackle height in rugby), game flow and entertainment (e.g. shot clock in basketball), facilitating talent development processes (e.g. reduced team size in junior football). The purpose of this study was to monitor the impact of a modified scoring system created by the Rugby Football Union as a vehicle to shape desired cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes in a talent development setting. We asked players to describe their learning experiences of the scoring system preceding competition, their approach to the scoring system, and its impact on their decision-making. Key performance indicators (Total Carries, Total Points & Points Per Carry) were collected to monitor player effectiveness across three competitive games. Semi-structured interviews and psychometric scales were used to gain insight into the players learning experiences, feelings, decision making and declarative knowledge. Our findings indicated that players learning experiences affected how well-prepared players felt to perform (affective); the acquisition and use of task-specific declarative knowledge (cognitive); and the effectiveness of players carrying the ball into contact (behavioural).

Researchers exploring how coaches can best support the development of their players decision making within team invasion sports have often been conducted from a cognitive or ecological approach, which differ in their views regarding the presence and absence of memory representations. This difference has, in turn, resulted in practical implications that are theoretically different, but not pedagogically different. Research has categorised such approaches to coaching decision making into intentional decision making training or incidental decision making training that offer different suggestions for how coaching methods may be used within their practice. Sometimes, these categories of training have been offered as the way coaches should operate over the careful selection of coaching methods given their intentions for impact. Instead, within this study we aim to explore the pragmatic nature of coaching practice, rather than adherence only to theoretical principles or beliefs.

Police recruits undertake mandatory training programmes to prepare for conflict situations. To motivate recruits to engage in what is called “police training” (“Polizeitraining” or “Einsatztraining”) in Germany, police trainers should design activities that align with what the recruits want from training. As such, the current study investigated the wants and subjective training needs of police recruits by asking twenty-seven recruits of a German police force to identify positive and negative aspects of police training, as well as the characteristics of a competent police trainer. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Higher order themes consisted of (a) the relevance of police training; (b) motivating aspects of police training; (c) negative aspects of police training; and (d) characteristics of a competent police trainer. Recruits expressed that police training is an important part of their education, which they perceived as relevant in preparing them for their duty and for upcoming performance tests. Prominent motivating aspects included the perception of competence and being challenged holistically. De-contextualized practice and static repetitions were demotivating factors. The police trainer is perceived to play a prominent role in learning and recruits want police trainers to (a) have sound knowledge of the taught content; (b) effectively deliver the training content; and (c) be mindful of individual differences. By offering insight into the wants and needs of recruits undertaking police training, the current study informs the practice of police trainers and trainer developers.

The current study aimed to elicit the planning and reflecting processes of police trainers with regards to the delivery of police training. Four police trainers were explicitly asked about their planning for and reflecting on training sessions. In total 34 interviews were conducted (17 pre, 17 post) and analysed. The results indicated that police trainers employ two main strategies to progress their learners towards the aims of the training session. First, they focus on making the learning experience fun and second, they point out the relevance of the to be learnt skills by creating the demand, showcasing mistakes and then subsequently focusing on developing the needed skills in isolated contexts. However, the data indicated that police trainers were generally deficient in their capability to set training session objectives and to align their delivery of training in a coherent and effective way. Furthermore, higher levels of reflection of the delivery of the training session were almost absent. The results identify a need for professional development for police trainers in the areas of planning and reflection.

The current study explored police trainers’ perceptions of their actual and preferred methods of acquiring new coaching knowledge; the types of knowledge they currently require and/or desire; and how they apply new knowledge. A total of 163 police trainers from Germany and Austria participated in the study. The responses were analysed using an inductive approach. The results showed that police trainers thought they needed knowledge of pedagogy, policing, and self-development, with reasons being centred around a need to optimise learning, training content and the engagement of learners within the training sessions. Preferred methods of learning focused predominantly around informal and non-formal opportunities, the reasons for which were social interaction, the reality-based focus of the content and the perceived quality. Finally, police trainers identified technical or tactical policing knowledge, or knowledge specific to the delivery of police training as useful, recently acquired coaching knowledge, mainly because it was perceived to have direct application to their working practices. Based on these findings, it is suggested police trainers are in need of context-specific knowledge and support to develop the declarative knowledge structures that afford critical reflection of new information.

In order optimally to prepare police officers for the demands in the field, police training has to be designed representatively. However, for the German context, there is a scarcity of research investigating to what extent training meets the demands of the field. To fill this gap, the current study examined if police training in Germany meets the field demands of police officers based on the perspective of police recruits. Thirteen recruits from a German police force were interviewed in a semi-structured way to identify possible matches and discrepancies between training and the field. The qualitative were was analysed using content analysis. The results revealed that recruits valued police training very positively because they were able to apply learned skills and tactics in the field. However, results also indicated that: (a) key informational variables present in the field were missing in training, namely chaotic, highly dynamic situations; and (b) police officers need to be adaptable and flexible in the field to cope with the demands. Finally, the results suggested that police training focuses narrowly on dealing with extreme threats, which differs from the experiences recruits had in the field and may have drawbacks because continuously perceiving social situations as threatening and dangerous is a risk factor for aggressive behaviour. Taken together, the current study provides further insights into the wants and needs of recruits in police training.

The current study aims to investigate the current structure and delivery of police recruit training. Using a case study approach, we systematically observed a semester of police training that consisted of 30 h with a specific focus on police use of force training. Field notes and time-on-task data was analysed using an inductive approach. The results revealed, first, a lack of constructive alignment of the training modules and learning tasks within the training settings. Second, an adherence to traditional linear approaches to training resulting in high amounts of augmented instruction and feedback and a one-size-fits all approach to technical and tactical behaviour. Third, a non-efficient use of available training time with low amounts of engagement in representatively designed tasks that stimulated problem-solving processes. Based on these results we suggest that there is a need: (a) for police trainers and curriculum designers to align the objectives, practice structure and delivery of police training with the needs of police officers in the field (e.g. conflict resolution); (b) for police trainers to employ more learner-centred pedagogical approaches that account for individual action capabilities and resources, and allow for high amounts of training time with representatively designed training tasks; and (c) for senior managers of overall police training decision-makers to provide the necessary trainer education, in order to furnish trainers with the knowledge and tools to appropriately plan, deliver and reflect upon their practice in keeping with concept of constructive alignment.

This book highlights the latest advances in coach education and development through collaborative research co-ordinated by the English Football Association, the only national governing body of sport to run a coaching research programme.

Introduction: This study attempts to understand the work of coach developers in the development of coaches. There is currently little understanding of what people in these roles do and, therefore, what their professional development needs are. Method: A total of 15 coach developer professionals were engaged in data collection. Data was collected through one or more of; interview, observation in one to one sessions, observation in workshop settings. Results and discussion: Using theoretical models to analyze data, an expert coach developer was defined through requisite professional skills, knowledge and typical behaviors in 6 domains. While this definition was achieved, caution is suggested since this definition is reflective of ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ rather than reality. Due to the ill defined nature of the role ‘coach educator’, the defined domains should be used as benchmarks to measure personal practice against alongside the goals of the role and the context within which the role is undertaken.

Written by a team of leading international scholars and researchers from the UK, US, Canada and Australia, and bridging the gap between theory and practice, this book is an essential course text for any research methods course taken as part ...

Three perspectives have been taken to explain decision making within team sports (information processing, recognition primed decision making and ecological dynamics perspectives) resulting in conceptual tension and practical confusion. The aim of this paper was to interrogate empirical evidence to (1) understand the process of decision making within team sports and (2) capture the characteristics of decision making expertise in a team sport context. Nine electronic databases (SPORTdiscus, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Psych-tests, PubMed, SAGE journals online, Web of knowledge, Academic search complete and Web of science) were searched until the final return in March 2021. Fifty-three articles satisfied the inclusion criteria, and were analysed thematically and synthesisd using a narrative approach. Findings indicate that the relative absence or presence of mental representation within the decision making process depends on factors including complexity, typicality, time available and contextual priors available in the game situation. We recommend that future research should integrate concepts and methodologies prevalent within each perspective to better understand decision making within team sports before providing implications for practitioners.

Over the past fifty years decision making research in team invasion sport has been dominated by three research perspectives, information processing, ecological dynamics and naturalistic decision-making. Recently, attempts have been made to integrate perspectives, as conceptual similarities demonstrate the decision making process as an interaction between a players perception of game information and the individual and collective capability to act on it. Despite this, no common ground has been found regarding what connects perception and action during performance. The differences between perspectives rest on the role of stored mental representations, that may, or may not facilitate the retrieval of appropriate responses in time pressured competitive environments. Additionally, in team invasion sports like rugby union, the time available to players to perceive, access memory and act, alters rapidly between specific game situations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine theoretical differences and the mechanisms that underpin them, through the vehicle of rugby union. Sixteen semi-elite rugby union players took part in two post game procedures to explore the following research objectives; i) to consider how game situations influence players perception of information; ii) to consider how game situations influence the application of cognitive mechanisms whilst making decisions and iii) to identify the influence of tactics and/or strategy on player decision-making. Deductive content analysis and elementary units of meaning derived from self-confrontation elicitation interviews indicate that specific game situations such as; the lineout, scrum or open phases of play or the tackle situation in attack or defence all provide players with varying complexity of perceptual information, formed through game information and time available to make decisions. As time increased, players were more likely to engage with task-specific declarative knowledge-of the game, stored as mental representations. As time diminished, players tended to diagnose and update their knowledge-in the game in a rapid fashion. Occasionally, when players described having no time, they verbalised reacting on instinct through a direct connection between perception and action. From these findings, clear practical implications and directions for future research and dissemination are discussed.

Research has suggested that competition within talent identification and development systems should be modified from the adult format of the sport to meet the developmental needs of those participating. Yet limited research has evaluated the success of game changes, particularly the effectiveness of modifying the rules of a game to purposefully engineer changes in player behaviour. The purpose of this study was to monitor the impact of rule modifications on player behaviour within a talent identification and development system in rugby union. Performance indicators (ball in play, pass, offload, kick) were collected during full length (70 min) and shortened durations (30-42 min) of competitive matches played during a weeklong under sixteen rugby union festival in 2016 and after rule modifications were introduced in 2017-2019. The findings indicate that rule modifications had the prescribed impact on player actions, particularly in the shortened duration formats of the game. Therefore, rule modifications provide talent developers a tool to manipulate player behaviour, in this case skill attempts, within full-sided competitive matches.

Invasion team sports coaches are faced with the problem of developing players who, in any given situation, can make decisions that lead to successful outcomes. Research into human decision making has established three widely accepted perspectives, which sports coaching has used to understand player decision making and inform practice: information processing, ecological psychology and naturalistic decision making. As a result, coaches are challenged with perspective-specific terminology and having to draw connections between similar findings that are explained in quite different ways. This conceptual paper presents a plainer account of player decision making by proposing a communal language within a conceptual framework for decision making in invasion team sports. It is hoped that the proposed language and framework will, together, facilitate knowledge exchange between researchers and coaches for the betterment of player development.

Sport coaching has often been considered a cognitive activity, aligning to a dominant psychological discourse within a process-product paradigm (Lyle & Cushion, 2017). It is a logical extension of this line of thought to turn to cognitively informed perspectives to help us understand how coaches learn, and in turn how to develop coaches and their coaching. This chapter aims to explain internal processes of learning and development, with examples from sport coaching and coach development situations. It foregrounds what is involved with respect to learning from this perspective, then considers who the coach learner is, and finally explores how cognitive approaches can help us in supporting coaches’ learning and development. While acknowledging limitations to the available evidence from sport coaching, understanding internal processes such as perception, attention, memory, and the integration of different types of knowledge into changing mental models can offer much-needed focus for coach development and coach developers, for the benefit of sport coaching as a profession and a discipline.

There has been recent critique of strength and conditioning (S&C) education for preparing individuals for the interdisciplinary nature of the S&C coaching role. Although recommendations have been provided, conceptualising and creating a framework for designing, delivering and developing theoretical, applied and experiential knowledge domains for the S&C coach is limited. This paper aims to present a conceptual framework for professional judgement and decision-making within S&C coaching. The framework involves six interrelated knowledge domains, based upon coaches understanding of 1) the ‘WHO’ (i.e., their participant); 2) the ‘WHAT’ (i.e., the principles of S&C and the demands of the sport / discipline within which their participant competes); 3) the ‘HOW’ (i.e., principles of learning and skill acquisition); 4) the ‘COACHING PROCESS’ (i.e., their planning, delivering and reflecting [P-D-R] practices); 5) the ‘CONTEXT’ (i.e., the context, culture and politics within which they operate); and 6) their ‘SELF’ (i.e., their own existing knowledge, beliefs, values and behaviours). This framework could be used for aligning S&C coach education with the requirements of the S&C coach role alongside being a useful framework for continued professional development within the industry.

Chapter 2 discusses the planning process and the various approaches to planning a coaching programme specifically designed for the youth performer. Many of these principles will hold true for other performers as planning, like coaching, is a process that can be both short and long terms. Some coaches plan on a session-by-session basis whereas others can work on a four-year programme. This chapter highlights the nested planning principles, applicable to all sports, that lead to expertise in coaching. This chapter discusses the planning process and the various approaches to planning a coaching programme specifically designed for the youth performer. It highlights the nested planning principles, applicable to all sports that lead to expertise in coaching. The macro, meso and micro terms introduced earlier identify that short-term cycles of development should set in the context of medium-term cycles, which are in turn set in the context of longer-term development cycles. In coaching terms, this would mean that a single coaching session was guided by the longer-term goals. Abraham and Collins identified the type of thinking changes with the planning stage. Educational psychologist John Biggs developed the concept of constructive alignment as a method to develop, and achieve, specific learning objectives in adult education. The most common terms describing movement are ‘fundamental movement skills’ (FMS). FMS have been described as the building blocks that enable young and more mature participants to take part in most sports and games successfully.

Digest contains a listing of pertinent, recent coaching and coach education articles and updates from other sources.

Digest contains a listing of pertinent, recent coaching and coach education articles and updates from other sources

Relatively little is known about coaching systems within Olympic sport settings. Subsequently, professional development programmes for coaches in these settings lack evidence to draw upon to support design and delivery. Being aware, UK Sport commissioned a review of coaching in four funded sport settings assumed to be expert, effective and ethical (3 Es). Paralympic (2) and Olympic (2) sports were purposefully contacted. From each sport, a senior manager, head coach, assistant coach, sport scientist, and a focus group of athletes were asked and agreed to participate in the study. Interviews lasted 45 – 90 minutes. Interviews were structured to access views on the 3 Es. The need for expertise was contextualised as being an essential underpinning for effectiveness. The six domains of expertise previously identified by (Abraham et al., 2010) were highlighted. The importance of being able to predict future sport demands for medals was highlighted. Numerous strategies for effectiveness were identified. A universal strategy was the development of critical, trusting, relationships across athlete and support team. Examples of ethical practice as deductively aligned with ideas from medical ethics were consistently apparent. However, alignment was largely based upon being good people with good values. In conclusion, an effective coach in this setting was defined as one who evidences consistent achievement of medals or highly challenging goals through an ethical integrated system and interpersonal problem-solving approach. Effective environments existed where there was a culturally and strategically aligned environment. Ethical practice was typical, but its development was not formal.

Decision-making is a key factor in developing coach expertise and effectiveness. This article presents a framework for enhancing coach decision-making within strength and conditioning (S&C). Based on theoretical understanding of the athlete (the ‘who’), S&C training principles and sport demands (the ‘what’) and learning theories and behavior (the ‘how’), coaches can enhance S&C practice (‘planning, delivering and reflecting’). In addition, understanding contextual challenges (‘context, culture & politics’) and own beliefs, values and behaviors (‘self’) must be considered. Recommendations are presented for implementing constructively aligned learning programs based on the decision-making framework for enhancing coach learning and professional development within S&C.

Digest contains a listing of pertinent, recent coaching and coach education articles and updates from other sources.

Digest contains a listing of pertinent, recent coaching and coach education articles and updates from other sources.

Digest contains a listing of pertinent, recent coaching and coach education articles and updates from other sources.

Coach education and development has been the subject of considerable attention and investment at government, international federation and national federation levels over a sustained period. The need for a systematic approach to the evaluation of coach education and development programmes has recently been highlighted (Duffy, North & Muir, 2012). Through the articulation of programme theories the core assumptions, intentions and values of programmes can be examined and the extent to which interventions work for different people, in what ways and in what circumstances can be explored. Using a critical realist perspective, a benchmarking study was conducted on behalf The Football Association in England. The purpose of the study was to examine the position of existing programmes relative to five international comparator countries; five leading UK sports and emergent trends within the international coaching community, including those outlined in the International Sport Coaching Framework (ICCE & ASOIF, 2012). Existing programme theories were identified in a number of key areas through document analysis; interview of key personnel and a collaborative process of refinement and co-creation with key FA technical personnel. These programme theories related to the game; the player; the coach; coach education; coach development; coaching as a profession and the environment. The programme theories provided the basis of an investigation of the current position of FA coach education development and highlighted areas of strength and possible avenues for further enhancement. This paper will focus on the way in which the role of the coach has been conceptualised and framed to date and the implications for the design and delivery of coach education and development programmes. An example will be provided of how The FA has been proactive in developing a new approach to the development of coaches within the context of the professional game in England. In addition, the implications of the study for the coaching strategy of The FA will be highlighted as well as the possible further evolution of the methodology employed within the study.