Professor John Lyle

This exploratory case study evaluates the implementation and use by student coaches of an innovative coaching profiling system, Touch Screen Technology (TST), to assess coaching behaviours. The study was designed to evaluate the potential of this technologically-enhanced assessment system as a profiling option for gathering, storing, retrieving, and presenting data about coaching competences. The case study documents and evaluates trainee coaches’ (N=100) experiences of using TST during an internship, identifying the advantages and challenges of implementation, and evaluating the potential for coach education and development. Evidence was triangulated from questionnaires, journals, and interviews (N=20). The responses from the coaches were overwhelmingly positive. The touch screen technology, specified assessment criteria, and graphical profiling helped to integrate assessment into the program along with increased awareness and understanding of the assessment process. The students’ subsequent reflections on the components of the coaching process positively impacted their performance. The study concludes that TST has the potential to assist in enhancing the learning process and bridging the gap between education and practice. Attention is drawn to the challenges of implementation.

The response of sport coaches to different forms of learning facilitation is important for the design and effectiveness of coach development programmes (CDP). The aim of this study was to provide a longitudinal evaluation of a video review-facilitated CDP on the learning and engagement of 10 junior rugby league coaches, operating in the participation domain. Employing an ethnographic research design, an extended case study approach utilised a variety of data collection techniques including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal unstructured interviews. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the following key themes: (1) facilitated reflection, (2) enhanced awareness, (3) impact on coaching practice, and (4) learning group composition. The findings provide empirical support for the integration of video of practice into a CDP, with its use demonstrating the potential for a more collaborative and relevant analysis of coaching practice. Through reporting how the coaches make sense of their social learning experiences in the dynamic and messy world of sport coaching, the findings further our understanding and appreciation of the complex interaction of community coaches’ learning, knowledge and practice.

Sport coaching is a universal practice that supports athletes and athlete performance at all levels and in all domains. This chapter explores the notion that coach development has a global dimension, using the concept of a knowledge society as a foundational device. Having examined the meaning, characteristics and implications of globalisation and a knowledge society, the chapter evaluates the contribution of a number of prominent organisations and agencies with a coach development remit for their global reach. The contribution of these agencies is explored in relation to a loose framework comprising production of coaching knowledge, mechanisms of dissemination, expertise, credentialism and education. There is an absence of any regulatory mechanisms for post-experience coach development. Nevertheless, the conclusions drawn reinforce the assumption of a global dimension to coach development, mitigated by historical, cultural and political identity and strongly influenced by a North American-Eurocentric academic community.

Research in sports coaching has most often been conducted using one of a number of disciplinary lenses (e.g., psychological, sociological, philosophical, or physiological). Although acknowledging that these approaches have provided a valuable, if partial, insight into aspects of coaching practice, limitations inevitably exist when adopting singular disciplinary perspectives. This research explored the situated (i.e., in, through, and within social contexts) coaching cognitions of an ice hockey coach using an ethnographic approach and methodological bricolage to generate data over 7 months. Using iterative adaptive research cycles, findings revealed that cognitions are (a) shaped by their proximity to goals at different social layers, (b) influenced by the social exchange (i.e., power and relationships) in which they occur, and (c) underpinned by biographical experiences. This study contributes significantly to how coaches can understand how their cognitive processes form, shape, influence, and are influenced by the coaching environment. In turn, the findings presented in this study offer opportunities, or prompts, for coaches to examine how their cognitions are formed, shaped, and shared to inform their practice interventions.

Workshops are a prevalent means of delivering coach education and development, both in more-formal programmes and as stand-alone events. This paper acknowledges the significant range of purposes, formals and intended outcomes, and explores their strengths and weaknesses as vehicles for facilitating coaches’ learning. Some practical guidelines are offered for their more-effective design and delivery. These guidelines are presented in three stages: pre-workshop, the workshop itself, and post-workshop. It is suggested that key to an effective workshop is permitting the ’voice’ of the participants to be heard, making direct links to individuals’ practice, and ensuring some form of follow up to the workshop experience. The distinction between workshop outputs and outcomes is a valuable one for informing more critical evaluation studies.

This synopsis of existing published work provides a rationale for, and describes the development of, a conceptual framework for the study of sport coaching. The framework comprises an extensive and comprehensive set of constructs and relationships that form a basis for discourse and the conduct of research, education and development. The origins of the framework are identified, within an academic field of study that was under-theorised, under-resourced and displayed ill-defined concepts. Each of the submitted works is then described and its contribution to a coherent thread of conceptual development illustrated. There is an attempt to situate the incremental development of the framework within the understanding of coaching concepts at that time. Key features of this conceptual framework are described in detail and their insinuation into the literature illustrated: coaching as process, definitions of coaching, roles and boundaries, coaching domains, models of coaching and a coordination function.  An analysis of later publications demonstrates how these concepts have been further elaborated over an extended period of time in response to a maturing field of study. Although judged to have impacted successfully, particularly the notion of coaching domains, the synopsis recommends that more needs to be done to emphasise the importance of conceptual clarity, especially in research design and dissemination. Attention is drawn to the sport coaching construct as a family of roles, identification of core functions, the contextual particularity of coaching practice and expertise, and the conceptual precursors of coaches’ decision making. An evaluative summary concludes that key concepts have impacted policy documentation and the academic debate. The conceptual framework, as identified in these works, has acted as a reference point for academic writing and research, and has made a coherent, original and substantial contribution to the academic study of sport coaching.

Coach Development Programmes (CDPs) are important, but significantly under-researched or understood, elements in the preparation of sport coaches. This paper draws upon the author’s experience of carrying out five programme evaluations of CDPs in the United Kingdom. Each of the programme evaluations was based on an evaluation model that focused on relevance, fidelity, and intermediate outcomes; logic models incorporating each programme’s intentions were devised and informed the evaluation. Evidence was gathered from interviews with participant coaches, coach developers, mentors, and other stakeholders, supplemented by questionnaires to coaches. Issues discussed include: the relevance and impact of particular delivery modes, the incorporation of coaches’ practice, the enhancement of future capacity versus current performance, the emphasis on personal development and interpersonal skills, the degree of embeddedness in coaches’ practice, and the degree of alignment between programme elements and personnel. The lessons learned have implications for similar mid-career adult education, both formal and non-formal, in Canada and more widely.

Coaching effectiveness is a ubiquitous term in the sport coaching literature, yet it remains ill-defined and challenging to operationalise. This paper explores the concept, and provides a polemic intended to generate discussion within the field. Effectiveness is a more nuanced concept than generally accepted and is best considered a superordinate concept that synthesises other lower-order concepts. Feature matching approaches are most common, but provide, at best, a partial account of effective practice This has also led to a focus on ineffective behaviour. The simplistic notion of effectiveness as goal achievement is not as straightforward as it seems, and, in setting the bar too high, we have equated effectiveness with excellence, rather than simply creating an appropriate effect. Effective coaching should imply that coaches have drawn on their expertise to harness appropriately the resources available in the context of environment and ambition. In this sense, effective coaching is a realisable goal for all coaches; it may or may not lead to performance success. It remains a useful ‘unifying label’ for reasoning about sport coaching.

This chapter explores the definitions and meanings attached to sport coaching. It does not privilege any particular conceptualisation of sport coaching but reflects on how these should be interpreted. The chapter begins with an argument that sport coaching achieves its social significance from an association with particular forms of sport. This is followed by an acknowledgement that the term sport coaching acts as a ‘referent’ for an individual’s identity, a role or occupation, an intervention process, or the social space occupied by the individuals, institutions, behaviours and practices that constitute the purposes, actions and understandings associated with sport coaching. Emphasis is placed on the process of intervention and the need for boundary markers for the coaching process. Following an overview of different discipline-led conceptualisations, the chapter explores the implications of these and presents a personal interpretation of how coaching may be conceptualised. This adopts a pragmatic approach to the coach’s capacity to operationalise practice and embraces an optimistic view of the coach’s resources. Stress is placed on the lack of integration of differing perspectives, but it is argued that a fuller account and understanding of sport coaching emerges from an aggregation of these diverse priorities in capturing and representing sport coaching.

The ethical dimension of coaching practice has long proved to be a problematic issue. Obvious abuses of coaches’ practice may be easy to identify but the distinction between ethical and unethical behaviour is often less clear and not helped by an absence of consensus on the meaning of the terms. The paper examines the lessons to be learned from the academic literature in this field. Direct, indirect and consequential responsibilities are identified, and the coach’s role in establishing a moral climate is emphasised, whilst taking into account the outcome orientation of elite sport. The limitations of codes of conduct are discussed, particularly the creation of a ‘loophole’ culture, as is the role of power differentials in sexual and emotional abuse. The paper concludes that coaches should be encouraged to reflect critically on their role, and that vigilance and targeted monitoring may help to move the focus to positive rather than ‘not unethical’ behaviour.

The utility and applicability of research in sport coaching is widely reported to be problematic. This paper offers a critical commentary on the factors impacting the potential transferability of research findings into coaches’ practice and into coach education, arguing that a more nuanced appreciation of these factors in necessary. The issue is conceptualised as one of knowledge transfer, and the paper examines the roles of the researcher and the practitioner in facilitating research-informed practice. Single-focus disciplinary research, an absence of application research and the paucity of studies on coaching interventions are identified as limiting factors. A more realistic appreciation of the particularity of role, domain and context is required, along with a recognition of their influence on coaches’ perceptions of the relevance of research findings. It is suggested that the inertia of academic publishing practice may continue to constrain more pragmatic and interdisciplinary research in this field.

This is a retrospective account of the development of a conceptual framework for sport coaching. The framework comprises an extensive and comprehensive set of constructs and relationships that form a basis for discourse and the conduct of research, education and development. The origins of the framework are identified, within an academic field of study that was under-theorised, under-resourced and displayed ill-defined concepts. The incremental development of the framework is situated within the understanding of coaching concepts at that time. Key features of this conceptual framework are described in detail and their insinuation into the literature illustrated. An analysis of later publications demonstrates how these concepts have been further elaborated in response to a maturing field of study. Attention is drawn to the sport coaching construct as a family of roles, identification of core functions, and the contextual particularity of coaching practice and expertise. The account concludes that key concepts have impacted policy documentation and the academic debate, and the framework has acted as a reference point for academic writing and research, although ore needs to be done to emphasise the importance of conceptual clarity, especially in research design and dissemination. KEYWORDS: historical evolution; coaching domains; definitions; coaching concepts

Sport provision is best understood as a series of distinctive domains, with characteristic purposes, motivations, practices and demands on coaches’ expertise. This paper identifies the characteristics of the instructor-led adult participation coaching domain, which is the least well researched and developed, and identifies the implications for coach education and workforce management. The propositions are illustrated by conversations with Coaching Development Managers from 8 sports in the UK that have a significant adult participation profile. The paper confirms the variety of domain populations, from casual recreation to coach-dependent adult competition, including ‘Masters’-designated participation, but outside the mainstream of performance sport. It highlights two principal coaching practices: market-led sport instructors, delivering episodic, largely technique-based ‘lessons’ to participants, and (club) coaches of adult competition sport. However, much of the characteristic adult participation is casual recreation and coach-independent. The paper argues that a fuller understanding of this domain is important for ensuring that coaches’ expertise and practice are matched to participant needs.

Psychology-based research has been a characteristic of empirical enquiry in sport coaching for over fifty years and cognitive function is widely accepted as a fundamental component of sport coaching expertise. Within the academic literature, much empirical research on coaches’ cognitions has tended to adopt retrospective approaches, such as post-session interviews or stimulated recall, thus capturing participant recall after the incident, training session or competition. Methods such as these that rely on participants' retrospective recall are prone to memory decay, reordering of accounts (Lyle, 2003), and confirmation bias. The aim of this research was to collect a different type of data to what is generated with retrospective approaches and, rather, capture coaching cognitions in situ using Think Aloud Protocol. The data captured were broken down into meaning units and analysed using a Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Situated in the practice of 6 experienced rugby coaches, findings revealed that Think Aloud Protocol generated rich data. However, engaging Think Aloud Protocol was problematic as the site of enquiry was confounded by multiple social interactions and required coaches to provide frequent instruction and feedback. The interaction between cognition and action is conceptualised by the tentative offering of a conceptual model which includes cognitive triggers and thresholds. The implications of these findings can help academics and coach developers to understand the complexity of capturing coaches’ in situ thinking within dynamic social environments.

Coach Development Programmes (CDPs) are important, but significantly under-researched or understood, elements in the preparation of sport coaches. This paper draws upon the author’s experience of carrying out five programme evaluations of CDPs in the United Kingdom. Each of the programme evaluations was based on an evaluation model that focused on relevance, fidelity, and intermediate outcomes; logic models incorporating each programme’s intentions were devised and informed the evaluation. Evidence was gathered from interviews with participant coaches, coach developers, mentors, and other stakeholders, supplemented by questionnaires to coaches. Issues discussed include: the relevance and impact of particular delivery modes, the incorporation of coaches’ practice, the enhancement of future capacity versus current performance, the emphasis on personal development and interpersonal skills, the degree of embeddedness in coaches’ practice, and the degree of alignment between programme elements and personnel. The lessons learned have implications for similar mid-career adult education, both formal and non-formal, in Canada and more widely.

The academic literature on coach education has paid scant attention to monitoring and evaluation, despite agreement on its importance and evidence of variable delivery. This paper reports on a project that adopts a programme evaluation approach to a sport’s coach education provision. Following the description of a programme evaluation model created for this purpose and a monitoring and evaluation toolkit devised to address each stage of the model, the paper reports on the feedback generated by two national governing bodies of sport in the UK that trialled the use of the toolkit. The feedback identified improvements the monitoring and evaluation materials and number of barriers to implementation. A non-prescriptive, self-administered, incremental, selective and sport-specific approach is recommended, with an emphasis on a development and improvement objective.

The role of mentoring in sport coaching education and development has become a common feature of the associated academic literature, particularly in relation to the support given to coaches. Much less attention has been paid to the coach’s role as a mentor to her athletes. This paper draws upon the lessons learned from a mentoring initiative in which elite athletes and coaches acted as mentors to young people who had become disengaged from education and social expectations. The findings from an evaluation of the programme are considered in the context of the coach’s role. Three distinct approaches to the mentoring role are identified – external, internal-discrete, and integral. The impact on more-episodic participation may be more transitory but the coach’s support role in offering security, a sounding board, experience and expert insight to issues such as coping with success and failure, education and key lifestyle transitions form performance athletes should not be underestimated and ought to be acknowledged in coach education and development.

This conceptual review paper explores the decision practices that lead to the pervasive practice of short-term tenure and involuntary termination of managers’ employment in professional soccer. The underlying assumptions are unsustainable; managers are hired on responsibility for performance and fired on accountability for results. Having critically appraised relevant literature to interpret and restate the problem, concepts associated with sport coaching provide a clearer and novel articulation of the decision factors in soccer organisations. An appreciation of expertise, goal management, role clutter, impression management and celebrity offers relevant insights. At an individual level, managers’ attributions in relation to positive and negative outcomes may sow the seeds for subsequent dismissal. Managers would benefit from raising awareness of the distinction between responsibility and accountability, showing greater humility in claiming role impact, and demonstrating expertise in aspects of management for which they are directly responsible.

Although the decision‐making component of coaching expertise is widely recognized, empirical research on coaches’ decision making is still scant. In this paper, we attempted to expand the knowledge base by examining the relationship between coaches’ decision making and experience through a secondary analysis of empirical data from a telephone survey of gymnastics coaches. In a mixed methods design, 64 coaches provided numerical and verbal responses to hypothetical scenarios about an injured athlete's participation in competition. Results were analyzed by level of experience (1–5, 6–10, and 10+ years of experience). The findings indicated differences in both the amount and nature of information attended to by coaches with differing levels of experience—generally corroborating the cognitive novice‐expert literature while simultaneously providing an illustration of the way in which expertise‐related increases in cognitive complexity are expressed in coaches’ decision making about a specific coaching problem

Inaugural lecture

We explored parents’ perceptions of the impact of introducing Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) pedagogy at an Australian Alpine ski-racing sports club. A 30-day professional learning pilot study was interwoven into an existing ski training programme during Winter 2023. Our participants were 15 parents of athletes between 10 and 13 years of age. Data were collected from two group interviews with the parents at the programme end, and Author 1’s extensive implementation diary. Our findings were analysed using figurational sociology, specifically examining TPSR refigured interdependencies within coach-parent-athlete figurations, shifted power balances, and engendered paradoxical established–outsider dynamics where parents were simultaneously involved and excluded from processes of characterological development. We found that parents had varying levels of TPSR awareness despite an information session during the winter season in which our programme occurred. While parents identified a range of positive outcomes, separating TPSR effects from good coaching practice proved impossible, nor would such separation into distinct parts be consistent with figurational sociology. Through the use of prompt cards, to upskill parents’ knowledge of TPSR, we sought to connect aspects of their child’s behaviours they may have observed, to TPSR goals. An unintended study outcome was that TPSR daily and weekly athlete self-reflection forms as part of our programme implementation became a conduit for parental engagement. These forms allowed some parents to become ‘re-established’ in domains of character development that are more often the traditional preserves of parenting. Ultimately, the study points towards ways of undertaking TPSR and related coaching initiatives that avoid marginalising parents and offer means to harness their involvement in ways that enhance or complement, rather than threaten, the sporting/coaching pedagogical goals of TPSR.

We examined how coaches navigate the challenges of high-performance sport while ensuring athlete welfare. Using an ethnographic approach spanning 18 months at a high-performance gymnastics center, data from coaches (n = 6), parents (n = 7), and athletes (n = 12) were collected through both participant and non-participant observations (n = 30), semi-structured interviews (n = 22), post-session analyses with coaches (n = 5), and document reviews. Analysis revealed the struggle coaches experienced balancing athlete welfare with the pressure to perform. Specifically, five key themes were developed: (a) managing athletes’ expectations, (b) maintaining transparency with all stakeholders, (c) acting in alignment with values, (d) personal coping mechanisms in a highly scrutinized environment, and (e) managing other coaches’ egos. Findings indicate that coaches endure tremendous internal and external pressure to reconcile and balance athlete welfare with the demands of high-performance coaching, which took a significant physical and mental toll. Surprisingly, the most concerning issues for coaches were relationships with other coaches and being told they were “too nice” to make it as an elite coach. Findings demonstrate an urgent need for sporting organizations and coach education programs to provide more systematic and comprehensive support for coaches. This would help retain them in the profession and provide ongoing support and development for those who continue to endure the many challenges of the profession.

Academic literature has paid considerable attention to talent identification but much less to talent environments and the challenges facing sport coaches in such a domain. This paper provides insights into the challenges facing a coach in a resource-constrained environment, with goal ambiguity between immediate performance success and longer-term player development. Having identified prescriptions for good practice, the paper recounts the first author’s experience in attempting to accommodate conflicting goals and a novel performance model, within an U19 national volleyball squad. Particular attention is paid to recruitment, stakeholder perceptions, player commitment, a shared performance model across age groups, and longer-term player welfare. The paper concludes with a reminder that in such situations, coach support and welfare should also be a concern for sport federations.

A defining element of coaching expertise is characterised by the coach’s ability to make decisions. Recent literature has explored the potential of Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) as a useful framework for research into coaches’ in situ decision making behaviour. The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether the NDM paradigm offered a valid mechanism for exploring three high performance coaches’ decision-making behaviour in competition and training settings. The approach comprised three phases: 1) existing literature was synthesised to develop a conceptual framework of decision-making cues to guide and shape the explora- tion of empirical data; 2) data were generated from stimulated recall procedures to populate the framework; 3) existing theory was combined with empirical evidence to generate a set of concepts that offer explanations for the coaches’ decision-making behaviour. Findings revealed that NDM offered a suitable framework to apply to coaches’ decision-making behaviour. This behaviour was guided by the emergence of a slow, interac- tive script that evolves through a process of pattern recognition and/or problem framing. This revealed ‘key attractors’ that formed the initial catalyst and the potential necessity for the coach to make a decision through the breaching of a ‘threshold’. These were the critical factors for coaches’ interventions.

Top level professional sport is subject to enhanced levels of scrutiny. Understanding the factors that lead to success and the role coaches play has become a priority in research and practice. This study used the Serial Winning Coaches Vision-People-Environment Framework (VPEF) (Mallett & Lara-Bercial; 2016; 2024) to case study Pablo Laso, a European professional serial winning basketball coach. Using primary and secondary data, the aims were to ascertain the validity of the VPEF as an exploratory tool for coaching practice, to identify which factors and processes were relevant and became prioritised, and to understand how Coach Laso rationalised the relative contribution of resources and execution. Findings suggest the VPEF is a suitable analytical device to explore Coach Laso’s practice – his anatomy of success. Factors that appear to be necessary for success were identified, yet we were still only able to generalise or speculate about the conditions that are ‘jointly sufficient’ to bring about success. What appears instead is a complex and elaborate mix of conviction, expertise, serendipity, purposeful endeavour and resources that enables rather than determines success. Nonetheless, Coach Laso’s anatomy of success may serve as a catalyst for other coaches’ reflection and development and to guide further research.

The work is therefore both relational and developmental. Coach and coach developer both bring something to the working relationship, which in turn shapes and influences the nature of the work undertaken.

Coaching high-performance professional athletes is a demanding role characterized by intense pressure, physical and mental strain, and a constant struggle to balance myriad resources and perceived control with high and sometimes unrealistic expectations and successful results (winning). This complex environment, marked by uncertainty and ambiguity, is shaped by intricate interactions between individuals, groups and events within specific governance and management structures. The coach is responsible for leading and sculpting this complex environment. In this chapter, we delve into the multifaceted nature of the coaching job in professional sport, more specifically, its position within the high-performance ecosystem, and the resulting tensions with those in managerial or leadership positions. To address the challenges faced by coaches, we emphasize the need for greater awareness among high-performance managers and leaders of the factors constraining or facilitating coach and athlete performance and wellbeing, and advocate for a greater balance of power leading to more efficient, effective, and healthier work practices. In closing, we offer some recommendations for coach education, development, progression, protection and well-being.

Coaching high-performance professional athletes is a demanding role characterized by intense pressure, physical and mental strain, and a constant struggle to balance myriad resources and perceived control with high and sometimes unrealistic expectations and successful results (winning). This complex environment, marked by uncertainty and ambiguity, is shaped by intricate interactions between individuals, groups and events within specific governance and management structures. The coach is responsible for leading and sculpting this complex environment. In this chapter, we delve into the multifaceted nature of the coaching job in professional sport, more specifically, its position within the high-performance ecosystem, and the resulting tensions with those in managerial or leadership positions. To address the challenges faced by coaches, we emphasize the need for greater awareness among high-performance managers and leaders of the factors constraining or facilitating coach and athlete performance and wellbeing, and advocate for a greater balance of power leading to more efficient, effective, and healthier work practices. In closing, we offer some recommendations for coach education, development, progression, protection and well-being.

The sport coaching construct within mainstream fiction films has been described as stereotypical, reinforcing the traditional notion of the sport coach as a technician who conquers all, or a hapless individual, open to ridicule from athletes and fans. Although this depiction is also prevalent in some independent fiction films and documentaries, film sub genres such as social realism and “fly on the wall” style documentaries move away from the “Hollywood sports film structure” towards stories that focus on everyday coaching moments. Through a critical discourse analysis of two U.K. films (Bend it Like Beckham and Twenty Four Seven), both featuring sport coaches in central roles, we reflect critically on these mass media multidimensional representations in terms of the sport coaching professionalisation agenda in the U.K. and the social identification process of sport coaches within their sporting environments. Keywords: Sport coaching, film, social identification, professionalisation, coaching roles,

Sport coaching has been described as a dynamic, complex and at times, messy, activity that occurs in specific social contexts (Abraham & Collins, 1998; Bowes & Jones, 2006; Cushion, 2007; Jones & Wallace, 2005; Lyle, 2018). Existing research that explores coaching cognitions is, to date, limited in capturing, acknowledging and making sense of the rich socio-cultural backdrop in which coaches mentally operate and practice. The aim of this research is to explore situated coaching cognitions, notably the how (style) and what (content) of coaches’ thinking, whilst explicitly capturing the environmental constraints and affordances of the layered contextual environment in which coaching is situated.  As part of a complex research design, three contrasting methodological approaches have been used. These gradually progress towards an embedded and highly-contextualised research setting. The research adopts the situated cognition paradigm and consists of three self-contained but connected studies that describe, conceptually refine, and situate cognitions within a rich coaching context. In study 1, a modified Applied Cognitive Task Analysis, along with stimulated recall, was used to reveal coaching tasks and a framework of higher psychological functions (types of thinking in which specific cognitions can be grouped). In study 2, coaching cognitions in a micro-management setting were examined using Think Aloud Protocol. It found that coaches engage strategies to overcome difficulties caused by their environment. However, the findings suggest that as coaching becomes more time-dependent, the influence and strength of wider contextual factors diminishes and therefore, coaches are unable to contextualise and reason whilst practising in complex environmental conditions. Study 3 engaged with the findings from the previous studies and drew upon the ERE model (North, 2017) to inform an ethnographic approach, which identified and examined situated cognitions in a researcher-embedded setting. As part of this study, the socio-cultural layers and stakeholder goals were explicitly captured in order to offer a refined and more sophisticated perspective of situated cognitions. The findings reveal that cognition is highly dependent upon, and influenced by, practical constraints and the social context in which it manifests. Themes such as goals, stakeholders and history help academics and coaches to understand better the challenging and intricately-balanced setting in which coaches mentally operate and practice. Consequently, this body of work recommends that future in situ research should explicitly consider the broader context, domain, and coaching purpose as ‘cornerstones’ upon which to explore cognitions.

The career trajectory of young footballers has been given attention in recent years, in particular the factors influencing their progression to becoming established senior professional footballers. Researchers have focused on aspects such as the quality of talent development environments (e.g., Mills et al., 2012; 2014a; Mitchell et al., 2021) and understanding junior to senior transitions (e.g., Morris et al., 2015; 2017; 2017). This research is centred on the U21 professional development phase of football in England, which is the final stage the majority of young footballers will encounter before entering a first team environment.This phase has been identified as the most crucial career transition point, with the ultimate goal of producing a greater number of ‘home-grown’ players (Premier League, 2011). It has been suggested that this phase presents nuanced challenges that players and practitioners must navigate (Dowling et al., 2018; Richardson et al., 2013). However, relatively little is known about the daily experiences of players in the U21 phase, and almost no research has focused on the effectiveness of such an environment. This research examines the extent to which the primary objective of the elite English academy system in professional football, i.e., a talent development environment, is being met, with a specific focus on the U21 professional development phase.A mixed methods approach, both quantitative (scoping review and survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews and ethnography) facilitated the capture of insights into development practice and the perceptions, views and opinions of players, coaches and support staff in this phase of professional football in England. The research consists of four studies.Study one is a scoping review of all professional clubs’ academies to identify the structure, extent and organisation of U21 football. Findings identify significant variation across the four academy categories and limited web-based information about clubs’ objectives. In addition, a review of the research literature specifically focused on U21 football, reinforced the dearth of empirical literature in this area. Study two surveys players’ opinions about the quality of their talent development environments and general health, across category 1 and 2 clubs. The most positively perceived elements of the players’ environments were a recognition of long-term development and the availability of support networks; the least positive were the absence of holistic quality preparation, communication and alignment of expectations. However, players perceived their general health to be good.Study three is an interview-based exploration of the organisational structure, value of competition, relationships, attitudes, and the role of coaches in managing and conducting U21 football. Players and coaches provided a comprehensive insight into their environment, highlighting the impact on the developmental agenda of factors such as inconsistent and unstable group composition, limitations in providing an environment that would ready players for first team football, and a lack of competitive challenge. These elements were not conducive to an effective learning environment and impacted negatively on well-being and intrinsic motivation. Study four adopts an ethnographic approach to explore the lived experiences of players and key stakeholders. A practitioner-researcher perspective provides an ‘insider’ insight into the day-to-day workings of the U21 environment, documenting these experiencesover an extended period of time. Findings highlight a range of structural issues relating to the stability of the group and psycho-social challenges emanating from identity, meaning, purpose and belonging. Specifically, the results showed that players beyond their first year experienced a loss of determination and self-motivation due to a lack of exposure to first team football and/or de-selection.It seems clear from both the concept of the U21 phase and from these accounts of practice that(a) its developmental ambitions might be better termed a ‘late development model’ and (b) that another more apt descriptor would be ‘talent readiness’ phase (both in preparing for first team football and a sifting/selecting process by clubs). In summary, this research contributes a unique and novel perspective on U21 football across the English academy system. It casts considerable doubt that its structural integrity, its capacity to ‘reach’ all players, and the quality of competition as a precursor to the intensity and results-oriented nature of the first-team experience provides an adequate developmental experience for players and readies them for first team football. It presents opportunities for the Premier League and the Football Association to re-evaluate the phase to better meet its intended purpose. This might usefully be centred on the quality of competition, integration of squads and structured incorporation of first team exposure.

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.