Positive Pedagogy for Coaching Team and Individual Sports

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of Positive Pedagogy for sport coaching for all sports. It begins with its development from the features of game-based approaches (GBA) to then move on to the appropriation of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence (SoC) model and the use of Positive Psychology to enhance its inherently positive nature. GBAs such as Game Sense, TGfU (Teaching Games for Understanding), Play Practice and the Tactical Games Approach improve team performance by developing tactical knowledge, decision-making, awareness and the ability to adapt at non-conscious and conscious levels of cognition in match conditions across a range of team sports. Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory and SoC model take a positive approach by focusing on the socially constructed resources that allow people to achieve and maintain good health. Positive Pedagogy does not specifically focus on developing wellbeing or happiness but all five elements of Seligman’s PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relations, meaning and achievement) model are evident in it.