Team Sport Coaches Research Articles

An Effective Coaching Model: The Perceptions and Strategies of Professional Team Sport Coaches and Players in Australia

This paper explores professional coach and player perceptions of effective coaching, closely scrutinising what coaches do (behaviours) and what coaches think (perceptions). A unique range of professional coaches and players from Australian team sport contexts were observed and interviewed regarding the topic of effective coaching. Qualitative data analyses lead to the creation of an ‘Effective Coaching Model’ (ECM) for professional sport with three major concepts that represent the professional coaches'/players' perceptions and strategies of effective coaching: (a) The Coach, (b) Coaching Skills, and (c) The Environment. After presenting the key features of the ECM and how they were applied in these professional contexts, the ECM is critiqued in relation to the various eminent models of sport coaching.

Coaches’ Perceived Knowledge of the National Standards for Sport Coaches: Insights into Coach Development

To help develop consistent training for coaches, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education created the National Standards for Sport Coaches (NSSC), which consists of eight domains and 40 standards. The purpose of this study was to examine high school coaches’ perceived knowledge related to the NSSC, continuing education, and sources of feedback. Information was gathered from 162 male and female team sport coaches from Mississippi and Kentucky. Four main findings emerged: 1) coaches perceived themselves to be above average in all 40 standards; 2) there were no significant differences between states of Kentucky and Mississippi for perceived knowledge in any domain 3) a difference in perceived knowledge based on years of coaching was found for Domain 5: Teaching and Communication; and 4) coaches reported most frequently using assistant coaches, their self, athletic directors, and athletes as sources of coaching feedback.

A triadic comparison of the use of observational learning amongst team sport athletes, coaches, and officials

Objective The purpose of this research was to investigate patterns of observational learning implemented by team sport athletes, coaches, and officials. Method The Functions of Observational Learning Questionnaire (FOLQ; Cumming, Clark, Ste-Marie, McCullagh, & Hall, 2005) was administered to 240 participants (20 athletes, coaches, and officials from basketball, baseball, ice hockey and soccer respectively). Results Analysis of variance revealed that the skill function ( M = 5.33, SD = 1.16) was significantly highest across all participants, followed by the strategy ( M = 4.81, SD = 1.23), then performance functions ( M = 3.33, SD = 1.23). The results also indicated that coaches ( M = 5.62, SD = 0.90) scored significantly higher than athletes ( M = 5.16, SD = 1.27) and officials ( M = 5.20, SD = 1.23) on the skill function; coaches ( M = 5.15, SD = 1.13) ranked significantly higher than athletes ( M = 4.74, SD = 1.32) and officials ( M = 4.55, SD = 1.15) on the strategy function; and officials ( M = 3.61, SD = 1.20) scored significantly higher than coaches ( M = 3.05, SD = 1.23) on the performance function. Conclusions The pattern of observational learning for all participants was similar to previous findings. Individually, coaches scored highest on the skill and strategy functions, while officials scored highest on the performance function. The results are noteworthy as they provide the first comparison of athletes, coaches, and officials. Comparisons amongst these sport participants may lead to a better understanding of the learning process that occurs through observation for athletes, coaches, and officials.

Sources of knowledge acquisition: perspectives of the high school teacher/coach

Background: Research on coach development and knowledge acquisition has traditionally focused on those working at either university or Olympic levels. Despite the large body of research using these participants, there are relatively few empirical studies on the knowledge development of high school coaches, in particular, physical education teachers/coaches. This is unfortunate since it is equally important to examine aspects of high school coaches' knowledge and how these coaches acquired their knowledge given the impact a high school coach may have on young athletes' development and overall sport experience. Purpose: To investigate sources of knowledge acquisition of Canadian high school team sport coaches. Participants and setting: Six high school team sport coaches from the same school board, residing in a major urban Canadian city, participated in this study. Each participant was teaching full-time physical education and coaching at least two different sports and a minimum of two teams. Coaches represented a variety of team sports. Research design: A qualitative research design using a semi-structured open-ended interview format was employed in the current study. Key questions were based on Côté, Salmela, Trudel, Baria and Russell's Coaching Model from 1995 and related coaching science literature. Data collection: Two physical education consultants and a university physical education pedagogy Professor identified candidates for the current study. Participants were contacted by email or telephone, informed of the nature of the study and asked to participate. Following this, each participant was asked to complete a consent form in accordance with the university ethics policy, as well as a demographic questionnaire. The coaches were interviewed individually for a period of time varying from one to two hours at a mutually convenient location. Data analysis: The main objective of the data analysis was to create a system of emerging categories that adequately described the sources of knowledge acquisition of high school team sport coaches. Three categories emerged with an inductive analysis of the data. Findings: Results revealed that while each coach's journey was unique, their knowledge acquisition was similar in many ways. Initially, their formal education provided them with training in sport sciences and physical education pedagogy, as well as practical coaching experiences. Their knowledge base was further developed once they began working in high school, interacting with more experienced coaches, and acquiring additional information through coaching clinics, books, and the internet. Conclusions: Given that knowledge was acquired from a variety of sources, it can be concluded that high school coaches learn from a combination of formal training, informal learning opportunities, and practical experiences to prepare them to work in their domain.

Psychometric properties of the Belgian coach version of the coach-athlete relationship questionnaire (CART-Q)

The study examined the psychometric properties of the Belgian coach version of the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q). The questionnaire includes three dimensions (Closeness, Commitment, and Complementarity) in a model that intends to measure the quality of the coach-athlete relationship. Belgian coaches (n=144) of athletes who performed at various competition levels in such sports as football, basketball, and volleyball responded to the CART-Q and to the Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS). A confirmatory factor analysis proved to be slightly more satisfactory for a three-order factor model, compared with a hierarchical first-order factor model. The three factors showed acceptable internal consistency scores. Moreover, functional associations between the three factors and coach leadership behaviors were found offering support to the instrument's concurrent validity. The findings support previous validation studies and verify the psychometric properties of the CART-Q applied to Belgian coaches of team sports.

Time management of the training process and its relationship to the quality of decision-making to coaches of some individual and team sports

This research aims to establishing a scale of managing the training process time and determine the scale's dimensions and statements. In addition, trying to find the relationship between the coach's...

Sources of Expectancy Information among College Coaches: A Qualitative Test of Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theorists contend that coaches utilize a variety of impression cues for information-gathering tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine college coaches' perceptions of athletes by exploring the sources that coaches use to assess athlete achievement. Eighteen NCAA Division intercollegiate head coaches participated in semi-structured interviews. An inductive/deductive content analysis revealed the existence of six expectancy dimensions for coaches: personality, performance, personal, cognitive, mistakes, and knowledge from others. The most salient dimensions were personality and performance cues comprising 42% and 32% of the raw data quotes respectively. Team and individual sport coaches agreed that work ethic and motor skills were very important, whereas they differed on the importance of team qualities, mental strategy and sport-specific skills. Future research directions include the creation of a quantitative assessment tool to access sources of expectancy information among college coaches and intervention techniques useful in the sport setting.

Sport Experiences, Milestones, and Educational Activities Associated with High-Performance Coaches’ Development

What experiences are needed to become a high-performance coach? The present study addressed this question through structured retrospective quantitative interviews with 10 team- and 9 individual-sport coaches at the Canadian interuniversity-sport level. Minimum amounts of certain experiences were deemed necessary but not sufficient to become a high-performance coach (e.g., playing the sport they now coach and interaction with a mentor coach for all coaches, leadership opportunities as athletes for team-sport coaches only). Although coaches reported varying amounts of these necessary experiences, general stages of high-performance coach development were traced. Findings serve to identify and support potential high-performance coaches and increase the effectiveness of formal coaching-education programs.

Building a Successful University Program: Key and Common Elements of Expert Coaches

The purpose of the present study was to determine how expert university coaches of team sports built their successful programs. In particular, key and common elements that enabled these coaches to achieve success were identified. Five expert Canadian female university coaches were interviewed individually. The results of the analysis revealed four elements for developing successful programs. First, coaches possessed a variety of personal attributes that enabled them to display appropriate leadership behaviors depending on the situation they faced. Second, coaches had a personal desire to foster their players' individual growth. Third, coaches possessed thorough organizational skills from which they planned the season and prepared their team for games. Finally, these elements were linked together by the coaches' vision, which involved the athletes buying into the coaches' goals, philosophy, and personality in order to achieve success. These results are discussed in relation to literature on coaching psychology and leadership.

Role of the Coach: How Model Youth Team Sport Coaches Frame Their Roles

Similar to a belief system, a role frame acts as a perceptual filter that influences how practitioners define their professional responsibilities (Schön, 1983). The purpose of this article is to present the role frame components of model youth team sport coaches. The results are based on a two-year multiple-case study with six coaches. On average, the coaches’ role frame comprised two boundary components and nine internal components. Boundary components are objective environmental conditions that can influence an individual’s approach to coaching. Internal role frame components are personal views a coach holds regarding youth sport coaching. A discussion of how role frames can be examined and used by researchers, coaches, and coach educators is provided.

Learning to Coach through Experience: Reflection in Model Youth Sport Coaches

The present study examined how model youth sport coaches learn to coach through experience. Yin’s multiple-case study approach was used with six youth team sport coaches. Data were collected over an entire sport season through a series of semi-structured interviews, observations, and documents. All six case study coaches developed and refined coaching strategies through a process of reflection. Six components characterized reflection: coaching issues, role frame, issue setting, strategy generation, experimentation, and evaluation. A reflective conversation comprising the latter four components, triggered by coaching issues and bound by the coach’s role frame, was central to reflection. The selection of options at each stage in a reflective conversation was influenced by access to peers, a coach’s stage of learning, issue characteristics, and the environment. Furthermore, three types of reflection were evident: reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action, and retrospective reflection-on-action.

Communication in Greek sports sciences

Communication is one of the most important functions of management. Coaches of team and individual sports should know how to communicate successfully with athletes and assistants in order to maximize individual and team performance. A lack of communication means problems in coordination, cohesion and cooperation among the group. The coach, acting like the transmitter, should find the most appropriate ways to send its messages to the receivers, athletes and assistants. Effective communication between coaches and athletes in practice, before, during and after the game is a crucial factor and could affect positively or negatively team and individual performance. This research, based on review of literature and questionnaires, indicates the communication barriers among coaches and athletes, defines basic communication principles, and suggests methods of improving communication. The results and conclusions of this research are important for coaches, who coach and lead athletes and wish to have an effective and fruitful communication style.

Pre- and Postcompetition Routines of Expert Coaches of Team Sports

Little or no empirical research has examined the pre- and postcompetition routines of coaches. The purpose of this study was to address this oversight by conducting in-depth open-ended interviews with 21 expert coaches from four team sports. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and inductively analyzed following the procedures outlined by Côté and colleagues (1993, 1995). The results indicated that coaches had set routines for themselves and their players before and after a competition. Prior to the competition, coaches prepared and mentally rehearsed their game plan, engaged in physical activity to maintain a positive focus, held a team meeting, and occupied themselves during the warmup. Their words immediately before the game were used to stress key points. After the competition, coaches emphasized the importance of controlling their emotions and adopted different behaviors to appropriately deal with the team’s performance and outcome. A brief meeting was held to recapitulate the essential elements of the game and a detailed analysis was not presented until the next practice or meeting.

Burnout in Coaches of Women's Team Sports

Abstract During the competitive season, the demands of the job can exceed coaches' “endurance and ability to cope.” The purpose of this study is to determine the burnout levels of coaches in two-year colleges.