National Team Coaches Research Articles

Graduates of the University of Szczecin in the group of trainers who stand as a candidate for the Polish representation of the XXXII Olympics or the 16th Tokyo Paralympics 2020

Club coaches, national team coaches, as well as Olympic or Paralympic team coaches are those trainers who use their knowledge, professionalism and experience to lead their trainees to achieve sports results that satisfy athletes as well as coaches and authorities of Polish associations of various sports disciplines practiced by the athletes. A good trainer is the most important person in the coaching team, as they supervise the whole participation of their Olympians or Paralympians. Among the graduates of the Szczecin University’s Physical Education, there are many trainers of various sports disciplines. They are club coaches, national team coaches and they also hold coaching functions at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The aim of this paper is to: present the university (student) characteristics of the analyzed coaches and a physiotherapist who stand among the potential candidates to be appointed for the coaching and medical staff of their trainees (including the football team) who will fight for qualification standards guaranteeing them participation in the 32nd Summer Olympics or 16th Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020; showing the current coaching activity of the trainers and a physiotherapist in question; presenting the criteria and eligibility rules which the athletes of the coaches and the physiotherapist need to obtain to take part in the Tokyo Olympic or Paralympic competition. The research material consists of six graduates of the University of Szczecin, who majored in Physical Education, and who currently work primarily in the coaching team (Tomasz Kaźmierczak, Jacek Kostrzeba, Tomasz Lewandowski, Grzegorz Musztafaga, Milosz Stepinski) and the medical/therapeutic team (Beata Buryta). All of the analyzed graduates of the University of Szczecin are among the trainers and physiotherapists who are candidates for the Polish national team for the 32nd Olympic Games or the 16th Paralympics Games Tokyo 2020. Tomasz Kaźmierczak – he will definitely be present for the fourth time at the Summer Games Tokyo 2020 as a coach for disabled rowers (previous participations in 2008, 2012, and 2016). The trainees of the coaches in question (except for the football team) can be included into the Polish team participating in the Summer Games Tokyo 2020 and at least compete in finals during the Olympic or Paralympic competition.

Exploring the importance of coaches in the development of the sports career in Handball. The perception of athletes from higher and lower levels of success.

Our study aims to analyse the perception of elite handball players, belonging to generations with different levels of success, on: i) how they characterize their most important club and national team coach; ii) how they characterize their preferential coach in the different stages of their sports career (Bloom, 1985).Fourteen athletes were interviewed based on the interview protocol of Gould, Dieffenbach and Moffett (2002). In the specialization years, the most successful athletes reported that they had one coach in the club, and at the same time a national team coach, that permanently marked their sports career and their personality.All athletes reported that detailed knowledge about the sport was the most important characteristic of their most important club and national team coaches, throughout the specialization years in addition to a strong insistence on perfection. According to the perception of the most successful athletes, their reference coaches taught directly and indirectly (caring, paying attention, shaping the personality) and also emphasized expectations, hard work, discipline and the attitude that hard work pays off. In addition, both club and national team coaches devoted their time to the planning of individualized training programs, particularly in the specializations years. Our study aims to analyse the perception of elite handball players, belonging to generations with different levels of success, on: i) how they characterize their most important club and national team coach; ii) how they characterize their preferential coach in the different stages of their sports career (Bloom, 1985).Fourteen athletes were interviewed based on the interview protocol of Gould, Dieffenbach and Moffett (2002). In the specialization years, the most successful athletes reported that they had one coach in the club, and at the same time a national team coach, that permanently marked their sports career and their personality.All athletes reported that detailed knowledge about the sport was the most important characteristic of their most important club and national team coaches, throughout the specialization years in addition to a strong insistence on perfection. According to the perception of the most successful athletes, their reference coaches taught directly and indirectly (caring, paying attention, shaping the personality) and also emphasized expectations, hard work, discipline and the attitude that hard work pays off. In addition, both club and national team coaches devoted their time to the planning of individualized training programs, particularly in the specializations years.

Identifying Factors Perceived to Influence the Talent Identification in Iranian Futsal Players

Objectives: To identify possible key factors that help in predicting success over time in futsal, the purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the talent identification process in Iranian futsal players. Methods: 74 subjects including 6 national team coaches, 54 junior coaches of Tehran premier league, 14 university professors participated the study. Data was collected in a standardized form as self-administered questionnaire. Friedman’s Test was used to analyze the data. Results: It was found that there was a significant difference between effective factors of talent identification in Iranian futsal players. Psychological factors, physical fitness and skill levels were of utmost importance in identifying the talents in futsal. In addition, it was shown that, anthropometric traits, skill levels, physical and motor fitness, social-psychological factors had a significant different priorities in the process of talent identification. The most important factors were respectively: fat percent (of 5 selected anthropometric indices), dribbling skills (of 7 selected skill-based indices), muscular endurance (of 8 selected physical fitness indices), fair play (of 5 selected sociological indices), and anxiety control (of 10 selected psychological indices). Conclusions: Given the nature and requirements of the games, futsal players need the specific characteristics of psychological factors, physical fitness and skill levels which predominantly improve their overall play to achieve peak performance leading to success in various competitions.

Identifying Factors Perceived to Influence the Talent Identification in Iranian Futsal Players

Objectives: To identify possible key factors that help in predicting success over time in futsal, the purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the talent identification process in Iranian futsal players. Methods: 74 subjects including 6 national team coaches, 54 junior coaches of Tehran premier league, 14 university professors participated the study. Data was collected in a standardized form as self-administered questionnaire. Friedman’s Test was used to analyze the data. Results: It was found that there was a significant difference between effective factors of talent identification in Iranian futsal players. Psychological factors, physical fitness and skill levels were of utmost importance in identifying the talents in futsal. In addition, it was shown that, anthropometric traits, skill levels, physical and motor fitness, social-psychological factors had a significant different priorities in the process of talent identification. The most important factors were respectively: fat percent (of 5 selected anthropometric indices), dribbling skills (of 7 selected skill-based indices), muscular endurance (of 8 selected physical fitness indices), fair play (of 5 selected sociological indices), and anxiety control (of 10 selected psychological indices). Conclusions: Given the nature and requirements of the games, futsal players need the specific characteristics of psychological factors, physical fitness and skill levels which predominantly improve their overall play to achieve peak performance leading to success in various competitions.

Building High Performing Coach-Athlete Relationships: The USOC’s National Team Coach Leadership Education Program (NTCLEP)

The purpose of the present article is to share the design and impact of a coach-athlete relationship coach education seminar. The seminar is part of the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) National Team Coach Leadership Education Program (NTCLEP). Development and delivery of the seminar is facilitated by The People Academy (www.people.academy). Impact results from participation in this seminar are drawn from coaches and athletes from USA Archery and USA Cycling. The article is organized into three sections. In the first section an overview of the coach-athlete relationship building component of the USOC’s high performance coach education program is provided. Two case summaries are then presented on the impact of the program on coach-athlete relationships and athlete performance. The third and final section is used to offer suggestions for future coach education initiatives and coaching strategies aimed at enhancing coach-athlete relationships.

Balancing performance-based expectations with a holistic perspective on coaching: a qualitative study of Swedish women’s national football team coaches’ practice experiences

ABSTRACTPurpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how an exclusive sample of women’s national football team coaches described how they implement careful coaching while facing social and organizational pressure to win medals. Method: To consider coaches’ negotiations, we drew on Noddings’ concept of caring. Using an interpretive research paradigm, we conducted in-depth interviews with five Swedish women’s national football team coaches. An abductive approach was used to simultaneously process the theoretical framework of “ethics of care” and the empirical data. Results: The coaches unanimously adopted a holistic perspective to coaching. The coaching strategies they described included promoting players’ development, well-being, and sustainable elite performance; listening to the players’ voices and engaging in dialogue; and creating a positive environment and promoting fair play. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the women coaches, despite performance pressure, adopt caring coaching in the form of Noddings’ pedagogical modelling, dialogue, and confirmation strategies, and provide an example of how coaches can adopt caring, holistic, and athlete-centred coaching while working at the highest level of competitive sport and achieving competitive success.

Ethical Issues in the Iran's Sport Media: Perceptions ‎of National Team Coaches

Ethical Issues in the Iran's Sport Media: Perceptions ‎of National Team Coaches

Volleyball Coaching Philosophy Profile

The purpose of this study was to determine how the profile national volleyball coach in Indonesia, as a measure of other coaches who will be a better coach. Issues to be raised in this study is the gap between the expectations of the government in this case ministry of sports where the number of trainers and training facilities is increasing or modern, but the reality on the ground that the achievement of the national volleyball frustrations. This study aims to find out what the philosophy of each national volleyball coach in Indonesia. The study design used in this study is a qualitative research, and data collection techniques using in-depth interviews, pieces of observation and documentation. Research subjects in this study is the national team coach volleyball Indonesia recorded in National Federation coach or former coach of three people and athletes and former athletes 7 people. The results of the research that the coach’s philosophy volleyball coach in Indonesia is in conformity with the objectives and philosophy of the sport volleyball is the sport to improve the quality of life by way of hard training and competition passed easily then hope achieve maximum performance.

Analyzing the Conflict between Football Organizations in Indonesia

The phenomenon discussed in this paper is the conflict in Indonesia Football Federation, PSSI (recognized) by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) with the rebel KPSI. The unexpected conflict, unfortunately, started after the fall of previous regime of Chairman of PSSI, which was followed by the restructuring of the organization along with on-going policy, especially about the prime league and the replacement of national team coach. The increasingly dispute then followed by the formation of the new organization, KPSI, to counter the PSSI, which was continued by dismissal of some core staff that support the rebels. In this paper, two methods for analyzing social conflict Drama Theory and Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) would be utilized. Drama theory is an approach to study the transition of preference toward some states payoff. The entanglement of emotion or new parties might be responsible to this shifting. On the other hand, GMCR is utilized to identify all possible states, along with spotting the equilibrium. In this research, I would like to analyze all discord states, followed by analyzing all possible end results (equilibrium) of the conflict. Previous research showed that some parties were trapped to lose- lose situation that harmed all involved parties, even though there were other states that provided better payoff for them. Therefore, I would like to model the Indonesian Federation conflict with similar approach. It would be very interesting to get insight about the reasons that lead to both PSSI and KPSI to continue their strife rather than mutually exchanging any proposal that might consequence to punishment from FIFA.

Coaching elite athletes: How coaches stimulate elite athletes' reflection

This article investigates the coaching behaviour of five Norwegian national elite team coaches in cross-country skiing. It identifies how they acted as ‘sensegivers’ towards the athletes. An important part of this is how coaches, assisted by support personnel, stimulated athletes' reflections in ways that improved the quality of everyday training. It draws upon social and relational aspects of learning within an organizational setting. The theory of mindful organizations, with its emphasis on sensemaking and sensegiving, is introduced to capture how coaches and support personnel can influence athletes' reflections. The article makes both an empirical and theoretical contribution. First, it directs attention to sensegiving as an important element of coaching behaviour. Second, it identifies key mechanisms of sensegiving not previously discussed in the literature.

DOPING AND SUPPLEMENT: THE ATTITUDE OF IRANIAN NATIONAL TEAM COACHES

BackgroundSupplement use is common in sport. Burns (2004), reported that 88.0% of the questions athletes used at least one supplements and 58% admitted using more than one type.1 Besides their...

An Investigation into the Coaching Approach of a Successful World Class Soccer Coach: Anson Dorrance

INTRODUCTION Numerous studies have attempted to understand the processes that contribute to the success of sport teams, and evidence suggests that the role of the coach is particularly impactful [1, 2]. It is often assumed that coaches who consistently produce winning teams do something better or different than coaches of less successful teams. As a result, researchers frequently conduct studies on highly successful coaches through observations, interviews, biographies, and other methodologies to gain insights into the coaching process as well as the strategies these coaches use to help their athletes and teams achieve performance success [3-5]. Anson Dorrance, head women’s soccer coach at the University of North Carolina and former USA Women’s National Team coach, is arguably one of the most successful coaches in the sport of soccer, and perhaps even across sports. With a 94% winning record over 33 years at the collegiate level, 21 national championships, and a first place finish in the 1991 World Cup Championship (i.e., the first in U.S. history), Dorrance has certainly developed a system of coaching that gets results. This makes him a prime target for research on the processes associated with successful coaching. In an attempt to expand on the current body of literature, Jin Wang and Bill Straub conducted a study on Dorrance’s leadership style and approach to coaching. The purpose of this article is to provide a critique of that study as well as a commentary on some of the more prominent findings.

Conditions for preparations for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in the opinion of the Polish national team

Conditions for preparations for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in the opinion of the Polish national team Study aim: To evaluate the process of preparing Polish athletes with disabilities for the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympic Games. Material and methods: The study included 31 women and 58 men representing 11 Paralympic disciplines, accounting for 97.8% of the Polish team taking part in the games. The average age was 32 years; the average amount of experience with sports training, 12 years. The method of diagnostic survey applied in the study was a questionnaire by J. Kłodecka-Różalska that was adapted to the needs of athletes with disabilities. The interpretation of the results was based on the arithmetic mean of individual evaluations. After checking the confidence interval, the factors were classified into one of three categories of conditions: satisfactory, sufficient, or unsatisfactory. Results: Data analysis revealed different levels of care and conditions created for the Polish national team during their preparations for the Beijing Paralympic Games. The athletes were fully satisfied with the conditions of the central camps and consultation (food, accommodation, sports equipment) and social relations (atmosphere of cooperation between the athletes and cooperation between the athletes and national team coaches of various disciplines). Issues requiring more professional attention are the health of athletes nominated to participate in the Paralympic Games (medical care and individual orthopaedic equipment) and contact with the media, which shapes the image of sport of the disabled people. Conclusions: In preparation for Paralympic Games, these athletes need to be provided with the constant and highlevel assistance of a psychologist and a nutritionist. In the perspective of future athletic goals set for the representatives of our country, a high standard of sports facilities, individual sports equipment, transport to the central camps and consultation, as well as professional care in the field of wellness, physiotherapy and massage, should be taken into account for Paralympic Game preparations.

Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine Position Paper: Abuse, Harassment, and Bullying in Sport

Over the past 20 years, there has been an emergence of reported incidents of abuse, harassment, and bullying in Canadian sport (M. Holman, unpublished data, 1995).1-3 In 1994, an Edmonton track coach was charged and convicted of engaging in sexual relations with his female adolescent athletes. In 19

Unge fodboldtalenters veje mod toppen - evolutionær eller strategisk talentudvikling?

Med udgangspunkt i en kvantitativ undersøgelse af fodboldspilleres vej mod toppen diskuterer artiklen tendenser i dansk elitefodbolds talentudvikling. Der kigges nærmer på den relative alderseffekt blandt spillerne og på den evolutionære og strategiske udviklingstankegangen. Mette Krogh Christensen: Young Football Talents’ Ways to the Top – Evolutionary or Strategic Talent Development? During the next four years the Danish government intends to spend 40 million Dkr. on talent development within Danish top-level sport. Like many other countries Denmark has chosen to use many resources on talent development in top-level sport expecting that the investment will »strengthen the exposure and increase the knowledge of Denmark« (The Danish Ministry of Culture, 2007). For that reason questions concerning how talent development in Denmark is managed and which modes of thought form the basis of talent development in top-level sport are highly topical. In this paper we will explore two modes of thought in Danish top-level football talent development: an evolutionary and a strategic mode of thought. An evolutionary mode of thought about talent development is characterized by giving a high priority to broad groups of talents as long as possible. The idea is that young football talents have the opportunity to develop in their own pace, to move in their well-known environments and to find their own peak compe186 tence (or qualification) after which experienced coaches select the footballers that they find appropriate. A strategic mode of thought about talent development is concerned with selecting and thinning out the broad group of talent at a much earlier stage. The selection is carried out on the basis of precise and distinct criteria and principles with the purpose of narrowing down the number of talents to a strategically selected group who are then given optimal conditions of development. The paper presents a retrospective, quantitative cohort study of 635 Danish youth football talents’ ways to the top (i.e. the national teams) from 1991-2006. The results showed among other things that relatively few talents from U/16 and U/17 national teams make their debut on the All-Denmark team, and that there is a massive flow of talents on the U/17 and U/18 national teams, which indicates an evolutionary mode of thought among the youth national team coaches. The results also showed a relative age effect among the younger talents, which might indicate a strategic mode of thought based on maturation as a performance determinant. On the background of the results from the study a pivotal dilemma in the investment in talent development in top-level sport is discussed: the dilemma between evolutionary and strategic talent development.

Narrative on Sports and its Indigenousness : Indigenization of Modern Sports in Fiji

Here I will treat indigenized modern sports which have spread all over the world, accepted by the people of various countries and have become their national sports. Cricket in India and the West Indies, soccer in South America, and rugby in the South Pacific have become indigenous and their teams dominate the world by winning world cup championships. Today these countries send their players and coaches to sports-underdeveloped countries and even to the original homes of these sports. In a Fijian narrative about rugby, we can find the following assertions : “We have the same passion for Christianity and Rugby” and “Rugby is of a traditional chiefly war.” In this paper I will clarify the indigenousness of rugby in Fijian life.In analyzing the process of indigenization of cricket in Indian society, Appadurai emphasizes especially the process of decolonization and indigenization of cricket, and the vernacularization in media and language which helped to unyoke cricket from its “Englishness” [Appadurai 1995 : 25]. Another example is the internationalization of a local sport “kabaddi”. It became an international sport at the same time that it became distinctively less Indian, whereas India gained international recognition in cricket as the sport itself became more and more distinctively Indian. Alter thinks that this internationalization is a process of new colonization, According to Alter [2000 : 14] what makes a sport Indian is not so much its past as the history of its modernization and the extent to which it has been elaborated as a modern, international sport. Fijian rugby has also been indigenized along with it process of modernization. After the Second World War, rugby in Fiji gained popularity and today it has become a national sport.In the year 2001, after employing his Australian girlfriend as the national team manager, the Fiji national team coach lost five international games in succession. And this ex-Australian national team coach lost his job in Fiji. The coach and the manager did not know how deeply Fijian rugby is rooted in the Fijian culture. In this case they completely neglected the Fijian culture. In Fiji the team manager is thought of as a “matanivanua” (a chiefs official herald and executor of protocol), and the coach as a chief. If they do not behave as such, the team will not function well in Fiji. The coach and the manager did not know this indigenousness of rugby. Rugby is played by the international rules, but each player and audience think of it in their own cultural context. Its meaning and power for the players come from its involvement in the culture.In the process of Fiji's modernization, we can see the indigenization of Christianity, modern sports and political style (Fijian democracy, political parties, administration etc.). Thus Christianity was indigenized and today it can be called Fijian Christianity. Fijian Christians pray not only to God but also to their ancestral gods for protection. They say, “lotu lako vata na vanua” (Christianity goes with our tradition.). And they have the same passion for rugby and Christianity. In their narrative, Fijian Christianity and rugby are thought of as bases of their “Fijianness” or Fijian identity.

An Evaluation of U.S. Olympic Sport Psychology Consultant Effectiveness

The present investigation had three purposes. It (a) evaluated U.S. Olympic sport psychology consultants and the services they provide; (b) used Partington and Orlick’s (1987b) Consultant Evaluation Form (CEF) to examine effective sport psychology consultant characteristics; and (c) identified future sport psychology consultant and program needs. U.S. Olympic sport psychology consultants, sport science and medicine administrators, national team coaches, and athletes from various Olympic sports were surveyed. Results revealed that consultants were perceived in a favorable light across the four subsamples, which did not differ significantly in their effectiveness evaluations. The consultants also received high ratings on all 10 CEF consultant characteristics. Moreover, correlations between the consultant characteristic and effectiveness ratings revealed that fitting in with the team and drawing on athletes’ strengths were among the most important characteristics. Finally, the respondents identified the need to individualize sport psychology strategies as a major way for consultants to better meet athlete needs. Results are discussed relative to ways of improving applied sport psychology consultations with athletes and coaches.

Educational Needs of Elite U.S. National Team, Pan American, and Olympic Coaches

The present investigation was designed to develop a profile of the coaching education background and self-perceived coaching education needs of elite U.S. amateur sport coaches. In all, 130 national team, Pan American, and/or Olympic coaches representing more than 30 U.S. Olympic structure sports were surveyed. Results revealed that the coaches were extremely interested in coaching education workshops and seminars, initiating mentor coach programs for potential elite coaches, and participating in a variety of coaching science courses. Few consistent differences were found between the various categories of coaches (individual vs. team sport, open vs. closed sport, experienced vs. inexperienced, male vs. female, and physical education degree vs. non physical education degree) in terms of their coaching education background and needs. Implications for university based coaching education efforts are discussed.

An Exploratory Examination of Strategies Used by Elite Coaches to Enhance Self-Efficacy in Athletes

Two studies were conducted to assess strategies elite coaches use to enhance self-efficacy in athletes, in particular the degree to which coaches use 13 strategies to influence self-efficacy and their evaluation of the effectiveness of those strategies. Self-efficacy rating differences between categories of coaches were also examined. Intercollegiate wrestling coaches (iV=101) surveyed in Study 1 indicated they most often used instruction-drilling, modeling confidence oneself, encouraging positive talk, and employing hard physical conditioning drills. Techniques or strategies judged most effective by these coaches included instraction-drilling, modeling confidence oneself, liberal use of reward statements, and positive talk. In Study 2, 124 national team coaches representing 30 Olympic-family sports served as subjects. The strategies they most often used were instruction-drilling, modeling confidence oneself, encouraging positive talk, and emphasizing technique improvements while downplaying outcome. The techniques judged most effective were instruction-drilling, encouraging positive talk, modeling confidence onself, and liberal use of reward statements. Few between-coach differences were found in efficacy use and effectiveness ratings. Findings are discussed in light of Bandura's (1977) theory of self-efficacy.