School Coaches Research Articles

Knowledge and Attitudes towards Fluid Hydration of Athletes by Jamaican Track and Field High School Coaches

Knowledge and Attitudes towards Fluid Hydration of Athletes by Jamaican Track and Field High School Coaches

A Secondary School Coach’s Experience of Embarrassment, with Exploration of Coping Strategies

A Secondary School Coach’s Experience of Embarrassment, with Exploration of Coping Strategies

Evaluation of a Theory-Based Intervention Aimed at Improving Coaches’ Recommendations on Sports Nutrition to Their Athletes

BackgroundCoaches are a major source of nutrition information and influence for young athletes. Yet, most coaches do not have training in nutrition to properly guide their athletes. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at improving the accuracy of coaches’ recommendations on sports nutrition. DesignThis was a quasi-experimental study with a comparison group and an intervention group. Measurements were made at baseline, post-intervention, and after a 2-month follow-up period. Coaches’ recommendations on sports nutrition during the follow-up period were recorded in a diary. Participants/settingHigh school coaches from various sports (n=41) were randomly assigned to a comparison group or an intervention group. InterventionBoth groups attended two 90-minute sessions of a theory-based intervention targeting determinants of coaches’ intention to provide recommendations on sports nutrition. The intervention group further received an algorithm that summarizes sports nutrition guidelines to help promote decision making on sports nutrition recommendations. Main outcome measuresNutrition knowledge and accuracy of coaches’ recommendations on sports nutrition. Statistical analysis performedχ2 analyses and t-tests were used to compare baseline characteristics; mixed and general linear model analyses were used to assess the change in response to the intervention and differences in behaviors, respectively. ResultsCoaches in the intervention vs comparison group provided more nutrition recommendations during the 2-month post-intervention period (mean number of recommendations per coach 25.7±22.0 vs 9.4±6.5, respectively; P=0.004) and recommendations had a greater accuracy (mean number of accurate recommendations per coach 22.4±19.9 [87.1%] vs 4.3±3.2 [46.1%], respectively; P<0.001). Knowledge was significantly increased post-intervention in both groups, but was maintained only in the intervention group during the 2-month follow-up (Pgroup*time=0.04). ConclusionsA theory-based intervention combined with a decision-making algorithm maintained coaches’ sports nutrition knowledge level over time and helped them to provide more accurate recommendations on sports nutrition.

Character Development Through Youth Sport: High School Coaches’ Perspectives about a Character-based Education Program

This study examined high school sports coaches’ perspectives about a character-based coach education workshop designed to promote positive coaching practices and transform the culture of youth sports. Fifteen coaches (Mage = 42.07, SD = 14.62, 73.3% male) provided feedback about Positive Coaching Alliance’s (PCA) “Double-Goal Coach” training program and what aspects of the workshop they applied to their coaching practices. Results indicated that coaches believed that participation in PCA workshops contributed to the value coaches attributed to individuals, to coach-oriented character development, and to positive relationships within youth sports. The coaches also suggested changes in future PCA workshops. These findings provide preliminary evidence that coaches’ incorporate skills acquired through participation in character-based coach education programs. We discuss implications for coaches and athletes, and for policies aimed at enhancing positive youth attributes developed through sport.

Communication Strategies Used by Physical Education Teachers and Coaches in Residential Schools for the Deaf in the U.S.

Summary The purpose of this study was to determine what communication and instructional techniques including coaching strategies were being implemented by coaches and physical education (PE) teachers working in residential or day schools for the deaf throughout the U. S. Further, to share this information with coaches and PE teachers in general education classrooms. Questionnaire was answered electronically from 32 coaches and PE teachers (38 % return rate). Topics in the survey included: a) types of sports/PE classes; b) mode of communication used; c) coaching and teaching techniques; d) coaching and teaching strategies; e) breakdowns in communication; f) advice to new coaches a teachers starting out in the field. Advice for new coaches, who had not previously worked with the individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH), six themes emerged: become fluent in ASL, remember to get the student’s attention before you start signing, use a lot of modelling, role playing, and videos (when needed), keep it simple, stress the fundamentals and insist on repetition until skills are mastered, and be flexible, each player will learn differently. Our results suggest that targeted and adapted communication strategies in PE and physical activities play important role for individuals who are D/HH.

Skills trained by coaches of Canadian male volleyball teams: A comparison with long-term athlete development guidelines

Volleyball Canada and Volleyball Quebec developed long-term athlete development models in order to guide volleyball coaches concerned with athlete development. These models propose guidelines about the development of skills. However, it has yet to be determined whether coaches apply long-term athlete development guidelines in their coaching practice. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to describe the amount of time devoted to the various skills trained by four volleyball coaches of different levels and to compare these training skills with the long-term athlete development guidelines. The results of this multiple case study (n = 4) indicated that based on long-term athlete development guidelines, (a) college and university coaches over-trained technical skills; (b) high school coaches and university coaches undertrained individual tactical skills; and (c) high school coaches over-trained team tactical skills. Corrective measures that might help coaches apply the long-term athlete development guidelines are changes in the access to training facilities, competition schedules, and coach education programs.

Metrics Matter

Purpose: Supporting teachers’ use of data has become a large part of educational leaders’ instructional leadership. Drawing on sensemaking theory, we explore how features of data and teachers’ perceptions of them may matter when teachers consider student learning data. Design: The article draws on a 1-year, comparative case study of five low-income, high needs middle schools in three districts. Data sources include interviews with district leaders ( n = 13); school administrators, coaches, and case study teachers ( n = 73); focus groups ( n = 6) with non–case study teachers ( n = 24); observations ( n = 20); web-based activity logs; and document review. Findings: Different forms of data lead to a wide range of instructional responses. State assessments, used largely at the beginning of the school year, aided teachers in grouping their students but did little to promote change in instructional delivery. District benchmark data, which teachers did not generally find useful, were associated with reteaching and retesting content, creating small groups, and having students reflect on their data, usually without a shift in pedagogy. Data from common grade assessments—valued for their closeness to instruction as well as their predictive information for future success on state assessments—were most often tied to regrouping or reteaching standards not yet mastered by students, but there was some promise of change in pedagogy. Classroom assessment results and student work, identified by teachers as very useful, were proportionately most often linked to changes in instructional delivery. Implications: We offer implications for leadership preparation and practice, education policy, and future research on data use.

Not Just an Athlete: The Impact of High School Coaches on the Educational Pursuit of First-year African American College Football Players

Elite high school football players face a barrage of pressures from their external environment that determine where they attend college as well as what factors, whether academic or athletic, they consider in a school. This study aims to analyze the relationship between African American high school football players, who go on to play intercollegiate football, and their high school football coaches. African American freshmen football players at a predominantly white institution in the Southwest United States were interviewed. The responses were compared and analyzed using two tenants of critical race theory (CRT): the centrality of experiential knowledge and the challenge to the dominant ideology. In an educational context, CRT utilizes storytelling and the experiences of people of color to highlight their experiences against the dominant culture in order to transform the educational environment for the benefit of marginalized people. After analyzing the interview transcriptions, the researchers found that these athletes were positively influenced by their high school coaches to perform well academically in high school, as well as to consider academics as a major point of emphasis in choosing to attend a university. Athletes developed positive relationships with their coaches, regardless of the sport in which they coached, that encouraged them to perform well academically and see college as a means to attain a degree as opposed to an avenue to professional athletics. This positive relationship contrasted some previous literature about college students that suggested that college coach–athlete relationship could be a major source of exploitation and stress for the athletes. Overall, the research found that these coaches were a source of positive influence on these student–athlete's lives athletically, personally, and academically.

Concussion return-to-play behaviour of South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby) Youth Week players: a pilot study

Introduction : BokSmart has disseminated Graduated Return-to-Play (GRTP) guidelines for concussions management to all, but specifically coaches, in South Africa. Medical clearance before returning to play (RTP) is poorly adhered to in the GRTP steps. This study explored barriers to compliance with medical clearance prior to RTP. Methods : Players who suffered a concussion during the 2014/2015 South African Rugby Youth Week Tournaments were followed-up telephonically until RTP. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore enablers/barriers to seeking/not seeking medical clearance before RTP. Results : Of those who did not seek medical clearance (47%), 80% indicated that the player/parent or coach felt this was unnecessary. Of those who did seek medical clearance, 65% reported they were instructed to do so either by the tournament doctor who diagnosed the injury or by the school coach. Conclusion : Besides coaches, parents and medical doctors have an important influence on players' RTP behaviour. The findings of this pilot study need to be repeated in a larger cohort.

English

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and opinions on concussions of high school coaches from a geographically large yet rural state in the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States. Few medical issues in sport are more important, or have had as much publicity recently, as concussions. The exposure gleaned from tragic health issues among professional athletes postconcussion has motivated college and professional sport agencies to modify and enact strict guidelines in the diagnosis and treatment of suspected concussions. Yet underdiagnosis and mistreatment by some (former University of Michigan coach in 2014) highlight the need for continued education and enforcement of the current guidelines. Obviously, when a head coach from a major NCAA Division I university still places an athlete's health in jeopardy by disregarding a head injury, it is imperative that coaches' knowledge of concussions in smaller, more rural and remote programs is considered as well. We used a commercial electronic product to survey coaches across the state. Coaches responded voluntarily with their opinions and their current knowledge of issues related to concussions. The purpose was to identify the current status of knowledge and attitudes in hopes that any weaknesses can be addressed in additional coach education opportunities. Keywords concussions; high school coaches; rural state; knowledge; attitudes Language: en

Building SWPBIS Capacity in Rural Schools through Building-Based Coaching: Early Findings from a District-Based Model

School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a widely used framework for supporting student social and academic behavior. Implementation science indicates that one effective way to implement and scale-up practices, such as SWPBIS, is through coaching; thus, there is a need for efficient, cost-effective methods to develop and support SWPBIS coaches. Using the literature of implementation science and SWPBIS, we developed and implemented a coaching curriculum to increase and support building-based capacity with SWPBIS. In this article, we present a district-based model for training school personnel to become SWPBIS coaches. Data on initial training outcomes and school outcomes are presented. Findings suggest that the training of school-based coaches in rural schools resulted in improved knowledge of SWPBIS and supported fidelity of SWPBIS implementation in local schools. Lessons learned, as well as implications for practice and research, are discussed.

Bringing The Incredible Years® Programs to Scale.

The Incredible Years(®) (IY) program series is a set of interlocking and comprehensive training programs for parents, teachers, and children. This article briefly reviews the theoretical foundations, goals, and research underlying these programs. The main purpose of the paper is to describe how the IY programs have been scaled up slowly and carefully with fidelity by engaging in a collaborative building project with strong links between the developer, agency or school administrator, mentors, coaches, clinicians, and families using eight foundational building blocks or fidelity tools.

Canadian High School Coaches’ Experiences, Insights, and Perceived Roles With Sport-Related Concussions

There is a need to improve concussion education and prevention efforts for youth athletes and those responsible for their care. The purpose of this study was to understand Canadian high school coaches’ insights and perceptions of concussions. Using a case study design, eight high school coaches were interviewed and the data were analysed using a hierarchical content analysis. Findings indicated that participants primarily acquired information about concussions through their own experiences as athletes and parents, and from reports in the sports media. The coaches’ felt their role with concussions was to teach athletes safety techniques during practices and competitions and to encourage them to accurately report their concussion symptoms. In addition, participants forwarded a number of recommendations to improve the dissemination of information to coaches. Results from this study will add to a limited body of concussion research with youth sport coaches. Participants’ insights provide researchers and clinicians with information about coaches’ perceived role with sport-related concussions.

The Impact of Playworks on Students' Physical Activity by Race/Ethnicity: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The Playworks program places coaches in low-income urban schools to engage students in physical activity during recess. The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of Playworks on students' physical activity separately for Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white students. Twenty-seven schools from 6 cities were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Accelerometers were used to measure the intensity of students' physical activity, the number of steps taken, and the percentage of time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during recess. The impact of Playworks was estimated by comparing average physical activity outcomes in treatment and control groups. Compared with non-Hispanic black students in control schools, non-Hispanic black students in Playworks schools recorded 338 more intensity counts per minute, 4.9 more steps per minute, and 6.3 percentage points more time in MVPA during recess. Playworks also had an impact on the number of steps per minute during recess for Hispanic students but no significant impact on the physical activity of non-Hispanic white students. The impact of Playworks was larger among minority students than among non-Hispanic white students. One possible explanation is that minority students in non-Playworks schools typically engaged in less physical activity, suggesting that there is more room for improvement.

Coping with the Stress of Athletic Injury: How Coaches Can Help

Sport participation can be a stressful experience for some high school athletes. Sustaining a sport injury can further increase athletes' stress levels. Coaches may feel uncomfortable interacting with injured athletes and can unconsciously or purposefully marginalize them. However, coaches have a responsibility toward all of their athletes, including those who are injured. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to inform high school coaches about some of the stressors that athletes face when injured and suggest strategies that may help their athletes cope with and recover from injury. The experiences of a softball player who suffered a difficult shoulder injury (i.e., a labrum tear) are also shared to illustrate the stressors and suggested coping strategies.

Our Boys and The Last Shot: Examples of the Power of Community Involvement in Underprivileged America

The central focus of this essay was to examine different socio-cultural structures that affect high school aged athletes in seemingly different impoverished areas in the United States. Specifically, narratives in the popular press books The Last Shot and Our Boys were explored in order to highlight similarities and differences between the high school athletes in these two different urban and rural environments. In all, four factors that showcase the power of community involvement in underprivileged America emerged: the values promoted by the high school coach, the socioeconomic status of the community, the public education system, and the battle between the desire to escape the community and fear of the unknown. The implications of community involvement are discussed and avenues for future research are presented.

Factors influencing high school coaches' adoption of injury prevention programs.

Despite documented efficacy of injury prevention programs (IPPs) to reduce sport-related lower extremity injury risk, there is evidence of a lack of widespread IPP adoption by high school coaches. This study identified factors related to non-adoption of IPPs by assessing coaches' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to prevention programs and comparing attitudes between adopter and non-adopter coaches. Cross-sectional. Head soccer and basketball coaches (n=141) from 15 Oregon high schools were invited to complete a web-based survey assessing their IPP-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Of the 66 coach respondents, 52% reported being aware of IPPs; 21% reported using an IPP with their team; and 9% reported having their student-athletes perform the IPP exactly as designed. No apparent differences in the attitudes toward the importance of injury prevention or the effectiveness of IPPs were identified between coaches that did and did not adopt an IPP. Perceptions that efficacious IPPs do not offer a relative advantage over coaches' existing practices, do not align with coaches' needs (compatibility), and are difficult to implement in their setting (complexity) emerged as key factors underlying coaches' decisions not to adopt a program. Of those that did report adopting an IPP, just 43% (6/14) reported implementing the program as designed. Improving preventative practices of high school coaches requires more than improved dissemination to increase coach awareness. To improve the rate of IPP adoption and implementation fidelity, coach education should directly address issues related to relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity.

Developing High School and Youth Coaches through the Concepts of Deliberate Practice

Developing High School and Youth Coaches through the Concepts of Deliberate Practice

Consultation and Coaching to Increase the Uptake of Evidence-Based Practices: Introduction to the Special Issue

Traditional approaches to school consultation involve a voluntary, collaborative relationship between a consultant and teacher consultee to develop interventions for students with special needs, often over long periods, with ongoing problem solving and performance feedback. However, with the advent of multi-tiered systems of support, school consultation has evolved into a strategy to support the systemic adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs). With this shift, consultants increasingly fulfill the role of coach, moving beyond traditional collaborative relationships to address the professional development needs of consultees. Consequently, researchers examining school consultation have moved beyond questions of feasibility and acceptability and have entered a new era of implementation science. This special issue of School Mental Health examines contemporary applications of school consultation and coaching in support of EBP implementation. The five original research articles in the special issue advance the literature in this developing field.

The teacher-coach relationship- a relationship geared toward deep learning or increased institutional control?

This paper examines relationship(s) between school coaches and teachers. The paper positions teacher ongoing professional learning and change through this relationship as a contested experience that exposes both qualities of rich learning and new practice as well as power relations and relative disempowerment. The paper is drawn from a larger interpretive case study that followed the experiences of district-based consultants working in a large-scale consultancy-based reform, the Secondary National Strategy (SNS), in London, UK from 2002-2006. The paper uses unstructured interviews to reveal the various and diverse experiences that occurred in schools as a result of the introduction of the consultant-teacher relationship into schools. From these experiences, a complex picture of the coach-teacher relationship appeared. Amongst other things, the SNS consultants provided opportunities for teachers to collaborate and share their work in ways that helped break some of the structural isolation within secondary schools, while also serving to further control teachers’ workspace and classroom activities. The potential for teachers to take on new curriculum, refine their practice and potentially grow new forms of pedagogy within their work will also presumably require district, federation, faculty and government supporting conditions that are responsive to school and teacher workspaces. Viewing an instance of intensive interaction between teachers and coaches provides insights into the challenge of new, refined or adapted forms of pedagogy becoming institutionalized within large, diverse public school systems.