Examining coaches’ perceptions of how their stress influences the coach–athlete relationship

This study extends recent coach stress research by evaluating how coaches perceive their stress experiences to affect athletes, and the broader coach–athlete relationship. A total of 12 coaches working across a range of team sports at the elite level took part in semi-structured interviews to investigate the 3 study aims: how they perceive athletes to detect signals of coach stress; how they perceive their stress experiences to affect athletes; and, how effective they perceive themselves to be when experiencing stress. Following content analysis, data suggested that coaches perceived athletes able to detect when they were experiencing stress typically via communication, behavioural, and stylistic cues. Although coaches perceived their stress to have some positive effects on athletes, the overwhelming effects were negative and affected “performance and development”, “psychological and emotional”, and “behavioural and interaction” factors. Coaches also perceived themselves to be less effective when stressed, and this was reflected in their perceptions of competence, self-awareness, and coaching quality. An impactful finding is that coaches are aware of how a range of stress responses are expressed by themselves, and to how they affect athletes, and their coaching quality. Altogether, findings support the emerging view that coach stress affects their own, and athlete performance.     

Assessing coaches’ professional knowledge

Professional competency of sport and exercise coaches has been conceptualised differently depending on the theoretical and methodical approach taken. To date, no model of professional coaching competency has been agreed upon. The aim of this study was to develop a competency model for sport coaches drawing on well-known competency models developed in the context of teacher education and to empirically assess parts of the model. We developed an initial pool of 295 multiple choice items and administered them to a sample of 531 youths (mean age: 16.2 years) directly after they had completed the German Football Association’s (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) “Junior Coach in Schule und Verein” (Junior Coach for Schools and Clubs) training programme. Results of analyses of one-, two-, five-, and six-dimensional models by means of Rasch scaling indicate that the data are best represented by either a two- or a five-dimensional model depending on the fit criteria chosen. While content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge are presented in the two-dimensional model, the five-dimensional model allows discrimination among football-specific content knowledge, basic content knowledge of training science, basic content knowledge of first aid and pedagogical content knowledge of planning training sessions and instructional/methodological pedagogical knowledge. Further investigation should be made into the suitability of competency models developed in the context of teacher evaluation for modelling the competency of sport coaches and into the extent to which such models can be extrapolated to various sports.     

Managing parasport: An investigation of sport policy factors and stakeholders influencing para-athletes’ career pathways

The way disability is understood and positioned by key stakeholders informs how policies are implemented in the development of pathways to sporting excellence of an athlete with a disability. In this paper, the authors seek to identify which sports policy factors and stakeholders influence the development of athletic career pathways in Paralympic sport (i.e., attraction, retention, competition, talent identification and development, elite, and retirement phases). Drawing from the theories of disability and the literature on elite sport policy, an interview protocol on policy dimensions and principles to support para-athletes’ development was created, and 32 key stakeholders from the Brazilian Paralympic sport context were interviewed. The data revealed that coaching provision and education as a policy factor and coaches with disability-specific knowledge as a stakeholder were perceived as most influential during all the phases of para-athletes’ careers. The classification system emerged as a parasport-specific factor that can facilitate or inhibit the development of para-athletes’ careers, influencing the implementation of policies. The authors suggest that understanding the concept of disability is notably essential when stakeholders have to think strategically and adapt management principles from able-bodied sporting contexts. Therefore, critically positioning disability within policy decision making can improve the thinking, action, and behaviour of policymakers, coaches, and sports managers, leading to the more efficient delivery of successful para-athletes’ careers.     

Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of their experiences of sports-related injuries,risk factors and preventive possibilities

Our knowledge of sports-related injuries in para-sport is limited and there are no data on how Paralympic athletes themselves perceive an injury. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of their experiences of sports-related injuries, risk factors and preventive possibilities. Eighteen Swedish Paralympic athletes with vision impairment, intellectual impairment, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, myelomeningocele, dysplasia and neuromuscular disorder, representing 10 different para-sports, were interviewed. The qualitative phenomenographic method was used to interpret the data. The analysis revealed nine categories of perceptions of experiences. The athletes perceived that their impairments were involved in the cause and consequential chains associated with a sports-related injury. Other categories that denoted and described these injuries were: sport overuse, risk behaviour, functional limitations, psychological stressors, the normalised pain, health hazards, individual possibilities to prevent sports-related injuries and unequal prerequisites. This qualitative study revealed that Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of their experiences of sports-related injuries are complex and multifactorial, and in several ways differ from able-bodied athletes. This needs to be considered in the sports health and safety work within the Paralympic Movement as well as in the design of future injury surveillance systems and preventive programmes.     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions of perceived mattering and marginalization

Background: In many countries around the world, physical education (PE) has been identified as a marginalized subject. PE teachers have been found to feel negative consequences associated with marginality, such as stress, burnout, and early career attrition. Recent evidence also indicates that physical educators can develop a sense of perceived mattering both in relation the subject of PE and their role as that teacher of that subject. Less is known, however, about the relationship between perceived mattering and marginalization, and how teachers navigate social messages associated with each that they receive while teaching. Role socialization theory has emerged as an approach to studying teachers’ experiences in school environments, and can be used to understand their experiences with marginality and mattering.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand how the social environment of schools influences PE teachers’ perceptions of marginalization and perceived mattering, and how these two constructs interact.

Method: The investigation was conceptualized as an interview study, and framed using a social constructivist epistemology. Participants included 30 in-service PE teachers (16 males, 14 females) from the Midwest region of the US. Data were collected using in-depth qualitative interviews, and analyzed through a collaborative approach to data analysis that drew upon both inductive and deductive forms of analysis.

Results: Participants identified experiences with both perceived mattering and marginalization in their work, and noted that sometimes these messages were contradictory. Some participants felt the effects of marginalization as their discipline was viewed as a dispensable commodity that is only meaningful for the service it provides to other teachers (e.g. gives elementary classroom teachers a break for planning). Some of the teachers internalized their marginal status and began to see their primary function as supporting the work of teachers in other subjects. Nevertheless, the participants derived a sense of mattering by building relationships with colleagues, administrators, and students, and by advocating for the discipline. Teachers also felt validated when colleagues acknowledge their attempts to implement effective practices, but struggled when working with colleagues who are resistant to change.

Conclusions: PE teachers experience both marginalization and perceived mattering, which are shaped largely by social interactions within the school environment. This study specifically lends to the view of marginalization and perceived mattering as two constructs at opposite ends of a continuum, rather than a binary conceptualization. This suggests that it could be the summation of marginalizing experiences and those that promote mattering that lead physical educators to develop overall impressions of their role in schools. Furthermore, this study adds to the literature indicating that physical educators may eventually internalize feelings of marginalization when consistently told that they do not matter. This has implications related to the washout effect whereby teachers who no longer feel as if they are making meaningful contributions to children’s education may compromise their teaching practice.     

Residents’ perceptions of mega sport event legacies and impacts

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of local residents prior to the public referendum for the 2024 Hamburg Olympic bid and to assess their level of support for the bid. The representative survey conducted amongst Hamburg residents reveals a high level of support but also a strong perception of negative legacies. A comparison between the perceived positive and negative legacies shows that the negative legacies outweigh the positive legacies. When examining factors that influence support, statistical analysis reveals the perception of positive legacies as the strongest predictor of support. The survey also indicates that residents attach great importance to the costs of the Games and feel no personal benefit from hosting them. The findings suggest that Games organizers and authorities should mostly rely on positive legacies while negative legacies ought to be mitigated.     

Basketball coaches’ experience in working with multicultural teams: Central and Northern European perspectives

This study seeks to address a gap in research regarding the perspectives of coaches working within European teams comprising both domestic and immigrated players. In order to explore coaches’ experience in working with multicultural teams, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six head coaches of professional basketball teams in Central and Northern Europe (two in Czech Republic, two in Germany, two in Latvia) and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. The study focused primarily on communication and interaction between immigrated players and coaches, and on strategies used by coaches to overcome problems arising within multicultural teams. The findings identified three main themes: differences in values between foreign and domestic players/coaches; the formation of ethnic subgroups in teams; and race as a potentially problematic factor in coach–athlete relationships. The implications of this study include noting the importance of educational programs for coaches focused on raising cultural awareness, and recognising the need for further studies in this relatively under-researched area.     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions of factors that inhibit and facilitate the enactment of curriculum change in a high-stakes exam climate

Policy enactment is a dynamic process, which invites agents to uniquely create and recreate policy as an ongoing process. Few policies arrive in school fully formed and the process of policy enactment involves teachers navigating policy frameworks in a way that provides success for each individual pupil. This research examines the complexities involved in teacher enactment of new policy in schools with the added caveat of investigating the impact that high-stakes exams place on teachers to act as agents of change. The primary objective was to ascertain whether inhibitors and facilitators identified in literature were recurring during the period of change in physical education (PE). The secondary objective was to investigate how PE teachers enact curriculum change utilising a flexible curriculum framework to achieve success at examination level. The research reflects a journey from the broad realms of curriculum studies towards a more in-depth analysis of the realist theory of analytical dualism. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with five full time PE teachers working within one secondary school in Scotland. The results indicated that revolutionary change was somewhat stagnated by potent inhibitors such as a lack of collaboration with policy-makers and vague course documentation. These were compounded by an inherent desire for pupils to succeed that induced feelings of wariness and indecision amongst teachers. The flexible curriculum and guidance offered by policy-makers was insufficient for teachers to confidently pose as curriculum decision-makers, resulting in a call for a more explicitly structured course. It became clear that teachers acting as agents of change who help devise and develop policy require support, collaboration and direction to empower and buttress their decision-making, particularly when faced with the high-stakes nature of the examination climate.     

Evidencing the impact of coaches’ learning: Changes in coaching knowledge and practice over time

ABSTRACT

It is clear that sport coaches learn from multiple interconnected learning experiences, yet there is limited direct evidence to elucidate what is learned and how these combined experiences shape coaches’ knowledge and day-to-day practice. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the learning of two groups of English youth soccer coaches over a period of a year and a half. Using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS) and associated video-stimulated recall interviews, changes in the practice behaviours and knowledge use of coaches completing a formal coach education course, and equivalent coaches not undertaking formal education, were compared. Data indicated that the learning period had a different effect on coaches taking part in formal coach education versus those not in education. Changes in the use of knowledge about individual players and tactics were reflected in increased behaviours directed towards individuals, and an altered proportion of technical to tactically related questioning, linked to coaches’ participation in education. Overall, more change was evident in coaching knowledge than in practice behaviours, suggesting an absence of deep learning that bridged the knowledge-practice gap.     

Sports coaches as ‘dangerous individuals’—practice as governmentality

Recent concern surrounding sports coaches' interaction with young people has reflected a fundamental change in the way coaches and others regard the role of sports. In this paper, we consider the identification and definition of the contemporary sports coach (whether acting in a professional or volunteer capacity) as, in Foucault's term, a ‘dangerous individual’. We suggest that the mainstream discourse of child protection and safeguarding, variously interpreted and applied, has contributed to a culture of fear in sports coaching practice. Drawing on data from a recently completed Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project, we argue that contradictions in policy and practice, which serve to privilege a particular discourse, have cast the coach as both predator and protector of young sports performers. This has undermined the role of the coach, led to intergenerational fear, created doubt about coaches' intentions and promoted their adoption of defensive and protective practices. Utilising the concept of governmentality, we argue that, as a consequence, fundamental trust-based relationships, necessary in healthy athlete???coach engagement, have been displaced by a discourse embodied in sterile delivery and procedure governed by regulation and suspicion.     

Inside the locker room: a qualitative study of coaches’ anti-doping knowledge,beliefs and attitudes

It is widely assumed that coaches have an effect on athletes’ doping behaviours; however, the means by which this influence can be manifested are only superficially understood. The present study seeks to understand how coaches see their role in directly and indirectly influencing the doping attitudes and behaviours of athletes. Fourteen elite-level coaches participated in focus group discussions. Coaches displayed a low level of knowledge of banned methods and practices. While it was acknowledged that doping was prevalent in sport, coaches believed that doping was not a problem in their own sport, since doping does not aid in the development or implementation of sporting ‘skills’. While the findings suggest that coaches support the revised WADA Code, with increased sanctions for coaches, the findings also highlight how coaches may indirectly and inadvertently condone doping. This may be through inaction or the apparent endorsement of pro-doping expectancies.     

Coeducational and single-sex physical education: students’ situational interest in learning tasks centred on technical skills

Background: A student’s choice to engage in a learning task is highly related to the student’s environmental stimuli and his or her perception of interest. From this perspective, the construct of situational interest (SI) has been used to interpret students’ motivation in task engagement. SI is assumed to be transitory, environmentally activated, and context specific. It has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct with five dimensions: instant enjoyment, exploration intention, attention demand, novelty, and challenge. Few prior studies have compared SI between girls and boys in physical education (PE) contexts, and these studies have offered contrasting findings. They were conducted in coeducational (coed) or single-sex contexts and used learning tasks centred on a variety of outcomes: technical or tactical skills, creativity and cultural understanding.

Purpose: In the context of the debate on single-sex and coed classes in PE, this study aimed to estimate the effects of single-sex and coed PE classes on students’ situational interest (SI) within learning tasks centred on technical skills. The researchers decided to study learning tasks centred on the development of students’ technical skills, since these tasks are often used by teachers in PE.

Participants: The sample consisted of 177 Swiss secondary school students, aged 11–17 years (M?=?14.07, SD?=?1.41, 96 boys, 81 girls).

Data collection: The students completed the French 15-item SI Scale after practising a technical learning task in single-sex and coed PE contexts. The researchers chose five physical activities (i.e. athletics, basketball, dance, gymnastics, and volleyball), which are commonly taught in the state of Vaud (Switzerland) and provide a balance between masculine and feminine activities.

Data analysis: A two-way repeated-measures MANOVA was performed to examine the main and interaction effects of student sex and class sex composition on the five SI dimensions.

Findings: The results showed a main effect of class sex composition on student SI but no main effect of student sex and no interaction effect of student sex and class sex composition. More precisely, the scores for three SI dimensions (i.e. instant enjoyment, exploration intention, and attention demand) were higher in the coed context than in the single-sex context.

Conclusions: This study encourages teachers to propose coed PE classes to enhance students’ motivation and engagement when practising learning tasks centred on technical skills. This study offers supplementary evidence of the teacher’s role in promoting student SI. Beyond accounting for students’ dispositional factors (e.g. sex), PE teachers can significantly impact students’ SI in technical learning tasks through instructional choices.     

A comparison of well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored athletes’ perceptions of satisfaction

The purpose of the present study was to compare well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored athletes’ perceptions of satisfaction. A total of 444 intercollegiate athletes (272 well-peer mentored and 172 non-peer mentored) from a variety of sport teams participated in the study. Athletes from both well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored groups reported their satisfaction levels using the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire. The results of a MANOVA and follow-up post hoc ANOVAs showed that well-peer mentored athletes were significantly more satisfied than their non-peer mentored counterparts in terms of individual performance, personal dedication, team task contribution, team social contribution, team integration, ethics, ability utilisation and training and instruction. Overall, the findings suggest that athletes who are well-peer mentored by a teammate perceive higher satisfaction levels with various aspects of their athletic experience than athletes who are not peer mentored by a teammate. Given these positive findings, practitioners (i.e., coaches, sport psychology consultants) should inform athletes on the benefits of peer-to-peer mentoring. The practical implications of the results and strategies to promote peer athlete mentoring relationships in sport are highlighted.     

What do coaches orchestrate? Unravelling the ‘quiddity’ of practice

The general purpose of this article is threefold. Firstly, it is to further the notion of coaching as orchestration through developing insight into precisely how and what coaches orchestrate. Secondly, it is to firmly position coaching as a relational practice, whilst thirdly it is to better define coaching’s complex nature and how it can be somewhat ordered. Following an introduction where the purpose and value of the article are outlined, we present the reflective method of critical companionship through which we explored and addressed the aforementioned purposes. The case for the quiddity, or the ‘just whatness’ (i.e. the inherent nature or essence) of coaching as involving complex, relational acts which can be somewhat explained through recourse to the developing theory of orchestration is subsequently made. In doing so, two precise examples of how we as coaches orchestrate sporting practice are presented. The article concludes with both a summary of the principal argument(s) made, and some reflective considerations for future directions.     

Developing ‘good buggers’: global implications of the influence of culture on New Zealand club rugby coaches’ beliefs and practice

Abstract

Despite recognition of how experience shapes sport coaches’ beliefs and practice empirical investigation into how this occurs is limited. This article redresses this gap in the literature by presenting the findings of a study that inquired into the influence of culture on three New Zealand rugby coaches’ beliefs and practice to identify the powerful influence of interaction between a ‘local’ traditional culture of club rugby in New Zealand shaped by the resilient ‘amateur ideal’, intensified by the perceived threat of professional rugby and the global culture of the sport industry to club rugby.     

Yellow and social perceptions of racing cyclists’ sportspersonship: Proposing an inter-contextual analysis

Through inter-contextual designs, the present set of experiments sought to explore whether the colour yellow would impact on social perceptions of sportspersonship exclusively in relation to competitive cycling. In Experiment 1 (N = 149), a silhouette image of a cyclist on a yellow background yielded lower perceptions of sportspersonship in comparison to grey or to the context of motocross, regardless of the colour. That interaction was conceptually replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 146) while changing measures (i.e., adaptation of the World Anti-Doping Code) and the context of comparison to sprinting. Furthermore, female and male observers’ scores did not differ significantly thereby suggesting that yellow impacted on perceived sportspersonship similarly across gender. On the whole, those findings suggest that yellow can generate negative impressions of racing cyclists because, with years, this colour took on a meaning of opportunism from frequent pairings with doping. We close with discussing a number of limitations and future research avenues.     

League design and sporting challenge as factors in amateur golf players’ satisfaction

The organization of individual sports into leagues has received little attention in research, but its practical relevance has increased. This article aims to elucidate the role of competitive balance and league design elements in a sports league with less spectator demand from a player perspective. The analysis focuses on the reformed German Golf League. Because this league is an amateur league with no payment for players and currently few spectators, a change in perspective is appropriate. The empirical results of the stated preference approach highlight the relevance of perceived competitive balance as well as several league characteristics for the players. The findings thus show that governing bodies of sports leagues should focus on both the development of an optimal league design and soft aspects to deliver attractive and challenging competition from a player’s perspective.     

A coaches’ perspective on the contribution of anthropometry,physical performance,and motor coordination in racquet sports

ABSTRACT

Differences and similarities between table tennis and other racquet sports exist, but are not well documented in the literature, in spite of the relevance for talent identification. In this study we aimed at identifying the key characteristics of table tennis in comparison with tennis and badminton based upon a survey in coaches. A total of 177 licensed coaches from all across the world and with diverse professional backgrounds completed a survey on anthropometric measures, physical performance, and motor coordination skills. On a scale from 1 to 10, coaches indicated to what extent a talent characteristic was important for their sport. MANOVA identified key differences as well as similarities between all three racquet sports and a subsequent discriminant analysis allocated coaches correctly for table tennis, tennis, and badminton 81.01%, 55.6%, and 71.4% respectively. Our results show that table tennis and other racquet sport coaches are well aware of differences between the racquet sports and also the importance and value of testing and assortment of skill components. These findings can assist coaches in future talent orientation and transfer in racquet sports.