Cliff Mallett

Developmental Paths and Activities of Successful Sport Coaches

The purpose of this research report is to present an overview of an ongoing, international project designed to chart the developmental paths and activities of sport coaches. This brief report includes three sections: (a) conceptual framework used to guide the project, (b) project design and methodology, and (c) results from pilot studies with a sample of 15 successful coaches working in different sport contexts in the United States Unlike the findings for athletic profiles, where several trends across coaching contexts were evident, only one trend was found in how these diverse groups of coaches invested their time in coach developmental activities. In relation to other coaching activities very little time was devoted to formal coach education on an annual basis. The results reinforce the need to consider the coaching context when examining coach development and when designing coach development initiatives.

Mental toughness in sport: Motivational antecedents and associations with performance and psychological health

We argue that basic psychological needs theory (BPNT) offers impetus to the value of mental toughness as a mechanism for optimizing human functioning. We hypothesized that psychological needs satisfaction (thwarting) would be associated with higher (lower) levels of mental toughness, positive affect, and performance and lower (higher) levels of negative affect. We also expected that mental toughness would be associated with higher levels of positive affect and performance and lower levels of negative affect. Further, we predicted that coaching environments would be related to mental toughness indirectly through psychological needs and that psychological needs would indirectly relate with performance and affect through mental toughness. Adolescent cross-country runners (136 male and 85 female, M(age) = 14.36) completed questionnaires pertaining to BPNT variables, mental toughness, and affect. Race times were also collected. Our findings supported our hypotheses. We concluded that BPNT is generative in understanding some of the antecedents and consequences of mental toughness and is a novel framework useful for understanding mental toughness.

Dynamic social networks in high performance football coaching

Background: Sports coaching is largely a social activity where engagement with athletes and support staff can enhance the experiences for all involved. This paper examines how high performance football coaches develop knowledge through their interactions with others within a social learning theory framework. Purpose: The key purpose of this study was to explore how coaches interact with others in developing their coaching knowledge within the Australian Football (soccer) context. Moreover, this project examined how to best conceptualise these interactions using social learning concepts such as communities of practice (Wenger 1998), informal knowledge networks (Allee 2000), networks of practice (Nichani and Hung 2002) and dynamic social networks (Mallett, Rossi, and Tinning 2007). Method: Six high performance football coaches were interviewed using a semi-structured schedule. The interview data, which was transcribed verbatim, was content analysed using the procedure outlined by Côté et al. (1993). Results: From the interviews three themes emerged: influence of others on learning; learning through work and play; and elite football identity. These themes were examined under the lens of social learning theory. Conclusions: The coaches in this study reported that they considered ‘coaches of influence’ as their most important source of information. In particular, it was the interactions with experienced football coaches who were most valued. In these interactions ideas and views about football coaching were exchanged and are best represented as a dynamic social network.

Understanding the Work and Learning of High Performance Coaches.

Background: The development of high performance sports coaches has been proposed as a major imperative in the professionalization of sports coaching. Accordingly, an increasing body of research is beginning to address the question of how coaches learn. While this is important work, an understanding of how coaches learn must be underpinned by an understanding of what coaches do. This is not to suggest a return to the behaviouristic accounts of coaching, rather a greater consideration of what tasks entail modern coaching work, especially within the dynamic and evolving vocation of high performance coaching. Purpose: In order to add greater texture to accounts characterising high performance coaching as a highly complex collection of practices, this paper will consider the tasks that full-time coaches at a State Institute of Sport (SIS) perform in their work, with a follow-up account of how they felt they learned (or did not learn) the requisite skills and abilities. Participants and setting: Six full-time, high performance sports coaches (average age = 42 years; range = 30–54 years) with an average of 23 years coaching experience (range = 10–34 years) participated in this study. Six sport administrators varying in level of responsibility and authority also participated. All participants were drawn from an Australian state (provincial) academy/institute of sport. Data collection: Participation was open to all coaches and administrators within the SIS with six coaches and six administrators volunteering prior to commencement. All participants were involved in semi-structured interviews aimed at examining the work of SIS coaches and the perceived sources of learning that coaches accessed throughout their careers. The interviews took an average of 82 minutes to complete (range = 60–110 minutes). Data analysis: The interviews were transcribed verbatim, checked for accuracy and returned to the participants for member checking. An interpretative analysis of the interview data was carried out following procedures outlined by Côté and colleagues. The construction of meaning units was enhanced through the use of a decision-making heuristic developed by Côté and Salmela. Findings: SIS coaches were required to perform a great number of tasks ranging from those relating to direct coaching to those associated with public relations behaviours. Coaches and administrators were also able to identify a range of sources of learning prior to, and during their employment with the SIS. Based on a comparison of work tasks and learning experiences, it was determined that SIS coaches were not well prepared to complete a variety of tasks required of them in the SIS environment. Conclusions: Through an analysis of their previous athletic and coaching experiences it is proposed that the coaches were well-prepared to undertake the tasks that were deemed to be central to their coaching work but were less equipped to undertake a range of other tasks required of them when they were first employed at the SIS.

The Cortisol Awakening Response and Resilience in Elite Swimmers

The sports environment is stress-eliciting in that it encapsulates perceived uncontrollability, unpredictability and requires ego-involvement. The HPA axis has been shown (indicated by cortisol release) to respond to anticipated sports competition up to a week prior to the event. Research also alludes to the importance of individual differences, such as optimism and trait perfectionism, in moderating the impact of cortisol upon performance. In total, 41 (male n=27) national (n=38) and international (n=3) swimmers were recruited from northeast England and Australia. Swimmers completed a measure of resilience and also provided buccal saliva swabs, from which total cortisol release prior to and during the event was calculated. Findings revealed that resilience significantly predicted performance and the influence of AUC (cortisol release) upon performance was moderated by resilience. These findings suggest that resilience can influence athletic performance either directly or indirectly, through appraisal (i. e., interpretation of the stressor to be facilitative and non-threatening).

Passion and paranoia: an embodied tale of emotion, identity, and pathos in sports coaching

Abstract In response to the wider call to put the person back into the study of coaching, this paper addresses my, the lead author’s, understandings of coaching an amateur women’s football team. Specifically, my co-authors and I critically consider how my embodied emotional experiences and meaning-making were produced in, as well as through, the interaction of the self and other in the club context. Following the presentation of my storied experiences, the complementary works of Burkitt and Scott are deployed as the primary heuristic devices. Here, our interpretation focuses on the interconnections between emotion, identity, and embodied experience. Rather than seeking to provide a singular truth, however, theory is, instead, used to reveal, clarify, and make ambiguous experience more apparent to the reader. In concluding the paper, we advocate a greater integration of emotion into ongoing and future coaching scholarship.

Imagery Improves Reaction Time in Elite Sprinters

Motor imagery has been found to be helpful for developing skills in sport. Motor imagery (MI) helps an athlete to visualize simple or complex motor activities in the absence of physical practice. Few studies have inspected the effects of motor imagery on trained individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of motor imagery on reaction time. Differences in reaction time can make a difference in terms of the overall performance (time, ranking). Twenty-four male and female National elite athletes (12 male; age: 22.92+1.73 years and 12 female; age: 22.67+1.67 years), who participated in this study, were classified into two (2) groups. Participants were classified according to data from a pretest in which they recorded their reaction time (ms) on starting blocks and a 30 meters race time (s). The control group (N=12) carried out the practice physically and the imagery (intervention) group (N=12) firstly carried out the practice mentally and then physically with the control group. Motor Imagery was conducted on the experimental group for fifteen (15) minutes every day for two (2) weeks. At the end of two (2) weeks, a post-test was conducted to examine any intervention effects. The data were analyzed by a paired t-test. The findings revealed that imagery group athletes improved more than the control group (p < 0.05). A couple of the athletes from the physical practice group (no intervention) showed better results than the imagery group, but the researcher observed the potential reason behind this enhancement might have been due to the competitive atmosphere created due the experiment for which they put their best to beat the other group in the post test.

運動教練工作初探：以 UBA 男子公開組第一級籃球教練為例

The research was a pilot study and aimed to offer an insight of the Taiwanese coaches’ work under its unique socio-cultural and sports environment. The research questions were: What are the A-grade UBA coaches’ works? What are the suggestions from A-grade UBA coaches? Adopting Rynne & Mallett (2012) revision from MacLean & Chelladurai (1995) behavioural process factors of dimensions of coach performance as research framework, the study applied interviews, fieldwork investigation and related document collection. We selected six A-grade UBA coaches from various backgrounds (coach positions and public/private university). This study concluded with four main issues including built-up of team style, player recruitment, promotion system, and coaches’ certificate. The findings indicated that UBA expressed concern towards student enrollment policy, appropriate promotion system for coaches, and the relatedness between coaches’ certificate and job vacancy; further, coaches provided valuable comments and suggestions for current working situation. It was concluded that the coaching work in Taiwan is multi-task and Rynne & Mallett (2012) framework is applicable. This study suggested further research for a more professionalization and specialization of university coaching environment in Taiwan.