Mark Partington

An investigation of the practice activities and coaching behaviors of professional top‐level youth soccer coaches

The aim of this study was to investigate the coaching behaviors of elite English youth soccer coaches in different practice settings and gain insight into the coaches’ cognitive processes underpinning these behaviors. The practice setting was split into two types of activities, “training form” and “playing form,” and behavioral data were collected using a modified version of the Coach Analysis and Intervention System. Interpretive interview data were triangulated with the behavioral data to ensure that both the “what” and the “why” of the coaches’ behavior and practice were considered. The results showed the coaches using more “training form” activities than “playing form,” and using high levels of prescriptive instruction, regardless of practice type, in contrast to a stated desire to “developing the whole player,” creating “decision makers,” and being a “facilitator of knowledge creation.” The interviews revealed that the coaches had a low self‐awareness about their behavior, with an epistemological gap identified between understanding and practice, with statements of intent not being matched by knowledge and action.

An investigation of the effect of athletes’ age on the coaching behaviours of professional top-level youth soccer coaches

Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the behaviours, cognitive processes and practice activities of 12 English youth professional soccer coaches across 6 different age groups. Systematic observation data were collected using a modified version of the Coach Analysis and Intervention System which provided a detailed analysis of coaching behaviours performed during practice. Interpretive interviews were then triangulated with the behavioural data to identify the cognitive processes underlying the behaviours performed. The behavioural results showed that the coaches of the younger age groups used more instruction and the coaches of the older age groups used more divergent questioning and significantly more total feedback and punitive behaviours. The coaches of the younger age groups used more training form activities than the coaches of the older age groups who used more playing form activities. However, the interviews revealed that instead of the age of athletes’ directly affecting the cognitive process of coaches it was in fact the coaches underlying beliefs about coaching, their previous experiences and perceived pressures from the context that determined the behaviours performed.

The impact of video feedback on professional youth football coaches’ reflection and practice behaviour: a longitudinal investigation of behaviour change

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of video feedback on five English youth football coaches’ reflection and practice behaviours over a three-season period. First, quantitative data were collected using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS) during season one and season three. Data from CAIS results showed that over the three seasons the coaches decreased their total instruction and total feedback and increased silence ‘on-task’. Four out of the five coaches also increased the use of total questioning behaviour. Second, interviews revealed how video feedback gave structure to reflective conversations that improved self-awareness and provided a trigger for behaviour change. The coaches highlighted how video-based reflection challenged their current understanding and enabled a range of learning sources to support and inform changed coach behaviour.

An investigation of professional top-level youth football coaches’ questioning practice

Abstract To position learners as more central components in the coaching process, scholars suggested that coaches should employ a questioning approach, which may lead to the development of desirable learner outcomes (i.e. increased problem solving and decision-making skills). Studies, however, indicate that coaches rarely employ questions within their practice. When questions are asked, these questions rarely move beyond lower-order or ‘fact seeking’ enquiries. While this research provides information concerning the frequency and in some cases, the type of questions coaches asks, it fails to report the more discursive nature of coaches’ questioning approaches. In order to address such limitations, the purpose of this study was to investigate coach questioning practices (CQPs). We recorded the practices of five academy youth level football coaches’ and subjected the data to conversational analysis (CA), This enabled the analysis of interaction between coach and player(s). Findings revealed that CQPs, regardless of coach or context followed similar discursive patterns. In particular, three themes presented themselves in each CQP: (1) coaches’ requirements for an immediate player response, (2) leading questions for a desired response, (3) monologist nature of coach/player interaction. This showed that the coach positioned themselves as the gatekeeper of knowledge and learners as passive recipients. This reinforces the messages from previous work that has suggested coaches’ ideologies inform their practice, and are stable structures that are difficult to change. We concur with other researchers that there is a need for further investigation in this area to better understand how dominant discourse can be challenged.

A review of the use of a systematic observation method in coaching research between 1997 and 2016

ABSTRACT A systematic observation method has been one of the most popularly employed methods in coaching research. Kahan’s review of this method conducted between 1975 and 1997 highlighted the key trends in this research, and offered methodological guidance for researchers wishing to use this method in their research. The purpose of this review was to provide an update of the use of a systematic observation method in coaching research and assess the extent to which the calls made by Kahan have been addressed. While in some respect this field of study has progressed (i.e., the introduction of qualitative methods), researchers adopting this method have failed to attend to many of the issues Kahan raised. For this method to continue to make a positive contribution towards the coaching research literature, researchers need to more critically reflect on how and why they are employing this method. At present, some of the decisions made by researchers who have conducted work in this area are not justified with a rationale. It is our intention that this review will serve as guidance for researchers and practitioners, and editors and reviewers of journals when attempting to assess the quality of this type of work.