Michael Ashford

Coach learning has long been a subject of debate, particularly in relation to how learning experiences are designed and how they contribute to enhanced coaching practice (Abraham & Collins, 1998; P...

Background: The rate of injury in invasion team sports is often greater than in non-invasion sports. A preventative measure to reduce injury risk is to implement in-game rule changes aimed at modifying game events or player behaviour. Objective: This study reviewed the use of in-game rule changes in invasion team sports with the aim of reporting the level of utilisation, effectiveness, and unintended consequences. Design: Scoping review. Data Sources: Scopus, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, Web of Science. Results: In total, 2205 studies were identified, 116 full texts were screened and 47 were included in the final review. Seven sports were found to have assessed in-game rule changes with the most common being ice hockey ( n = 18), tackle football ( n = 11) and rugby union ( n = 7). Rule changes were found to have had the intended effect in 28 studies, while nine found no change and four reported an increase in the rate or cause of injury. The unintended consequences associated with a rule change were assessed by four studies with a further two evaluating several rule changes across multiple seasons. Conclusions: In-game rule changes were investigated in half of the sports included in the search. Evidence suggests rule changes can be an effective method for reducing injury risk, although unintended consequences need to be considered. Rule changes should be evaluated in a variety of contexts, with an emphasis being placed on researching female populations to address the extensive knowledge gap.

Within the domain of coach education researchers have long called for a paradigm shift, whereby the quality of coaching practice is no longer measured against a checklist of prescribed competencies. This desire to evolve coach education and development, has been aligned to the need to better identify, understand and utilise what adaptive skill and expertise looks, sounds and feels like across specific sport coaching contexts. This paper outlines a broader research plan for the Premier League to drive the progress of research informed practice, in turn shaping a coach development agenda focused on developing adaptive and skilful coaches within Academies. In turn, this is a core feature of the Premier Leagues institutional aim of developing the most skilful coaches in the world. However, in order to begin the process of initiating such a shift in the way things work, there is a need to seek first to understand, before being understood. Therefore, to demonstrate an evidence informed basis to this shift within coach education and development, we ask three questions; (1) Do we understand what the coaches with the highest level of expertise can do? (2) How should we identify coaches with expertise across different contexts? (3) What does coaching expertise research need to do? In answer to these questions, we present the lack of empirical investigation previously conducted in the sports coaching discipline to explore coaching expertise and draw on wider domains to offer possible capacities of skilful coaches who possess expertise. To identify coaches with expertise, coherent with the broader expertise literature, we suggest that this is best conducted via means of social validation. Finally, we offer a road map of investigation designed to explore expertise, formed of a mix of evidence informed methodologies which have not yet been utilised in sport coaching research.

Within high performing, team invasion sports, collective decision making and coordination between teammates are essential characteristics. There is a wealth of evidence supportive of shared mental models as being an important construct to underpin team coordination. Yet, to this point, there is limited research considering the coaches' voices in the application of shared mental models in high performance sport, nor the challenges coaches face throughout the process. Given these limitations, we provide two case studies of evidence informed practice which privilege the voice of coaches who work in elite rugby union. In doing so, we aim to offer a deeper insight regarding the development, implementation, and continued use of shared mental models to enhance performance. Through these first-person case studies, we present the development of two shared mental models and the processes taken, challenges faced, and coaching methods used to underpin them. The case studies are then discussed with implications for coaches' practice supporting the development of their players' collective decision making.

With reference to the previous chapters presented in this book, this chapter aims to draw on numerous applied recommendations to explore the concept of planning for young rugby players. Whilst this book has considered the applied recommendations for strength and conditioning coaches, sport scientists, sports nutritionists or sports psychologists, this chapter considers the concept of planning through the lens of coaches (but can be applied to other practitioners). The chapter explores four key factors in planning for effective coaching; (1) beginning with the end in mind through desired intentions for impact, (2) the use of nested planning and thinking, (3) flexibility and adaptability; and (4) navigating complex individual player needs. Following this, the chapter contextualises nested planning in youth rugby, offering worked examples and considerations faced in day-to-day practice. It is hoped that this book chapter serves as a reference point for those developing young rugby players.

The technical and tactical development of young rugby players is an essential component to support athlete preparation and long-term development. This chapter summarises the relevant research and practical applications for the technical and tactical development within young rugby players. First, this includes a summary of different themes exploring this research area, including the measurement of technical and tactical qualities, technical and tactical development and the role of competition. Second, the chapter summarises the practical applications, considered from the evidence-informed practical implications offered within the research explored. This section highlights the lack of consistency of research considering technical and tactical development of players, whilst also offering practical implications across, (1) how coaches and practitioners can measure technical and tactical development over time, (2) coaching methods that support technical and tactical development and (3) modes of competition. The chapter concludes with a range of recommendations and implications for practice to best support technical and tactical development in the young rugby player.

(1) Background: The pursuit of excellence is central to most development environments, and this is particularly the case in high-performance sport. Accordingly, we examined some mechanisms for development, focusing on the nature and impact of challenge in the experiences of more or less successful high-level rugby players. (2) Methods: Retrospective interviews were conducted with two groups of players. All had been successful on the development pathway (i.e., recruited to high level academies and selected as age group internationals). Only some had progressed to senior contracts and international selection, offering a basis for contrast. (3) Results: Data suggest the importance of negative experiences in the development of performers and performance. Importantly, however, the impact is dependent on both the skills of the individual and the style, timing and context of the challenge. (4) Conclusions: Negative experiences seemed to offer developmental opportunities wider than just learning to cope, at least for those who eventually succeeded. In short, progress was dependent on an interaction between individual skill, interpretation, context and social setting. The need for coaches and others to develop the appropriate attitudes and approach to challenge is a clear implication.

(1) Background: The interpersonal dimensions of coaching in high performance sport have been subject to increasing scrutiny but with limited evidence to guide practice. Similarly, there is increasing practical interest in the concept of psychological safety, often portrayed as an implicitly desirable characteristic of all sporting environments but, as yet, still to receive research attention in high performance. As a first step to addressing these deficiencies, the present study addressed two research aims: (a) to examine the extent to which matched groups of international and released professional rugby union players perceived psychological safety to be an adaptive feature of their developmental experience and (b) to understand what elements of the player’s coaching experience were perceived to be enabling or disenabling of future progress. (2) Methods: Seven rugby union players who had ‘made it’ and eight players who had been released from their professional contracts took part in a semi-structured interview exploring their developmental experiences. Data were subsequently analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. (3) Results: Both groups of players found each of their talent development and high performance environments to be psychologically unsafe. Furthermore, players perceived coaches who were the most impactful in their development as offering ‘tough love’. This included a range of ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ interpersonal approaches that presented the player with clear direction, role clarity and a sense of care. It appeared that this interpersonal approach helped the player to navigate, and benefit from, the psychologically unsafe high performance milieu. (4) Conclusions: There appear to be a number of balances for the coach in the high performance setting to navigate and a need for more nuance in applying constructs such as psychological safety.

Three perspectives were taken to explain decision-making within team sports (information processing, recognition primed decision-making, and ecological dynamics perspectives), resulting in conceptual tension and practical confusion. The aim of this paper was to interrogate empirical evidence to (1) understand the process of decision-making within team sports and (2) capture the characteristics of decision-making expertise in a team sport context. Nine electronic databases (SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, PsycTests, PubMed, SAGE journals online, Web of Knowledge, Academic Search Complete, and Web of Science) were searched until the final return in March 2021. Fifty-three articles satisfied the inclusion criteria, were analysed thematically, and synthesised using a narrative approach. Findings indicate that the relative absence or presence of mental representation within the decision-making process depends on factors, including complexity, typicality, time available, and contextual priors available in the game situation. We recommend that future research integrate concepts and methodologies prevalent within each perspective to better understand decision-making within team sports before providing implications for practitioners.