Date of Award

11-6-2024

Document Type

Doctoral Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Sport, Leisure, & Childhood Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Edward K. Coughlan

Second Advisor

Dr. Con Burns

Third Advisor

Dr. Cian O'Neill

Abstract

This thesis aimed to evaluate the Irish Rugby Football Union Coach Education Framework (IRFU-CEF) and its subsequent effect on coach behaviours/perceptions, training session content, and athlete perceptions in multiple rugby union settings. The IRFU-CEF was designed to educate coaches in How to coach, as opposed to more traditional forms of coach education that are typically designed to deliver content of What to coach. A baseline analysis (Study 1) was conducted to examine current behaviours/perceptions in a rugby union coaching environment. An IRFU-CEF intervention (Study 2) was delivered to coaches in the form of a single episode as a coach education workshop over two days. As Study 2 evaluated the IRFU-CEF intervention from a minimum dose perspective, the intervention delivery was altered and reimplemented (Study 3), where coaches received multiple education episodes throughout the 33-month observation period (inclusive of the Covid-19 pandemic). These education episodes included workshops, webinars, reflective practice tasks, access to video footage, and access to hard/soft copy educational resources related to the IRFU-CEF. Across all three studies, participants were coaches (N = 15) and athletes (N = 138) from club (child, adolescent, and adult) and school (adolescent) teams. Coach behaviours and training session content were evaluated using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS). Coach perceptions were measured using the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) and further informed by interviews. Athlete perceptions of their coaches’ behaviours were measured via the Coaching Behaviour Scale for Sport questionnaire (CBS-S) and focus groups. Study 1 CAIS results revealed that all coaches utilised high levels of explicit behaviours (e.g., ‘instruction’) and displayed similar session time proportions for ‘Practice’, ‘Playing’, and ‘Management’ states. CART-Q and CBS-S results revealed positive perceptions between coaches and athletes for all teams. Study 2 results demonstrated that coaches increased ‘management’ and ‘feedback’ behaviours without altering session-state time proportions post-CEF. CART-Q and CBSS results revealed positive perceptions for both pre- and post-CEF. Following the revised IRFU-CEF delivery in Study 3, CAIS results demonstrated that coaches increased ‘direct management’ behaviours (e.g., providing rationales to their athletes relating to training content) and increased time proportion usage of ‘Management’ states in training sessions. Questionnaire, interview, and focus group results revealed positive coach-athlete perceptions pre- and post-CEF, with Covid-19 referenced as complicating framework implementation. As evidenced in the current research, the IRFU-CEF has the potential to positively impact coach behaviours/perceptions and athlete perceptions in future coaching contexts.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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