Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Masters of Science (Research)

Department

SPORT, LEISURE & CHILDHOOD STUDIES

First Advisor

Dr. Con Burns

Second Advisor

Dr. Edward Coughlan

Abstract

Title: An evaluation of a novel Coach Education Programme on the knowledge and behaviours of a cohort of GAA academy coaches. Background: To positively impact coaching behaviour, it is important to be aware of coach’s current behaviours and practices. Limited research has examined the behaviours and practice of coaches within the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) context. This study therefore i) examined the current coaching behaviours and practices among a cohort of GAA academy coaches ii) evaluated the impact of an educational intervention on GAA academy coach’s knowledge and behaviours relative to the games based approach (GBA) content covered in the coach education programme. Methods: Participants were hurling or gaelic football coaches from a youth development academy system (N = 42) aged between 18 and 64 years. Coaching behaviours and practices were assessed using (i) an adapted version of a questionnaire previously used with inter-county Gaelic football coaches (Kinnerk, 2020), and (ii) analysis of coaching session plans submitted. The intervention consisted of a series of educational workshops (n = 6) between October and February 2022. Results: At baseline, coaches spent approximately 55.8% of their coaching sessions on playing-form activities (full-sided games, conditioned games, or applied skills practice), with a one-way ANOVA revealing no significant difference across the 4 groups based on years of coaching experience (p = 0.175). Regardless of coaching experience, coaches reported spending the most time on conditioned games (39.5%), followed by full-sided games (16.5%) and drills (12.3%). Post-intervention, a paired sample t-test revealed a significant increase in time spent on playing-form activities (p = 0.042), with a corresponding decrease in training-form activities (drills, conditioning, or isolated skills) (p < 0.001). The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test revealed that full-sided games were ranked significantly higher in value at follow-up compared to baseline (p < 0.001). Additionally, the percentage of coaches engaging in formal planning increased from 85.7% to 94.3%. Whilst the percentage of coaches engaging in formal reflection increased from 78.6% to 85.3%. Conclusion: Overall, the Coach Education Programme (CEP) led to a shift in coaching session emphasis, with coaches dedicating more time to playing-form activities. This provides some support for the CEP structure and design. Furthermore, this study reveals that future CEPs can be delivered to coaches with varying years of coaching experience as the current study revealed that coaches behave, and practice similarly, irrespective of coaching experience.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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