Sports coaching research creates a comprehension and knowledge accumulation of what coaches are doing (Gilbert & Trudel, 2004). Systemic observation has become a methodology that is recognized. Coach observation has led to a wealth of coach behaviour data and what coaches are doing (Cushion et al., 2012). This research is to
2
examine how sessions are conducted by football coaches who had recently completed the English Football Associations UEFA A licence coaching course. It will catalogue and comprehend the underlying procedures of thinking behind the strategy of a coach to deliver training sessions for a group of youth football players, within the professional game. The research will use a blended approach of techniques, combining systematic observations using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS) (Cushion et al., 2012). The aim is to examine the coach during ordinary club coaching sessions, as well as use simulated recall interviews to collect further details on the underlying thought process of the coach. This mixed-method approach will provide context for the systematic observation data. The stimulated recall interviews will be used in this study to investigate the coaching philosophy of the participant and questions will aim to give the systematic observation information extra depth. The results of the descriptiveanalytical information produced by the cognitive investigations generally identified favourable improvements, although not statistically significant. The findings of this study are discussed in-line with the existing coach behaviour literature.