Visual exploratory activity and practice design: Perceptions of experienced coaches in professional football academies

Eldridge, D., Pocock, C., Pulling, C., Kearney, P. E. and Dicks, M. (2022) Visual exploratory activity and practice design: Perceptions of experienced coaches in professional football academies. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1747-9541

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore: (a) football coaches’ perceptions of Visual Exploratory Activity (VEA) and (b) the practice activities designed by coaches believed to develop VEA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine coaches who held the UEFA A or B Licence in coaching football. All coaches worked in an English professional football club’s academy and held different coaching positions. Thematic analysis of the data identified three themes: Importance of VEA, Development of VEA and Delivery of VEA (e.g., practice design, visual aids, technology and questioning). The interviews revealed that all coaches hold VEA as an integral part of player performance yet are unsure of how to develop this behaviour. They deemed that VEA should be developed at a young age to enable players to reach an elite-level of performance. Despite these views, coaches did not feel that VEA should be a particular focus on individual sessions and believed the VEA behaviour would be drawn out from practices used by coaches. There were a range of activities (N = 33) discussed by the coaches when they were asked to draw and provide examples of practices that they would use to develop VEA. The percentage of planned practices that were deemed active decision-making activities (70%) was greater compared to non-active decision-making activities (30%). This study has implications for the planning and interventions coaches place on practices to develop VEA. Future research should consider investigating the impact different types of practice have on performers’ VEA.

Publication Type: Articles
Additional Information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Supplementary material: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/17479541221122412/suppl_file/sj-docx-1-spo-10.1177_17479541221122412.docx
Uncontrolled Keywords: Decision-making, practice design, skill, small-sided games, soccer
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports > GV711 Coaching
Divisions: Academic Areas > Institute of Sport > Research Theme > Enhancing Sport Performance
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Chris Pocock
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2022 12:56
Last Modified: 14 Apr 2023 09:49
URI: https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/6464

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