The aim of this article is twofold. First, it is to advance the case for activity theory (AT) as a credible and alternative lens to view and research sports coaching. Second, it is to position this...

A poster outlining the research interests of the MeAT research group.

The author's post-print is to be made available in this repository from March 2018.

This investigation has attempted to reveal the processes by which expert rugby union coaches determined match strategy for particular matches, the knowledge that facilitated this decision-making and how the coach acquired and developed this knowledge. Such enquiry was deemed important due to two factors: firstly the apparent centrality of the Coach's strategic direction of his team's performance to the pursuit of competitive success. Also a strong positive relationship postulated by several researchers, between expertise and the nature and effectiveness of the (...) practitioner's decision-making, suggests that understanding of that practitioner's decision-making processes is critical to an understanding of the nature of his or her expertise. Inductive analysis of in-depth interviews with five expert rugby union coaches suggested that the Coach's strategic preparations for competition included five major concepts, the Coach's game philosophy, the generation of match strategies, match preparation, performance evaluation, and the knowledge and skills facilitating strategic direction. A significant influencing concept in decision-making was the Coach's game philosophy, an abstract knowledge structure that represented how he would like his team to play if it was not subject to the constraints of its own ability and the likely effect of the opposition's efforts. The Coach's particular match strategies represented a compromise of his game philosophy imposed by these two factors, his perception of his own team's ability to facilitate the game philosophy. The game philosophy informed the Coach's match preparations and performance evaluation, both of his own team and future opposition. It was a function of the Coach's experience, both personal and vicarious, and this study attempted to explain its acquisition and development in terms of a theory from mainstream cognitive psychology. Implications for coach education were identified that suggested coach education programmes should provide a broad range of opportunities for developing coaches to challenge themselves in strategic problem-solving situations; only through this experience will the Coach develop a game philosophy that is both personal and strategically effective. (shrink)

Sensation is recognized by epistemology as one of the sources of knowledge, alongside memory, testimony, reason, induction and introspection, but this has not always been the case. It is a defining feature of modern epistemology that the senses provide valuable information about the world that cannot be reached through reason alone. However, because the senses can have an intensity and uniqueness that is difficult to describe, it is sometimes not entirely clear what they offer as knowledge, or even whether epistemology (...) has a secure and adequate grasp of them. This chapter explains some of the key theories of sensation in the history of epistemology, from ancient Greece to the present day, and shows how competing views of the relation between philosophy and science inform contemporary ideas about the senses. (shrink)

Establishing a professional philosophy is important in determining effective service delivery. Research in applied sport psychology has identified some components of the development process. This article aims to further understand the development of practitioners‟ professional philosophies by focusing upon critical experiences. Interviews were the chosen method of data collection, and focused on times of training and career following training, and explored the role as a supervisor. Results revealed 20 higher-order and 48 lower-order themes. Three key areas in development included exposure, (...) education, and background. This study highlights factors key to the development of professional philosophy whilst noting the differences between obvious and subtle critical experiences that influence this. Educational and training institutions, supervisors, and applied practitioners, can use this knowledge to promote successful development of professional philosophies and effective service delivery. (shrink)

Paper presented at the Wearable Futures Conference, University of Wales, Newport. The conference was coordinated by the Smart Clothes and Wearable Technologies research centre.

This paper explored PE teachers’ philosophies regarding competition and its effective utilization in secondary schools. The PE teachers in question consisted of three male and three female participants, all of which derived from comprehensive secondary schools. The participants had a mean age of 31.5 years and a mean of 8.8 years teaching experience. A qualitative research methodology was adopted through the use of semistructured interviews, all of which lasted between 19 and 32 minutes. The interviews incorporated questions associated with Epstein’s (...) (1989) TARGET teaching structures which are grounded in achievement goal theory research. Data obtained from the interviews were analysed through both inductive and deductive procedures. Findings revealed that individual teaching philosophies are not necessarily transferred into their respective teaching environments. It was also found that participants were divided with regards to whether the national curriculum has influenced their philosophies. Furthermore, the study found that overall the SSG has had a positive effect, although no attention has been paid to its ethos or the guides. The major finding however, was that participants were not consistently delivering competition in ways that are motivating for the learners. Therefore this study suggests that it is perhaps the inconsistent or ineffective delivery of competition that brings to life the problems associated with its inclusion in physical education. Future research could be directed towards understanding whether teaching philosophies or the structure of competitive lessons are responsible for pupils perceiving teaching environments as either task or ego orientated. (shrink)