“Active” and “Passive” Coach Pathways: Elite Athletes’ Entry Routes Into High-Performance Coaching Roles

This study sought to analyse the lived experiences of so-called “fast-tracked” coaches from men’s association football and rugby union by seeking to understand how these individuals prepared for and then transitioned into a post-athletic coaching career. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 male coaches. All participants were former elite athletes and had followed a fast-tracked pathway into their current post-athletic coaching roles. Participants were based in England and had retired from an athletic career within 12 months of being interviewed. Two general categories of “active” and “passive” coach pathways were identified for the career trajectory. Active coaches purposefully prepared for a coaching career during their athletic careers, whereas passive coaches did not. Passive coaches’ decisions to become a coach were often reactive and made after retiring from a competitive athletic career. Results indicate that only the career trajectory of passive coaches reflects a fast-track pathway. None of the active or passive coaches negotiated any formalised recruitment processes into their first post-athletic coaching roles. The suggestion is that prejudicial recruitment practices are enacted by senior club management which creates a homogenous coaching workforce. This furthers the need for greater governance of high-performance coach recruitment within England for these sports

An inductive exploration into the flow experiences of European Tour golfers

© 2014 Taylor & Francis. This study explored perceptions regarding the experience of flow in elite golf; a sport which is different to those studied previously due to its self-paced, stop-start nature. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 European Tour golfers. Whereas the majority of previous studies have deductively coded data into Csikszentmihalyi’s dimensions, the data in this study were analysed inductively. Thirteen categories were generated which described the flow experiences of these golfers, and these were compared with the original flow dimensions after analysis. In contrast to previous understanding, these golfers reported being aware that they were in flow as it occurred, and seemingly were able to manage their flow experiences. A category describing altered cognitive and kinaesthetic perceptions was also generated which was not accounted for in the existing flow framework, while the participants also suggested that flow was observable (e.g. through changes in behaviour). Findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature, and recommendations made for future research including possible revisions to the flow framework to better describe this experience within golf and other sporting contexts

Atmospheric turbulence and aircraft height-keeping accuracy

As a contribution to the study of vertical separation standards for use in air traffic control, an examination is made of the possiblllty of applying the spectral methods already used in gust load evaluations to the problem of determining the height-keeping errors caused by atmospheric turbulence. Although it is found that the data available on the low frequency components of atmospheric turbulence and on the nature of the control applied by the pilot, whether human or automatic, are not sufficient to allow an accurate estimation of these errors, it is concluded that they do not make a significant contribution to the total errors experienced. It is noted, however, that certain atmospheric phenomena lie outside the scope of the theory used here

Walking the walk: a phenomenological study of long distance walking

Evidence suggests that regular walking can elicit significant psychological benefits although little evidence exists concerning long distance walking. The purpose of this study was to provide detailed accounts of the experiences of long distance walkers. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six long distance walkers. Data were transcribed verbatim before researchers independently analyzed the transcripts. Participants reported a cumulative effect with positive feelings increasing throughout the duration of the walk. Long distance walking elicited positive emotions, reduced the effects of life-stress, and promoted an increased sense of well-being and personal growth. Results are aligned to theories and concepts from positive psychology

The Synthesis of 4-Ethyl-2-propyl-3-substitutedpyrrolo[ 3,4-b]quinoline-1,9-dione Derivatives from 3,3-Dichloro-4-ethyl-thieno[3,4-b]quinoline-1,9-dione and Propylamine

The preparation, spectral properties and structure elucidations of the hitherto undocumented 3-oxo-,  3-thioxo-, 3-propylimino-, 3-imino-, and 3-propylamino- derivatives of 4-ethyl-2-propyl-2,3-dihydro-pyrrolo[3,4-b]quinoline-1,9-dione are described. Mechanistic aspects relating particularly to the formation of the latter two unprecedented products are considered. Magnetic anisotropic effects (deshielding/line broadening of signals) are exhibited by the α-methylene protons of the 4-ethyl moiety in the 1H NMR spectra of the first four of the above, and in several 3,3-dichloro-thieno[3,4-b]quinoline-1,9-diones and intramolecular H-bonded, 1,2-dialkyl-4-oxo-3-quinolinecarboxylic acid precursor substrates.KEYWORDS: 3-Imino-, 3-propylamino-, 3-propylimino-, 3-oxo-, 3-thioxo-substituted 4-ethyl-2-propyl- 2,3-dihydro-pyrrolo[3,4-b]quinoline- 1,9-diones, 4-methyl-, 4-propyl-substituted-3,3-dichloro-thieno[3,4-b]quinoline-1,9-diones, intramolecular H-bonding, magnetic anisotropic effects

"They have to toe the line": A Foucauldian analysis of the socialisation of former elite athletes into academy coaching roles

The pathway between elite athlete and high-performance coach is common within English men’s rugby union and association football. To help develop as coaches, many elite athletes gain coaching experiences within male high-performance youth academies. The purpose of this article sought to gain an insight into the socialisation processes of current and former elite athletes within association football and rugby union amongst the socio-cultural context of England, and to identify why Academy Directors seemingly preferred to recruit current and former elite athletes as academy coaches. Semi-structured interviews with 11 Academy Directors were conducted. Results showed that the Academy Directors preferred to recruit their respective club’s current and former athletes as a means to govern their academy’s “club culture”. Foucault’s concepts of docility and discipline conceptualise how current and former elite athletes were judged to be more trustworthy to reproduce the academy culture in their coaching practices compared to external candidates

Staling in two canned lager beers stored at different temperatures from sensory analyses and consumer ranking

Two canned lagers, lager A (5% abv with late hop character) and lager B (4% abv) stored for 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days at 4, 12, 30 and 37°C were scored by trained sensory assessors (10) for liking and stale and related attributes of: cabbagy, cardboard, catty, grainy, honey, leathery, metallic, musty, skunky, and sour. Principal component analysis explained 80% data variance in 3 significant (p < 0.05) and 75% in 4 significant factors for A and B, respectively. In both lagers, aging correlated significantly with stale, cabbagy and musty and in A with metallic and sour and in B with catty and skunky. Partial least squares regression (PLS1) models showed good explanations: stale had regression coefficients of 0.88 (calibration) and 0.84 (validation) for A, and 0.96 and 0.91 respectively, for B; for liking 0.92 and 0.90 for A and 0.96 and 0.93 for B. For both lagers, liking was positively correlated with honey and grainy, and inversely with staling attributes. Lagers from 30°C were ranked for liking by 40 consumers against fresh as a hidden reference. Significant (p = 0.05) ranking of A, but not B, correlated with that of trained assessors