Positive youth development in swimming: clarification and consensus of key psychosocial assets

The purpose of this study was to gain a more cohesive understanding of the assets considered necessary to develop in young swimmers to ensure both individual and sport specific development. This two stage study involved (a) a content analysis of key papers to develop a list of both psychosocial skills for performance enhancement and assets associated with positive youth development, and (b) in-depth interviews involving ten expert swim coaches, practitioners and youth sport scholars. Five higher order categories containing seventeen individual assets emerged. These results are discussed in relation to both existing models of positive youth development and implications for coaches, practitioners and parents when considering the psychosocial development of young British swimmers

Strengthening ‘the foundations’ of the primary school curriculum

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Education 3-13 on 21 May 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03004279.2016.1185137.The low status of the foundation subjects (e.g. Music and Physical Education (PE)) in English primary schools is well documented. Using PE as an illustrative example, a thematic analysis of 51 PE trainee students’ assignments, based on their perceptions of a two-week experience in a primary school, highlighted a number of areas of concern (e.g. limited/inadequate preparation; insufficient teacher knowledge/confidence; variable/limited subject leadership and non-qualified teachers delivering the curriculum). The possibility of teachers, coaches and other external specialists learning collaboratively with and from each other within a community of practice/learning is proposed as one way of strengthening the foundation subjects within the primary school curriculum

Craft coaching and the ‘discerning eye’ of the coach

When Victorian and Edwardian coaches used the term ‘science’ they were generally referring to technique or to systematic training regimes, and traditional coaching practices, derived from experience, observations and intuition, maintained credibility long after physiologists began investigating sport. Scientists testing athletes at the 1928 Olympics concluded that all aspects of training should become subject to scientific scrutiny and British academics became increasingly involved as the values of amateurism gave way to a greater pragmatism with respect to international competition, resulting in physiologists assuming responsibility for traditional aspects of coaching practice. This article utilises two areas in which physiology has embedded itself into the coaching milieu, talent identification and the prevention of overtraining, to demonstrate that these issues had long been familiar territory to Victorian and Edwardian coaches and to suggest that the contribution of similar experienced and innovative coaches, utilising both explicit scientific and implicit craft knowledge, needs to be sustained in an age of scientific rationalism