Heuristic reasoning and ‘armchair refereeing’: on the influence of example-availability on ad-hoc frequency judgments

Successful skill execution in many forms of sport-related task is demonstrably premised (to a great degree) upon an individual’s ability to evaluate an inherently uncertain context and make ‘pressurised decisions’ therein. In a moment-by-moment manner, players, officials and coaches make high-stakes judgements on the likely outcomes of various prospective courses of action, judgements which are themselves premised on practical assessments of what is happening at that time, and what has happened previously. Over the last forty years, a steadily expanding corpus of social cognitive research has documented at length how, when performing everyday reasoning tasks on-the-fly, individuals rarely (if ever) attempt – or indeed have the option of attempting – a comprehensive retrieval and examination of all potentially domain-relevant resources from social memory. More commonly, metacognitive ‘short-cutting’ strategies – judgemental heuristics – are employed to expedite these tasks. In terms of reasoning under conditions of contextual uncertainty, the most robustly demonstrated of these is the availability heuristic. First identified in a series of experimental studies in the early 1970s by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1973; 1974), this heuristic, in its most basic terms, describes the manner in which situated estimations of frequency or probability tend to be inducted from the germane information most cognitively salient to an individual, i.e. this order of judgement task is primarily informed by the task-relevant examples that can be easily recalled. This paper outlines an empirical study of such ‘snap judgements’ in sport, with particular focus on the operations and impacts of the availability heuristic. Drawing upon the video-based infraction detection method devised by MacMahon, Starkes, and Deakin (2007), the empirical focus of the study falls upon the judgements made by football fans during the ostensibly ‘non-participatory’ activity of watching sport on television. The central thesis herein is that if heuristic reasoning can be demonstrated to influence evaluation of events at this primordial site of sporting involvement, then the case for its investigation at all levels – and in all fields - of sporting activity will be substantially advanced

The cost of caring: Dave’s story

Dave’s story is an important narrative that explores how caring for athletes may reflexively influence the personal and social lives of coaches. The narrative begins by revealing some of the ways that coaches may care for athletes and their wider well-being. For example, Dave uses basketball as a vehicle to support athletes’ education. He also provides pastoral care to athletes with challenging family and social circumstances. This ‘labour’ can, however, be time consuming and emotionally intensive. Accordingly, caring for athletes can have significant negative consequences for coaches’ own personal and social lives. Readers may recognise Dave’s struggles to balance caring for athletes and a passion for sport with his family commitments. To aid readers in such positions, Dave’s story is analysed with reference to sociological literature on emotional labour and psychological literature on burnout. The combination of these literatures is novel and provides theoretical explanations relevant to the wider coaching community. Practical suggestions for coaches who may find caring to be an exhausting form of labour are also included, as are future implications for coach researchers and educators. Thus, the chapter provides an important case study that can impact coach development and coaching practice

Lifting the veil of depression and alcoholism in sport coaching: how do we care for carers?

The purpose of this article is to explore the insights of an elite sport coach living with comorbid depression and alcohol misuse. Such consideration is necessary because as coaching is increasingly repositioned as a caring activity the wellbeing of coaches themselves has rarely been considered. To address this gap, a narrative analysis methodology and a story telling approach was used to present the experiences of a case study coach (Steve). The story is derived from Steve’s own perspective and the perspective of his wife, Jane. This novel multi-voiced approach reveals the complex interplay between the sporting environment, Steve’s depression and his alcohol-related problems. In doing so, Steve’s story makes an original contribution by unveiling the issue of mental health in elite sport coaching. Steve’s story depicts the significant impact of depressive symptoms, coupled by excessive alcohol use on a coach, their personal life and their career. Using the work of Goffman and Sartre, the story alludes to how such symptoms can be hidden, to greater and lesser extents, from professional colleagues. This is an important theoretical contribution, because to care for coaches, colleagues, employers and health professionals will need to understand the needs of individuals such as Steve. Developing an open and supportive culture, which accepts that coaches are fallible, may however be a challenge within professional sport contexts

Teaching efficacy of undergraduate PE students; what are the key predictors and what can PE educators learn from this?

IntroductionTeaching efficacy describes the belief in a teacher's ability to promote learning and this belief is an invaluable asset for all teachers. This study examined the contextual influences that predict the teaching efficacy of first-year undergraduate PE students wishing to enter teacher training programs.MethodUsing a mixed methods study design, 168 PE students completed an online questionnaire and 16 of these participants took part in semi-structured focus groups. The data collection procedures investigated students' perceptions of PE teaching efficacy and examined students' awareness of how their involvement in PE or sports influenced their decision to study PE.ResultsTeaching experiences and role model influences were the key predictors of students' perceived PE teaching efficacy.DiscussionsWe recommend that higher education PE programs should facilitate theoretically informed reflective learning opportunities to enable students to understand and make sense of the impact of these key predictors. These opportunities will enable students to understand their starting point in PE teaching efficacy and identify the requirements to develop it. The study extends the existing literature by identifying the key predictors of PE teaching efficacy derived from the acculturation experiences of undergraduate PE students

Embedding experiential learning in HE sport coaching courses: An action research study

Despite recommendations imploring coach educators to utilise experiential learning, analyses of how this has been implemented are sparse. This study analyses the integration of experiential learning within a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) context. Student coaches were provided with coaching opportunities with local school-children. Data were collected over three years through student interviews, coach educator reflections and discussions with a critical friend. Experiential learning presented two key challenges; 1) dealing with difficult emotions and competence awareness by students and the coach educator; 2) ensuring children received appropriate coaching practice. The integration of mediated pedagogical strategies helped overcome these problems

Heuristic Reasoning and the Observer's View: The Influence of Example-Availability on ad-hoc Frequency Judgments in Sport

Drawing upon evidence from broader social psychology, and an illustrative study of frequency estimation during a simple, sport-specific observe-and-recall task, this paper makes the case for the more thorough investigation of the availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973) on practical state-of-play reasoning in largely observational sporting activities. It is argued that this evidence particularly substantiates a need for a more robust body of research in two primary domains: (a) the gatekeeping tasks pertinent (and usually preliminary) to an individual’s sporting performance such as talent scouting, team selection, and substitution decisions, and (b) the business of officiating in high-tempo environments

‘Being’ in the coaching world: new insights on youth performance coaching from an interpretative phenomenological approach

Since Heidegger's influential text; Being and time (1927/2005), the phenomenological question of what it means to ‘be’ has generated a vast body of work. This paper reports data from a phenomenological study that investigated what it means to ‘be’ a youth performance coach. An overview of the interpretive phenomenological methods used is followed by presentation of coaches and data. Data analysis resulted in the identification of three constituent ‘essences’ of youth performance coaching: (i) care; (ii) a commitment to educate athletes authentically for corporeal challenges to come; and (iii) working with others to achieve a specialised corporeal excellence. The three identified essences manifest themselves in a broad lifeworld that includes settings on and off the field of play (FOP). Given the very different insights into the practice of coaching that emerge from this study, we argue it would be useful for future studies of coaching practice and coach education to extend their focus to take into account coaches' wider lives both on and off the FOP. We also argue for further exploration of coaching by drawing on phenomenological concepts such as care and relationality

Skill Acquisition Methods Fostering Physical Literacy in Early-Physical Education (SAMPLE-PE): Rationale and Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in 5–6-Year-Old Children From Deprived Areas of North West England

Background: There is a need for interdisciplinary research to better understand how pedagogical approaches in primary physical education (PE) can support the linked development of physical, cognitive and affective aspects of physical literacy and physical activity behaviors in young children living in deprived areas. The Skill Acquisition Methods fostering Physical Literacy in Early-Physical Education (SAMPLE-PE) study aims to examine the efficacy of two different pedagogies for PE, underpinned by theories of motor learning, to foster physical literacy. Methods: SAMPLE-PE will be evaluated through a cluster-randomized controlled trial targeting 5–6 year old children from schools located in areas of high deprivation in Merseyside, North-West England. Schools will be randomly allocated to one of three conditions: Linear Pedagogy, Non-linear Pedagogy, or Control. Non-linear and Linear Pedagogy intervention primary schools will receive a PE curriculum delivered by trained coaches over 15 weeks, while control schools will follow their usual practice. Data will be collected at baseline (T0), immediately post-intervention (T1), and 6 months after the intervention has finished (T2). Children’s movement competence is the primary outcome in this trial. Secondary outcomes include physical activity, perceived competence, motivation, executive functions, and self-regulation. An extensive process evaluation will also examine implementation factors such as intervention context, reach, dose, fidelity and acceptability. Discussion: The SAMPLE-PE project will enable better understanding surrounding how to operationalise physical literacy through enrichment of PE practices in early PE. The study will provide robust scientific evidence regarding the efficacy of underpinning PE pedagogy with theories of motor learning to promote the development of physical literacy

Performance analytic processes in elite sport practice: an exploratory investigation of the perspectives of a sport scientist, coach and athlete

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of studies exploring the benefits of performance analysis both for sports and the sport sciences. Comparatively little empirical research exists, however, pertaining directly to the application and use of performance analysis. The aim of this paper is to explore the in-practice application of performance analysis. A sport scientist, an international coach and a former professional athlete, all having used performance analysis and unrelated to each other, were interviewed on their extensive experience in the use of performance analysis. The results indicated that, although the object and receiver of performance analysis process, the athlete is not included in the process itself, with the coach acting as the gatekeeper. An extrapolative argument is made with regards to the potential impacts of this practice, not least those on the motivation of the athlete