RESUMO
Within the domain of coach education researchers have long called for a paradigm shift, whereby the quality of coaching practice is no longer measured against a checklist of prescribed competencies. This desire to evolve coach education and development, has been aligned to the need to better identify, understand and utilise what adaptive skill and expertise looks, sounds and feels like across specific sport coaching contexts. This paper outlines a broader research plan for the Premier League to drive the progress of research informed practice, in turn shaping a coach development agenda focused on developing adaptive and skilful coaches within Academies. In turn, this is a core feature of the Premier Leagues institutional aim of developing the most skilful coaches in the world. However, in order to begin the process of initiating such a shift in the way things work, there is a need to seek first to understand, before being understood. Therefore, to demonstrate an evidence informed basis to this shift within coach education and development, we ask three questions; (1) Do we understand what the coaches with the highest level of expertise can do? (2) How should we identify coaches with expertise across different contexts? (3) What does coaching expertise research need to do? In answer to these questions, we present the lack of empirical investigation previously conducted in the sports coaching discipline to explore coaching expertise and draw on wider domains to offer possible capacities of skilful coaches who possess expertise. To identify coaches with expertise, coherent with the broader expertise literature, we suggest that this is best conducted via means of social validation. Finally, we offer a road map of investigation designed to explore expertise, formed of a mix of evidence informed methodologies which have not yet been utilised in sport coaching research.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Concussion in sport is an ongoing global concern. The head injury assessment (HIA) by the field of play is acknowledged as the first step in recognising and identifying concussion. While previous systematic literature reviews have evaluated the sensitivity of side-line screening tools and assessment protocols, no systematic review has evaluated the research designs and assessments used in a field setting. This systematic review investigated existing screening and diagnostic tools used in research as part of the HIA protocol to identify concussion that are currently used in professional, semi-professional and amateur (club) sports settings. METHODS: A systematic searching of relevant databases was undertaken for peer-reviewed literature between 2015 and 2020. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were of moderate to good quality, reporting a variety of designs. The majority of studies were undertaken in professional/elite environments with medical doctors and allied health practitioners (e.g., physical therapists) involved in 88% of concussion assessments. While gender was reported in 24 of the 26 studies, the majority of participants were male (77%). There was also a variety of concussion assessments (n = 20) with the sports concussion assessment tool (SCAT) used in less than half of the included studies. CONCLUSION: The majority of studies investigating concussion HIAs are focused on professional/elite sport. With concussion an issue at all levels of sport, future research should be directed at non-elite sport. Further, for research purposes, the SCAT assessment should also be used more widely to allow for consistency across studies.