Sport Psychology, Education and Coaching Research Group: Research

Using a Natural Curriculum approach to develop outdoor learning within Physical Education and to enhance wellbeing and engagement with the natural environment.

The project is being led by Dr Avril Rowley and Ceri Magill and will explore the Natural Curriculum approach to outdoor learning in PE. Through this, LJMU PE students will develop their subject knowledge and skills to facilitate outdoor learning within a PE environment. LJMU PE students will further support project staff in the delivery of practical workshops to secondary schools pupils and develop teaching and learning resources for secondary school PE teachers.

Staff: Dr Avril Rowley, Ceri Magill

Collaborating Organisations: Woodchurch High School

Dr Nicola Robinson from the School of Sports Science was awarded QR Policy Support Funding from the impact team last year (2022), to enhance their research capacity in support of the emerging concept of Para-Pentathlon sports. This initiative was backed by the National Governing Body PentathlonGB and the International Federation Union of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM). The primary goal of the research was to investigate the development of Para-Pentathlon, a new addition to the pentathlon sports family. The study focused on attracting para-athletes, enhancing their engagement, organizing events, and understanding athlete perspectives, all with the ultimate aim of achieving inclusion in future Paralympic Games. This project aligned with Pentathlon GB's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion strategy, shaping policies for inclusive sports and fostering international partnerships based on research findings. Initial events have been hugely successful. Dr Robinson presented the raw findings to the UIPM Para Commission last week and is now writing some key policy and guideline documentation for other National Federations including GB. The UIPM are also supporting her to attend the International Paralympic Committee VISTA conference in Egypt this November (2023).

Staff: Dr Nic Robinson, Danny Cullinane

Collaborating Organisations: Union International Federation of Pentathlon Modern, Pentathlon GB

“The state of play of small-sided games”

Small-sided games are training formats derived from the official match and aim to replicate the football demands. It’s a proven training tool to provide an adequate physical, technical, and tactical training stimulus to football players. It fits in any training program, regardless of age, gender, playing level, and even sport. It creates a learning environment with a meaningful context of the match. Previously, Dr Sigrid Olthof completed her PhD on the representativeness of small-sided with the official match.

In this project, we survey coaches’ use and knowledge of small-sided games, and we monitor the small-sided games across a season. We address the following aims:

• Capture current understanding and knowledge of small-sided games
• Determine the applications of small-sided games in football practice
• Identify where coaches have obtained knowledge from about small-sided games.

Staff: Dr Sigrid Olthof, Dr Stephen McQuilliam, Dr Colin Lewis, Dr Tabo Huntley, James Bush, Dr Amy Whitehead

The LaserRun Project is looking at developing coach education knowledge around the technical and tactical elements of the Laser Run discipline in Modern Pentathlon. We will be utilising an interdisciplinary approach to the data collection covering biomechanics, physiology and psychology. Currently recruiting athletes!

Staff: Dr Nic Robinson, Dr Joe Causer, Dr Amy Whitehead

Collaborating Organisations: Pentathlon GB

More information: please email Dr Nic Robinson

The Caring Culture project is an example of Dr Colum Cronin's care research. This project is running alongside UK Coaching. We are exploring Care within sport coaching, specifically how coaches experiences of care and how organisations can care for coaches. This study hopes to understand how coaches can experience care in their everyday situated lives. In doing so, the project will:

• identify the needs of coaches
• provide a baseline assessment of coaches’ perceptions of care
• help seeking strategies across four coaching domains

Data has been collected through a survey with over 300 respondents and through interviews with a number of sport coaches.

Staff: Dr Colum Cronin, Dr Amy Whitehead, Dr David Tod, Dr Fran Champ, Dr Gus Ryrie. Dr Colin Lewis, Dr Tabo Huntley, Amy Hardwick (Dr Fieke Rongen, Leeds Beckett University)

Collaborating Organisations: UK Coaching

Dr Amy Whitehead submitted an impact case study for REF 2021 on her research that uses the Think Aloud method to develop coach reflection. Amy has developed the Think Aloud Programme which has impacted 375 coaches, mentors and coach educators and adopted by the England Football Association (FA), Rugby Football League (RFL) and UK Coaching. The FA Regional Mentor Manager stated, “The TA programme has helped the mentors realise the benefit of reflection, it has given them another tool in the tool box for reflection and perhaps more importantly, it has actually improved their understanding of reflection because it’s about the why. Why do I reflect? So they can actually make some adjustments or challenge their thinking or actions and it helps the mentor go on and help the coach or the person they’re working with. The impact of this research is that it has improved the mentor-coach relationship, the mentors communicate more effectively with their mentee coaches which in turn has improved the coaches we work with.”

Amy is also currently developing a Think Aloud resource for Sport and Exercise psychologists is current leads the Think Aloud Research Group, funded by the British Psychology Society. She has also recently created a series of resources for UK Coaching providing guidelines on how coaches can use Think Aloud within their practice.

Staff: Dr Amy Whitehead, Dr Tabo Huntley, Dr Colum Cronin, Prof Zoe Knowles, Dr Gus Ryrie, Dr David Tod, Steven Vaughan, Dr Hayley McEwan (University of West Scotland), Dr Phil Birch (University of Chichester), Dr Trish Jackman (University of Lincoln), Dr Laura Swettenham (International Federation of Esports Coaches).

Collaborating Organisations: UK Coaching, England Football Association, Rugby Football League, British Psychology Society (Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology)

Resources

• Using Think Aloud for Reflection and Learning
• Introduction to Think Aloud
• Video of Amy’s presentation at the Ontario Coaches Conference

Kelly Massey has been involved in the “Experiences of Pregnancy on the World Class Programme: Athlete Partner Research”, which started in early 2023. Researchers in the group have recently published a report, the findings of which are based on a qualitative interview study with 10 Olympic and Paralympic athlete partners on, or recently retired from, the WCP. The research was conducted by staff at Loughborough University and Kelly Massey from Liverpool John Moores University, in collaboration with UK Sport and was designed to extend the empirical insights on athlete pregnancy experience on the WCP to inform UK Sport’s pregnancy guidance.

The report indicates that athletes face significant challenges as they balance WCP commitments with supporting their partner prenatal and postpartum with implications on athlete health and wellbeing, performance outcomes and equitable practice. The findings highlight that there are shared experiences between athlete partners and female athletes who start a family whilst on the WCP that proceed from cultures of organisational practice in relation to family planning and pregnancy support. Importantly, the report highlights opportunities for the development of athlete partner support and provision.

Collaborating Organisations: UK Sport

More information: Research Report

Community sport coaches are pillars of their sporting communities and essential to positive sporting experiences for people in ‘grassroots’ settings. Yet, for many of them, coaching can become a burden that is difficult to maintain without support. In response, our collaboration with UK Coaching and the University of Northumbria seeks to support community sport coaches by connecting them with colleagues in their organisations, appreciating and sharing the knowledge within their groups, and developing a structure of workshops to support sport coaches. To do so the project seeks to develop a ‘ground up’ approach to coach learning, empower ‘coaching leaders’ in sport organisations, and wrap a community of supportive peers around coaches. To achieve this the project will develop, deliver and evaluate appreciative inquiry workshops to be delivered in person, and online across sporting communities.

Staff: Dr Colum Cronin, Dr Amy Whitehead, Dr Justine Allen (Northumbria University), Dr Reece Chapman (Northumbria University), Dr Adam Nichol (Northumbria University)

Collaborating Organisations: UK Coaching, Northumbria University

“Closing the physical and cognitive attainment gap for early years children through a home-based, gamified stability skills intervention: a pilot study” 

A 12 week gamified intervention based on developing stability skills of 4-5 year old children. Children work with their parents to complete 24 challenges within 6 missions based in a space adventure story arc. Children are assessed on certain physical, cognitive and affective aspects. If effective, it is hoped to create a free resource for families and schools to use.

Staff: Dr Katie Fitton-Davies, Professor Mike Duncan and Dr Sam Clarke (Coventry University, Professor James Rudd (Norwegian School of Sport Sciences)

Collaborating Organisations: Coventry University, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences

The ParaCoach was an Erasmus Plus funded project, led by staff at LJMU, aimed at enhancing the learning, mobility and employment of para coaches across the EU, through the development of a number of outputs: a Para-Disability European Sport Coaching Framework, ParaCoach Work Force Audit, Best Practice Case Studies, Free Massive Open Online Course and the ParaCoach website.

Staff: Dr Tabo Huntley, Dr Amy Whitehead, Dr Gus Ryrie, Dr Colum Cronin, Amy Hardwick (Dr Charlotte Williams, UCLAN)

Collaborating Organisations: The International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE); European Paralympic Committee (EPC); Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF); Institute of Sport Poland (ISP); Hungarian Paralympic Committee (HPC), The Immersive Learning Studio

Find out more information on the Paracoach website.

Resources

• Workforce Audit Report
• eLearning Course

Workforce audit and eLearning course

Our collaboration with Special Olympics came to fruition through the ParaCoach Project. We conducted a workforce audit and follow-up interviews with Special Olympics coaches which aided the development of the ‘Introduction to Coaching Developmental Sports’ eLearning Course. The aim was to provide an evidence based understanding of the coaching workforce in order to inform policies and practice of Special Olympics. 

Staff: Dr Tabo Huntley, Dr Amy Whitehead, Amy Hardwick

Collaborating Organisations: Special Olympics, The Immersive Learning Studio

Resources: Special Olympics International Workforce Audit

Underpinned by a new logic model developed in collaboration with Warrington Youth Rowing Club in 2021, this qualitative study seeks to explore key stakeholders’ experiences and perceptions of the influence the Warrington Youth Rowing Club’s school’s rowing programme on student’s physical, mental, social, and scholastic wellbeing and performance. It is using focus groups and interviews to collect data from youth rowers, rowing coaches and coordinators, teachers and head teachers, and parents/guardians.

Staff: Dr David Todd, Scott Whitfield, Danny Cullinane, Milly Blundell, Cath Walker

Collaborating Organisations: Warrington Youth Rowing Club