Roundtable Discussion | Coaching development.
Contributors: Brendyn B Appleby 1,2, Darren Burgess PhD 3,
Julian Jones 4, Stuart McMillan 5 and Jeremy Sheppard PhD 6
Julian Jones 4, Stuart McMillan 5 and Jeremy Sheppard PhD 6
1Australian Institute of Sport, Perth.
2Hockey Australia, Perth.
3Port Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide.
4Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
5World Athletics Center, Phoenix.
6Surfing Australia, Casurina.
2Hockey Australia, Perth.
3Port Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide.
4Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
5World Athletics Center, Phoenix.
6Surfing Australia, Casurina.
Qualifications are undoubtedly an important requirement for a S&C coach. Currently, the choices for avenues to learn are widespread with options including certification courses in a variety of areas and mediums from under- and post-graduate university courses to on-line and “gym-floor” practical experience – the variety is endless. Despite the unquestionable requirement to possess a sound grasp of the basics of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics, there exists a range of skills outside of these areas that are critical for success in S&C.
The following article represents thoughts from a select group of coaches, with experiences in individual sports (track and field, swimming and surfing) and team sports such as soccer, Australian Rules football and rugby union. Together, these S&C professionals have a combined experience in excess of 100 years of coaching at the elite level. The coaches who contributed to this article were approached via email enquiring about their interest in contributing. Logistically, it was not possible to have a traditional “roundtable”, so the questions were emailed and responses compiled (unedited) into this article. Whilst all coaches have reviewed the final article, they were initially blinded to the replies from other authors whilst compiling their own answers, which makes the commonalities in their responses quite noteworthy.