Exploring mini rugby union coaches’ perceptions of competitive activities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore volunteer rugby union coaches' perceptions of organized competitive participation during childhood. Participants were 202 under-9 (U9) mini rugby union coaches who had coached during the 2010/11 season. Coaches completed an internet-based survey, and cluster analysis was used to identify different groups based on attitudes towards the Rugby Football Union's (RFU) current rules and proposed changes to these rules. Three distinct groups were identified based on whether they wanted to maintain the status quo (Traditionalists); maintain some elements of structure (Moderates); or have a much less structured introduction to rugby (Radicals). In total, over three quarters of coaches favoured structured elements (early specialisation), while less than a quarter favouring a less structured game (late specialisation). Only the Radical's views matched those espoused by elite coaches (Thomas & Wilson, 2014) and U9 players themselves (Thomas & Wilson, 2015), raising several issues regarding coach education for player development during childhood. In the short term there are the difficulties of aligning disparate views of U9 player development via coaching for and during competitive games. This is further complicated by the challenges of enhancing the skills of thousands of volunteer coaches with limited experience, knowledge and expertise in coaching during childhood.

More than rugby: A scoping review of coaches in rugby

“…Forty-four of these studies reported male coaches (n = 44), 36,46,50,51,53,56,62,66–68,71,73,76,80,89,92–97,99–101,103–105,107–110,112,115,117–121,123–126,128 only three (n = 3) studies reported female coaches and 18 studies (n = 18) reported both male and female coaches in their studies. 29,32,35,38,39,55,57,58,60,65,70,72,84,87,90,113,114,130 Most of the studies focused on coaches within rugby union (n = 80, 76%) 18,29…”

“…Only 23 studies (n = 23, 22%) reported all demographic data. 29,35,46,48,51,57,58,60,66,67,73,80, 87,89,94,101,105,106,108,119,121,124,130 These data include rugby code cohort , sex of coaches , level of rugby , type of coach and level of coach . Table 2 shows the qualifications of the coaches in rugby union and rugby league.…”

“…Seventy-one studies reported on coach knowledge. 18,29–93,128–132 This theme was further divided into five sub-themes: Coaches’ injury prevention knowledge , coaches’ general injury knowledge , coaches’ concussion knowledge , coaches’ training knowledge and coaches’ doping knowledge .…”

“…Forty-four of these studies reported male coaches (n = 44), 36,46,50,51,53,56,62,66-68,71,73,76,80,89,92-97, 99-101,103-105,107-110,112,115,117-121,123-126,128 only three (n = 3) studies reported female coaches and 18 studies (n = 18) reported both male and female coaches in their studies. 29,32,35,38,39,55,57,58,60,65,70,72,84,87,90,113,114,130 Most of the studies focused on coaches within rugby union (n = 80, 76%) 18,29-42,44-55,57,58,61,63,69,70,73-80,82-90, 92-95,99-110,112,115-117,119,120,123,124,126-129,131 and rugby league (n = 14, 14%). 43,56,59,60,62,64,[66][67][68]71,81,91,121,125 The remainder of the studies focused on a combination of rugby cohorts (n = 4, 4%), [96][97][98]114 and only one study focused on rugby sevens (n = 1, 1%).…”

“…Forty-three studies reported on coaches' training knowledge. 18,29,31,36,37,40,[42][43][44][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][61][62][63][64][66][67][68][69][70]73,74,76,80,81,[85][86][87]89,90,92,93,128,131 Eight of these studies were based on rugby league. 43,56,62,64,[66][67][68]81 Coaches agreed that monitoring players are important for training.…”