Summary of the impact

Since the 1990s, academics at the University have focused on coaching and coach education as a key area of interest, and have had substantial impacts on practice within these areas through an on-going process of research, dissemination and engagement. Through intrinsically applied work, the group initially employed an interdisciplinary approach to the development of the academic curriculum to train coaches and other sports practitioners through under- and postgraduate programmes. However, as engagement with practicing coaches increased, the approach increasingly moved from sport pedagogy aspects of coach education towards examining the cultural and historical perspectives of this practice, and into the psychosocial elements of coaching practice. Through a nexus of research and engagement, the group has directly influenced coaching standards and guidelines, and stimulated improvements in practice and practitioner debate. In particular, this has led to impact on UK coach education provision, for example through development of accredited coach education programmes for two national coaching agencies SportsCoachUK and the Football Association by members of the interdisciplinary research team.

Summary of the impact

This case study examines the impact of a series of research articles on coach-athlete interactions. This research has been used in the development of training courses/educational materials, for example the FUNdamentals courses ran by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, and for bespoke training sessions such as the Scottish Institute of Sport's Coaching Matters series. Additionally, it has been disseminated to larger coaching groups as lay summaries/guidelines published in sport specific magazines such as Athletics Weekly and Cycle Coach. The case is made that this research has been widely disseminated and has had discernible impact on sports coaching practices.

Summary of the impact

Our research has transformed UK and international thinking, policy and practice in sport coaching. The result is an emerging international consensus on sport coaching as a blended profession encompassing a segmented workforce with defined coaching roles. We have had a significant impact on UK and international sport coaching systems, coach development, education and qualifications. Our research work has impacted on more than 30 countries, and directly on the work of at least 26 international agencies and sporting bodies, directly enhancing the lived experiences of many thousands of coaches, participants and performers.

Summary of the impact

The research cited addresses the socio-pedagogical and psychological aspects of sports coaching. It has directly impacted policy and effective practice within elite sports clubs and National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) in the UK and abroad. Evidence of impact relates to coping effectiveness and stress management within elite level rugby (Rugby Football League, Rugby Football Union) and golf (English Golf Union, Professional Golfers' Association) contexts. Further afield, the socio-pedagogical research has informed core facets of progressive coach education initiatives, such as those delivered by the Gaelic Athletics Association, the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre, and High Performance Sport New Zealand.

Summary of the impact

The Football Association (FA) now incorporates player-centred evaluations of international tournaments into its policy as a result of longitudinal research at Loughborough University aimed at raising the profile and application of psychological principles in youth football. In addition, FA coaching award courses and coach development courses have integrated a specific focus on core psychological factors (known as the 5C's), and these have been promoted by the FA to their 14,900 licensed coaches and 20,587 Twitter followers worldwide. These principles have also been adopted and embedded within English professional club academy programmes. Further to this, research conducted within coaching behaviour has resulted in the development and marketing of coach behaviour analysis software that has been sold to professional youth academies and is integral to coach development initiatives.

Summary of the impact

The applied research generated has targeted practitioners and athletes at all levels, and by combining expertise and knowledge from different areas (primarily Biomechanics and Physiology), aimed to directly influence the way in which muscle function is assessed in competitive sports. The studies in the area of muscle conditioning and function has generated a body of work that has the potential to be useful to coaches both in competition as well as in training, but to date has not been fully realised. By examining how the muscle responds to certain stimuli, training suggestions have been provided that can acutely increase the performance of an athlete, for example conditioning stimuli prior to athletics performance (reference 4 in section 3). These suggestions can assist both in improving the competitive performance as well as in improving the quality of the content and experience of training sessions.

Further, evaluating a range of tests and assessment tools, such as by examining their validity and reliability, monitoring and assessment becomes much more accurate and sport-specific, enabling high-quality training (such as in reference 2, section 3). In addition, as these assessments allow testing to take place within the training and performance environment the performer is accustomed to (such as in reference 6, section 3), they also result in minimal disruption of the training programme, which cannot be achieved using traditional assessment techniques which require a visit to a laboratory for the assessment to take place.

The range of applicability of the research to support uptake of the recommendations and resultant training and performance benefits has been maximised by ensuring the suggestions and equipment used are low cost and easily accessible, enabling coaches and athletes from a wide range of performance levels to utilise them, such as functional tests (such as in reference 5, section 3). The work has highlighted that coaches and athletes need to reassess their approaches to measuring performance and specific measurement techniques used, and that doing so can improve training techniques and athletic performance.

Summary of the impact

Our research led to the creation of Football4Peace (F4P), which is a vehicle for conflict resolution and peace building in divided societies. By challenging cultural prejudice F4P has transformed passive citizens into active ambassadors for peace. More than 8,000 children, 595 coaches and many community leaders have participated in F4P projects during the census period, generating political discourse in the community and in governments up to ministerial level. Innovative community relations research in the context of Northern Ireland's peace process led to the development of the F4P initiative. Subsequently it changed the policies of sporting organisations in Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Ireland, South Africa and South Korea.

Summary of the impact

This case study describes impact from research conducted by Howard Hall into motivational processes underpinning disaffection, debilitation and burnout in youth sport. The conceptual foundations and empirical evidence generated from this research helped inform the design of a large-scale intervention, involving eight European partners, who each implemented a community-based coach education program promoting psychosocial development and healthy lifestyles among children. As a consequence of the intervention, significant impact has been realised through the training of coach educators, delivery of workshops to community coaches, production of coaching resources, exchanges with FA staff and discourse among stakeholders about revisions to coaching practice.