Community Junior Sport Coaching final report - 2009

Chapter 5
Conclusions and Recommendations
This final chapter of the report presents the conclusions of the research project in relation to the
outcomes and objectives of the study. It also presents other interesting findings from an analysis of
the results. The recommendations of the project are presented followed by guidelines for effective
junior training sessions. Finally future research is suggested.
Objectives of the research as guided by the Project Steering Committee
The aim of the research was to conduct an investigation to develop a deeper understanding of the
makeup of junior Rugby League and Rugby Union coaching sessions. Specifically the research
revolved around the six objectives as outlined by the project steering committee. Each objective of
the research is presented below.
1. Determine the proportion of time junior coaches spend organising their players
To measure the proportion of time junior coaches spend organising their players the study used
two instruments; the SOFIT tool and systematic video observation. The agreement percentage
between the two instruments in relation to the amount of time coaches spend organising their
players was high at 95.1%. The proportion of time that junior coaches spend organising (or
managing) their players is 13% or 7.1 minutes. This is similar to the time high school coaches are
reported to spent on management but less than that reported at the college and professional
level (< 6.5%). Reducing this time will create further opportunities for players to be engaged in
play or practice activities.
2. Determine the proportion of time junior coaches spend instructing their players
The proportion of time that junior coaches spend instructing their players is 48% or 26.4
minutes. Pre-instruction and concurrent instruction each accounted for 14.3% of the training
session and were ranked equal second as the most dominant individual behaviours displayed by
junior coaches. On average junior coaches gave pre-instructions on 15 occasions throughout a
training session. The effectiveness of pre-instructions and concurrent instructions must be
questioned considering the lengthy duration of each ‘instruction’. This suggests that coaches
may be long-winded, over prescriptive and continually ‘telling’ and ‘correcting’ their players
during training sessions.
3. Determine how active players are during a coaching session
The amount of time that Under 10 rugby players were engaged in moderate to vigorous levels
of physical activity was measured using the SOFIT instrument. Results from the study found that
during an average 55 minute training session players were involved in MVPA for 82% or 45.1
minutes. A further breakdown of this reveals players are:
Sitting for 2.2 minutes (4%)
Standing for 7.7 minutes (14%)
Walking for 22.5 minutes (41%)
Jogging for 15.9 minutes (29%)
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