european college of sport science

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
experience, the principles which guide his actions and the meaning of his behaviors (Jones, 2007; Jones et al., 2003). The aim of this
study was to identify the values and the references that guide Professor Percy Oncken, a Brazilian volleyball coach and winner of various
world-wide championships, in his work.
Methods: The research technique used was ’life stories’(Tierney, 2000). The data was collected by carrying out in-depth interviews and
non-participative observation. The technique used for data analysis was content analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The computer programme
of qualitative data analysis QSR NVivo 7 was used in coding the transcripts of the interviews.
Results and Discussion: Among the concerns that have followed his life-long career, we can highlight his great passion for his profession,
respect for athletes and determination when facing difficulties. In terms of ambitions, we can point out the will to do his best every day
and to one day train senior athletes. He regards difficulties that arise as being indispensable to a process of perfection. Having deprived
his family of his attention is what has distressed him the most. The most important moments of his career were when he achieved good
results and the ones that generate more suffering are those when he dismisses players from the national team. In terms of his social
intervention, he is concerned with permanently carrying out his work with great quality and fully developing athletes.
References
Janssen, J. & Dale, G. (2002). The seven secrets of successful coaches. Tucson, AZ: The Mental Game.
Jones, R. (2007). Coaching redefined: an everyday pedagogical endeavour. Sport, Education and Society, Vol. 12, nº 2, May, pp. 159-173.
Jones, R.; Armour, K. & Potrac, P. (2003) Constructing expert knowledge: a case study of a top-level professional soccer coach. Sport,
Education and Society, Volume 8, Issue 2, October, p. 213-229.
Orlick, T. (2008). In pursuit of excellence (4th Edition). U.K. Human Kinetics.
Potrac, P.; Jones, R. & Armour, K. (2002). ‘It’s all about getting respect’: the coaching behaviors of an expert english soccer coach. Sport,
Education and Society, Vol. 7, Nº 2, pp. 183-202.
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (second edition).
London: Sage Publications.
Tierney, W. (2000). Undaunted courage: life history and the postmodern challenge. In: Denzin, N. & Lincon, Y. (Eds), Handbook of Qualitative
Research (2nd ed.) (pp. 537-553). London: Sage Publications.
FORMER TRACK AND FIELD EXPERIENCES INFLUENCE BEGINNERS’ POLE VAULT LEARNING
VAGO, B., KOVÁCS, N., SZALMA, L., BENCZENLEITNER, O.
SEMMELWEIS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT SCIENCES
Introduction: One of the key points beginner pole-vaulters must deal with is whether their dominant hand is in consonance with their
opposite-side takeoff foot. This cross-dominance (CD) is an integral part of the vaulting technique. However, if an athlete is same-side
dominant (SD), e.g., a right-handed athlete uses the right foot for takeoff in long/high jump, he has to either use the non-dominant hand
for upper (dominant) grip on the pole, or execute the takeoff from the non-dominant leg. The objectives of this study were to gain information
of the participants’ subjective feelings about the effect of their former track and field experiences on the learning process, to investigate
the learners’ decisions on the bilateral hand/foot issue, and to highlight the chosen approach length of the run-up.
Methods
Ninety-one well-trained physical education university students (47 women and 44 men) participated in an eight-week/eight-lesson unit
on pole vaulting. None of the subjects had previous experience in this event, but all of them were proficient in relevant track and field and
gymnastic skills. During the lessons they participated in traditional learning drills, followed by commonly accepted short-approach (4-6-8-
10 running strides) vault attempts, and finally, a short-approach pole vault competition (8-10 running strides).
Besides registering their vaulting results, a questionnaire was administer in order to find out the subjects’ opinion about the relationships
between their learning progression and initial motor skills in track and field and gymnastics, their decision on the dominancy of
hand/foot, and their preferred approach length.
Results: By the end of the eight weeks the women averaged 2.10+-0.17m, men’s average result was 236+-0.20m. Fifty percent of the
subjects indicated that their former high jump experience had the greatest positive intertask transfer on their learning progression.
The long jump was named as the most important even by 38.9% of subjects. In addition, 83.3% of the subjects appointed jumping ability
to be more important than gymnastic abilities. Twenty-three participants were SD, but only 4 reported difficulties choosing the takeoff footupper
hand combination. Eighteen (78.3%) of SD decided to change their hand position and to do the takeoff from their long/high jump
takeoff foot in order to obtain the proper technique, while 5 (21.7%) performed the takeoff from their non-takeoff foot. The majority of the
subjects (61.5%) felt the 8 strides as the most effective length for their approach, while others (20.9% and 15.4%) preferred 6 and 10
strides, respectively.
BECOMING A GOOD COACH
HEMMESTAD, L., STANDAL, Ø.
NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF SPORT SCIENCES
Good coaching does not necessary mean good, in the sense of an effective and successful coach who receives good results. Good can
also be viewed as doing what is morally right.
It is argued that sports coaching should be understood as an everyday encounter (Jones, 2007) where the practitioner is fully immersed
in the activity. This emphasizes the importance of the coach reacting to situational events, which comprises flexible adoptions to cognitive
anticipations and situational happenings.
Sports coaching then is viewed as a deliberate practice that is not only depended on facts and explicit coaching skills, but also of personal
judgements and decisions. Both the `how to coach´ text book recipes and much of the scientific knowledge which support coaches’
work builds on a technical means-to-an-end thinking. In this case the coach becomes a `technican´ expert. But, the means are not neutral
but value-laden and therefore interaction in sports coaching is thus not a neutral process of applying means to ends, but should
rather be viewed as a value-laden practice´. For example considering a few examples:
1. In many instances, the coach makes decisions in an ethical twilight zone where the performance of the individual athlete and the team
must be balanced with the well-being of the athlete.
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