This paper outlines the findings from a qualitative investigation of the perceptions about, and strategies of, effective coaching leadership within three male Australian professional team sport contexts. Data collection involved semi-structured observations and interviews with coaches and players from professional cricket, rugby union and rugby league teams at training and competition venues in Australia. Data analysis revealed three major properties that underpin perceived effective coach leadership—(1) Develop a personalised approach, (2) Delegate responsibilities and (3) Decision-making. The findings showed that coaches in these professional sport settings possessed their own personal approach to leadership, yet develop a leadership style that resonates with the ideals of support staff and players. The results also demonstrated how a player-centred approach to coach leadership was more highly valued than the traditional, coach-centred approach within these professional contexts. The implications for coaching practice are discussed in relation to previous leadership and coaching literature.
Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess are pervasive and enduring perceptions. This rhetoric belongs to a larger narrative that also describes a peculiarly Aboriginal style of play: full of flair, speed and ‘magic’. Such imagery has informed a common perception that, in many team sports, Aboriginal athletes are biologically more suited to playing positions characterised by pace, trickery and spontaneity, rather than those that utilise leadership acumen and intellectual skill. There has been a great deal of academic research exploring how such essentialised and racialised representations play out for Aboriginal athletes. In this paper, however, we extend that research, examining how racialised representations of Aboriginal athletic ability affect Aboriginal coaches. Premised on interviews with 26 Aboriginal Australian coaches, we argue that representations of Aboriginal athletes as naturally suited to speed and flair, rather than leadership and sporting-intellect, help maintain an environment that limits opportunities for Aboriginal Australians seeking to move into sporting leadership roles, such as coaching. This paper sheds light on the ways in which racialised representations of Aboriginal athletes feed into a settler colonialist narrative that stymies opportunities for aspiring Aboriginal professional coaches, and speculates on the limitations of this approach, in challenging the political hegemony of settler colonialism.
Background Issues of social justice require the understanding and intervention of teachers across all subject areas. Teachers must be positioned to uphold fairness for all individuals in their classes while considering the disparities of wealth, opportunities, and social privileges that may impact the student experience. This paper explores the challenges and benefits of choosing transformative teaching methods when preparing preservice teachers to adopt socially just teaching practices. In the study, the experiences of four student participants, shared through autobiographical narrative inquiry, help us to better understand how transformative teaching modalities might best be applied in the Physical and Health Education Teacher Education (PHETE) context to assist student understanding of, and engagement with, social justice concepts.Study aims: The purpose of the study was to (1) better understand how PHETE students experienced transformative teaching methods in the post-secondary classroom, and (2) learn about student tensions, challenges, and successes felt whilst learning through this novel approach.Methods The study uses narrative inquiry methodology to engage with the individual and shared experiences of participants. Drawing on four preservice teachers’ narratives, our study brought to life the struggles PHETE educators and students face in confronting the hardwired ‘rules of school’ in university contexts.Results Strong theoretical underpinnings for our methods did not entirely liberate students from their institutional understanding of learning and achievement. However, students did show greater critical awareness once they felt acknowledged as having individual agency.Conclusion Our findings expose the shift in student perceptions of PHETE instruction to appreciate more reflexive methods and transformative pedagogies. They signal opportunities for larger institutional shifts, like removing rigid assessment structures which undermine the theories we’re implementing.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important marker of childhood health and low fitness levels are a risk factor for disease later in life. Levels of children's fitness have declined in recent decades. Whether school-based physical activity interventions can increase fitness at the population level remains unclear.
Objective
To evaluate the effect of an internet-based intervention on children's cardiorespiratory fitness across a large number of schools.
Design, Setting, and Participants
In this cluster randomized clinical trial, 22 government-funded elementary schools (from 137 providing consent) including 1188 students stratified from grades 3 and 4 in New South Wales, Australia, were randomized. The other schools received the intervention but were not included in the analysis. Eleven schools received the internet-based intervention and 11 received the control intervention. Recruitment and baseline testing began in 2016 and ended in 2017. Research assistants, blinded to treatment allocation, completed follow-up outcome assessments at 12 and 24 months. Data were analyzed from July to August 2020.
Interventions
The internet-based intervention included standardized online learning for teachers and minimal in-person support from a project mentor (9-10 months).
Main Outcomes and Measures
Multistage 20-m shuttle run test for cardiorespiratory fitness.
Results
Of 1219 participants (49% girls; mean [SD] age, 8.85 [0.71] years) from 22 schools, 1188 students provided baseline primary outcome data. At 12 months, the number of 20-m shuttle runs increased by 3.32 laps (95% CI, 2.44-4.20 laps) in the intervention schools and 2.11 laps (95% CI, 1.38-2.85 laps) in the control schools (adjusted difference = 1.20 laps; 95% CI, 0.17-2.24 laps). By 24 months, the adjusted difference was 2.22 laps (95% CI, 0.89-3.55 laps). The cost per student was AUD33 (USD26).
Conclusions and Relevance
In this study, a school-based intervention improved children's cardiorespiratory fitness when delivered in a large number of schools. The low cost and sustained effect over 24 months of the intervention suggests that it may have potential to be scaled at the population level.
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