Richard Tinning The Big Idea The subject of this paper is what Richard Tinning calls “the idea of physical education.” In one form or another Tinning argues, physical education is universally familiar. As a cultural manifestation, we find it early on. In ancient Greece, it was institutionalized for the all-around education of male citizens. Since then, even if in fits and starts, wherever formal education in general is valued we find in one form or another a physical component attached to it. The question Tinning…
Latest Research
Stay up-to-date with key player development research. Our resident Professor, William A. Harper, breaks down research papers into simple, easy-to-read articles with takeaways for coaches.
Shalom H. Schwartz The Big Idea There could hardly be a bigger research goal than what this paper represents. In the last quarter of the 20th Century the nature and function of human values and the cross-cultural value comparisons between entire countries has attracted a fair number of international researchers. One of the more recent research efforts (M. Rokeach, 1973) was a cross-cultural Value Survey proposing 36 values thought to be “reasonably comprehensive and universally applicable.” Nonetheless, Rokeach also recognized that such a claim to completeness…
Keith Davids, Duarte Araújo, Vanda Correia, and Luis Vilar The Big Idea For this research reviewer, who is also an ex-youth soccer coach, occasionally there are uncomfortable moments arising from summarizing research papers for our PDP coaches and readers. This is one of those moments. You see, this paper essentially points out to modern youth football coaches the crucial differences between coaching the practice and coaching the game. We confess to this: Our personal coaching history is testimony to the weaknesses of traditional coaching practices. They were something…
Jonathon Headrick, Keith Davids, Ian Renshaw, Duarte Araújo, Pedro Passos, and Orlando Fernandes The Big Idea The time and path of a major storm ravaging parts of Europe can be influenced by the flapping wings of a butterfly in the Amazonian jungle (“the butterfly effect”). So too can small changes in the sub-phases of a non-linear dynamic system of a football game have big later-consequences on the outcome of the game. In other words, small causes may have larger, later effects. In this research paper,…
Duarte Araújo, Christina Fonseca, Keith Davids, Júlio Garganta, Anna Volossovitch, Regina Brandão, and Ruy Krebs The Big Idea Essentially, this publication is a position paper. The topic of the paper is the development of sport expertise. The more conventional understanding of the interactions between an individual and a specific performance environment is to seek explanations for such expertise based mostly on what is going on “inside” the player (referred to as “organismic asymmetry”). The less conventional understanding—and the position taken in this paper—is that too…
Values represent what we believe is important in life. In this article, Research Associate Hanna Eggestrand and PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan explore basic human values and how they can affect coaching, player development and the world around us. What do you think is important in life? Perhaps not surprisingly, what you value is likely to affect the way you coach, and the way you coach will spread values. Interestingly, research has found that the same values appear in a range of different cultures and…
Hugo Sarmento, Antonio Pereira, Maria T. Anguera, Jorge Canpanico, and Jose Leitao The Big Idea What separates this research paper on coaching football from so many coming before it is the decision of method. If you are looking for yet another theoretical and quantitatively-driven model of how coaches should coach football, keep looking. In this paper, the reader will certainly find a suggested model; but it is one that doesn’t depend on theory-building or statistics. Instead it is derived from the practices and reflective voices…
Pedro Passos and Keith Davids The Big Idea These authors, Passos and Davids, call their paper an “opinion piece.” Not so. It is an intelligent discussion of ecological dynamics played out in the learning of team sports through the interactive nature of the sport performance. Such interactions include those within the team and between the team and the opposing players. This dynamic continuously unfolds as players from both teams interact with constraints such as rules and boundaries, attempts at coordinating attacks and defenses and counter…
Some Costs of American Corporate Capitalism: A Psychological Exploration of Value and Goal Conflicts
Tim Kasser, Steve Cohn, Allen Kanner, Richard Ryan The Big Idea It might seem from the title of this research discussion on American corporate capitalism that it might have little relevance for the interests of our loyal Player Development Project readers. Well, if you give this summary a go you will likely change your mind. If one thinks a bit about the values and goals of corporate capitalism, it is impossible to ignore what has mysteriously become something of “the elephant in the room” in…
Dan P. McAdams and Jennifer L. Pals The Big Idea One chronic problem with depending on research results as an aid to coaching practice is the practice of research itself. All too often researchers are engaged in an on-going competitive practice of their own: grand theory building. The theories themselves are generally not that complicated, but the continuous defence of them against adversaries creates a good simulation of a contact sport. A consequence is perpetual uncertainty regarding whether there is progressive improvement in our understanding…
John W. Mahoney, Daniel F. Gucciardi, Clifford Mallett, and Nikos Ntoumanis The Big Idea It would be difficult to find an adult athlete or coach who doesn’t have a favourite quote on the need for mental toughness in competitive sports. Who hasn’t heard the general adage that success in sports is 10% physical and 90% mental? Or who among us hasn’t read the mighty locker room posters from the past: from Babe Ruth, “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up;” from Bobby…
P.R. Ford and A.M. Williams The Big Idea The American golfer Arnold Palmer (1929-2016) once said “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.” Risking over-simplification, Palmer’s witty observation is a fair one-sentence summary of this discussion on what research tells the coach about developing elite soccer players. Risking over-complication, the deeper question isn’t how much one practices, but how much one practices the right kind of practice. The authors of this paper urge coaches and players who strive to be in…
Tristan J. Coulter, Clifford J. Mallett, Jefferson A. Singer, Daniel F. Gucciardi The Big Idea There is nothing easy about the study of personality. Over the years, psychologists who do so have generated an incredible number of ways to describe and depict who or what a person is. One of the oldest and maybe the clearest ways of looking at what personality psychologists do is this: they study how a person is like all other persons; like some other persons; and like no other persons. …
Mark Upton, Co-founder of myfastestmile continues his discussion on learning dynamics. Mark outlines the challenges and benefits that come with the concept of self-organising and understanding what you can & can’t control in coaching. “When I explain complexity theory to my old Mum, she looks at me quizzically and says, ‘Isn’t that common sense, dear?’” In a recent post on Learning Dynamics I covered how patterns of behaviour emerge due to interactions between people in a system (or at a different scale of analysis, interactions…
Antonio J. Figueiredo, Carlos E. Goncalves, Manuel J. Coelho E Silva, and Robert M. Malina The Big Idea The customary belief about youth and sports is that the youngsters who drop out of youth sports are developmentally disadvantaged somehow when compared to those who succeed over time. But a question immediately arises: What is meant by developmental disadvantage? The big idea of this research study is to help remove some of the mystery behind what kinds of differences between youngsters are or are not relatively…
Masculinity: what is the dominant narrative around it and how does it effect the way we coach, educate and behave? PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan confronts this challenging topic all in the name of a good cause. PDP will be raising money & awareness for this campaign in October. Are you a polished man? Over the last 18 months I’ve written (and talked – probably too much) about the influence of: Social norms Cultural assumptions Expectations Values The language we use Dominant narratives Especially in…
Clifford Mallett and Sergio Lara-Bercial The Big Idea The rub for these researchers is that the empirical basis for the vocation of sports coaching is seriously limited exactly at the time it is most needed. The burgeoning growth of national and international high performance sports in the last few decades certainly calls for professional coaches. It is a surprise then that the process of professionalising high performance coaches is still so little understood. The Research What we know already about highly successful coaches? Surveying the…
Player Development Project Lead Researcher, James Vaughan recently attended the third annual International Congress for Psychology Applied to Football. He shares his notes from this prestigious event where some of the best thinkers in player development shared their ideas on the state of the game. An Introduction The AIPAF is partnership between academics and professionals who are dedicated to improving player development. By combining the stories and experiences of forward-thinking compassionate coaches, clubs and psychologists, AIPAF aims to forge a new path for player development…