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RESUMEN El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo caracterizar la intervención pedagógica de los entrenadores de fútbol durante la presentación de las tareas, en función de su formación académica. La muestra estuvo compuesta por doce entrenadores de fútbol (n=12). Las variables dependientes del estudio fueron: naturaleza de las tareas instruccionales (analizada mediante el sistema de categorías elaborado por Rink, 1993); nivel de explicitud de la información (analizado mediante el sistema categorial creado por Silverman, Kullina y Crull, 1995). La variable independiente del estudio fue la formación académica de los entrenadores en Educación Física y deportes, diferenciando entre licenciados y no licenciados. Los resultados obtenidos muestran un empleo predominante de tareas de información, frente a un escaso uso de tareas de perfeccionamiento, extensión y aplicación, lo cual sugiere un precario desarrollo didáctico de los contenidos. En relación al nivel de explicitud de la información transmitida, los entrenadores priorizan la información de carácter general, centrándose en el objetivo general y en la situación de realización de las tareas, haciendo una escasa referencia a la información sobre criterios de realización y de resultado. Los entrenadores licenciados en Educación Física y deporte se distinguen significativamente de los no licenciados al emplear más tareas de perfeccionamiento e indicar más a los jugadores los criterios de realización de las tareas. Palabras Clave: entrenador; formación académica; tareas instruccionales; explicitud de la información; fútbol. ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to characterize the pedagogical interventions of the football coaches during the task presentations, based on the coaches' specialized academic degree. The sample consisted of twelve football coaches (n=12). The dependent variables were as follows: the tasks' type nature (analyzed by Rink's system categories, 1993); the task explicitness level (analyzed by Silverman, Kullina y Crull's system categories, 1995). The independent variables of the study were the specialized academic degrees, differentiating between those with a graduation in physical education and those without. The results show that coaches predominantly present information tasks and the refinement, extension and application tasks were rarely used, which suggests a bad didactic development of the content. As to the task explicitness level, the majority of coaches' instructions are given through general instruction, which privileged clarifying the task outcome and situation tasks and some information about criteria-form and the outcome. The coaches with a graduation in physical education use more refinement tasks and task explicitness, and refer significantly more to criteria-form than coaches with no graduation. Key Words:coach; academia degree; instructional tasks; task explicitness; football.

The purpose of this study was to examine accountability systems operating in youth volleyball training sessions and to understand how those systems vary according to the instructional tasks and the nature of the information provided by coaches. Additionally, the interactive effect of the players' age group on accountability systems and instructional tasks will be inspected. Twenty-eight youth volleyball coaches (for under 14s and under 18s) were observed, one training session each. Systematic observation strategies were used to describe and analyse task presentation and task structure during practice. Results convey that the accountability systems implemented by coaches were mainly implicit and governed by opportunity rather than explicit performance criteria imparted in task presentation. Remarks on the quality of performance only occurred during ongoing practice. More often than not coaches showed no reaction when athletes did not accomplish the tasks, failing to convey consequential expectancy-demand-monitoring messages. The instructional approach was predominantly composed of informing tasks, of technical nature and general information, which can reflect a technique and generalist coach profile. These results indicate the presence of weak and ambiguous accountability system, also corroborated by positive correlations of extending tasks with the category without exigency task presentation as well as with no reaction to unaccomplished tasks. There were no notorious differences in accountability behaviours between players' age group. Key pointsAccountability systems implemented by coaches were mainly implicit and governed by opportunity rather than explicit performance criteria imparted in task presentation. Only during practice, coaches remark the performance quality, followed by participation/effort.The instructional approach was predominantly composed of informing tasks, of technical nature and general information, which can reflect a technique and generalist coach profile.In general, coaches did not differentiate accountability behaviours according to the players' age group.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the instruction of the Judo coach immediately before the competition, in the process of preparation for the fights, looking to (1) study the coherency between the information which the coach transmits and that which the athlete retains; (2) identify the correlation between the coherency, the extension and the number of ideas conveyed by the coach; (3) determine if the retention varies in relation to variables such as the form and nature of the information, as well as the gender and practice category of the athletes. The participants were 11 coaches and 58 athletes of 3 categories: under- 15, under-17 and under-20, of both genders. One hundred and sixteen (116) instructional episodes were observed, which corresponds to four hundred and six (406) information units convoyed by the coaches. The coaches' instructions given before the competition were recorded in an audio and video register. After the coaches' instruction, the athletes were approached by the investigator and an interview was accomplished. To determine if the retention varies in relation to form and nature of the information and gender and practice category of the athletes, the non-parametric statistics, U de Mann-Whitney and Kruskal- Wallis, was used. Correlation of Spearman was applied to verify the degree of association between the coherency, the extension and the number of ideas conveyed by the coach. The results showed that a substantial part of the information was not retained by the athletes and the information coherency was inversely related to the number of transmitted ideas. The coaches were, mainly, prescriptive and the form of the information was not important for the retention of the information. Gender was a differentiated variable as the girls showed more coherency in the retained ideas in relation to the ideas transmitted by the coach

The purpose of the present study was to examine coaches' perceptions of competence and acknowledgement of training needs related to professional competences according to the professional experience and academic education. The participants were 343 coaches from several sports, who answered to a questionnaire that includes a scale focused on perceptions of competence and another scale on acknowledgment of training needs. An exploratory factor analysis with Maximum Likelihood Factoring was used with Oblimin rotation for the identification of emergent factors. Comparison on coaches' perceptions in function of coaching experience and coaches' academic background were made applying One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc multiple comparisons. Factor analysis on coaches' perceptions of competence and acknowledgement of training needs made apparent three main areas of competences, i.e. competences related to annual and multi-annual planning; competences related to orientation towards practice and competition; and personal and coaching education competences. Coaches' perceptions were influenced by their experience, as low experienced coaches rated themselves at lower levels of competence and with more training needs; also coaches with high education, in Physical Education or others, perceived themselves as more competent than coaches with no higher education. Finally, the majority of the coaches perceived themselves to be competent but, nevertheless, they indicated to have training needs, which brings an important feedback to coach education. This suggests that coaches are interested in increasing their knowledge and competence in a broad range of areas which should be considered in future coach education programs. Key pointsCoaches' perceptions of competence and acknowledgement of training needs resulted in three main areas: competences related to annual and multi-annual planning, competences related to practice and competition orientation and, finally, personal and coaching education competences.The professional tasks that coaches had the most need in performing were related to the training orientation.Coaches with higher education degrees (P.E. or others) perceive themselves as more competent than coaches with no higher education.Low experienced coaches perceived themselves less competent than high experienced coaches. Also, they pointed out more training needs in issues related to practice and competition orientation, and annual and multi-annual planning.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the value attributed to given working competences, by Portuguese handball coaches according to their coaching background, certification level, coaching experience, and level of education. A sample of 207 handball coaches responded to a questionnaire which included demographic characteristics and a scale focused on perceptions of the level of importance attributed to working competences. Data analysis included an exploratory factorial analysis applying Maximum Likelihood Factoring (MLF) and Oblimin rotation. These factors were submitted to a One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc multiple comparisons to analyse coaches' perceptions according to their coaching background. A six factor solution was found where three major domains of competences were highlighted; the first one related to training and competition (e.g. planning and conducting the training, team administration in competition, annual and multi-annual planning, and coaching methodology); the second one related to social and cultural issues and management (e.g. implementation of youth sport development projects, team leadership and coach education) and the third one related to the cognitive background (meta-cognitive competences). The importance ascribed to some working competences was influenced by their coaching experience and certification level. Highly experienced and qualified coaches perceived competences of everyday practice, social, cultural and management issues related to training and competition as more important than the other coaches. This study suggests the need to consider some working competences, until now not explicitly present in the Portuguese coaching education curriculum which could enable coaches to choose the best way to practice/work in a manner that will foster and support their professional development. Key pointsThree major domains of competences were highlighted by Portuguese handball coaches. The first one related to training and competition, the second one related to social and cultural issues and management and the third one related to the cognitive background.The importance ascribed by Portuguese handball coaches to some working competences was influenced by their coaching experience and certification level, as high experienced coaches and coaches with higher certification levels perceived competences related to training and competition of the everyday practice and social, cultural issues and management as more important.The value attributed by Portuguese handball coaches to working competences did not vary according to the coaches' academic education level.Portuguese handball coaches valued the meta-cognitive competences, the competences to implement sport development project and related to annual and multi-annual planning independently of their coaching background.

The purpose of this study was to analyse Portuguese coaches' perceptions of, and preferences for, knowledge sources as related to professional background; namely academic education level, coach education level and coaching experience. The study's participants comprised 336 Portuguese coaches from twenty-two sports. A questionnaire was used to identify coaches' demographic characteristics and representations about their preferred sources of coaching knowledge. MANOVA using Tukey's HSD test was used to compare groups. The results highlighted that coaches perceived that coaching knowledge is built from a broad range of sources from personal coaching and playing experiences to more explicit formal, informal and non-formal learning situations. Results indicated that the coaches ascribed more importance to experiential sources such as working with experts, learning by doing, interacting with peer coaches and attending informal seminars and clinics, than to the formal learning situations provided by the national coaching certification programs. Differences, however, were found in that coaches who had a greater background within higher education (physical) and sport valued informal and non-formal learning sources more than did coaches who were defined as not coming from an academic background. The findings point to the importance of developing new learning, experientially-based, opportunities within the Portuguese context, where curricula content continues to be delivered via didactic means. Key pointsCoaches recognized that learning is obtained from a broad range of sources of coaching knowledge and each source has a particular role in the development of a coach.Experiential guided sources reached more importance to coaches as working with experts, learning by doing, attending seminars/clinics outside of the formal system and interaction with peers were the most acknowledged.The only source that is related to formal learning, national certification programs, was recognized as the less importance than all informal and non-formal learning situations.The profile of the source of coaching knowledge showed to be stable among coaches as only the academic education level differentiated the coaches' perceptions.

The interactions between two opposing teams lead to the emergence of unique game patterns. In volleyball, attack efficacy emerges as the strongest predictor of the final result and thus it becomes of foremost importance to understand which game patterns afford the attaining of higher attack efficacies. These rely on the quality of the setting action. In turn, the serve and the serve reception constrain the setter's actions and the attacker's efficacy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine predictors of the setting zone in elite-level men's volleyball. Thirty-one matches of the 2007 World Cup were analyzed, in total 5117 rallies. The dependent variable was the setting zone, and the independent variables were the server player, serve type, serve direction, serve depth, reception zone, receiver player and reception type. Multinomial logistic regression was applied, in order to obtain the estimated likelihood of occurrence of the dependent variable, based on the values of the independent variables (p0.05). Only the serve direction showed not to be predictive of the setting zone. Concerning the remaining variables, the tennis jump serve, serves from the middle-player, deep serves, reception near the endline or sidelines, reception by the zone 4 attackers when in defensive zone, and low reception all proved to impair the quality of reception, demanding the setter to play more often in the not acceptable setting zone. Results suggest that, at this level, practice of serve-reception should preferably cover the deep tennis jump serve, and attempt to afford the libero more opportunities to receive. By focusing on the variables with the most predictive power, performers may better allocate their attention towards the most pertinent cues at each moment. Knowledge of these interactive models provides valuable insights into the dynamics of the action sequences, affording coaches important information and guidance. Key pointsA set of key variables interact and allow predicting the setting zone, an important variable in determining attack efficacy in high-level men's volleyball.The tennis jump serve, deep serves, receptions near the endline or sidelines, serves from the middle-players, receptions by the zone 4 attackers when in defensive zone, and low reception enhance the utilization of non-ideal setting zones.By focusing on the variables with the most predictive power, performers may better allocate their attention towards the most pertinent cues at each moment.Knowledge of these interactive models provides valuable insights into the dynamics of the action sequences, affording coaches important information and guidance.

An extensive body of work has focused on the processes underpinning perceptual-cognitive expertise. The majority of researchers have used film-based simulations to capture superior performance. We combined eye movement recording and verbal reports of thinking to explore the processes underpinning skilled performance in a complex, dynamic, and externally paced representative volleyball task involving in situ data collection. Altogether, 27 female volleyball players performed as centre backcourt defenders in simulated sessions while wearing an eye-tracking device. After each sequence, athletes were questioned concerning their perception of the situation. The visual search strategies employed by the highly-skilled players were more exploratory than those used by skilled players, involving more fixations to a greater number of locations. Highly-skilled participants spent more time fixating on functional spaces between two or more display areas, while the skilled participants fixated on the ball trajectory and specific players. Moreover, highly-skilled players generated more condition concepts with higher levels of sophistication than their skilled counterparts. Findings highlight the value of using representative task designs to capture performance in situ. Key pointsDecision-making in complex sports relies deeply on perceptual-cognitive expertise. In turn, the effect of expertise is highly dependent on the nature and complexity of the task.Nonetheless, most researchers use simple tasks in their research designs, risking not capturing performance in a meaningful way. We proposed to use a live action setting with a complex task design, representative of real world situations.We combined eye movement registration with collection of immediate retrospective verbal reports. Although the two data sets are not directly comparable, they may be used in a complementary manner, providing a deeper and fuller understanding of the processes underpinning superior performance.Highly-skilled players exhibited more exploratory visual search behaviors than their skilled counterparts, performing more fixations into more locations. They also attended more to functional spaces between two or more areas of the display. Furthermore, highly-skilled players produced more condition concepts and with superior level of sophistication, revealing a deeper and more meaningful attunement to the task constraints.