Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 5 | Page 18

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2020, Vol. 5
Exploring Coaching Strategies
to Support and Develop Player
Decision-making: A Case Study
Mike Ashford, Dr Jamie Poolton and Dr Andrew Abraham
Research Centre for Sport Coaching, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University
Introduction
Presently, there is no single view on how players
(team sport athletes) make decisions. Instead three,
supposedly distinct, perspectives have emerged:
information processing, ecological psychology
and naturalistic decision-making. Such different
perspectives can have implications for coaching
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practice. Subsequently, this PhD study sought to
define the role of tactics and decision-making in
rugby union. The study is in the final phase of
writing-up and employed an inductive approach, to
explore how academy level coaches create effective
learning environments to support and develop
player decision-making.