HOW COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE DATA CAN INFORM THE TRAINING PROCESS? AN ACTION-RESEARCH STUDY BASED ON THE CONSTRAINT-LED APPROACH

Authors

  • Carmen Fernández-Echeverría Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Seville, Seville, Spain http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0861-5355
  • Ana Ramos Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • Isabel Mesquita Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • María Perla Moreno Arroyo Faculty of Sport Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

Abstract

By implementing an insider action-research (AR) design throughout a competitive volleyball season, this study sought to examine qualitatively how competitive data, extracted from match analysis, may support the development of a coaching intervention based on the principles of the constraint-led approach. Twelve elite players, one head coach and one assistant coach participated in two AR cycles, each one involving the processes of planning, monitoring, reflecting, and fact-finding. The first author, who was also the assistant coach and the insider-researcher, collected data over 20 weeks using interviews, training videotaped records, and field notes. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, and inductive procedures were adopted to deepen an understanding of how a constraint-led coaching intervention evolved over the season. The results highlighted competitive data as a relevant tool for supporting the underlying pedagogical process in the design of representative learning tasks via constraints manipulation. Grounded on competitive data, the learning designs progressed from an initial point where constraints manipulation was scarce, non-representative, and without stimulating players’ problem-solving abilities, to an endpoint where tasks were conceived based on the next opposition’s features (i.e., task representativeness) and focused on the development of functional and co-adaptative skills. In conclusion, the competitive data supported the development of a coaching practice based on the constraint-led approach. Methodologically, the insider AR-design offered contextualized insights into how the pedagogical coaching intervention evolved over the season. Thus, we highlight the importance of sampling the most relevant information from competition, through match analysis reports, so that coaches can design representative and contextualized learning tasks ongoingly aligned with players’ needs.

Key words: ecological dynamics, sports pedagogy, qualitative analysis, volleyball

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Published

2023-12-31

How to Cite

Fernández-Echeverría, C., Ramos, A., Mesquita, I., & Moreno Arroyo, M. P. (2023). HOW COMPETITIVE PERFORMANCE DATA CAN INFORM THE TRAINING PROCESS? AN ACTION-RESEARCH STUDY BASED ON THE CONSTRAINT-LED APPROACH. Kinesiology, 55(2), 337–348. Retrieved from https://hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.php/kinesiology/article/view/18830

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