Key theories that currently inform my coaching practice; A MEGA THREAD. (N.B. If my understanding of the literature changes, so too will my approach.)

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND OUR RESPONSIBILITIES:
UNCRC (1989); children have a right to protection, provision and participation. Children are humanbeings not humanbecomings (Qvortrup, 1994) and should be treated as such.

The Ladder of participation (Hart, 1992) details participation and non-participation.

Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1962), Social constructionism (Bruner, 1966), Ecological model of transitions (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) Social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978) and ...

Cooley’s ‘looking glass self’ (1902) all highlight how a child constructs meaning and their identity through their interactions with “significant others” - It is our responsibility to build children, not little athletes.

Allowing children to negotiate their own friendships and within group dynamics with their peers can support cooperation and reciprocity and effective conflict management (Hartup, 1992), so self-organisation and personal responsibility should be encouraged and facilitated.

Children have a legally enshrined right to play and “Rough-and-tumble play shapes many physical, social, emotional, and cognitive behaviours” (McArdle, 2001)

SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT:

Brackenridge’s (2006) Parents optimisation zone demonstrates maximal outcome from moderately involved parents not Under or over involved.

Specialising years have the greatest potential for negative parental behaviours (Côté, 1999; Wylleman and Lavallee, 2004).

Parents’ ( and coaches) criticisms and high expectations lead to burnout among youth athletes

Expectancy Value Theory (Eccles, 1993): how a child regards a parent’s interest in a sport and view of their competency influences a child’s engagement with that sport.

PLAYER MOTIVATION:

Self Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985) suggests humans have three basic psychological needs: Competence, autonomy and relatedness. By meeting these needs we can support intrinsic motivation.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory (Deci, 1975) Events that promote greater perceived competence will enhance intrinsic motivation, whereas those that diminish perceived competence will decrease intrinsic motivation.

Achievement Goal Theory (Dweck, 1999, Nicholls, 1984, 1989) task orientated or ego orientated or both. Task goals; positive achievement behaviours. Ego goals; positive behaviours if perceived competence is high, negative behaviours perceived competence is low.

THE COACH-ATHLETE DYAD:

Jowett’s (2005) 3 + 1 C’s, and 2 x 2 taxonomy, Canary et al.’s (2001) competence-based model, Rahim and Bonoma’s (1979) contingency model and Rhind and Jowett’s (2010) COMPASS model: in short, don’t be a knob to the people you coach.

MOTOR LEARNING

Practice tasks that more closely resemble the performance environment encourages more efficient skill transfer to competition (Rosalie & Müller, 2012).

Skill development occurs by attuning and adapting to the environment, not in isolation (Araujo & Davids, 2011)

Move away from the pursuit of perfect technique and towards facilitating the emergence of a stronger functional relationship between a learner and the performance environment itself (Renshaw and Chow, 2019).

Increased transfer when ensuring that the specifying information a player needs to attune to in order to effectively couple their actions with what they perceive, is present during practice tasks (Kugler & Turvey, 1987; Kelso, 1995; Jirsa & Kelso, 2004).

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