Athlete Centred Approach - Beginning the Process in Junior Teams
RIS ID
126615
Abstract
Over the past decade, there has been a renewed call for increasing athlete independence in coaching in sporting environments. Central to this are athlete-centred approaches, which have been promoted as an innovative approach "enabling athletes to succeed in and enjoy their sport participation" (Kidman & Lombardo, 2010, p. 16). Advocates suggest an athlete-centred approach allows athletes to gain control over their own athletic lives and take greater ownership and personal responsibility for their decisions (Kidman & Lombardo, 2010). DeSouza and Oslin (2008) also suggest an athlete-centred approach provides better opportunities for individual growth in the physical, cognitive, social and affective aspects, leading to improved decision-making, engagement, communication, competence and motivation. It is postulated that this provision leads to improved athlete autonomy and allows them a greater range of choices in relation to learning experiences used in sport (Kidman & Lombardo, 2010). This is, in part, because an athlete-centred approach should enable athletes to develop their own solutions to the many variations in play via the pedagogical aspects used in the approach
Publication Details
Forrest, G. (2017). Athlete Centred Approach - Beginning the Process in Junior Teams. In S. Pill (Ed.), Perspectives on Athlete Centred Coaching (pp. 171-180). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.