Elite Gaelic football coaches' interpretation and use of game-based approaches

Game Based Approaches (GBAs) have been advocated as pedagogies that develop players’ overall game performance, and facilitate personal and social development. Originally proposed for physical education settings, there is... [ view full abstract ]

Game Based Approaches (GBAs) have been advocated as pedagogies that develop players’ overall game performance, and facilitate personal and social development. Originally proposed for physical education settings, there is growing evidence of GBAs being employed in coaching contexts, particularly competitive team-sport settings. Despite this growth, insight is currently limited to team sports such as rugby. Consequently, there is scope to expand GBA research into other popular team sports, particularly those in specific cultural contexts such as Gaelic football. Elite Gaelic football coaches (n = 12) working at senior inter-county level in the 2017 season completed a semi-structured interview about their experiences of employing GBAs. Results revealed that coaches apply some but not all of the core features of GBA pedagogy. For example, coaches reported their use of games to develop players’ tactical awareness, decision making and match fitness. In addition, coaches provided examples of the employment of questioning and player led discussions within practice sessions and team-meetings, all of which served to promote the social and moral coaching environment. Notwithstanding these findings, coaches were largely unaware of the existence of specific GBA models proposed in the research literature (e.g. Game Sense). Moreover, their views regarding the development of skill through isolated skill practice and sequencing of sessions in a linear format indicate traditional coaching tendencies. In summary, this study is a critical step towards gaining a richer and broader understanding on the impact of GBAs in a competitive team sport context not currently available in the research literature. While the results of the current study highlight tangible examples of coaches employing some key features of GBA pedagogy in competitive team sport settings, it identifies an epistemological gap in coaches’ understanding of a GBA, which coach education programmes and future research should seek to address.