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This programme of work was designed to examine the use of moment of inertia during the perception of haptic information in support of action. There has been limited empirical work examining children's sensitivity to haptic information and how this supports their actions during dynamic touch. Experiment 1 examined children's ability to perceive changes in moment of inertia across different tennis rackets through the process of wielding. The results found the children to be sensitive to moment of inertia information. Experiment 2 examined the effect of development over 12 months upon children's preferred choice of racket for a given task. Over 12 months, based on variability data, the results suggested a trend for children's preference of racket to change under the visual condition. Experiment 3 examined if sensitivity to moment of inertia information becomes more attuned through experience gained through everyday manipUlatory activities and more so through task specific experience. The results suggested that sensitivity to moment of inertia did increase with experience. Experiment 4 examined whether sensitivity to moment of inertia differs with changes to its components, mass and mass distribution. Regardless of experience, the results found that perception of moment of inertia was not effected through any changes in mass or mass distribution. Experiment 5 examined if children were able to judge which racket would afford an optimal performance in a maximum striking task, in advance of executing the task. It also examined individual differences in both perceptual and movement behaviour and how these related to constraints imposed on the individual. The results suggested that children were not able to judge in advance the affordance of a racket for the given task. The results also highlighted a high level of intra-individual variability. In conclusion, the findings of this programme of work highlight the importance for practitioners to consider children individually and to recognise the many different constraints acting upon their systems at any given time. Further research is still required to identify informational constraints and understand how they affect an individual's performance. By identifying these constraints more effective learning and practice environments can be designed to facilitate and enhance skill acquisition.

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Despite the health benefits associated with regular physical activity only a small percentage of young people are meeting the physical activity recommendations. There is a need to further understanding of the factors that influence physical activity behaviour in young people to inform intervention programmes. This thesis provides six studies focusing on the objective measurement of young people's physical activity as well as social support for physical activity. Chapter 2.1 describes a systematic review of quantitative research examining parental influences on different types and intensities of physical activity in young people. Chapter 2.2 describes a systematic review of qualitative research examining the role of parents in young people s physical activity. Both reviews were conducted to examine the state of the current literature focused on parental influences on young people s physical activity and were used to inform the direction of the research in later chapters. Chapter 3 describes two cross-sectional studies examining the effects of key decisions researchers must make when using accelerometers on accelerometer ouput in children and adolescents. Chapter 3.1 describes a study examining the effect of epoch length on physical activity intensity in children and adolescents. Chapter 3.2 describes a study examining the impact of accelerometer processing decision rules, such as cut-points and non-wear period, on children s and adolescents physical activity. The purpose of these studies was to systematically explore the pre- and post-data collection decisions associated with accelerometer use on accelerometer output in young people and inform accelerometer use in chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 was designed to explore activity-related parenting practices and children s (7-10 years) objectively measured physical activity. Chapter 5 describes a study examining five sources of social support and adolescent s physical activity measured two ways. This thesis demonstrated that parents play in key role in their child's physical activity through a variety of support avenues and in adolescence support for physical activity provided by peers appears to be important in shaping physical activity behaviour. Targeting such facets of the social environment offers a potentially useful avenue for interventions designed to increase physical activity. Finally, this thesis also demonstrated that there are a number of challenges with accelerometer use particularly in the area of processing data. The rich information provided by accelerometers makes them an invaluable tool to understand the complex nature of young people's physical activity behaviour but further work needs to be conducted on standardising methods for cleaning, analysing and reporting accelerometer data.

This thesis aimed to develop an understanding of the social and environmental influences on athlete motivation, and the way these change across the athlete career span. Study 1 set out to explore the social and environmental influences of coaches, parents and peers on the motivation of young athletes (under 12 years old), at the initiation/sampling stage of their careers. Forty participants (7-11 years of age) from a variety of sports were interviewed in focus groups, using a semi-structured format to investigate the roles played by coaches, parents, and peers in influencing athlete motivation. An inductive content analysis was conducted to determine which behaviours among these social agents influenced key motivational outcomes. The young athletes described motivational influences which showed consistencies with existing models of motivation, but which also expanded upon these models in terms of both the specificity of behaviours identified, and also the comprehensive nature of the findings. The influences of coaches related most strongly to the manner in which they perform their roles of instruction and assessment, whereas parents influences were most salient in terms of the way they support the child s participation and learning. Both parents and coaches exerted influences through their leadership styles, affective responses and pre-performance behaviours. Peers influenced participants motivation through competitive behaviours, collaborative behaviours, evaluative communications and through their social relationships. This study provides an insight into the socioenvironmental influences on motivation experienced by young athletes, as well as helping to delineate the different roles of social agents in influencing their motivation at this early stage of development. Study 2 qualitatively examined the motivationally relevant behaviours of key social agents in athletes at the specialising career stage. Seventy-nine participants (9-18 years old) from 26 sports participated in semi-structured focus-groups investigating how coaches, parents, and peers may influence motivation. Using a critical-realist perspective, an inductive content-analysis indicated that specialising athletes perceived a multitude of motivationally-relevant social cues. Coaches and parents influences were related to their specific roles: instruction/assessment for coaches, support-and-facilitation for parents. Peers influenced motivation through competitive behaviours, collaborative behaviours, evaluative communications and through their social relationships. The results were consistent with Study 1 in terms of returning an analysis based around the different roles performed by social agents in relation to the ways that athlete motivation can be influenced. Study 3 examined the socio-environmental influences of coaches, parents and peers on the motivation of elite athletes. Twenty-nine elite sport participants (15-29 years old) took part in semi-structured focus groups or interviews investigating how coaches, parents, and peers influenced their motivation. An inductive content analysis was performed using a critical realist approach. Coaches and peers were reported to be focal influences, whilst the role of parents appeared to be decreased relative to other career-stages; being limited to emotional and moral support. Themes of feedback/evaluation, and pre-performance motivating behaviours were common to all social agents, whilst the coach-athlete and peer-athlete relationships appeared to be important in mediating and directly influencing motivation. The influences of social agents related to their specific roles: instruction/leadership for coaches; whilst peer-influences revolved around collaborative and competitive behaviours and emotional support. The discussion chapter took the form of a meta-interpretive synthesis of research findings concerning social and environmental influences on athlete motivation across the career-span. From a total of 124 papers that qualified for initial consideration 45 contributed to the final analysis. This chapter presents models of motivational processes that are intended to contribute new ideas and stimulate thinking in the area. The final analysis proposes a horizontal structure relating to athletic career developments, and a vertical structure detailing general dimensions of the overall motivationally relevant social environment. From this, the relative influences of coaches, parents and peers were ideographically assessed, suggesting that the influence of peers grows over the athletic career, whilst the relative influence of parents decreases. Finally, a meteorological model is presented, with a view to facilitating the joint consideration of numerous motivationally relevant variables, reflecting the proposed complex interactivity and interdependence identified throughout this thesis. In this chapter, the term motivational atmosphere is proposed in order to represent the extremely broad, complex and interactive nature of the socio-environmental influences on athlete motivation. The thesis concludes with the consideration of the theoretical and applied implications of the studies conducted.

This study analyses the policy process for selected elements of the Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy in England. The background to the policy context provides a chronological account of the changing pOlitical ideologies and policy priorities of UK governments since the 1970s. Theoretical frameworks for policy analysis are examined and the selection of the multiple streams and advocacy coalition frameworks as two meso-Ievel theoretical tools for the analysis of the policy process is presented. The epistemological assumptions are underpinned by a 'critical realist' perspective. The empirical section of the study describes the use of case studies, semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis as the approaches selected for data collection. It is argued that by repositioning itself to deliver government policy objectives, physical education and school sport has a stronger and more visible role to play in government policy-making. It is acknowledged that divisions centred upon traditional education and sport discourses remain within the policy subsystem. Organisations such as AfPE and LEAs are increasingly positioned at the margins of the PESSCL strategy and policy-making for physical education and school sport. It is suggested that as the PESSCL strategy has embedded there is evidence of an emerging advocacy coalition for physical education and school sport led by the YST.

The aim of this study was to examine formalised mentoring as a learning strategy for volunteer sports coaches. Despite the popular use of mentoring as a learning and support strategy across many professional domains, there has been comparatively little research on structured mentoring programmes in sports coaching, and there is a distinct lack of empirical evidence to support claims for its efficacy in supporting and enhancing coach professional learning Moreover, despite the significantly high numbers of voluntary coaches that support sports coaching in the UK, there is a lack of research that addresses the professional needs of this population data are reported from a 12 month longitudinal study of 7 coach mentors and 18 mentees that were organized into formal mentor partnerships in one region of the UK Methods included semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and focus groups with all participants Data analysis was undertaken usmg a constructivist revision of the Grounded Theory Method (Charmaz, 2006), recognizing that themes and categories are constructed from data and are mutually negotiated 'Core' conceptual categories were identified, depicting actions that embody mentoring processes.

This thesis is comprised of four studies. The first study developed longer versions of the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), both its direct perspective (Jowett & Ntoumanis, 2004) and meta-perspective (Jowett, in press) Instruments that measure the quality of a dyadic relationship were reviewed and items relevant to the coach-athlete relationship were highlighted. Ev1dence of the content validity of selected items was provided via expert panels and statistical support for the criterion and construct validity of the new measure was demonstrated using a sample of 693 participants (383 athletes and 310 coaches). Ev1dence was also found for the internal consistency/reliability of the longer versions of the CART-Q. Study 2 involved a systematic review of effective relationship enhancement programmes in order to identify their underlying strategies. Programmes were analysed based on the elements Within Jowett's (2005b, 2007) 3+ I C conceptualisation of the coach-athlete relationship. Therefore, factors that could potentially promote closeness, commitment, complementanty and co-orientation within the coach-athlete relationship were identified. Recommendations are made for implementing these strategies within any programme that aims to enhance relationships in sport. The need to develop relationship enhancement programmes in sport, which are based on sound scientific theory and research evidence, was a key finding of this systematic review. Study 3 is an explorative qualitative study into the maintenance strategies that are used by coaches and athletes. Twelve one-to-one interviews with 6 coaches and 6 athletes from team and individual sports were conducted. Content analysis revealed a number of main categories and sub-categories The main seven categories were: Conflict Management, Openness, Motivational, Positivity, Advice, Support and Social Networks These categories represented mutually exclusive maintenance strategies and formulated the COMPASS model of relationship maintenance in sport. The fourth and final study employed the COMPASS model to develop a measure of the use of maintenance strategies within the coach-athlete relationship (coach-athlete relationship mamtenance questionnaire: CARM-Q). A pool of 50 items were generated based on relevant theory and research, including the data gained in Study 3. The content validity of these items was established using an expert panel. The items were then administered to 251 participants (146 athletes and 105 coaches). Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the latent underlying structure. A 28 item measure was created with 7 sub-scales measuring; conflict management, openness, motivational, preventative, assurance, support and social network strategies. These seven factors comprise the revised COMPASS model of relationship maintenance in sport. Evidence of the content, construct and criterion validity, as well as the internal consistency/reliability, of the CARM-Q was found. A series of regression analyses also revealed that one can predict a relatively high amount of the variance in perceptions of closeness, commitment and complementarity based on the use of maintenance strategies. As a whole, this thesis makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the quality of a coach-athlete relationship and the ways in which this can be maintained.