This thesis was written as a collection of research papers through which the identification, quantification, discrimination and development of training behaviours in professional rugby players were investigated. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in this thesis, and confirmatory factor analyses were completed on two measurement tools. Specifically study 1 interviewed six premiership coaches in an attempt to make their implicit knowledge of the selection of young, potential professional, rugby players to professional academies explicit. Open, thematic, axial and selective coding was used to allow themes to emerge from the initial interviews. Trustworthiness of the data was maintained by member checking, parallel coding, and a focus group. Seven themes emerged from the coaches' data; dependability, coping with the training environment, quality of preparation, distractibility, ability to be coached, social skill, and intensity of effort. Study 2 attempted to discriminate between the behaviours of professional and amateur rugby players. Using the seven themes, from study 1, two measurement tools were developed. The players' questionnaire was distributed to 308 rugby players and the second questionnaire to the coaches of those players. Results revealed six different training behaviours were significant in discriminating between amateur and professional players. Two behaviours were agreed by the coaches and the players. Two behaviours the players identified as discriminatory, but the coaches did not. Two behaviours the coaches identified as discriminatory, but players did not. Study 3 attempted to improve the most discriminatory behaviour the coaches identified in a group of professional rugby players. A 12 week intervention took place with three measurement points pre- intervention, at week 6 of the intervention and post-intervention. A second group of professional rugby players acted as a control group. Any implications drawn from these results should be treated with caution as a series of confounding variables potentially disrupted the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:589043 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Hill, Colin |
| Publisher | Bangor University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-identification-and-development-of-training-behaviours-in-professional-rugby-players(fd053dc9-29f5-4c5c-a7d7-3c60f275aaba).html |
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