The purpose of this paper is to present, using Moon’s (1999, 2004) generic view of learning, a new theoretical perspective in order to understand how coaches learn to coach. After presenting her main concepts, a case study of an elite Canadian coach is used to illustrate the different learning processes in three types of learning situations: mediated, unmediated, and internal. We believe this new view of how coaches learn provides a way to see coach development from the coach’s perspective and helps us understand why the path to becoming a coach is often idiosyncratic. Finally, the potential of this conceptual research framework for the study of coaches’ development, specifically at the elite/expert level, is discussed.

BackgroundPrevious research has established that general sleep screening questionnaires are not valid and reliable in an athlete population. The Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) was developed to address this need. While the initial validation of the ASSQ has been established, the clinical validity of the ASSQ has yet to be determined. The main objective of the current study was to evaluate the clinical validity of the ASSQ.MethodsCanadian National Team athletes (N = 199; mean age 24.0 ± 4.2 years, 62% females; from 23 sports) completed the ASSQ. A subset of athletes (N = 46) were randomized to the clinical validation sub-study which required subjects to complete an ASSQ at times 2 and 3 and to have a clinical sleep interview by a sleep medicine physician (SMP) who rated each subjects’ category of clinical sleep problem and provided recommendations to improve sleep. To assess clinical validity, the SMP category of clinical sleep problem was compared to the ASSQ.ResultsThe internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.74) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.86) of the ASSQ were acceptable. The ASSQ demonstrated good agreement with the SMP (Cohen’s kappa = 0.84) which yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 81%, specificity of 93%, positive predictive value of 87%, and negative predictive value of 90%. There were 25.1% of athletes identified to have clinically relevant sleep disturbances that required further clinical sleep assessment. Sleep improved from time 1 at baseline to after the recommendations at time 3.ConclusionsSleep screening athletes with the ASSQ provides a method of accurately determining which athletes would benefit from preventative measures and which athletes suffer from clinically significant sleep problems. The process of sleep screening athletes and providing recommendations improves sleep and offers a clinical intervention output that is simple and efficient for teams and athletes to implement.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40798-018-0140-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Coach Learning in Disability Sport iAcknowledgements My Master's experience has been an incredible two-year journey that involved many people I would like to acknowledge and thank:First, a big thanks to the coaching research group for providing us with a unique learning environment, as well as guidance and support for numerous conferences and presentations. To the many faculty members and students I met along the way who provided me with much needed insight and direction. To my lab-mates who I grew so close to, and with who I could discuss countless "grad brain" experiences and laughs.To my friends and family who have stuck by "School Sarah" through the good times and bad, especially Megan and Stacie having had the pleasure of rooming with me and seeing me pull out my hair on various occasions. To Trevor for somehow always answering my phone calls and calming me down, reminding me of the simple joys in life. To my parents for providing me with endless amounts of support through this process (not to mention financially), and always reminding me to be the best I could be.To the University of Ottawa, its staff, and the Faculty of Human Kinetics for providing me with the financial support to get through these two years, in addition to our great lab space.To my supervisor, Dr. Diane Culver, for all that you have done for me. You saw something in me early on that I didn't know I had in myself, and I am so grateful for the opportunity. I hope I can someday manage all of life's responsibilities (and more) that you take on with such class. It has been such an inspiration to work with you and see your super-woman abilities in action! Coach Learning in Disability Sport ii To help get me through the tougher times, I posted a quote on my bedroom wall where

Excessive stress and tension are major threats to optimal athletic performance. The goal of this project was to help the athletes optimize the management of their stress response through self-awareness and self-regulation of the activation levels of their autonomic and central nervous systems. Fifteen elite athletes preparing for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics underwent an EEG and psychophysiological stress assessment, as well as a bio-neurofeedback (BNFK) training intervention. Both athletes and coaches reported that the bio-neurofeedback intervention helped the athletes in managing the stress of training and competition and was a factor in producing better performances.

OBJECTIVE Severe bleeding during neurosurgical operations can result in acute stress affecting the bimanual psychomotor performance of the operator, leading to surgical error and an adverse patient outcome. Objective methods to assess the influence of acute stress on neurosurgical bimanual psychomotor performance have not been developed. Virtual reality simulators, such as NeuroTouch, allow the testing of acute stress on psychomotor performance in risk-free environments. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the impact of a simulated stressful virtual reality tumor resection scenario by utilizing NeuroTouch to answer 2 questions: 1) What is the impact of acute stress on bimanual psychomotor performance during the resection of simulated tumors? 2) Does acute stress influence bimanual psychomotor performance immediately following the stressful episode? METHODS Study participants included 6 neurosurgeons, 6 senior and 6 junior neurosurgical residents, and 6 medical students. Participants resected a total of 6 simulated tumors, 1 of which (Tumor 4) involved uncontrollable "intraoperative" bleeding resulting in simulated cardiac arrest and thus providing the acute stress scenario. Tier 1 metrics included extent of blood loss, percentage of tumor resected, and "normal" brain tissue volume removed. Tier 2 metrics included simulated suction device (sucker) and ultrasonic aspirator total tip path length, as well as the sum and maximum forces applied in using these instruments. Advanced Tier 2 metrics included efficiency index, coordination index, ultrasonic aspirator path length index, and ultrasonic aspirator bimanual forces ratio. All metrics were assessed before, during, and after the stressful scenario. RESULTS The stress scenario caused expected significant increases in blood loss in all participant groups. Extent of tumor resected and brain volume removed decreased in the junior resident and medical student groups. Sucker total tip path length increased in the neurosurgeon group, whereas sucker forces increased in the senior resident group. Psychomotor performance on advanced Tier 2 metrics was altered during the stress scenario in all participant groups. Performance on all advanced Tier 2 metrics returned to pre-stress levels in the post-stress scenario tumor resections. CONCLUSIONS Results demonstrated that acute stress initiated by simulated severe intraoperative bleeding significantly decreases bimanual psychomotor performance during the acute stressful episode. The simulated intraoperative bleeding event had no significant influence on the advanced Tier 2 metrics monitored during the immediate post-stress operative performance.