Bench behaviour of ice hockey coaches: Psychophysiological and verbal responses to critical game incidents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine coaches' psychophysiological and verbal responses to different game situations. The in-game heart rate and verbal responses of three elite ice hockey coaches to four critical game incidents (Goals For/Against; Penalties Taken/Drawn) over four university women's games were assessed. Verbal comments were categorised using the Coach Behaviour Assessment System, and then comments and heart rate were sequenced to critical incidents recorded on video review. Overall, in-game heart rate was greater than rest and coaches were rarely silent. General encouragement and general commentary were the most common verbal comments. Two hundred and eight critical incident comments were recorded (Goals For/Against 34.6 %; Penalties Taken/Drawn 65.4%) associated with a 10 bpm greater heart rate. Most common verbal responses to critical incidents were general commentary, silence and organisation. The type of comment was affected by the type of critical incident. In 78% of critical incidents, the type of comment made before incidents differed to type of comment after the incident, coaches rarely talked at the same time and silence was common. These novel findings are limited to ice hockey coaches given the small sample size. However, these results should encourage more research into the psychophysiological and verbal responses of coaches in other team sports real game situations to better understand in game coaching behaviour.

Feedback from basketball coaches: Type, quantity, and real-time outcomes

“…Unlike earlier studies, Kennedy and Knight 11 found that general feedbacks accounted for the largest percentage of all feedback given throughout the games. While they found silence to be a relatively rare event, their further analysis revealed various patterns of feedback among coaches.…”

“…Although this tendency was seen to a certain degree, the results were not significant. Studies have found that focused feedback emerges as a result of coaches' strategic analysis 3,6,11,17,26 , whereby they are the result of intensive thinking and they contain specific information. These two components sharpen the information that is passed on to the athletes, lowers their cognitive load, and may improve their performance.…”

“…Studies on elite youth teams found that their coaches were silent over a significant portion of the game. 6,11 Smith and Cushion 41 even found that football coaches spent almost half the game in "strategic silence." However, such findings were not seen in our study.…”

“…Studies on coaches' verbal behavior during competitions often address their feedback in terms of positive or negative (e.g., 6,[10][11][12][13] ). Yet motor skills' performance can also be affected by the performers' confidence and perceived selfefficacy.…”

International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) 13th Global Coach Conference

“…Based upon extensive data analysis, we will discuss how an increase in the volunteer coach knowledge, width and depth of the coaching experience via education programs, communities of practice, mentoring and reflective practice can shorten the learning curve of coach developmentskills need to first be developed and practiced, then supported and valued for coaches to continue beyond the learning stage. Half-time (HT) is a crucial in-competition period and an important component of a coach's performance strategy (Kennedy & Knight 2017). This period represents a complex and pivotal time (Mouchet & Duffy 2020) when coaches interact with athletes and multiple staff members (Allain et al, 2018).…”