Expertise and talent development in rugby refereeing: An ethnographic enquiry

Abstract

We explore how expertise is obtained in the domain of rugby refereeing. The research data are qualitative and are drawn from an 18 month period working in collaboration with the Rugby Football Union Elite Referee Unit. Adopting an ethnographic mode of enquiry, the study combined long-term participant observation with in-depth interviewing, indirect observations and the collection of artefacts including existing protocol, coach feedback forms and strategic reports. The diversity of methodologies allowed us to examine how expertise is developed across various domains of analysis, including the intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and social perspectives. Building on expertise studies in "deliberate practice", further prerequisites for expertise, at least in this domain and with these participants, incorporated "deliberate experience" and "transfer of skills". Additionally, a key issue in the findings concerns a shift from "descriptive" towards a "non-linear processes"-oriented model of development. We conclude by identifying opportunities and limitations associated with the adoption of ethnography as a method for studying expertise.

The Role of Psychological Characteristics in Facilitating the Pathway to Elite Performance Part 2: Examining Environmental and Stage-Related Differences in Skills and Behaviors

“…Côté, 1999) but also less predictable micro stages and transitions of development (e.g., injury, change of performance environment). Ollis and colleagues provided evidence of these nonlinear, 'wave-like' pathways in their exploration of the careers of elite rugby referees (Ollis, Macpherson, & Collins, 2006), a finding which fitted well with the nonlinear nature of the pathway suggested by Abbott, Button, Pepping, and Collins (2005). Each pathway in the Ollis et al study was distinct, with no two participants following identical routes toward excellence.…”

“…To ensure an optimum personal context to the data, it was crucial that each participant was able to relate his or her experiences clearly to the key stages that applied to their own careers (cf. Ollis et al, 2006). Accordingly, in the first phase and in collaboration with each participant, a graphic time line of each performer's career was developed (see Figure 1).…”

“…Each pathway in the Ollis et al study was distinct, with no two participants following identical routes toward excellence. Instead, the manner by which individuals interpreted distinct incidents or more chronic experiences as facilitators and debilitators (a process itself dependant on psychological skills and characteristics) influenced the trajectory of their developmental pathway (Ollis et al, 2006). For example, the same incident (e.g., a poor performance at a high-level match) was interpreted as a positive growth experience for some of the referees, while others viewed it in a much more negative light.…”

Exploring Traumas in the Development of Talent: What Are They, What Do They Do, and What Do They Require?

“…To aid consistency, a semi-structured guide with open-ended questions and relevant follow-up probes and prompts was developed. This guide was informed by relevant literature on talent development and conducted on the base of a retrospective tracking protocol that has been previously used to elicit specific details on personal experience (Cruickshank, Collins, & Minten, 2013;Ollis, MacPherson & Collins, 2006). More specifically, and in line with the guidance in Sarkar et al (2015), it was decided that each interview would be usefully framed by asking participants to firstly plot their perceived performance potential (Y-axis), starting from first involvement on their sport's pathway all the way to the present day (X-axis).…”

A Retrospective Analysis of Trick Progression in Elite Freeskiing and Snowboarding

“…Furthermore, in order to aid recall, and detail with respect to objective 1; athletes' were asked to provide a timeline sketch of their own progress against key tricks over the course of the past quadrennial (see Figure 1 for an example). This approach has been previously shown to increase the accuracy and veracity of recall (e.g., Drasch & Matthes, 2013;Ollis, MacPherson, & Collins, 2006). Finally, to specifically address objective 2, athletes and coaches were asked to weight training modalities and level of effort by completing an excel spreadsheet calculating % of time spent performing each modality, and identifying effort invested on a scale of 0 (zero effort) to 10 (maximal effort) to establish averages and variance across this sample (see Table 2).…”