You’re in; you’re out: selection practices of coaches

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate athlete selection procedures implemented by 25 provincial and national level coaches in New Zealand. One of the main focuses of the study was the degree to which workplace human resource management (HRM) selection practices were utilised, or could have been beneficial, for athlete selection. As many selection controversies have been caused by unclear or unspecified selection procedures, the study focused on discovering what processes coaches utilised when selecting athletes and, importantly, to what degree these processes were communicated to athletes. Design/methodology/approach -The data were collected via semi-structured interviews and interpreted using thematic analysis which enabled the extraction of the major recurring themes. Findings -Although the majority of coaches supported the use of HRM selection processes, only six reported implementing HRM type practices. Overall, the study found that coaches on the whole did not fully utilise HRM selection practices. Furthermore, although there tended to be some degree of communication of these processes to athletes, this was not always done in a clear and precise way. Research limitations/implications -Core HRM practices, procedures, and terminology are seemingly rarely utilised in the athlete selection processes of amateur team sport. It is argued that future research should focus on determining how best to implement workplace HRM selection processes for team athlete selection. Originality/value -Somewhat surprisingly, very little past research has investigated current athlete selection processes in relation to workplace HRM selection practices. The present research increases the understanding of current team athlete selection and provides discussion of the results in relation to HRM selection best practice.

The Newspaper as a Vehicle for Fan Participation in Fiji Rugby Union

“…In order to avoid the growth in selection disputes, it is imperative to put in place clearly defined procedures and criteria, including the avoidance of ambiguous wording in selection procedural documents. This is crucial, as many selection controversies emanate from unclear and unspecified selection procedures (Bradbury & Forsyth, 2012). As seen with letter writers in this study, player selection is an area of debate in sporting teams, and having explicit criteria for the selection of teams is important.…”

“…It can be noted from one of the quotations that letter writers may sometimes voice concern about the composition of the team being dominantly from a provincial side only. Bradbury and Forsyth (2012) stressed that athlete selection is a complex undertaking and the diversity of performance platforms unsurprisingly indicates that there is not a single "list" of criteria. However, as an example, John Mitchell, the coach of the New Zealand All Blacks in the 2001 and 2003 period, identified ten player selection criteria: physical qualities, present form, past form, set play skills, second phase skills, versatility, team fit on and off the field, defensive skills, mental strength, and special qualities (Bradbury & Forsyth, 2012).…”

“…Bradbury and Forsyth (2012) stressed that athlete selection is a complex undertaking and the diversity of performance platforms unsurprisingly indicates that there is not a single "list" of criteria. However, as an example, John Mitchell, the coach of the New Zealand All Blacks in the 2001 and 2003 period, identified ten player selection criteria: physical qualities, present form, past form, set play skills, second phase skills, versatility, team fit on and off the field, defensive skills, mental strength, and special qualities (Bradbury & Forsyth, 2012). In order to avoid the growth in selection disputes, it is imperative to put in place clearly defined procedures and criteria, including the avoidance of ambiguous wording in selection procedural documents.…”

Storm Clouds on the Horizon: On the Emerging Need to Tighten Selection Policies

“…It is possible this impact could be magnified in team sports, where selections do not always equate to a collection of the “best” individual performers, but rather the best “collection” of athletes. For example, evidence suggests coaches take into consideration the “fit” of an athlete with the team (e.g., group interactions), which may have a positive effect on the training environment, but also on the competitive performance of the team (Bradbury and Forsyth, 2012 ). This could be mitigated, however, if subjective criteria are made explicit and are defendable, but this in itself raises challenges related to identifying reliable and valid subjective measures.…”

The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology

“…Clearly, the latter category is wide ranging; examples of this breadth can be found in overtraining (Pope, Penny & Smith, 2018), selection policies (Bradbury & Forsyth, 2012), and 'return to play' decision making (Shrier, Safai & Charland, 2014). In this chapter, we chart the emergence of coaches' decision making in the academic literature, review the research conducted, and consider the impact of decision making research on coach education and development.…”