Teaching styles of Australian junior tennis coaches

Mitchell Hewitt, Ken Edwards, Shane Pill

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Game Sense was introduced to Australian tennis during Australian Sports Commission (ASC) national workshops in 1996, prompting tennis coach education providers to emphasise the approach, and its embrace of increased player involvement in the coaching process, in formal coach accreditation literature. This research involving 208 junior development and club professional coaches in self-assessment of their teaching styles, provides insight into the penetration into the everyday coaching practice of one of the central pedagogical tenets of the Game Sense approach – the use of well-considered coach questions to guide the development of players’ technical and tactical game development. Since the ASC workshops in 1996, until this research there has been no assessment of the uptake of the Game Sense approach in Australian tennis. The pedagogical practice of coach-led questions in the Game Sense approach has been referred to as a form of guided discovery. This research used Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles (2008) (The Spectrum) as a tool through which to investigate the coaching styles of Australian junior tennis coaches, revealing coaches self-identified alignment with the guided discovery practice of coach-led questions (Mosston’s Guided Discovery-Style F). The research found that a practice style (Mosston’s Practice Style-B) was the pedagogical style used most often by the respondents, followed by a more directive or command style (Mosston’s Command Style-A). Guided discovery (Mosston’s Guided Discovery-Style F) was the third most commonly adopted pedagogical practice.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication2015 Game Sense for Teachers and Coaches Conference
    Subtitle of host publicationProceedings
    EditorsJudy Bruce, Chris North
    Place of PublicationChristchurch
    PublisherUniversity of Canterbury, New Zealand
    Pages40-52
    Number of pages13
    ISBN (Print)978-0-473-35320-9, 9780473353209
    Publication statusPublished - 2016
    Event2015 Game Sense for Teaching and Coaching Conference - University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
    Duration: 17 Nov 201518 Nov 2015

    Conference

    Conference2015 Game Sense for Teaching and Coaching Conference
    Country/TerritoryNew Zealand
    CityChristchurch
    Period17/11/1518/11/15

    Keywords

    • Conference presentation
    • Tennis Australia
    • Game Sense
    • Australian Sports Commission (ASC)
    • Tennis coach education
    • Junior tennis

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