Towards the reflective football coach from qualitative analysis

Abstract

This study is the first attempt in Malaysia with a qualitative approach to elucidate the behaviour with respect to performance of football coaches especially at grass root level. This study also involves the Chief Coach (n=2), the Assistant Coach (n=2), the Youth Department Officer (n=1), the Executive Secretary of the Forest Football Academy (n=1) and the Players (n=40). The data obtained from the interview and observation techniques have been analysed in accordance with the phase of analysis. For purpose of description of the analysis, it begins with the interview transcripts and progressing to the creation of ‘tags’, to ‘properties’, and then finally to the highest order categories’. Apart from the interview, I employed observation technique as a means of collecting data for this study. The researcher does not have to speak to the respondent and ask them about their own behaviour and actions. The researcher can simply watch as individuals act and speak and this enables the researcher to collect data first hand, The findings of this study revealed that i) the environment factors highly influence the coaches behaviour; ii) the component of professionalism, knowledge, behaviour and players performance were related and each of the component has influenced from other factors such as organization, significant experience, environment, training and competition. The findings also showed that the behavioural aspect, is to exhibit their strong commitment to make the players follow the activities constructed. Hence, the coaches had successfully demonstrated positive behaviour by emphasizing fun and enjoyment that helped the players enjoy their training sessions and this showed that the coaches’ behaviour is important in imparting knowledge to the players. In conclusion, the findings of the present study thus offer significant contribution to the existing literature and conceptual development on coaching by looking at the relationship between the coaches' behaviour during the coaching process.