Can games based professional learning for community sports coaches for the improvement of coaching quality and student outcomes of physical skills and self-perception?

Coach professional development intervention delivered by the research team (PhD level) focusing on the use of a game centered approach for coaching community level junior athletes. Intervention involves: 1- Coach learning session: A one-off 2 hour theory based seminar covering: i) Physical activity research findings and theoretical grounding for improving skills, ii) Game Centered Approach (GCA) background, iii) GCA comparison to a direct instruction methodology, iv) using a game centered approach to guide a session, v) the use of questioning to assist student cognition, vi) concepts of quality coaching including Active Learning Time (ALT), athlete management for improved ALT and enhanced skills learning, and identification and use of Teachable Moments within activities. 2- Coach mentoring: Coaches will deliver 30 minutes of researcher developed GCA curriculum each week across the 8 week delivery phase. A member of the research team will provide in-session scaffolding (demonstration) and feedback of the coaches curriculum delivery for the first 4 weeks of the program (4 x 30minutes during the coaches programmed 1 hour session). Mentoring ensures the coaches involved understand the format and purpose of the designed content, and for coaches to observe, undertake, problem solve and trouble shoot more effective practice with an academic partner, in the authentic context of their own coaching sessions (4 x 1 hour). Mentoring begins the week following the professional learning seminar (1 week between seminar and mentoring). Sample: A sample of 12 coaches and their teams (n = 120 approx) are sought for recruitment. All participants will undergo outcome assessment, with half of the coaches (n = 6) with their respective team randomized post assessment to the intervention group, or wait-list control group (n = 6 coaches). Fidelity and adgerence: All coaches (intervention and control) are observed at bi-weekly intervals across the intervention period, with sessions referenced against coaching observation scales (Turner and Martinek, 1992). Sessions are judged against three skill based statements and four game based statements to obtain the percentage of agreement for each of these sets of statements (E.g. lesson agreement with one of four game based statements and two of three skill statements = 25% game agreement and 66% skills agreement, indicating a greater skills based lesson focus). These agreement values are used to indicate: i) if the style of instruction undertaken at each time period was in line with a skill based or game centred approach, and ii) if the fidelity of the instruction undertaken by the intervention group teachers was in line with the true nature of the intervention. A register of attendance at learning session for coaches and at training sessions for students is maintained to monitor adherence at sessions across the intervention period.