Coaches' perceptions on qualities defining good adolescent rugby players and are important for player recruitment in talent identification programs: the SCRuM project

Competitive rugby is increasingly becoming popular among adolescent players even in countries hardly known for rugby such as Zimbabwe. Given the increased participation rates, burgeoning talent identification (TID) programs and the reportedly high injury-risk associated with competitive youth rugby,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC research notes 2019-03, Vol.12 (1), p.132-132, Article 132
Main Authors: Chiwaridzo, M, Munambah, N, Oorschot, S, Magume, D, Dambi, J M, Ferguson, G, Smits-Engelsman, B C M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Athletic recruitment
Attributes
Coaching
Global positioning systems
GPS
Identification
Perceptions
Physiology
Qualitative research
Qualitative study
Qualities
Recruiting
Research Note
Rugby
Rugby football
Schools
Skills
Teenagers
Tournaments & championships
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Competitive rugby is increasingly becoming popular among adolescent players even in countries hardly known for rugby such as Zimbabwe. Given the increased participation rates, burgeoning talent identification (TID) programs and the reportedly high injury-risk associated with competitive youth rugby, the minimal qualities or skills needed for effective performance by all young players need further clarification. Therefore, this qualitative study was conducted to explore the perceptions of high-school based rugby coaches on the key qualities or skills defining good adolescent rugby players and should be considered for player recruitment in TID programs. Currently, there is no consensus in literature from the coaches' perspective on these qualities. The final sample had 22 coaches (median age = 45.5 years) with years of coaching high-school rugby ranging from 6 to 17 years. Using the conventional approach to inductive content analysis four broad themes emerged suggesting the multifaceted nature of the requirements imperative for effective and optimal rugby performance among adolescent rugby players as perceived by the coaches. Themes identified included: physiological characteristics, anthropometric attributes, psychological qualities and game-specific skills. Possibly, training approaches or design of rugby-specific test-batteries should consider all these important qualities and be multi-dimensional in composition.
ISSN:1756-0500
1756-0500
DOI:10.1186/s13104-019-4170-y