Identification of the Attributes Used by Coaches to Select Professional Rugby Union Players

Hill, Colin (2021) Identification of the Attributes Used by Coaches to Select Professional Rugby Union Players. [Dataset] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This study identified expert coaches’ views of the attributes necessary for the selection of potential professional Rugby Union players. It was an attempt to make explicit, coaches’ implicit knowledge. An interpretivist approach was adopted to identify the views that coaches possessed regarding the attributes and characteristics that successful Rugby Union players must develop. Unstructured interviews elicited detailed information from six UK Premiership academy coaches in two Premiership rugby clubs. The availability and exclusivity of these coaches lead to a convenience sampling process being adopted. Thematic analysis revealed 10 themes ; dependability, coping with the training environment, quality of preparation, distractibility, ability to be coached, social skills, and intensity of effort physical development, sources of players, families. Identifying the characteristics that coaches deem necessary to succeed could raise the standard of players entering the system and produce better players, more efficiently, at the end of the academy system.