title: Coaching Practices in Elite Volleyball in Iraq: A Mixed Methods Case Study
Creators: name: Al-Dabbagh, Anmar A
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: coaching
subject: volleyball
subject: sports performance
subject: Iraqi society

description: This study investigated elite volleyball coaching in Iraq from the perspective of players and coaches from four elite level volleyball teams located in northern Iraq. Quality of the coaching experience has been shown to be a critical factor for assisting players to realise their athletic potential, and for improving team performance. Players themselves value certain kinds of coaching approaches and practices and their experience of coaching influences their engagement in sport and sports performance. This case study of elite players in two men’s teams and two women’s teams, along with the perceptions of their male coaches about volleyball coaching and of coaching practices was undertaken using a mixed-method, sequential explanatory research design. For the purposes of this study, the ‘case’ comprised volleyball players and coaching staff of teams competing in an advanced level volleyball competition, from which players were eligible for selection for Iraq’s national and international competition teams. Following the mixed-methods sequential explanatory approach, quantitative data was collected using an internationally validated sports psychology questionnaire, the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP), administered to all players from the four participating teams. Audio-visual recordings were then made of one coaching session for each of the four participating teams (n = 4). The final phase of data collection involved semi- structured interviews conducted with head and assistant coaches from the four participating teams (n = 8) and four players each of the teams (n = 16). Quantitative data collected from the PSPP was analysed using descriptive statistics and single variable ANOVA. Video recorded data was analysed using video observation and notational analysis. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The theory of practice architectures informed the study’s theoretical framework and assisted with the analysis of qualitative data. Findings indicated that coaching approaches and coaching practices were dominated by a tradition where what was most valued was derived from knowledge and technical skills experienced by coaches as a former elite players, which were then passed on to a new generation of players in the sport. This led to a style of coaching, confirmed by video observational analysis and interview findings, that was autocratic, focused on physical training and skill development through drill practices, with little variation to training formats across different clubs or between male and female teams. This autocratic approach was reinforced by complex Iraqi socio-cultural norms regulating coach behaviours and coach-player relationships, especially between coaches and their female players and families. This pointed vi to a coaching environment reflecting socio-political, material-economic and cultural-discursive arrangements extant in broader Iraqi society.