Influences on the development of beliefs of Canadian expert judo coaches and their impact on action.
Creators: name: Moraes, Luiz Carlos Couto De Albuquerque.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1999
Subjects: subject: Education, Physical.

description: The purpose of this study was to describe the traditional and modern beliefs and the actions of judo coaches and how these beliefs were represented in their actions during training. In-depth, open-ended interviews were conducted with six male and one female expert judo coaches of Canadian, Japanese and European origin working in Canada. Three principal issues were addressed with expert judo coaches who worked within the Canadian context: (1) how these coaches conceptualized their beliefs regarding traditional values and behavior in judo, (2) how they differed in their beliefs with regarding traditions and modern judo orientations, (3) whether these beliefs that ranged from traditional and modern perspectives, translated into the actions of judo coaches in actual training session. The means used to respond to these questions was the use of qualitative analyses based on in-depth interviews, participant observation, field notes, and stimulated recall with the coaches' actions that were videotaped during training sessions. The analyses revealed that the Canadian context for the sport of judo significantly shaped the coaches' evolution both as athletes and coaches, in the development of their personal philosophies with respect to the practice of judo in this country. The inductive analysis revealed that these coaches conceptualized their sport in a manner analogous to the mental model of gymnastic (Cote, 1993) and team coaches (Bloom, 1996). Six components emerged from the analysis. These included the three central components of the Coaching Model (Cote, Salmela, Trudel, Baria, &amp; Russell, 1995) organization, training and competition, and three additional peripheral components representative of the contextual factors, and the coaches' and athletes' characteristics. While conceptually similar to the findings of Cote (1993) and Bloom (1996), the results indicated that the contextual factors of the Canadian judo environment were more complex than in the gymnastics Cote, 1993). Secondly, coaches who originated from other countries, appeared to have different beliefs regarding the traditions of judo and were required significantly to adapt these philosophies, and coaching styles due to the constraints of practicing judo in Canada. They appeared to develop a hybrid of beliefs regarding judo training in Canada which included Japanese-based traditional methods, and science-based procedures that had to be adapted to the particular mentalities of Canadian judokas. These coaches also developed a set of modern beliefs especially regarding training and international competition. Thirdly, the beliefs of the coaches recorded during the interviews appeared to be congruent and consistent with their videotaped actions observed during the stimulated recall procedures. It was apparent that considerable adjustments were required in order to carry out in their practices, especially in terms of whether the coaches' viewed "judo as art" or "judo as competition". The coaches also revealed that a number of their behaviors, especially those related to creating the training atmosphere, were necessary for Canadian judokas, although it was clear that such practices were not the most effective means of making Canada a world power in judo. In sum, the present study has contributed to the understanding and conceptualization of the factors which affect the mental model of coaches and their evolution across their career. It also has added significant elements to the understanding of a variety of the traditional and modern beliefs and actions, and their adaptations in the Canadian judo.