Your weekly research review

By Adam Kerr
Last updated: March 3rd, 2023
4 min read

Background & Objective

The role of emotions in sport performance has been shown to be incredibly important (see HERE). Successful athletes are often seen to have good control of their emotions and have stable emotional competencies. It has been previously shown that emotional intelligence (EI) can be trained (see HERE), however, it has also been noted that mental skills training can be seen as time-consuming, and therefore, not suitable for an elite athlete’s schedule. In addition to this, with most sport teams, there is an absence of sport psychologists within the support staff group, and therefore, most – if any – mental skills training is performed by the head coach or other staff. This can obviously have an impact on the success during training.

This study addressed these issues by highlighting the effects of a short-term EI training program fitted in to the schedule of an elite rugby team in the build up to an international game. The study also looked at whether the effectiveness of the EI training was influenced by the member of the coaching staff who delivered it.

What They Found

Ninety-six male 17-year-old elite rugby union players were selected for the study and randomly assigned to either control group or one of three experimental group’s, where the EI training was delivered by different members of the coaching team:

Emotional intelligence was assessed before and after the EI training and before the match, using the Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC). The EI training program was built into the 1-week preparation period before an international game, with three 1-h sessions delivered by the group’s trainer in the three consecutive days before the game. The control group performed three 1-h game analysis sessions in the same period.

The groups exposed to the EI training were found to:

An effect of the specific trainer on the EI training was also seen, with the sports psychologist group showing a significant positive effect on the regulation of the players own emotions. The head coaches’ group was seen to have marginal positive effects on expression of own emotions and the medical staff group found positive effects on the use others emotions.

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What This Means

It appears as though emotional intelligence can be improved within an elite team-sports setting when the training is delivered using a group-based approach and over a short-time period. Compared to a control group, EI training can specifically improve the expressing and controlling of players own emotions, however, the training failed to improve some of the other emotional competencies measured by the PEC. Unfortunately though, the time-frame of this study was shorter than other studies where more of a global EI improvement has previously been reported.

It is also interesting to note that the same training delivered by different members of the coaching team can elicit different improvements in emotional competencies, which shows that a previous relationship with the players can be as important as a deeper understanding of the psychology behind managing and controlling emotions.

Practical Takeaways

Want to learn more?
The full study can be read here.

Want more research reviews like this?

Every coach understands the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest sports performance research like this, but none have the time, energy, or even enjoys spending hours upon hours searching through PubMed and other academic journals. Instead, your precious time is better-spent coaching, programming, and managing all the other more important aspects of your job.

The solution…

The Performance Digest
The Performance Digest is a monthly summary of the latest sports performance research reviewed by our team of hand-selected experts. We sift through the 1,000+ studies published in the realms of sports performance every, single month and review only those which are important to you. Each monthly issues contains 19 research reviews in all of the following disciplines:

This comprehensive topic base ensures you’re constantly expanding your knowledge and accelerating your career as quickly as humanly possible. The reviews are also hyper-focused, 1-page summaries, meaning there’s no jargon or wasted time. We cut right to the chase and tell you what you need to know so you can get back to coaching.

Join the thousands of other coaches who read it every, single month. Click here to grab your FREE copy…

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Adam Kerr

Adam is the Head of Physical Performance for Scunthorpe United FC and has previously worked at Middlesbrough FC, Arsenal FC and the Professional Golfers Association. He holds a Masters degree in Sport Science from Sheffield Hallam University and is an accredited strength and conditioning coach with the UKSCA.

More content by Adam

The post Emotional intelligence training in rugby appeared first on Science for Sport.

A research review from the Performance Digest

By Adam Kerr
Last updated: March 2nd, 2023
4 min read

Background & Objective

Before the use of formal learning environments children used unstructured practice and play developed by themselves to learn the game of soccer. This way of learning has been shown to enhance the cognitive skills of the players (see HERE) and, therefore, an important place to help teach and learn the game. Researchers have proposed player-centred and game-based approaches for effective learning in these more formal environments (see HERE), but it is important to try and understand how player’s best learn different tactical behaviours in these scenarios.

Very few studies have looked at how different game conditions impact teams’ performance, and how these rules affect tactical behaviour. As such, this study examined how teams tactical behaviours varies between age groups and also how different smallsided and conditioned games affect style of play.

Twenty non-elite male soccer players (10 x U15s, 10 x U17s) took part in a combination of 36 small-sided and conditioned games consisting of a 3v3 and 4v4 with the following rules included:
⇒ Normal games with no offside line.

⇒ Possession games, with the aim of keeping the ball.

⇒ Progression to a target games, where the teams were rewarded for playing forward passes

What They Did

U15s
⇒ Better at maintaining possession, more comfortable with ball circulation, and attacking dynamics in the 4v4 games compared to the 3v3 games.

⇒ Better at attacking in the target games compared to the U17s group, however, attacks were performed for shorter times.

U17s
⇒ Worked better as a team in the 4v4 games compared to the 3v3 games, however, they had more individual effectiveness in 3v3 games, characterised by more individual ball touches and ball circulation.

⇒ Were more direct in their playing style in the 3v3 games, compared to the U15s, due to more individual ball touches and a higher rhythm of ball intervention. This could highlight that the older players could deal with more complex rules and set-ups.

It was also reported that when looking at the rules and configurations as a whole:
⇒ Possession games allowed more players to be involved, and more passing exchanges.

⇒ The more rules that were applied caused the players to have less variability in their attacking actions, which could limit the team’s exploratory behaviour to solve tactical problems.

What They Found

Changing the rules in different small-sided and conditioned games can greatly affect the tactical behaviours shown by players, and should be planned carefully when looking at training sessions. If a coach wants a more attacking and direct style of play, different rules would be needed compared to wanting more possession-based tactics. If a coach changes the rules excessively, it can be harmful to younger teams, preventing their ability for exploring different attacking patterns.

It is important for coaches to understand their tactical game model, the level, and age of players they are working with, and then carefully use rules, numbers of players, and pitch sizes to ensure the players can perform what is being asked of them tactically.

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Practical Takeaways

Coaches wanting to develop certain tactical behaviours, should pay close attention to the rules and constraints they put on the different small-sided and conditioned games in their training sessions.

Changing the rules too much, or putting too many rules on each practice can prevent the players from developing the tactical outcomes desired by the coach. 4-a-side games can be used to improve the team’s tactical performances, whereas the smaller games can encourage more varied attacking patterns of play.

Want to Learn More?
The full study can be read here.

Want more research reviews like this?

Every coach understands the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest sports performance research like this, but none have the time, energy, or even enjoys spending hours upon hours searching through PubMed and other academic journals. Instead, your precious time is better-spent coaching, programming, and managing all the other more important aspects of your job.

The solution…

The Performance Digest
The Performance Digest is a monthly summary of the latest sports performance research reviewed by our team of hand-selected experts. We sift through the 1,000+ studies published in the realms of sports performance every, single month and review only those which are important to you. Each monthly issues contains 19 research reviews in all of the following disciplines:

This comprehensive topic base ensures you’re constantly expanding your knowledge and accelerating your career as quickly as humanly possible. The reviews are also hyper-focused, 1-page summaries, meaning there’s no jargon or wasted time. We cut right to the chase and tell you what you need to know so you can get back to coaching.

Join the thousands of other coaches who read it every, single month. Click here to grab your FREE copy…

[optin-monster-shortcode id=”nhpxak0baeqvjdeila6a”]

Adam Kerr

Adam is the Head of Physical Performance for Scunthorpe United FC and has previously worked at Middlesbrough FC, Arsenal FC and the Professional Golfers Association. He holds a Masters degree in Sport Science from Sheffield Hallam University and is an accredited strength and conditioning coach with the UKSCA.

More content by Adam

The post Team tactics using small-sided games: How can we change rules during training to improve team tactics? appeared first on Science for Sport.