Impact case study database

In pursuit of developing best practice and sporting excellence, our research has informed improvements in the education and performance of coaches, support staff and athletes nationally and internationally.

The development of best practice in sport practitioner education and professional development:

1. The Football Association of Wales Trust [FAWT]

Cropley and Bowley’s research has been used by the NGB for football in Wales (FAWT) to inform the development of their National Syllabus [b], which underpins the FAWT coach education portfolio. This syllabus guides national youth development and enriches the content of the coach education programmes offered by the FAWT. All coaches (between 4000 and 7000 coaches per year from 2015-2020) engaging in these programmes are, therefore, exposed to the recommendations presented in the National Syllabus [a].

Bowley and Cropley’s research [5, 6] has resulted in the creation of modules designed to educate coaches how to integrate life skills development into their coaching practice. These modules are embedded into the curricula of the FAWT Level 1 and Level 2 awards, and delivered to ~2000 coaches (400 per annum from 2015-2020 **[a]**), with many coaches indicating that the research-informed modules have facilitated improvements to their practice – “ We have found that many of our coaches have reported substantial developments in their coaching practice as a result of being exposed to Brendan’s work” (FAWT Technical Director **[a]**). Additionally, Cropley’s research into reflective practice [1, 2] has been used to develop modules on Levels 2-5 (C Certificate to Professional Licence) of coach education offered by the FAWT, which have been delivered to ~1980 coaches since the qualifications were re-written between 2017-2020 [a] – these qualifications include those ratified by UEFA (the NGB for football in Europe). This research has also informed the way coaches are asked to engage in reflective practice during their coach education journeys and has significantly influenced coaches’ attempts to improve the effectiveness of their practice, “Brendan’s research has really helped to facilitate the quality of my reflective practices, which I believe has helped me to become a more effective coach. His work has had a considerable effect on my work” (EFL Championship Coach, 2017; **[a]**). Approximately 10% of the candidates on the UEFA accredited licences delivered by FAWT attend from overseas’ NGBs (~130 coaches between 2017-2020). This widens the reach of our impact to an elite international audience, with many of these coaches working in the highest leagues in their respective countries (e.g., La Liga, Spain) [a]. In support of this impact, the FAWT Technical Director detailed: “ We have witnessed significant changes in coaches’ practice and education and in player development, which have occurred at least in part because of the integration of the evidence Brendan has developed through his research” [a].

1. British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences [BASES] and UK Coaching

Cropley’s research [1, 2] has been used to create a number of resources and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes to support the ongoing development of coaches’ reflective practices across a range of sports [d, e]. Collectively, these have supported a “ huge step forward in coach education” [f] and have been distributed to a worldwide audience via NGB websites, which have been accessed by over 400 coaches in 2020 [e]. More specifically, Cropley’s research [1, 2] has been used to re-design the core Reflective Practice workshop on the BASES (the UK’s leading governing body for Sport & Exercise Science) Supervised Experience programme [c]. Between 2017-2020, 100 trainees on the programme have been educated using content underpinned by Cropley’s research. As this workshop is core, every future trainee who participates in the programme (and often go on to work in elite sport) will also be impacted by Cropley’s work. Feedback from participants showed the workshop had a profound influence on many of the candidates’ abilities to engage in reflective practice, which is likely to augment the quality of their service delivery: “ I’m going to reflect so differently now based on what I’ve seen [during the workshop] and I’m sure that this will make my reflections more critical, which will have a huge impact … and improve what I do” (Anonymous, 2019 **[c]**). The influence of this research on practitioner development was further recognised by BASES who awarded Cropley and colleagues an Expert Statement Grant (£1000) in 2019 to summarise the key findings from research relating to reflective practice and support the development of service delivery across the sport and exercise sciences disciplines [d]. This statement was distributed to the 2561 professional and student members of the organisation.

1. Coleg-y-Cymoedd

Finally, the impact of Cropley’s research in sport has been recognised outside of the sport domain by Coleg-y-Cymoedd, one of the largest tertiary education colleges in Wales. Since 2017, the college has utilised Cropley’s research in order to design and implement a staff CPD programme underpinned by reflective practice, resulting in the education of ~800 academic and support staff [g]. This has fundamentally changed the way that the college seeks to improve academic service delivery. This is confirmed by the college’s Vice Principal: “ [Cropley’s research] links directly to what we wanted to achieve at the college; namely a reflective workforce who are able to address the effectiveness of their practice. Consequently, the links that Brendan has made … have been impactful for us … we have seen explicit improvements in staff engagement in reflective practice, which is fundamentally altering the way in which they work” [f].

The development of best practice in applied performance psychology:

1. Sport Wales

Shearer’s research [3, 4] has developed via two funded industrial collaborations with Sport Wales that began in 2014, the most recent of which saw the formation of the Welsh Institute of Performance Science (WIPS: funding secured till 2024). WIPS now act as the research arm of Sport Wales and, as a founding member, Shearer’s work was driven directly by the needs of Sport Wales and Team Wales to improve workforce (e.g., coach, athlete) performance, and focused on the preparation of athletes for elite-level, international, multisport games (e.g., Commonwealth Games 2014 and 2018; Olympic Games 2016 and 2020). The impact of this research is international by the nature of the international level of competition experienced by athletes and coaches [h, i]. Shearer’s research has shown that biofeedback techniques can be used to effectively prepare coaches, support staff and athletes for elite competition by enhancing their competition-coping and decision-making skills [3, 4]. This has resulted in the delivery of in-house training workshops to all Welsh Commonwealth Sports, and adoption of the psychophysiology techniques detailed in the research by the sport psychology delivery team at Sport Wales in support of their athletes [h]. In particular, the methods were used to psychologically prepare over 100 elite athletes (with great effect) by a number of coaches at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, and Gold Coast 2018 where Team Wales had their best ever medal performances at an international level in succession [h, i]. For the Gold Coast 2018 games in particular, these stress-management methods were used to directly intervene with 20% of Wales’ medallists, including 30% of Wales’s gold medallists – “ The intervention [biofeedback] … helped them to remain in control during pressure situations … These marginal gains in emotion control and subsequent behaviour/behaviour can often distinguish between winning a medal or not” (Assistant Director Sport System Strategy and Services, Sport Wales Institute, Sport Wales **[h]**).

1. Swim Wales

Similarly, Shearer’s work with Swim Wales (2016-2020) has helped Welsh swimmers to prepare for the psychological factors encountered during the taper period in the lead-in to competition [j]. Swim Wales and Sport Wales psychologists identified that Welsh medals had been lost at major international competitions through poor psychological adaption during this stressful time in the swimmers’ and coaches’ preparation. This industry-driven problem, endorsed by WIPS, resulted in Shearer receiving KESS funding [9] to research and implement a biofeedback intervention to improve emotional regulation during the taper period before an important competition. Since 2018, the research has been integrated into the service delivery of the sport science support team (e.g., psychologists, S&C coaches; n = 7) and sport coaches ( n = 18) working with Swim Wales [i], and has subsequently resulted in a change to the competition culture of Swim Wales, from grassroots to elite international competition. The National Performance Director of Swim Wales has stated: “ This research has had a significant impact on the way in which we view and plan for the implementation of the taper at all level of swimmer development” [i].