Coaches' experiences of Game Sense: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

This paper draws on a series of interviews conducted in 2002 with practising Australian coaches working with an Australian variant of TGfU, Game Sense. It examines their experiences of Game Sense in a range of sports played from introductory, grassroots levels to sport played at the most elite levels. The views of the coaches in the study lend support to recent literature on tactical approaches to teaching/coaching sport indicating the propensity for tactical approaches such as Game Sense to provide opportunities for coaches to develop more complete players than is possible with technique-focused approaches. The coaches' experiences also suggest that there is a range of challenges involved in the implementation of Game Sense.