Comparing elite sport coaches’ pressure training practices to recommended guidelines

This study reports the application of elite sport coaches’ pressure training practices and the extent to which these individuals followed a multi-phased pressure training framework, recently proposed by Fletcher and Arnold (2021). Nine Australian sport coaches participated in the study. Participants included coaches of current or former elite-level athletes, and were either currently using, or had previously used, pressure training activities in their training sessions. Participation involved undertaking semi-structured interviews, with interview questions tailored to the three phases (design, implementation, debrief and review) of Fletcher and Arnold's multi-phased framework (Fletcher and Arnold, 2021). In addition, the coaches were asked to comment on their perceived facilitators and challenges involved in designing and implementing their pressure training tasks. The results showed disparity between the recommended framework and the coaches’ current uses of pressure training. The study revealed that, although coaches understood pressure training and believed it to be beneficial, no participant followed the multi-phased framework in its entirety. All participants expressed facing limitations regarding adequate knowledge, support, and resources when attempting to conduct pressure training interventions in their respective sports. It is recommended that future researchers collaborate closely with elite coaches to explore their training practices and determine how to best support their use of pressure training.