Is Archery on target? Are player pathways within Archery readily accessible to allow for athlete progression from participant to elite performer?
Authors: Challis, L.
Conference: European Sports Development Network Conference
Dates: 4-5 September 2013
Abstract:The purpose of this study was to investigate whether ArcheryGB has effective systems and structures in place to facilitate the progression of an individual athlete from an active participant through to an elite performer. The study responds to the call from Green (2005) and Shilbury et al. (2008) to undertake further research to examine the sports development systems involved with creating player pathways on a sport by sport basis for individual sports. A narrative research approach was undertaken to capture the lived experiences of a GB Archers progression within the sport of Archery to ascertain whether the player pathways were clearly identifiable and available to allow for a seamless progression in the pursuit of excellence. Most notably the results found that there was a substantial lack of structure in the provision of effective links within the player pathways, particularly between club and national representation. Also of particular interest was the fact that there are not enough 'good' coaches within the sport and that holding a UKCC coaching qualification was not considered as a relevant factor when choosing a coach; rather having a coach who was an experienced Archer themselves was of more importance. As with previous research findings the results have important implications for ArcheryGB to consider when planning and managing future athlete programmes to introduce and retain Archers within their player pathways (Green 2005; Sotiriadou et al. 2008). Further recommendations would support the research into further GB Archers to find is there are similarities in their perceptions and experiences of the player pathways within Archery.
Source: Manual