Leading sports psychologists and scientists have shared their knowledge and latest findings with some of Western Australia’s elite coaches at a Murdoch University seminar.
The event provided the coaches with unique and practical ways to improve the skills and coping strategies of top athletes, helping to give sports teams and individual athletes in Perth an advantage over their competitors.
Organised by Murdoch’s Sport Psychology and Sport Expertise Group (SPSEG), the event attracted participants from the West Coast Eagles, the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA), the WA Institute of Sport (WAIS), Wesley College, Tennis Australia and the WA Football Commission.
Dr Sean Müller, who leads SPSEG, said the coaches learned about mental toughness and coping with pressure in Australian football games, how to accelerate athlete development and skill acquisition in sport.
They were also given a demonstration of tools used to assess and train skill in Murdoch’s performance laboratory by PhD candidate Khaya Morris-Binelli and Dr John Brenton.
Being able to apply our research findings at the top level of sports coaching helps our elite sports people fine tune their training, preparation and performance,” said Dr Müller.
“Working so closely with coaches also helps our researchers form new collaborations and develop ideas for mutual benefit.
“From the feedback we received, we also understand the coaches enjoyed networking with other sports, and learnt much from each other.”
Chris Brabazon, Coach Development Manager at the WACA, said the seminar “crystalised the importance of incorporating decision making in training".
Jeremy Davey of WAIS Women’s Field Hockey said: “It helped to reinforce things we perhaps naturally do after years of coaching, but also posed questions about doing things differently or in a better way.
“I liked the practical implementations presented as well as examples of people or researchers to follow up.”
Christina Ladyman of Tennis Australia said: “It was interesting to hear about different ways to measure anticipation and then consequently ideas on how to train.”
Dr Müller was one of six presenters at the seminar, including colleagues from Notre Dame (Benjamin Piggott), Curtin University (Dr Simon Rosalie) and the WACA (Matthew Burgin). The event also featured guest speaker Colin Batch, Hockey Australia men’s national field hockey head coach.
There are plans to run the seminar again in 2020.