Strategical thinking of elite soccer coaches in Palestine: impact of competitive divisions, qualification, and experience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the rationale of elite soccer coaches in Palestine when designing and selecting practice in the pre-season period of season 2019/2020. Coaching is a decision-making process of continuous modification of the internal logic of the institutionalized game. By looking into the internal logic of the activities proposed in their diaries coaching sessions, it has been possible describe the overall pre-season coaching strategy and try and find de diversions from this general strategy due to the competitive division (professional, first and second), the coaches characteristics: qualification (such as specialization in physical education and the level of their coaching certificate), and experience (as a former player and as a coach).The participants in this study were 36 Palestinian coaches belonging to the 36 clubs in the top three divisions. We analyzed the internal logic of practice from, the perspective of the motor praxeology by describing the relationships between the players, relationships to space, relationships to time, and relationships to objects, of a total 2,342 motor tasks with a time of 31, 980 minutes distributed over 360 sessions.The general strategy was only and slightly affected by the competition level, in a non-progressive way. Personal characteristics do not impact on the practice proposed to players and teams. Besides the traits used to characterize Palestinian coaches do not match the competitive structures: no profile associated could be found.