Executive Summary
The athlete team under analysis in this paper is the Melbourne Football Club (Demons). Its main issue is poor on-field performance, caused by mediocre coaching, waning motivation, and low fitness. The three sports science disciplines that are useful for Melbourne Football Club are coaching, athlete career training and education, and sports psychology. Some of the research findings on effective coaching will be applied to the Demons to enhance performance. Research on athlete career and training will be essential in improving the team members’ fitness levels, talent recruitment, and talent development strategies. Studies in sports psychology will assist in identifying and tackling negative external motivation among the players.
The intervention will involve a three-pronged approach designed to tackle most of the causes of poor on-field performance in Melbourne Football Club. First, it will consist of an intensive strength and conditioning program. Secondly, it will entail the hiring of new coaching personnel. Finally, it will involve the reorganization and hiring of players. A new coach, assistant coach, and performance manager will be in charge of the intensive strength and conditioning program.
The plan will cost USD1.98 million to come from the club’s key corporate partners. This intervention will likely lead to a highly enthusiastic and motivated team. The plan will also improve their form and fitness levels. Additionally, it will prevent the occurrences of fatigue. Most importantly, the intervention will lead to improved performance of the Melbourne Football Club.
Background
The athlete team under analysis in this paper is the Melbourne Football Club; it is also known as The Demons. This team of Australian Football League players has been performing abysmally over the past decade. It was one of the oldest teams in the sport with a long impressive performance in the past. However, now the team is losing to teams like Port that was perceived as non-threatening. Furthermore, even the nature of their losses is quite demoralizing. In a round-two match this season (April 2013), the team lost by 148 points. Their defeaters – Essendon – had a final score of 184 while the Demons could only garner a measly 36 points. The club has recorded such disappointing performances over the past few years, with only a few wins to pacify their supporters.
Melbourne Football Club’s main issue is poor on-field performance (Mitchell, 2013). Experts attribute this poor performance to several reasons. First, they believe that the current coach is a poor fit for the team (Cummings, 2013). Coach Mark Neeld allowed television reporters into the team’s changing room before a match this season. Many viewers and reporters criticized him for his bland and uninspiring speech to a team that urgently needed some motivation. Others believe that the coach’s list management techniques were wanting; they claim that individuals who could perform better as forwards were defenders and vice versa (Cummings, 2013).
Neeld seems to lack proper game strategies because some of his team members have not mastered the basics. His team does not tackle, pass, and defend the ball in the right manner. Furthermore, the Demons have been using the same game plan for the past two years. Their opponents know about it and have defeated them using this knowledge. Some say that the coach is simply not pushing the players hard enough (Cutain, 2013). There is a disparity between what he intends for them and how the team perceives his message. Even his recruitment strategies have been put under question. Analysts blame him for hiring recycled and old players from other teams (Cummings, 2013). They also believe that he did not secure the right individuals to come into the team as first-timers.
Several specialists and fans have also blamed the team leadership. The club’s immediate former iCEO Cameron Schwab barely removed the club out of debt. His group was responsible for the recruitment and selection of coaches. Therefore, his poor insight affected the outcomes of the players. Additionally, senior management often approves player choices and affects the financial viability of the club. If management lacks control over these issues, then players will be demoralized and could walk away. The club has been making poor choices when appointing senior managers.
In this issue of poor on-field performance, the players are also not free from blame. Some of them lack the sense of urgency needed to make it to the Australian Football League. Additionally, others are not enthusiastic about their games and appear to be there only out of obligation. Some of them have mismanaged their careers and failed to develop as required. Jack Watts is one such example; he was promising as a junior but did not apply consistent effort. Newer players appear to lack the confidence needed to confront giants of the sport. The players appear to be unfit; a number of them get tired minutes before the game is over, and simply give up. They also lack clear leadership in the field as competitors have poached some of their best players. Leadership in the field does not occur by default; older players need to demonstrate to the younger ones exactly what needs to take place. This means that the players should come from free agencies. On the part of the players, poor talent development, lack of motivation, and low fitness levels account for these dreadful results.
The problem has occurred recurrently over the past three decades. It started due to a financial crisis in the company, loss of key players, and inappropriate response from the club administration. Several other complications have piled up since its key crises. These issues must be tackled explicitly or they could spiral out of control.
Failure to respond to the poor on-field performance could lead to a decline in support from key sponsors. This could spell doom for all the sports personnel who depend on the Club for support. It could also be wasteful to the athletes who dedicated most of their sporting life to the team. Perhaps the fans will be the most disenchanted group if the Demons fail to turn their performance around. Many enthusiasts have supported the team since their childhood, so it would be depressing to witness the fall of a club that they loved for so long. Melbourne Football Club owes its stakeholders the responsibility of staying on form and replicating the glorious days of success. Its historical significance to Australian Rules Football makes it necessary for the team to succeed.
Explanation of sports science disciplines
The three sports science disciplines that are useful for Melbourne are coaching athlete career training and education, and sports psychology. Coaching encompasses aspects of team preparation that depend on a trainer. The coach is responsible for selecting athletes, training, motivating, and preparing a game strategy. Athlete career training and education encompass aspects that deal with talent development, career progression as well as training in sports. Sports psychology is a vast discipline that focuses on discovering how psychological attributes affect physical performance. It also uncovers the effect of physical exercise on psychological development.
Some of the key advancements in the field of coaching include the association between coaching leadership style and team performance, characteristics of attributes that make a coach effective, and motivational techniques that coaches apply to elicit impressive performance from their teams. Scholars like Turman (2003) & Becker (2009) have also uncovered the coaching process and how this affects athletes’ experiences. In the discipline of sports psychology, a lot of advancements have been made on how sport participation or lack of it affects performance. Various psychological factors like external family support and financial incentives have been identified as psychological antecedents to sporting behavior. Recent developments in the field of athlete career and training have shown the importance of nature (talent) and nurture (training) in determining athlete accomplishments. Discoveries on how to develop talent have also been made over the past few years.
For example, Turman (2003) carried out a study among fifteen male athletes and fifteen female athletes in various sporting disciplines, such as basketball, swimming, baseball, and football. He wanted to investigate what coaching behavior motivates and demotivates team behavior. The author found that team members disregard inequity in coaching. When coaches favor other members of the team by allowing them to miss a practice or by bragging about their abilities to other players, then this creates jealousy and resentment. Additionally, members were demotivated by coaches who openly ridiculed them and even used the press to express their disdain for the player (Turman, 2003). Becker (2009) explains that players want a coach who will be nonjudgmental. When exhausted, they expect the person to understand their situation. They also frowned upon inconsistent behavior and lack of communication. Becker (2009) affirmed that inconsistency is a sign of lack of knowledge. Coaches must demonstrate that they know what they are doing.
Some of the motivating behavior that Turman (2003) identified included motivational speeches before a match or just before a practice session. Becker (2009) expressed this as passion and enthusiasm. Coaches must exude fervor in every aspect of their job. Turman (2003) also cited team prayers before key matches as another motivating experience. If a coach seemed dedicated and enthusiastic, then this pumped-up players to win matches. Participants in Truman’s (2003) study also cited a coach’s description of opponents as another quality. They also wanted to have a personal relationship with their coach such that they could get support from him. Becker (2009) also echoed these sentiments when she stated that most athletes are far from home and want someone that they can confide in. Participants were motivated when their coach was systematic in training and application of procedures (Turman, 2003). Becker (2009) augmented these sentiments by stating that coaches must know how to evaluate and analyze talent, scout, and apply performance techniques.
Lonsdale and Hodge (2011) carried out an analysis to determine the effect of the nature of motivation on burnout. They found that if intrinsic motivation or self-determined motivation was high then athletes experienced less burnout. However, if their motivation was external; in that, they played because they had to not because they wanted to, then they were likely to experience burnout. Appleton et. al. (2009) reverberate these findings in their study. They explain that most individuals in competitive sports who focus on external factors of motivation will perform poorly. For instance, if they care about social approval or making mistakes during a game, then fear over negative appraisal will manifest. This causes anxiety, stress, and eventually unimpressive performance.
Powers and Howley (2009) give a lot of insights on athlete career training and education. They assert that training can enhance the natural gifting of an athlete. Trainers must remember that one’s metabolism, environment, age, nutrition, and physical fitness harm sporting outcomes. When making a fitness program, one must elevate certain qualities over others depending on the nature of the sport. For instance, flexibility may be more important than endurance in one sport; strength could be greater than agility in another sport. In a training program, one must balance the order of exercises, specificity, progression, and overload. Farrow (2010) explains how athletes can develop skill expertise in training. They do so by recalling playing patterns, such that they know the positions of all offense and defense players. Decision making is vital to skill expertise, as well. When in a certain position, a player ought to make the best offense choice. Players need to perfect their passing skills, which may involve dodging or attack. Finally, one must possess reactive agility where they readily adjust to a certain move with great ease and flexibility.
Talent identification development is a key research area in the discipline of athlete career training and education. Phillips et. al. (2010) identified chief determinants of athlete talent development. They found that having support networks, competing with senior teammates, and participating in an unstructured sport before playing in the major leagues caused talent development. They also cited intrinsic motivators like resilience and a strong work ethic for their career growth. Athletes needed to be open to learning and to seek new challenges.
The discipline of coaching is appropriate in dealing with Melbourne’s poor on-field performance because coaches have been cited as key determinants of failure in the team. Some of the research findings on effective coaching will be applied to the Demons to enhance performance. Research findings on sports psychology will help the team managers, psychologists, and coaches to determine how external psychological factors are demoralizing athletes. Most of the players in Melbourne Football Club appear to compete by force. These studies in sports psychology will assist in identifying and tackling negative external motivation among the players. Research on athlete career and training will be essential in improving the team members’ fitness levels. Many of them seem like they are out of shape while others lack basic skills. Knowledge of perfection of skills (passing, decision-making, agility, recalling position patterns) will be essential for the Demons as they do not know what skills to develop. Information on talent development will assist the coaches in talent recruitment and nurturing at Melbourne Football Club.
Implementation plan and budget
Plan
The intervention will involve a three-pronged approach designed to tackle most of the causes of poor on-field performance of Melbourne Football Club. First, it will consist of an intensive strength and conditioning program. Secondly, it will entail the hiring of new coaching personnel. Finally, it will involve the reorganization and hiring of players. A new coach, assistant coach, and performance manager will be in charge of the intensive strength and conditioning program. New players will be hired, some older players released and the rest will be reorganized under a new game plan.
The hiring of new players is necessary because some of the older players in the club are earning too much, yet they are performing terribly. They need to be released and replaced by fresh talent. The new players will come from college and independent contractors because it is quite difficult to start from scratch in these kinds of arrangements. The new coach, assistant coach, and performance manager will be responsible for talent scouting. The new coach must demonstrate all qualities of an effective leader (as seen in the literature) such as commitment, passion, and knowledge (Turman, 2003; Becker, 2009). One such coach is Poul Roos who is an expert in the field. The three personnel will look for factors such as commitment to the game, strong worth ethic, natural talent, and willingness to learn when recruiting new players.
All three individuals will work on the training program. While most of it will be quite elaborate, some of the highlights of the training program include warm-ups, weight training, endurance, recovery, sprint training, and Australian rules football skill development. Sprint training will commence at the beginning of training sessions and will focus on increasing players’ speed. Endurance training will occur by varying the length and capacity of a run. This will ascertain that their aerobic capacity increases under their needs. Weight training will involve the use of the right weights to build their strength rather than their size. Warm-ups will involve dynamic activities that stretch different muscle groups. In addition to training, the personnel will also come up with a game strategy. They will determine the best positions for the players and how best to tackle their opponents.
The relevant professional associations include the Australian Institution of Sport (AIS). AIS will be critical in providing access to sport and performance research. It will also take charge of quality assurance in the program. The Australian Sports Commission will also have a part to play in the arrangement because it often invests in high-performance plans. This plan will need a method of improving performance. Since a performance manager will be required, then the plan will involve participation by the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association, Fitness Australia, Exercise and Sport Science Australia, and AFL Coaching Association. One of the new personnel will likely belong to those associations, so they can garner experience and training, and new standards of practice from the group. Since the club belongs to Australian Rules football, then the Australian Football League will also be a relevant member. It will be responsible for monitoring the club’s adherence to standard procedures and regulations. The AFL also organizes matches and oversees the trading or hiring of employees. The Melbourne Cricket Club will also be involved as it is an ardent financial supporter of the team.
Other stakeholders that will be critical in this program include online sports bloggers, journalists, academic scholars, and members of Melbourne Football Club. Media players will highlight possible changes in performance. Academic researchers will assist in determining performance measures and scholarly backing for the training, recruitment, and game strategies. Members of the club will donate and give moral support to the players.
This plan will likely lead to a highly enthusiastic and motivated team. The plan will also improve their form and fitness levels. Additionally, it will prevent the occurrence of fatigue. Most importantly, the intervention will lead to improved performance in Melbourne Football Club.
Measurement of the contribution of athlete career training and education will occur through the use of a skill improvement technique. Here, the coach will divide all team members into groups of 3 to 5 members. Every week, the groups will have a certain skill set that they will focus on. Points will be allocated to each member of the group depending on the effectiveness of their skill demonstration. For instance, three points will be allocated to defense skills and three to kicking skills. If group skill levels increase by more than 10%, then the team is doing well. However, fewer percentage points will indicate a need for improvement.
In the area of sports psychology, the focus will be on measuring the change in motivation among the players. This will be done through a 6-item Behavioural Regulation in Sports Questionnaire (BRSQ). The six items include motivation, which entails four questions about doubting one’s contribution to the team. The second is external regulation, which involves questions on external pressure to play. Interjected regulation involves self-imposed obligation, while identified regulation involves positive internal motivations like benefits of sport. Integrated regulation involves internal identity in sports while IM is the general enjoyment effect of the sport. All of these aspects will be analyzed. Finally, the contribution of the coaching element will simply be analyzed by the team’s performance in the AFL. If they win more games than they lose, then they are doing well.
Potential Cost
The following is a summary of the program costs in USD.
Therefore, the total annual cost for the program will be $1,980,000. This estimate stems from salary caps by AFL in the year 2013 for coaches and players. It is also an amalgamation of average prices paid to AFL players today. However, the figures are slightly lower than usual because of the financial constraints at the club (Hawthorne, 2012).
Payment for the service will stem from the replacement of older players’ payments with new ones. The money will also come from its corporate partners. Opel, Webjet, and Hertz will be the key sponsors. Alternatively, Casey, New Balance, and Powerade will back them. The amount is necessary to cover the costs of hiring new individuals in the team. To change current performance, the organization must inject new blood. These salary estimates are based on current market rates
Conclusion
Melbourne Football Club is a team in a crisis. It has recorded continual declines in performance over the past few years. The key issue here is poor on-field performance and it can be solved through coaching, sports psychology, and athlete career training and education disciplines. The intervention involves training, hiring a new coach, assistant coach, performance manager, and new players. It will cost USD 1.98 million from the club’s key corporate partners.
References
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Becker, A. (2009). It’s not what they do, it’s how they do it: Athlete experiences of great coaching. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 4(1), 93-121.
Cummings, A. (2013). Melbourne Football Club-Time for a change. Web.
Curtain, S. (2013). The indelible and permanent stain of failure at Melbourne. Web.
Farrow, D. (2010). A multi-factorial examination of the development of skill expertise in high performance netball. Talent Development and Excellence, 2(2), 123-135.
Hawthorne, M. (2012). The truth about salaries in the AFL. Web.
Lonsdale, C. & Hodge, K. (2011). Temporal ordering of motivational quality and athlete burnout in elite sport. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 43(5), 913-921.
Mitchell, N. (2013). The smell of death is around the Melbourne Football Club. Web.
Phillips, E., Davids, K., Renshaw, I. & Portus, M. (2010). The development of fast bowling experts in Australian cricket. Talent Development and Excellence, 2(2), 137-148.
Powers, S. & Howley, E. (2009). Exercise physiology. NY: McGrawhill.
Turman, P. (2003). Coaches and cohesion: The impact of coaching techniques on team cohesion in the small group sport setting. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 26(1), 86-105.