Activities

P.R.I.C.E TRANSNATIONAL MEETING IN ROME

The last meeting of our project took place in early December in the Italian capital, Rome. Organized by the representative of CSEN (Centro Sportivo Educativo Nationale) Mr. Luca Gallina, the Closing Conference of the project took place at the Spazio Europa center.

The following papers were presented:

• Max Myklagard spoke about ”Understanding the Parent-Coach Relationships through the parents experience”; See presentation here
• Camilla Knight presented the topic ”Parent-Coach Relationships: Supporting Effective Interactions”; See presentation here
• Tudor Palade introduced the topic ”Coach-parent communication: limits, key moments, strategies”; See presentation here
• Giancarlo Santoni, Psychologist and psychotherapist, president of SIPEA onlus spoke about ” The relationship between coach, young athlete and family”; See presentation here
• Luca Gallina spoke about ”The parent-coach relationship in Italian Football”.

The orientation meeting took place at the Spes Montesacro football club, in the presence of many coaches, parents and officials. The discussions started were very interesting and the conclusions reached focused on the following aspects:

• - the problems between coaches and parents are similar in Italy with those in Romania and the U.K;
• - the need for constant communication between the coach / person in the club and the parents;
• - better management of the situation of "children from the 2nd value team";
• - the need for coaches to know how to better relate to parents;

All the presentations as well as pictures of this meeting can be found below.

P.R.I.C.E TRANSNATIONAL MEETING IN NORWAY

The 3rd Conference of our project, held in Oslo on November 1-4, received incredible feedback from Kristiania College University students, coaches and specialists from Norway!

The speakers' presentations were as follows:

• ”Physical changes during puberty, and advice on how parents and coaches can make this phase the best for youth sports?” by Prof. Espen Tønnessen, Kristiania University College; See presentation here
• ”Strategies to improve communication between coaches and parents” by Anna Solheim, Sunn Idrett; See presentation here
• ”Interaction between coaches and parents: understanding the role of each party”, by Dr. Tudor Palade, UNEFS (Romania); See presentation here
• ”Enhancing parent-coach relationships: Why and How?” by Dr Camilla Knight, Swansea University (UK); See presentation video here
• ”The parent-coach relationship in Italian Football” by Luca Gallina, CSEN (Italy).

Also, the over 50 participants interacted at the workshop designed by Max Myklagard, general manager, FURIM Institutt.

The orientation meeting took place at the Sagene IF football club and the discussions focused on the exchange of experience between the project specialists and the coaches of the Norwegian club.

All the presentations as well as pictures of this meeting can be found below.

P.R.I.C.E TRANSNATIONAL MEETING IN U.K

On Tuesday 13th April, Professor Camilla Knight of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences hosted an online conference focused on improving interactions between parents and coaches in football. Attended by over 140 participants from around the world, the conference comprised seven presentations covering topics ranging from why the parent-coach relationship is important within youth sport, to strategies to enhance responsive support and communication, and comparisons of the sporting systems and coach-parent relationships between the UK and Romania, Italy and Norway. Presenters included current and former Swansea University staff and postgraduate students including Professor Camilla Knight, Dr Olivier Rouquette, and PhD student Rachael Newport.

The online meeting also had an interactive component, with coaches asking numerous questions and sharing their experiences with their parents.

The topics presented were the following:

• Prof. Camilla Knight spoke about “Enhancing parent-coach relationship: Why and How?”; See presentation video here
• James Maurice - PhD student at Wolverhampton University and in collaboration with Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club spoke about “Strategies to enhance communication between coaches and parents”; See presentation video here
• Olivier Rouquette - PhD, researcher and data scientist working at Swansea University presented the topic: “Providing responsive support and developing responsive relationships”; See presentation video here
• Rachael Newport, PhD researcher in Sport Psychology at Swansea University spoke about “Supporting parents of young athletes”; See presentation video here
• Luca Gallina - member of Centro Sportivo Educativo Nazionale, Italy spoke about "The parent-coach relationship in Italian Football" See presentation video here
• Maxim Mukhamodeev - Executive Director of FURIM Institutt in Oslo, Norway presented the topic: "An introduction to the Norwegian Model of Sport and the Role of Parents" See presentation video here
• Tudor Palade - PhD Lecturer National University of Physical Education and Sport Bucharest & Technical Director Prosport Football Academy Bucharest spoke about “UK vs Romania - differences and similarities in the approach of the coach-parent relationship” See presentation video here

All the presentations as well as pictures of this meeting can be found below.

P.R.I.C.E Transnational Meeting In Romania (kick-off meeting)

On December 11, 2020, starting with 2 pm, at the headquarters of the National University of Physical Education and Sports in Bucharest, the opening of the Erasmus + project “Parent-coach Relationships In Coach Education / P.R.I.C.E” took place.

The meeting was attended by coaches of the Prosport Bucharest Football Academy, teachers and UNEFS students and both football coaches from the country and parents participated in the online environment.

The conference was divided into two parts:
1. In the first part we tried to provide various information to coaches related to: nutrition of young footballers, the role and responsibilities of parents and coaches, optimizing parental involvement in sports, how we organize the meeting with parents, creating parent-coach partnership;
2. In the second part, in a workshop where many parents participated, we tried to optimize the coach-parent communication by responding to hypothetical but extremely common situations in today's youth football:

DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR PARENTS

a. Your child took a knock to the head during a training session. The coach thought they seemed fine and let them continue playing continuing playing. When you pick your child up from training, what would you expect from the coach?
b. Your child has been going through a bad spell of performances. You show up for a game at the weekend and see he has been put on the bench. Your child is visibly upset as they were expecting to play. After the game you want to talk to the coach but are not sure what you should do or say. What do you think is the best way to handle this?
c. You are watching a very exciting game and all the parents are getting really into it. There is lots of shouting and cheering from the sidelines. It is clearly very hard for the players to hear what the coach is saying. What do you think you and the other parents should do?
d. You disagree with the tactics your child’s coach is using because they do not allow your child to play in their best position. What should you do?

DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR COACHES

a. A player took a knock to the head during a training session. You thought they seemed fine and let them continue playing continuing playing. When the parent picks the child up from training, what do you think you need to do?
b. A player has been going through a bad spell of performances. The parents attend for a game at the weekend and see the player has been put on the bench. The player is visibly upset as they were expecting to play. After the game you can see the parents want to talk to you but you really don’t want to talk to them about it. What do you think is the best way to handle this?
c. Your team are playing in a very exciting game and all the parents are getting really into it. There is lots of shouting and cheering from the sidelines. It is clearly very hard for the players to hear what you are saying. What do you think you and parents should do to prevent these situations?
d. A parent disagrees with the tactics you are using because they do not allow their child to play in their best position. What should you do?

The conclusions drawn from this workshop were extremely interesting:

• In the case of the first situation, most respondents stated the need for the coach to have knowledge to provide first aid, the club to provide emergency medical services (nurse throughout training and games) and parents to treat these blows with maximum responsibility (control detailed medical). Communication between parent and coach after the incident is mandatory!
• In the case of the second situation, both parties agreed that a discussion between the coach and the parent is absolutely necessary, but this should not take place immediately after the game but at an interval of 2-3 days. The coach must provide reasoned answers about the child's current situation, but also ways to overcome this obstacle; parents to have patience and confidence in the coach's ability to solve the problem.
• In order to solve the 3rd hypothetical situation, both the coaches and the parents were of the opinion that the “screams from the parents' side” should be at most encouragements, in no case technical-tactical indications given to their own children. This consensus can be reached if the parents follow the rules imposed by the coach / club related to their conduct during training and matches. However, coaches need to be constantly reminded of these rules and the importance of following them.
• In the case of the last problematic situation, there was a consensus between the coaches and the parents in the sense that both parties consider that the only person who should decide on the position / position in which the child will play is the COACH. However, it should have feedback from both the player and the parent on this issue.

The general conclusion of this workshop was that the most important thing to have an optimal relationship between coach and parent is COMMUNICATION!