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Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players

Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008.

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Other Authors: Maree, David J.F.
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Maree, David J.F.
author_browse Maree, David J.F.
author_facet Maree, David J.F.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23882
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:19.976Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23882 Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players Maree, David J.F. pjclaasen@mightymen.co.za Claasen, Petrus Jacobus Response selection Playing level Measurement Information processing approach Expert players Decision-making Quality Rugby Anticipation Visual search UCTD Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. The study of cognition as it relates to expert performance in sport is an area that has received increased attention over the last 25 years. This has been made possible by the fact that the domain of sport offers a rich and diverse setting in which to study cognition and its links to human performance, coupled with the abundant supply of highly practiced athletes providing unique opportunities to study these factors in a natural environment. The quality of on-field decision-making of expert athletes has received attention in a number of open-skill sporting codes, including basketball, field hockey and soccer. Decision-making quality of expert athletes in rugby union, as an invasive, open-skill sporting code, has not received the same amount of attention. Past studies on the decision-making of expert athletes in sport have tended to be carried through the isolation of specific cognitive functions and describing the role of each isolated function in the decision-making process. Given the speed at which decisions have to be made, as a result of time pressure, the isolation of cognitive functions yields valuable insights into the decision-making processes of expert athletes in competitive, on-field situations. While these cognitive functions can be studied in isolation, they do however form part of a bigger process that enables the expert athlete to make high quality on-field decisions. It is for this reason that it was decided to study these different functions in combination, as set out by the Information Processing Approach to cognitive functioning. According to this approach, the decision-making process consists on three main phases, namely that of Visual Search Strategies, Anticipation and Response Selection. This study was aimed at examining the quality of on-field decision-making of expert rugby players, as well as the influence of the competitive level at which rugby is played on decision-making quality. In order to achieve this goal it was necessary to develop a measurement instrument that can be used by expert rugby players to assess the quality of decisions made on the field of play. As it is difficult for outside observers to establish what players are thinking or focusing their attention on when making decisions on the field, it was necessary to design the instrument as a self-report measure of decision-making. By being made aware of one’s strong and weak points in on-field decision-making, expert rugby players can focus their attention on improving the underdeveloped facets of their game. The measurement of decision-making according to three distinct phases allows for increased accuracy in the identification of those cognitive areas that need improvement in order to improve overall playing ability. By changing the way the expert rugby player thinks about certain aspects of the game, most notably those aspects that the player has difficulty with, it becomes possible for the player to address these difficulties and make improvements wherever necessary. Copyright Psychology unrestricted 2013-09-06T16:02:57Z 2010-04-08 2013-09-06T16:02:57Z 2009-04-30 2008-08-08 2010-04-08 Dissertation Claasen, PJ 2008, Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23882 > F10/182/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23882 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04082010-155750/ © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Response selection
Playing level
Measurement
Information processing approach
Expert players
Decision-making
Quality
Rugby
Anticipation
Visual search
UCTD
Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title_full Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title_fullStr Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title_short Assessing the quality of decision-making of expert rugby players
title_sort assessing the quality of decision making of expert rugby players
topic Response selection
Playing level
Measurement
Information processing approach
Expert players
Decision-making
Quality
Rugby
Anticipation
Visual search
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23882
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04082010-155750/