Abstract des Autors

Football coaches play a vital role in teaching safe playing skills and prevention strategies. However with perceived incongruence between existing scientific evidence, research and implementation in practice and delivery, there is no evidence for translation of research into practice. This study aimed to identify coaching practices on injury prevention in amateur football players. Ten institutions and their coaches registered in the University Sport of South Africa Gauteng Football League during the 2012 season agreed to participate in the study. A structured observation checklist was developed from the ten point action plan of the SportSmart injury prevention programme to observe practices of coaches. The coaches’ education was found to be limited to an introductory level and experience. Keeping attendance registers, type of stretches during warm up, availability of hydration and injury management during training sessions were aspects not practised by the coaches. This paper presents aspects the coaches were focusing on, which may influence injury prevention. Sixty percent of the items in the observation checklist were not taken into account by the majority of coaches. Some of the omissions such as type of stretches have the potential to increase the risk of injury among the players.