Eyewitness Recollection of Sport Coaches

The current study is based on the works of Franks and Miller (1986) Eyewitness Testimony in Sport which measured coaches’ observational accuracy from one half of an international football match. Franks and Miller used novice Physical Education students, with no previous soccer experience, to recall events accurately in six categories of questions reflecting important aspects of an international soccer game. These results showed a relatively low recall ability and observational accuracy recorded by this group of 42%. The aim of the current study was to assess the ability of experienced, qualified, football coaches (with a minimum of 6 months experience after obtaining their qualification) to recollect accurately critical events during 45 minutes of a football match. Subjects were allowed to take notes whilst watching the match before answering the six category questionnaire at the end. The results of the current study show that the probability of qualified, experienced coaches recalling critical events accurately is 59.2% (SD±15.3). Coach observation accuracy and recall ability is 17.2% greater than novice coaches reported by Franks and Miller (1986). It can be concluded that qualified coaches, who have greater familiarity with the sport being observed, have greater recall accuracy.