Understanding the “gut instinct” of expert coaches during talent identification

Figures & data

Table 1. Example of interview coding

Example meaning unit	Example code	Example category	Theme
Now that I’m older, instinct comes into it a lot more. I trust myself more. Know to take into consideration more things, like the family environment	Time spent coaching	Experience	Experiential Knowledge
[Instinct] comes with experience. It comes with the mistakes that you make, and that you recognise the mistakes so you get better, and the more you see the more examples you have	Recognition of examples	Experience	Experiential Knowledge
They do amazing work and you rely on sparring and drills, but in the end what counts is to have the proof in the realistic situation – the competition	Observations	Different scenarios	Context
You see, gut instinct is something that’s [developed] over a period of time with the athlete	Time with athletes/ Instinct	Takes time	Temporal Factors
He has to fight a certain type of fight, because of his size. He’s small … so you have to give him the technical ability and tactics to be able to fight that distance	Athlete constraints	Compensation	Experiential Knowledge

Table 2. Coach characteristics

SPORT	AGE	EXPERIENCE (YEARS)	GENDER	AFFILIATION
BOXING	51 ± 8.5	19 ± 7.9	1 F; 7 M	AUS; GER; NIR; SWE; USA
JUDO	49.8 ± 7.5	22.5 ± 8.9	1 F; 7 M	AUS; ENG; GER; IJF*; LUX
TAEKWONDO	45.5 ± 6.0	21.1 ± 8.6	8 M	AUS; BEL; EGY; ESP; FIN; NOR
COMBINED	48.7 ± 7.5	20.8 ± 8.3	2 F; 22 M

*Coach educator for the International Judo Federation (IJF)