How do coaches talk about tackling? using the theory of planned behavior to explore coach communication with youth football and soccer players about physical contact in sport

Figures & data

Table 2. Qualitative themes and representative quotes from an interview study about physical contact in sport with youth coaches, referees and administrators, 2019–2020.

Domain	Football	Soccer
Knowledge/experience
Knowing the difference between good and bad contact	Good contact is: Heads-Up tackling, using shoulders, wrapping up, using core to lift and drive and blocking, playing in a sportsman-like way Hitting hard. Football’s a tough game. It’s a physical game. And so, I want my kids to hit as hard as they can, but properly. I might tell them, take their head off. But at the same time, I don’t mean –not knocking the helmet because not only can you make them have a concussion, but you can have a concussion yourself. So, when I say, take their head off or hit them hard, I mean in a safe sportsmanlike way. So, that’s the main thing. [GF1] Well, at a basic level, anything that gets the other player to the ground, but I would say shoulder tackling, leading with your shoulder and not your head. And having a target zone between the hip and the shoulder. So, we’re not going at knees. We’re not going at heads. You know, a good square contact, wrap and drive. [WF1] Bad contact is: targeting/spearing, leading with the head, hitting too high or low, late hits, blindside blocks, chop blocks, helmet to helmet, fighting Intention is a factor in determining good vs. bad	Good contact is: playing the ball—not the person, shoulder-to-shoulder, playing by the rules I think if you need a definition in terms of a clean challenge, it’s like going in with an attempt to win the ball not to hurt the player. [WS1] GS uses strong physicality terms like pushing, body checking, hip-to-hip as well as shoulder-to-shoulder for good contact whereas WS talks about shoulder-to-shoulder and controlled play as being good contact. It’s part of the game to knock the other person off balance. You’re not trying to knock them into the fence. You’re trying to make sure that you get to the ball before they do, but that’s 100% physical contact. [GS2] Bad contact is: pushing, kicking, tripping, arms extended, fighting Some contact is not technically within the rules but is accepted by referees Referees set expectations around bad contact but not all referees manage the same way So, there are grey areas in the rules where, I mean, you can use your arms to help with your play, but should you? No, because again it just can escalate. And if you escalate from not using your arms at all to using your arms a little, it’s a lot better than from using your arms a little to using your arms a lot. [GS6] Intention is an important factor in determining good vs. bad I draw the line at intent If you can see, when you’ve coached awhile, a player’s that got intent, intent to injury –And there’s plenty of it about. And if you watch a pro game, you’ll see there’s sometimes an intent to it. So, that’s when you see a little bit more force. The ball becomes less of the issue as opposed to the contact. So, the contact’s a priority, as opposed to going for the ball. A fair tackle is both players going to the ball. When one player decides, ‘I’m going to have a little bit more intent to injure’, the ball becomes secondary, and you can see it. You can see it with how they line up before, and how they go through the contact. [GS7]
…but	Bad contact can result from lack of coordination, attention, bad technique, playing after whistle, anger/retaliation I feel like in my opinion, yeah, bad contact would be using bad form, and sometimes, it just happens. The kid doesn’t know any better, so he’s just got bad form, but I feel like sometimes if they have a purpose to or an intent to try –which some kids they’re not trying to hurt somebody, but then there’s that line where some kids are out there, and they got mad or really wanna hurt somebody, so that could be part of the bad contact. And then, sometimes it just happens, and there’s bad illegal contact here, illegal contact.[GF2] Even with proper form, bad contact can happen Plays will happen. You can have the perfect proper form and you’ll have bad contact because the ball carrier turns a different way, or it just so happens somebody gets –you get hung up on somebody and your head goes down and hits the turf first. [WF6] Tackling people of different age/size can be acceptable with good fundamentals Football is all about contact; it cannot be avoided but must be anticipated Football is contact, no matter what position you are, except maybe a kicker and a punter. [WF2] Football is inherently ‘violent’ and may or may not result in injury depending on individual behavior It’s a violent contact sport, so you need to understand that there is, I guess, a little bit of leeway there because you’re gonna get your bell rung at some point in your career. [GF5] It’s created to be a physical sport. It’s created to be a violent sport. But you can go through a whole career and not get injured. [WF2]	Bad contact can result from poor timing (late tackling), lack of coordination, playing the player instead of the ball, bad aerial challenges, slide tackling Good contact can still result in injury There’s a lot of legal physical contact that happens in soccer. A lot of people that don’t really play don’t really know that. But it is a physical game, and you have to be willing to be physical. [WS2] Difference in player size can result in bad contact Much larger player does a shoulder charge on the smaller player, while the smaller player’s both feet are in the air and knocks him on the ground without an attempt to play the ball. Technically, it’s legal, but some refs would probably blow a foul, and some refs wouldn’t because it’s kinda like –it’s in the gray area of the FIFA rules. [WS5] Aggression is an important component of soccer contact Be aggressive but make sure that you keep your arms close to your body and try to keep good balance. [WS6] We use aggression – aggression isn’t attacking the player. What aggression is – what we like to say is attacking the ball. [WS7]
Attitudes/beliefs
Bad contact is more likely to cause injury	Injuries result from lowering head to tackle, blindside blocks, intent to injure, hitting players after the whistle, helmet-to-helmet Especially using the crown of their helmet, which has caused a lot of concussions and a lot of injuries that I’ve seen over the years, even my own experience with playing football. [WF3] Bad PC can be intentionally injurious including cheap shots: trying to hurt others, hitting defenseless player or after play ends, reckless play, improper tackling Some players get hurt after the refs blow the whistle, and somebody gets a cheap shot in. [GF6] Not playing within the rules risks injury That will cost you an injury or somebody else getting injured and really getting them to understand the importance of playing within the lines. And if you step out of line, then there’s consequences and repercussions for that that could be severe up towards someone maybe dying for instance or getting severely hurt. [WF7]	Injuries result from heading, slide tackling, reckless play, and intent to injure Bad contact can be intentionally injurious including cheap shots: aggressive fouls, anger-fueled retaliation, poor technique I think it seems to me, particularly with the age I coach, that when anger comes into play, then I think that increases that testosterone and the power behind the physical contact, and that’s when I personally see injury occur. [GS1]
…but	Even unintentional bad contact can result in injuries because players are uncoordinated, lack spatial awareness, don’t know own strength And, again, certain players –there’s just kids that –there’s so much growth between sixth and eighth grade and just understanding who’s got the speed and who’s got the power. And those are the players that are gonna hurt half the team. [WF4]	Even unintentional bad contact can result in injuries because players are uncoordinated, lack spatial awareness, are reckless With slide tackling, if not done properly, 1.) You can hurt yourself, 2.) You can really hurt the other player as well because if you don’t get the ball, 9 times out of 10, your cleat is gonna hit the other player. [GS8] Referees are important; they enforce rules before injuries occur and stop play when injuries happen If you let a game go and the kids start getting more and more aggressive, that’s when the injuries –whether it’s knees or anything, it can occur more often, if you let it go. [GS4] Coaches and referees are responsible for managing behavior before intentional injury happens when aggression is escalating Because if they’re not getting the calls when these people are being so rough with them, they’re gonna be even rougher back. [GS8]
Norms/ values
Everyone is responsible for managing player contact	All coaches are responsible for correcting bad contact and teaching good technique Coaches are motivated to manage contact by: penalties, wanting players healthy on game day I think it depends on the coach. I think some do a great job of being more aware of it. I think some are just kind of ‘if it happens, it happens’, and if it’s a penalty, they may do something about it, but it may not be because of the safety thing. [GF7]	Management may include correcting bad contact or removing player from game if they are too emotional Some coaches are more focused on encouraging good contact and avoid talking about bad contact I don’t think a lot of coaches are out there saying, ‘Hey, make sure you don’t hit this player’. Or, ‘Make sure that you don’t tackle someone badly’. I don’t think a lot of coaches are saying that. They’re more going out there and telling their players that, ‘Hey, be aggressive, play hard’. [GS10]
…but	A handful of coaches do not manage contact and may even encourage bad contact There’s some programs that –and I can’t say this for sure, but some of the programs have had a little bit of that ‘play dirty’ rep for a while and it’s amazing how that continued to come out over the years. So, I think it’s a mixed bag. I think some coaches are real concerned about it. I saw it with how the talks were handled and I thought back and I reflected. [WF4] I've coached with and against some real, real ignorant idiots. I coached with a lot of guys who say ‘oh, I gotta hear the heads popping. You gotta lead with your head’. There’s a guy at the old school who taught my son ‘you always lead with your head. That is paramount that you always lead with your head’. [GF4]	Some coaches care more about safety than others Some coaches teach dirty play and fouling on purpose Absolutely, that coach had a dirty team and he had a dirty team because he taught them to be dirty. [GS2] They started just fouling, like intentionally fouling, and there was no control taken from the other coach. At the end of the game, he was kind of like, ‘Oh, sorry about that’. [WS3]
Coaches rely on admins, referees, parents and players to help manage good and bad contact	Clubs and leagues emphasize safety to coaches; but SF says that admin/league/clubs could do more such as tracking penalties The administrators, the coaches, the players –Everybody has to take kind of a shared responsibility with that, and understand that, hey, if we don’t make positive strides in this, then hey, there might not be a game for us to play in the future. [WF8] Admins in GA have authority to step in if safety is compromised Referees are responsible for managing contact during games Stopping play quickly Reminding players about safe play before games Calling penalties or fouls for bad contact like targeting Monitoring bad contact then checking on play and talking with coach Limiting reckless contact Teaching players to change behavior Preventing dangerous tackles Honestly, if we have good referees, a lot of that stops and I’ve seen good and bad referees when I’ve coached, and good ones prevent it very quickly. [GF8]	Admins are responsible for managing contact in the club and train coaches on managing contact Referee is responsible for managing contact during games Stopping play quickly Calling fouls to control contact control game flow The ref controls the flow of the game, so if you let them continue to play dirty, the whole game will be like that. It’ll get more intense and tense after a while. So, if you can slow the game down and call everything you see, they’ll get irritated, but they’ll play a lot cleaner. [GS3] It is up to the ref’s determination on what he sees as overly physical or overly aggressive play compared to this is fine. All refs are gonna call games differently. [GS8] Once it starts, it’s on the referee’s discretion, and their interpretation of the rules which is why our game leads to so much discussion because there isn’t a black and white rule. [GS7] Captains are expected to manage teammates contact Basically, like I try to encourage the captains to keep their teammates level-headed, I guess. So that way they don’t run risk of like hurting someone because their anger. [GS11]
…but	One interviewee noted that parents’ teaching players to avoid physical confrontation can contradict coaches teaching good hits in football Most of these kids are well-adjusted. It is against everything in their DNA and everything they’ve ever been taught to not hit with everything they have. They are taught you don’t hit another person. You don’t push another person down. I am fighting everything they’ve ever been taught to get them to play aggressive football. [GF4] Players need to be aware of what they are doing with their bodies and put into practice what they are taught by coach re: contact It helps a lot, but only as much as the players actually do it because it doesn’t matter if the coach knows the right way to tackle. It’s if he can transition it to the players, and then the players tackle the correct way. [GF6]	One interviewee observed that some parents encourage bad contact because they do not understand soccer; this can contradict coaches’ guidance about contact They tell their kids, ‘That was a good play’. And I tell the kid, ‘No, it wasn’t a good play. I’m calling the whistle. That’s a foul. Don’t do it again’, and they hear their parents kinda egging them on, it’s the parents that aren’t really –I guess, don’t have that soccer background. [GS4] Players need to focus on what they can control in the game rather than what the other team is doing Difficult for coach when ref is not managing contact Controlling player emotion is hard for a referee because you can’t stop the game and tell them to cool down until something happens that warrants game stoppage Like, you can kind of tell when you need to start making calls. And you need to start making more because people are starting to get angry and I think sometimes if I make a lot of calls, like they stop because they’re tired of me making calls. So, I'm like, I’m gonna keep calling everything until they quit. [GS11]
Coaches play the biggest role in managing player contact	Coach responsible for controlling players during game, in the moment Then, one of our players got pushed off a line by a kid on a kickoff return. And then, in pure anger, then just runs out and hits some kid in the side of the head. That was super away from the play. We got flagged. The touchdown didn’t count. And obviously, that’s the kinda situation where A.) We yell at him on the field, and then B.) We show him on film, what he did, how it’s not okay, how it impacts his teammates, how that’s gonna hurt the other player and himself’. [WF5] Removing players from the game We had one of the players would always be placed middle linebacker and he’d always fill his hole. And when he makes his tackle, he’d always have his head down. And I had to take him out of the game and put him on the sideline and explain to him what he’s doing with that. I’d get onto him. If he keeps doing it, I get onto him like my temper will get out there and try to explain to him like dude, I’m really concerned about your safety. If you keep doing that, I can’t play you because I prefer having someone there that will do it right and make sure he’s safe. [GF1] Talking with players about incident immediately I think, for me, a primary job for the coach is to keep it safe playing football. I mean, it’s a violent sport and stuff happens. We’re gonna coach them up. And whether that’s the player making the hit or the player taking the hit. And there’s things the player taking the hit can do and, obviously, if the player making the hit is doing something inappropriate, we’re gonna talk to them about it. [WF4] Evaluating player intent Managing tackling technique	Coach responsible for controlling players during game, in the moment Subbing out/benching players Talking with players about incident immediately Evaluating player intent Encouraging playing to the ref; aggressive play within the rules Removing players from the game when bad contact happens Respecting the game and opponent Modeling good behavior I'm not a paid coach. I don’t get bonuses for wins and losses. I don’t get another job. I don’t move to another club for wins and losses. It’s promoting a sport that I love to kids in the neighborhood. And so, playing it cleanly and the right way is important to me and our club. [WS8] Teaching life skills It’s my job to teach you how to play soccer. But for me I wanna teach them how to be a good person as well. And I think the best thing that I could do is teach them how to become a respectable young man and hopefully take those traits throughout their life. [WS6] Elevating play despite opposition team behavior Managing altercations before they become fights; addressing players and parents after fight Teaching good PC Because my job is to coach them, and coaching is the parameters of life lessons, and learning how to obey rules is a life lesson. [WS9]
The larger community does not appear concerned about bad contact	Coaches do not hear much chatter about physical contact from parents and community Fans are watching for big hits Community supports the football team This community embraces football. So, I don’t think there’s any negative or positive. It’s just like, ‘Hey. We’ve got a great football program’. We’re lucky to have coaches who want to coach, and we’re lucky we’ve got an organization that can afford to put them on the field. And we’re lucky we have a community that supports it. [WF2] Community more concerned about concussions if concerned about anything	Parents are verbal about contact; sometimes encouraging contact and sometimes decrying it Parents that were brought up with soccer and know the game more know that that overly aggressive soccer is not the way soccer’s supposed to be. It’s called ‘the beautiful game’, okay? Well, the beautiful game is not people getting knocked on their ass the whole game. But if you’ve been brought up in a football mentality, deep South, and you see somebody go down hard, you think, ‘Oh, that was a great tackle’. And they think ‘tackle’ means taking somebody out and it doesn’t, and they kind of almost applaud that kind of aggressiveness. [GS4] Community talk about contact tends to be more game-specific or play-specific as opposed to general chatter Parents of club players understand the physical nature of the game Communities accustomed to football culture are tolerant of contact It’s that football mentality that the kids –go from the parents. Maybe the dads played football as a kid. They didn’t play soccer. They didn’t watch soccer, now their kids wanna play soccer, and they take that mentality from the football field to the soccer field. [GS4]
…but	Communities perceive football as the sport with bad contact and corresponding injuries A lot of people associate the more contact with more injuries. Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily true. Injury is the amount of force exceeding tolerances, but I guess some people think that the more contact you have, the more injury. [GF6] Enrolment numbers are down due to parent concerns We can’t even practice against our own team over here. We have that few kids. For me to simulate contact and to do a lot of these things –and I've had this problem before. So, I had a lot more ideas about it but it’s still just really hard to get to that level of physicality. [WF4]	Soccer is perceived as less dangerous than football, in some cases as not tough enough I think trying to change the culture of recklessness and uber toughness in soccer, because soccer, even when I first came in nine years ago, it was you have to prove how tough soccer is because all the people, football is the dominant sport. And if you play soccer, that’s the sport where you put the wimpy kids, who can’t take tackles, that’s it. So, they grow up with this ‘you gotta show how tough the game is’, so they let some of these challenges go which shouldn’t be allowed. [WS4] Soccer parents who are uninformed can misinterpret good contact as bad; parental concern about injury can be high But I think there’s a bit of a miss in understanding that just playing aggressively isn’t playing dangerously. There’s a difference. And I don’t know how often that part is communicated. [WS10] Community concern emerges in the event of injuries
Perceived behavioral control
Coaches are comfortable talking with players about contact	Most coaches report being comfortable talking with players I told them ‘look, this is football. We yell. We have to be loud. But at the end of the day, the only time you’ll ever see me get mad –physically mad on the football field –is if you guys are unsafe. If you’re unsafe your form, if you’re unsafe with your behavior, if you’re unsafe with horsing around, once I see you –if I see you being unsafe, that’s when I get upset and I'll let you know. Other than that, if you drop the ball, if you miss a tackle, we’ll have a conversation about how to be better, but I won’t be upset’. So, yeah. We do talk about it in that way. [WF6]	Most coaches report being comfortable talking with players There’s nothing to hide. We know we’re gonna play soccer… We want you to be more aggressive. And you’re gonna foul someone and you’re gonna get fouled. So, you have to prepare them for that, especially as you go into higher competition. [WS7]
…but	Time and space limit conversations Players’ inattention and potential fear could inhibit Talking before the game may not be the best time Kids may not be paying attention Practices offer more time and better environment for talking about contact Pre-game is time to hype players up Coaches prefer reminder during game, debrief after game, during practice Because I believe in public shaming. And we talked about it and I said I'm not angry with you and this is not –I know that these things happen, but it looks to me like you lowered your shoulder to hurt him. And I appreciate you blocking for your teammate, but we can do –one, you didn’t need to do that block because he was already ten yards ahead so there was no need to do it. And if he’s already ten yards ahead, you need to run down and celebrate with him instead of turning around and looking for somebody to hit. You know and we talk about how if that happened to one of our teammates and one of our teammates got hurt because of it, we would be very angry. [WF9] I'm trying to help them get their head right so that when they get popped by a kid who really actually does wanna hurt them, then they give it back instead of folding up like a lawn chair. [GF4] But our goal is to do that during the week, just making sure that they’re doing practice –doing tackling drills twice a week, and once a week, making sure that we’re doing them right. It’s not really something you preach before a game. [WF5]	Time and space limit conversations Players’ inattention and potential fear could inhibit I think that it’s that worry that we discussed before. I don’t think anyone can perform at their highest level when they’re worried about some external factor, and particularly in this case, when it’s something you can’t control. I think there’s a difference in communication of having a conversation of, ‘Hey, I want us to play safe and take care of ourselves’, than, ‘Hey, look out for this danger’, if that makes sense. [GS1] Talking before the game may not be the best time Kids may not be paying attention Practices offer more time and better environment for talking about contact I don’t think it can be a last-minute reminder. I think you can encourage them to play clean, play safe, and play aggressive, but that baseline, that foundation is set in training and is set in prior games, so right before a game, I think people’s adrenaline is high. Their energy is high. They’re thinking about all these other things. I would rather focus on things I want them to do as opposed to what I want them to not do. [GF5]
Coaches believe talking about contact could make athletes safer	Reminds players about rules, correct technique, and consequences of bad contact All the time, you’ve gotta put that in their head. It helps to remind them. ‘Okay, when this guy’s coming at me, let me make sure I'm making a good tackle or a good block, or whatever it is’. Yeah, even at halftime, reiterating it to them. They’re sponges. You’ve got to keep throwing it at them. Water comes in and runs out just like it does on kids’ brains, heads. [GF9] Because some kids come in with the mentality that this kid’s better than me and I'm gonna have to hurt him. If you talk about it and say ‘hey, this is not okay, don’t do this’, I think it would change that kid. At that age group, you never know. But hearing about it, it could influence them to say ‘hey, we’re just gonna come out here and play football, and if I play hard, maybe I'll be able to beat him besides trying to hurt him’, and stuff like that. Just play your best and then if you play hard, you never know. You might beat him anyway. [GF3] We talk to them and we say, ‘You can’t do that’. And they change, if they don’t change then they don’t play, that’s just how we deal with it. And they usually change based on that if they don’t get to play. [GF8]	Reminds players about rules, correct technique, and consequences of bad contact We spend so much time, I think, trying to encourage our players to be aggressive and physical on the field. I don’t think we really talk about, now that you’re saying it, I’m like, we don’t really give very good specific examples of what would be appropriate, and what would be not appropriate. Because we might actually get the result we want more if we spent more time showing them what was appropriate. [WS11] Safer play occurs because players who play ‘hot’ shift to safer play after coach talk I have one kid who’s kind of a hothead, and he –He needs that talk every time…, so I try to pull him aside. And yeah, I just calm him down, and say, ‘Play the ball’. [WS7]
…but	Not all will play safer as a result of coach talk Negative talk leads to negative action; I prefer to focus on positive talk and encourage appropriate play I’m a firm believer if you tell someone not do it, what are they going to do? They’re probably going to do it. [WF2] Talking about bad contact can cause athletes to overthink and play worse But you need to do it at practice is when you need to talk about safety and prevention because everybody playing the game, they’re not gonna be thinking about how I’m gonna tackle him. They’re just gonna do it, and it’s muscle memory at that point. If they’re out there trying to think of how they’re gonna do it, then they’re probably not gonna be playing very well anyway. [GF6] Some athletes may respond to talk with scared and worried behavior leading to injury I don’t point out the bad things that can happen. I point out, I want to re-emphasize what the good things are. And with that being said, we’ll watch film all week, and say, ‘Hey, you know something, here? Stevie was low blocked’. So, we’ll talk to Stevie all week long, so there should be no reason why we have to bring it back up at the game. The game is all about preparing, and getting your team motivated, and in the right frame of mind, to go out and play a clean, fun game of football. [WF2]	It depends on the player Some players will be more timid as a result of talking about contact Negative talk leads to negative action; I prefer to focus on positive talk and encourage appropriate play Some players are gonna play whatever way they wanna play no matter what you tell them. But you’ll say, ‘I’m lookin’ out for this. I’m lookin’ out for certain that [GS4] One of my philosophies is that you don’t ever say the negative. I’m not perfect on this but if I say to you, don’t do this, what gets dropped is the don’t. So then, what you’re actually telling the kid is do this…. And then in soccer, it’d be play physical. Shoulder to shoulder, legal, keep your arms down, stuff like that. [WS2]

Figure 1. Conceptual model of factors impacting coach communication about good and bad contact with youth athletes, framed using the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Table 1. Demographics of coaches, referees and administrators participating in qualitative interview study regarding coach communication about physical contact in youth sports 2019–2020.

	Western Washington (n = 27)	Southern Georgia (n = 23)
	n(%) or m (SD)	n(%) or m (SD)
Position
Administrator	3 (11.1)	3 (13.0)
Coach	24 (89.9)	12 (52.2)
Referee	0	8 (34.8)
Sport
Football	9 (33.3)	9 (39.1)
Soccer	18 (66.7)	14 (60.9)
Gender
Female	3 (11.1)	4 (17.4)
Male	24 (88.9)	19 (82.6)
Hispanic or of Mexican or Latin American descent
Yes	1 (3.7)	4 (17.4)
No	25 (92.6)	19 (82.6)
Unsure	1 (3.7)	0 (0)
Race
Caucasian or White	23 (85.2)	20 (87.0)
African American or Black	2 (7.4)	2 (8.7)
Other	2 (7.4)	0 (0)
Age (categorical)
15–24 years	1 (3.7)	8 (34.8)
25–34 years	4 (14.8)	6 (26.1)
35–44 years	9 (33.3)	6 (26.1)
45+ years	13 (48.2)	3 (13.0)
Age	41.70 (10.0)	32.48 (12.6)
Highest level of education
Some college but no degree	2 (7.4)	7 (30.4)
Associate or Bachelor’s degree	21 (77.8)	11 (47.8)
Master’s degree or higher	4 (14.8)	5 (21.74)

Data availability statement

The authors have agreed to make data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in this paper available upon reasonable request.