Building a successful Olympic team selection protocol in women’s handball: a case study examining the benefits of employing reflective practice

Abstract

The sharing of applied practice offered in the current paper affords an opportunity to view how the use of reflective practice can serve as a problem-solving catalyst to a variety of issues raised during support provided to GB women’s handball within an Olympic setting. The first author was faced with a number of scenarios during her applied experiences with this team, and made use of reflective practice (RP) at various points during the support process to help make crucial decisions about what actions to take regarding her involvement in, and support with, team selection. The main scenario presented focuses on the request for the practitioner to advise on the development of an Olympic team selection protocol. The current paper presents how RP was used as a mechanism for supporting the final decisions about how best to design and execute this very sensitive process, resulting in the development of an effective protocol for Olympic team selection. The paper aims to highlight how RP can be used as a tool for practitioners to problem-solve and make sense of the information provided to them when supporting athletes in the field.

Keywords:

• reflective practice
• Olympic preparation
• team selection
• coaching environment
• interdisciplinary support