“It’s Avoiding Getting Sued for Concussion for Those Kids”: Pedagogical Responses of Youth Soccer Coaches to New Guidelines on Heading

Purpose: To describe nine youth soccer coaches’ pedagogical responses to the implementation of the new guidelines on heading introduced by the United States Soccer Federation. The specific research questions we attempted to answer were: (a) What were the coaches’ perspectives and practices regarding the coaching of heading? and (b) What factors shaped the coaches’ perspectives and practices? Method: The theoretical framework employed was occupational socialization. Data were collected using four qualitative techniques and reduced to themes using analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings: Key findings were that the coaches fell into one of three groups: rejectors, acceptors, and skeptics. Differences in the coaches’ acculturation, professional socialization, and organizational socialization were responsible for the coaches’ differing responses to the new guidelines on heading. Conclusions: Should they transfer to other coaches, these findings should help coach educators to develop stronger programs.