Youth basketball coaches’ perceptions and implementation of fundamental movement skills training: Towards a realist evaluation

Purpose: To investigate youth basketball coaches’ perceptions and implementation of fundamental movement skills training (FMS). Method: Snowball and criterion-based sampling approaches were used to survey youth basketball coaches (n= 79) beliefs and experiences relating to their perceptions and implementation of non-basketball specific skills and FMS into practice. Realist Evaluation inspired the analysis of descriptive statistics (means and frequencies) and reflexive qualitative thematic analysis to inform the results. Results: It was found that the participants had a comprehension of FMS and acknowledge their value in the long-term development of youth players. However, there appeared to be varying levels of uptake amongst the surveyed coaches. Discussion/Conclusion: The findings suggest there is a need for governing bodies to develop innovative strategies to persuade youth basketball coaches to adopt non-sports specific movement skills to improve their practice.