Parkour as a donor sport for athlete development in team sports

his thesis explores Parkour as a donor sport for athlete development in team sports. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis and provides a structural overview of this mixedmethods programme of research. Chapter 2 presents a literature review, outlining how Parkour could be a suitable donor sport for developing athleticism in team sport athletes. The chapter is summarised by identifying the current gaps in the literature and the aims of the thesis are outlined. Chapter 3 is the first qualitative study in the thesis and explores Parkour Traceurs’ experiential knowledge on the functional performance behaviours they perceived to be developed during Parkour, and their recommendations for how to effectively design Parkour-style practice sessions to facilitate such functional behavioural development. These recommendations were used to develop an indoor-Parkour environment that is utilised in chapter four of the thesis. Chapter 4 is the field-based study in the thesis and examines what functional movement skills correlate with Parkour speed-run performance. Parkour speed-runs were selected as these are a recognised form of Parkour competition that provide an objective measure of performance (time), compared to skill and free-style events that use subjective coach ratings/screening. Data suggest that, from a practical perspective, the agility T-test, standing long jump, and counter movement jump with and without arm swing can form a basic battery to evaluate the physical effects of Parkour speed-run interventions on functional movement skills. Chapter 5 is the second qualitative study in the thesis exploring talent development specialists’ and strength and conditioning coaches’ pre-existing knowledge about Parkour-style training and perceptions held on the potential applications of Parkour-style training for athlete development in their sports. Participant perceptions revealed that: 1) Parkour activities were viewed as supplementary activities to enrich sport-specific training routines, including use of obstacle courses and/or tag elements, 2) Parkour-style obstacle environments needed to be scalable to allow individual athletes and coaches to manipulate object orientation and tasks using soft play and traditional gym equipment, and 3), The implementation of continued professional development opportunities, athletecentred approaches to learning design and coach-parent forums were recommended to support inclusive Parkour learning environments. Chapter 6 concludes the empirical data collection in the thesis using a Delphi study to gain consensus on factors relating to the feasibility of integrating Parkour-style training into team sport practice routines. The findings from this chapter establish a set of design principles for the integration of Parkour-style training in team sport settings. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis by presenting a critical discussion of the observed findings in relation to contemporary research and theory. The limitations of the programme of work are also discussed alongside future research directions.