I am a lecturer with the Department of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. I have taught in at a number of universities and institutes in the areas of sports physiology, strength and conditioning, theory and methodology of sports training, long term athlete development and athletics. I am reading PhD at the University of Canterbury, NZ, and my study is concerned with the scientific approach to strength and conditioning and periodization. I write from a critical perspective and publish widely. I have contributed seminars, workshops and consultancies on coach education and talent identification at the national level. I am level I and II IAAF coach as well.
Background and Study Aim. Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in im... more Background and Study Aim. Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach’s knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes. Material and Methods. With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify ‘pa...
Background and Study Aim
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in i... more Background and Study Aim
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach's knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes.
Material and Methods
With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify 'patterns', 'themes' and 'categories' using the NVivo 12 qualitative software.
Results
Four primary themes emerged from the interview data. These included "Periodisation models", "Monitoring training", "Strength development", and "Speed development". Findings revealed that coaches reported minimal or inadequate knowledge of periodized training and consequently, there did appear to be a gap between coach knowledge of periodized training, but additionally in regard to general training methodology; including aspect such as prescribing strength and speed training loads and, monitoring of training loads. The coaches believed that their knowledge was inadequate to support athletes with Olympic level potential.
Conclusions
The findings identified a potential knowledge gap in coach education and development for elite sprint coaches in Sri Lanka.
Background and Study Aim. Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in im... more Background and Study Aim. Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach’s knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes. Material and Methods. With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify ‘pa...
Background and Study Aim
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in i... more Background and Study Aim
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach's knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes.
Material and Methods
With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify 'patterns', 'themes' and 'categories' using the NVivo 12 qualitative software.
Results
Four primary themes emerged from the interview data. These included "Periodisation models", "Monitoring training", "Strength development", and "Speed development". Findings revealed that coaches reported minimal or inadequate knowledge of periodized training and consequently, there did appear to be a gap between coach knowledge of periodized training, but additionally in regard to general training methodology; including aspect such as prescribing strength and speed training loads and, monitoring of training loads. The coaches believed that their knowledge was inadequate to support athletes with Olympic level potential.
Conclusions
The findings identified a potential knowledge gap in coach education and development for elite sprint coaches in Sri Lanka.
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Papers by Jeganenthiran Sellathurai
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach's knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes.
Material and Methods
With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify 'patterns', 'themes' and 'categories' using the NVivo 12 qualitative software.
Results
Four primary themes emerged from the interview data. These included "Periodisation models", "Monitoring training", "Strength development", and "Speed development". Findings revealed that coaches reported minimal or inadequate knowledge of periodized training and consequently, there did appear to be a gap between coach knowledge of periodized training, but additionally in regard to general training methodology; including aspect such as prescribing strength and speed training loads and, monitoring of training loads. The coaches believed that their knowledge was inadequate to support athletes with Olympic level potential.
Conclusions
The findings identified a potential knowledge gap in coach education and development for elite sprint coaches in Sri Lanka.
Periodised training strategies, due to their demonstrated success in improving athletic performance, have become increasingly utilised by coaches, athletes, and strength and conditioning practitioners as a key training methodology. As a consequence, a coach's knowledge of periodisation and training methods have become increasingly important for improvement of sport-sprint performance. Despite their importance of performance at the elite level, it was suspected that little is known about the Sri Lankan context. As a result, the purpose of this formative exploratory study was to examine knowledge about, and application of, periodisation and training methods by Sri Lankan elite-level coaches working with short-sprint athletes.
Material and Methods
With institutional ethics approval, ten (n=10) expert short-sprint coaches volunteered to participate in the study, with data collected via semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed inductively, to identify 'patterns', 'themes' and 'categories' using the NVivo 12 qualitative software.
Results
Four primary themes emerged from the interview data. These included "Periodisation models", "Monitoring training", "Strength development", and "Speed development". Findings revealed that coaches reported minimal or inadequate knowledge of periodized training and consequently, there did appear to be a gap between coach knowledge of periodized training, but additionally in regard to general training methodology; including aspect such as prescribing strength and speed training loads and, monitoring of training loads. The coaches believed that their knowledge was inadequate to support athletes with Olympic level potential.
Conclusions
The findings identified a potential knowledge gap in coach education and development for elite sprint coaches in Sri Lanka.