| Summary: | Thesis (PhD (Sport Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. === The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a 16-week multidimensional
intervention programme on the speed and accuracy of decision making,
declarative knowledge and visual skills of u/20 rugby players. Two intact groups of rugby
academy players participated in this study. One academy group participated in the
intervention programme, which included activities, including the statistical analysis of
individual players, game analysis, tactical rugby discussions, rugby rule discussions and
visual skills training. The other academy group served as the comparison group and
completed both the pre- and post-tests.
The results indicated significant improvements in the speed of tactical decision
making by participants in both the experimental and the comparison groups. Both groups
also indicated a significant deterioration in the accuracy of their decisions. Both groups
achieved a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge of rugby rules, as well
as in their visual skills. The similarity in the post-test scores of the two groups led to the
conclusion that the intervention programme, as presented in this study, did not appear to
make a significant impact on the players. Suggestions are made for the design of future
intervention programmes to improve tactical decision making.
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