Andrew Bennie

Western Sydney University · School of Science and Health

Importance Young people living with disability have poorer health outcomes than their typically developing peers. They are less physically active and at increased risk of chronic disease. Teacher-led, whole-of-school physical activity interventions are promising levers for population-level change, but are seldom tested among children with disabilit...

Objectives This study aimed to identify and synthesize online information/resources related to resistance training provided by governing bodies of the ten most popular youth sports in Australia. Design A scoping review. Methods The top 10 organised out-of-school sports were eligible for the review. A systematic search of national sporting organis...

Despite the growing popularity of walking sports, little is known about who is attracted to them, and what skills, motivations, and experiences encourage ongoing participation. The aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of walking football in Australia. The authors first conducted semistructured interviews with 53...

Purpose : The aim of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a 16-lesson integrated physical education program focusing on Indigenous games: Education, Movement, and Understanding (EMU). Method : The study aligned with current physical education, English, and mathematics syllabi and involved 105 children (9–12 years) from two primary sch...

Background Whole-of-school programs have demonstrated success in improving student physical activity levels, but few have progressed beyond efficacy testing to implementation at-scale. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the scale-up of the ‘Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers promote Activity in Youth’ (iPLAY) intervention i...

Background Researchers are capitalising on the strong connections that sport fans have with their teams for health promotion programmes, yet no existing systematic reviews have evaluated the effectiveness of interventions delivered through professional sport. Objective The aim of this study was to systematically collate, evaluate, and synthesise t...

Hospitalists often enter a co-management agreement with surgeons. It has been demonstrated in this situation that outcomes are superior compared to the previous model of practice which included surgeons only consulting hospitalists for complications. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has claimed that communication between providers and sy...

Background Issues of social justice require the understanding and intervention of teachers across all subject areas. Teachers must be positioned to uphold fairness for all individuals in their classes while considering the disparities of wealth, opportunities, and social privileges that may impact the student experience. This paper explores the cha...

Research about the Olympic Games has primarily focused on preparing athletes for competition. Less attention has been paid to the post-Olympic-phase (POP) and athlete well-being during this time. This study explored Australian Olympic athletes’ experiences following the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, including the factors that may have c...

Importance Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important marker of childhood health and low fitness levels are a risk factor for disease later in life. Levels of children's fitness have declined in recent decades. Whether school-based physical activity interventions can increase fitness at the population level remains unclear. Objective To evaluate th...

This review examined qualitative evidence of self-determination theory tenets within physical education. We conducted systematic searches in four databases, included 34 studies, and thematically analysed data from all included studies. Results indicated that certain teaching strategies provided students with the opportunity to undermine other stude...

‘As a coach, I think that the mainstream could learn a great deal in how we coach in Indigenous sport. I’m lucky enough to have been on both sides of the fence and I tell you what, I take a lot more of Indigenous philosophy in how I coach within the mainstream than the other way.’Jeff Cook is a Kamilaroi man whose mob was from the Attunga Tamworth...

‘When my pop was about 75, I remember him calling my mum to his house for an important meeting. This was to “break the news” to her that we were Indigenous.’ Kristy Smith is a Wonnarua woman and Intermediate level netball coach. She currently coaches and grades junior representative teams on Awabakal Country (Newcastle, NSW). Kristy also holds a Na...

‘I was always one of those who took on everything. So if the coach said to do something then I’ll try and do it. And whoever was my coach at the time I just tried to absorb as much as I could. Like even coaches of other teams. I’d watch them do something and I’d just walk over and ask them why they were doing it.’ Umima Austral is an Aboriginal wom...

‘I’m on the executive and I’m the Aboriginal woman, so everybody comes to me.’ Marcia Ella-Duncan grew up in La Perouse, and is the descendant of Gandangara and Walbunja people. Marcia is a Netball Australia Board Member and was recently inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame. She was the Coaching Coordinator at Randwick Netball Associati...

‘I think I had a lot of experience. I just think they didn’t want to have an Aboriginal head coach. People say they are not racist, but they don’t want an Aboriginal doing the good position. It is an underlying racism.’ Lloyd Walker is a Bidgigal man who grew up in La Perouse. Lloyd represented Australia in Rugby Union in the early 1980s. He works...

‘I hope that I can pass this down the same way that my Elders would do normally, living in community. That’s just the way Aboriginal culture is, and I’ve adapted it to the sporting way.’Rod Broad is a Dharawal/Yuin man who lives in Wollongong, NSW. He is a community rugby league coach and youth worker in the out-of-home care sector. In 2008 he esta...

‘I’m a bit of a strange character. I do things for political reasons as well.’ Terry Hill is a Yuin man born in La Perouse and raised in south-west Sydney. He has coached and administered football (soccer) clubs in his local community (wherever he lived) for over 30 years, has worked in Aboriginal Affairs since he left school, and is the current CE...

‘The reason I took up coaching originally was to look after the kids from La Pa. I thought that they’d have a better opportunity of staying in the game if they had another Blackfella coaching, so that was definitely there.’ Gary Ella grew up on Bidgigal land and is a descendant of the Gandangara and Walbunja peoples. He is one of the greatest ruby...

‘I think it’s recognised that everybody wants a crack and one of the key things is having a club that reflects our community, and decision-making mechanisms that represent our community.’ Phil Duncan is a member of the Gomeroi Nation and elected representative of the Gomeroi Nation Native Title Claimant Group. He has a long history working in Abori...

‘If Basketball Australia, as part of their Reconciliation Action Plan, highlighted the need more Aboriginal coaches, then all of a sudden I start getting called to apply for coaching jobs and fast tracked through the system, I would feel weird about that. Because is this merit based? Or you’re just trying to tick a box?’ Darren is a descendant of t...

‘If I can provide an opportunity for someone whether it be in sport, in education, in life, that’s what I see as sort of my role.’Jarred is a descendant of the Gwamu (Kooma) people from South Western Queensland, but was raised, studied, and continues to live in Western Sydney. He worked at Western Sydney University in the Fields of Dreams program,...

‘Like if you know there’s Aboriginal people involved in a team, the conversation would go around about, “oh, where’s your mob from?” So, it’s very important that the players know that you value who they are and where they’re from, and connection to Country is extremely important.’ Tom Evans is an Aboriginal man who grew up in Southern Sydney. He ha...

‘“Being Indigenous is a reason to succeed, not an excuse not to.” That’s the quote I’ve always lived by.’ Bou Ovington is a Darug man from Campbelltown, Sydney. He teaches Health and Physical Education and English to high school students in Western Sydney. Bou is an Internationally accredited rugby league coach currently working with community and...

‘I haven’t grown up in such a traditional lifestyle, but I think I’ve sort of had it bled into me from the start that, I’ve got to and want to be a leader.’ Gareth von Duve is an Aboriginal man from Mount Gambier and is a descendant of the Narrunga clan. He now lives in Adelaide, South Australia. Gareth is a Level 2 football (soccer) coach working...

‘And I mean, this is and always will be Aboriginal land and I want to make sure that, you know, that I will always keep young Indigenous athletes remembering that our ancestors fought for this land and died on this land.’Jamie Pittman is an Aboriginal man born in Brisbane, Queensland. He represented Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and is...

‘But lately it’s been down, hardly any of them have been coming. Anyway, I’m still there and I’ll be there until the day I die I suppose.’ The late Mr Scully was from the Daly River mob but grew up in Darwin. He played rugby league for the Brisbane All Blacks and in the 1950s represented Queensland (QLD) in the Australian Boxing titles. Mr Scully w...

My dream is to be the first Indigenous Australian Diamonds Netball coach, and I want speak in my Kamilaroi language when doing my first media interview in the role. Ali Tucker-Munro is a Kamilaroi woman and an elite netballer who played over 100 games in the National Professional Netball League between 1997 and 2005. She represented Australia in th...

‘And I just think it’s important as a coach, if you’re coaching Indigenous girls or Indigenous people like that, to ensure that they give themselves some credit.’ Courtney Ugle is a Noongar woman who works and who plays AFL for Essendon Football Club. She played in the inaugural VFLW season. She is a level 1 AFL coach and has coached for the Woomer...

‘I think that a lot of Aboriginal people who want to be coaches, if they’re not in the clique in the institutions that they’re working for, they hit a cultural ceiling; if they’re not part of the sort of in-crowd and they’re not part of the sort of power structures within sports organisations, then it’s very difficult for them to establish long-ter...

‘I’m a person who is passionate about empowering other young females to get up and have a go. Letting them know that they can do other stuff besides staying in one place or becoming a young mum or leaving school early. There is more out in the world for Indigenous females to conquer.’ Shennae Neal is an Aboriginal woman who lives in Yarrabah, Far N...

‘So I suppose forever and a day I’ve been alone, and I’ve had to work hard to fight, and that’s what drove me.’ Danny Allende is a proud Wiradjuri and Gomeroi man who grew up on Gadigal land in Redfern, Sydney. In 2018, he was appointed as the head coach of South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League team in the inaugural New South Wales (NSW) Women’s Prem...

‘For me sport reflects life, or it reflects character, so I need to send them a message, and be consistent in my morals in life as I am in my morals in coaching. So yeah, honesty, that idea of having a go, passion, and really reflecting what’s accepted of my own life. I try not to make decisions based on coaching that I’m not comfortable with based...

‘My ultimate goal is to see more Indigenous girls coming through the elite pathway into the Australian team because the more Indigenous girls we see at that level, the more role models we will have to continue to inspire the next generation.’ Sharon Finnan-White is an Anaiwan and Biripi woman. She represented Australia in netball, winning a Commonw...

Teacher professional development (TPD) programs are increasingly using video recordings of teaching practice to develop teacher capacity and foster student learning. However, consensus has yet to be reached about how to utilize video recordings in TPD for physical education (PE) teachers. We used semi-structured interviews and evaluations of PE tea...

Co-participation in physical activity may be important for helping families with young children meet physical activity recommendations. Yet, little is known about what families perceive to be the benefits, barriers and facilitators of co-participation. This study explored (i) parents' perceptions about physical activity and possible benefits of fam...

This book is the first to celebrate the stories of this group of Aboriginal mentors and leaders and present them in a form that is accessible to both academic and general audiences. In this book, Aboriginal sport coaches from all over Australia share stories about their involvement in sport and community, offering insight into the diverse experienc...

Background: While research into Olympic Athletes’ career transitions and retirement has led to a deeper understanding of important factors for athletes in this context, considerably less is known about the experiences of athletes in the immediate phase following an Olympic Games. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate Australia...

This paper outlines the processes for co-creating and delivering Coaching Unlimited, a coach education and health promotion workshops series providing specific opportunities for Aboriginal Australian coaches to develop their capacity as future leaders in leisure settings. To guide our evaluation of the first two netball workshops, we used the Ngaa-...

Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to test the effect of a school-based physical activity intervention on adolescents' performance in mathematics. A secondary aim was to explore potential mechanisms that might explain the intervention effect. Methods: The Activity and Motivation in Physical EDucation (AMPED) intervention was evaluated us...

Sport-based mentoring programs have been used across many contexts to engage young people in education. In this research, we explored the influence that an Aboriginal controlled organisation’s youth mentoring program has on three remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory, Australia. We used a composite set of culturally sensitive methods...

Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments...

Physical activity and diet are major modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and have been shown to be associated with neighborhood built environment. Systematic review evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of changing the built environment on physical activity and diet is currently lacking. A systematic review of natural experiments...

Sport researchers have begun to appreciate the perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal athletes in various global communities, yet little is known about Aboriginal sport coaches. Considering sport can play a positive social, psychological, and physical role in the lives of Aboriginal people, it is problematic that there is a dearth of academic l...

Athlete talent development literature has revealed high attrition rates of elite junior athletes during their mid-to-late adolescence (age 15–19 years) across a range of sports, including track and field (T&F). However, much of the research has focused on early athletic participation during the sampling stage rather than the transition from junior...

Previous research into sports officiating at the elite level has primarily focused on factors that impact negatively on sports officials, including experiences of abuse, time pressures and fear of failure. However, factors that have positively influenced the development of elite officials have largely been neglected. This is problematic, as a bette...

Objective Quality physical education (PE) is the cornerstone of comprehensive school physical activity (PA) promotion programmes. We tested the efficacy of a teacher professional learning intervention, delivered partially via the internet, designed to maximise opportunities for students to be active during PE lessons and enhance adolescents’ motiva...

The purpose of this study was to develop and deliver a humanistic coaching workshop, as well as investigate coaches’ perceptions of this workshop and their experiences using humanistic coaching. Participants were 12 coaches of grade 7–11 basketball teams from schools in low socioeconomic communities in a major Canadian city. Data were collected usi...

Research in coaching science continues to grow and as such, there is a need for rigorous tools to help make sense of the rapidly expanding literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of a systematic review methodology that can be used to summarise literature in coaching science. To do so, we present a test case of a s...

Representations of Aboriginal Australian peoples as genetically predisposed to sporting prowess are pervasive and enduring perceptions. This rhetoric belongs to a larger narrative that also describes a peculiarly Aboriginal style of play: full of flair, speed and ‘magic’. Such imagery has informed a common perception that, in many team sports, Abor...

Background Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this project...

Background: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this projec...

School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong participation in physical activity (PA). Unfortunately, many PE teachers report that motivating students is a significant challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore PE teacher perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptability of three self-determ...

University student-athletes have reported difficulties balancing the rigours of academic study, athletics, and their personal lives. These challenges may be exacerbated for first-year athletes who are transitioning from secondary school into university. Given that coaches significantly influence their athletes’ experiences, their coaching styles an...

Background: School-based physical education is an important public health initiative as it has the potential to provide students with regular opportunities to participate in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Unfortunately, in many physical education lessons students do not engage in sufficient MVPA to achieve health benefits. In this...

In this paper, we investigate the effects of a community- and school-based service learning experience (SLE) on pre-service physical education teachers’ Indigenous knowledge, cultural competency and pedagogy. Informed by the theoretical tenets of Indigenous research methodologies, experiential learning and critical reflection, we examine 55 final-yea...

There is a need to improve concussion education and prevention efforts for youth athletes and those responsible for their care. The purpose of this study was to understand Canadian high school coaches’ insights and perceptions of concussions. Using a case study design, eight high school coaches were interviewed and the data were analysed using a hi...

Sport presents an opportunity for young people to experience the joys of success and cope with setbacks to develop resilient behaviours. However, there is a lack of clarity about how sport can cultivate resilience, particularly within a female youth gymnastics context. The purpose of this study was to investigate gymnast and coach perceptions about...

The purpose of this study was to enrich our understanding of formal coach education settings. We investigated how coaches developed knowledge during a postgraduate tertiary coach education course. We also explored coaches' perceptions of changes they made to their coaching attitudes, behaviours, skills, and practices as a result of their studies. S...

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a community and school sport pro-gram (SCP) on Indigenous adolescents' life skills and physical activity levels within program ses-sions. A secondary aim was to determine the acceptability of the SCP. Participants in the SCP (n = 34; 89%) participated in a 10-week case study (age = 13.7...

School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents’ physical activity (PA) levels. Teachers are crucial to students’ initial experiences in PA; however, limited research has explored teachers’ perspectives about PA during PE using in-depth qualitative research techniques. We conducted interviews with 25 current Australia...

Physical education (PE) programs aim to promote physical activity (PA) and reach most school-aged youth. However, PA levels within PE lessons are often low. In this cluster-randomized controlled trial, we examine the effects of three self-determination theory-based motivational strategies on PA and sedentary behavior, as well as their hypothesized...

Effective coaching is a multifarious term described in many ways over time. While research into effective coaching was conducted intermittently throughout the 1960s, it was not until the late 1970s that research in this area began to flourish (see Chelladurai & Carron, 1978; Smith, Smoll & Hunt, 1977). The topic of effective coaching has featured i...

Sporting success is strongly related to the psychological aspects of sport, not merely physical training and natural ability (Iso-Ahola, 1995) and there are many different psychological aspects of sport that influence athletes’ experiences. One of the most influential factors is the coach-athlete relationship. The coach-athlete relationship is a de...

Background The physical activity (PA) levels of many children and adolescents in Australia are currently insufficient to promote health benefits. Physical education (PE) programs aim to promote PA and reach nearly all school-aged children, but PA levels within PE lessons are often low. PE teachers may influence children’s motivation to be physicall...

This paper examines perceptions of effective coaching and coach-athlete relationships within professional team sports in Australia. The findings are based on interviews with six male professional coaches and 25 players from cricket, rugby league, and rugby union. Qualitative data analysis reveals that relationships within professional sport setting...

This paper examines perceptions of effective coaching and coach-athlete relationships within professional team sports in Australia. The findings are based on interviews with six male professional coaches and 25 players from cricket, rugby league, and rugby union. Qualitative data analysis reveals that relationships within professional sport setting...