ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a practice session from a training camp as an example of how adopted a Positive Pedagogy (PPed) approach as the primary coaching methodology within the USA Field Hockey U21 Women’s National Team programme. The design of the programme was influenced by Self-Determination Theory, which provides a broad framework for the study and development of motivation, development and wellbeing while also aligning with PPed. It is ‘underpinned by the postulate of three basic psychological needs: Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness’. Typically, practice sessions began with a modified game, such as handball, which the coaches used to introduce the themes of the practice and/or review work done in previous sessions. Sometimes these themes were made explicit to the players, but more often they remained hidden and, as such, hoped the players would be primed for the tasks that lay ahead.
