James Mitchell

About

I am a Senior Lecturer in Sport, Outdoor and Exercise Science. I am programme leader for both BSc (Hons) Performance Analysis and Coaching Science and BA (Hons) Sports Coaching and Development programmes. I deliver across a wide variety of the Sport and Outdoor modules but specialise in the subject areas of perceptual-cognitive expertise, visual attention and technique analysis. I like to emphasise the importance of applied research within my teaching. I feel very privileged to be involved with my current research activity, working alongside a diverse range of international-level coaches to better understand how expertise in sports coaching is developed.

Teaching responsibilities

I am currently Programme Leader for BSc (Hons) Performance Analysis and Coaching Science and BA (Hons) Sports Coaching and Development programmes. In addition, I have module leader responsibility for Integrated Sports Science, Coaching and Skill Acquisition, Applied Movement Analysis and Management of the Adventure Experience modules.

Professional interests

I have been a passional climber/mountaineer for the past 25 years, climbing all over the world. I enjoy all disciplines of climbing - trad, sport, ice, alpine, big wall climbing and still get out as regularly as possible. Outside of climbing, I enjoy mountain biking, fell running, surfing, caving and basically anything that involves being in the outdoor environment.

Research interests

My research interest is currently focused on utilising eye-tracking technology to better understand coaching expertise. I am currently working with top-level climbing coaches from five different national climbing teams to better understand expertise in the use of observational analysis. I am using a similar methodology to explore expertise in the coaching of kayaking and golf.

Membership of professional bodies

Member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors

Qualifications

Undergraduate qualifications

BA (Hons) Outdoor Education, University of Wales Trinity Saint David's
Mountaineering Instructor Award (MIA), Mountain Training England

Postgraduate qualifications

MA Outdoor Education, University of Wales Trinity Saint David's
PGCE, Cardiff University

Recent publications

Giles, D. et al. (2014) ‘Current understanding in climbing psychophysiology research’, Sports Technology, 7(3–4), pp. 108–119. doi: 10.1080/19346182.2014.968166
Mitchell J, Maratos FA, Giles D, Taylor N, Butterworth A and Sheffield D (2020) The Visual Search Strategies Underpinning Effective Observational Analysis in the Coaching of Climbing Movement. Front. Psychol. 11:1025. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01025
Taylor, N., Giles, D., Panácková, M., Panácková, P., Mitchell, J., Chidley, J., et al. (2020). A novel tool for the assessment of sport climber’s movement performance. Intern. J. Sports Physiol. Perform. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2019-0311
Giles, D., Barnes, K., Taylor, N., Chidley, C., Chidley, J., Mitchell, J., Torr, O., Gibson-Smith, E., and España-Romero, V. (2021) Anthropometry and performance characteristics of recreational advanced to elite female rock climbers, Journal of Sports Sciences, 39:1, 48-56, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2020.1804784