Understanding of Offensive Tactics in Invasion Games in Junior High School Physical Education

The aim of this study was to reveal the understanding of offensive tactics in invasion games in physical education among junior high school students in Japan. To do this, the content of the tactical knowledge test was decided upon through deliberations among one university faculty member specialized in pedagogy of physical education and, four physical education teachers including the author based on the tactical knowledge test (Akiyama and Okade, 2020), the Courses of Study and TGfU related literature. A preliminary survey was conducted on nine 2nd grade junior high school students (9 boys, aged 14.40±0.29 years) belonging to the school soccer club to determine the content and method of the tactical knowledge test. For the main survey, an identical tactical knowledge test was conducted on 204 2nd grade students (101 boys and 103 girls, aged 14.38±0.36 years) twice six days apart. The reliability of evaluation of the students’ answers was confirmed by the agreement of inter-rater reliability between the evaluation of two teachers (who have experience in invasion games) and intra-rater reliability of one teacher. The results showed that the reliability of the students’ answers about actions at the start of a game was the minimum acceptable except two questions. The reliability of the students’ answers to questions concerning space they make shots was not sufficient. These results suggest that these junior high school students’ understanding of tactics to penetrate the open space is shaky. Furthermore, their understanding of effective space for making shots is shaky. However, since this study did not confirm the reason behind their selection of tactics, investigating the reason would be the task left behind for future research.