Rate My Professor Donna O'Connor

O'Connor's research specializations center on sport coaching and athlete development, including talent development environments in sport, coaching practices and coach education, athlete learning and decision-making in youth and elite sports, positive youth development, gender differences in high-performance sport, movement skill interventions, and perceptual-cognitive factors in soccer and rugby. She has authored or co-authored 109 publications, amassing 2,776 citations on ResearchGate and 4,395 on Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'Gritting One’s way to success – Grit explains skill in elite youth soccer players beyond (deliberate) practice' (2022), 'Talent development environments within sport: A scoping review examining functional and dysfunctional environmental features' (2022), 'Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study' (2023), and 'Practice Design and Coaching to Support Learning in Elite Youth Soccer Players: Recommendations From International Coaches, Coach Educators, and Researchers' (2024). In 2006, she received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Teaching from the University of Sydney, honoring her contributions to education. Her scholarly impact extends to international collaborations and mentorship in sports science, shaping coach training and athlete pathways globally.