In recent years, the value of social learning approaches as part of the design and delivery of formalised coach development initiatives has gained credence in the literature. However, insight is ...currently lacking into the fundamental social dimensions that underpin coach learning. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore coaches' perceptions of their actual and preferred methods of acquiring new coaching knowledge, the types of knowledge they currently acquire and/or desire, and their application of new knowledge. Responses to an online survey, completed by practicing coaches (N = 320) in a range of sports and contexts, were analysed descriptively and inductively. Results revealed that coaches preferred, and mostly acquired, coaching knowledge from informal learning activities, especially when these permitted social interaction. Notably, however, formal coach education courses were also reported relatively frequently as a source of recent knowledge acquisition. Nevertheless, critical justification for and application of acquired knowledge was largely absent. Based on the findings, we suggest that, before social learning activities such as mentoring schemes and communities of practice are placed at the centre of formalised coach development provision, coach educators must put in place the support structures to better enable coaches to recognise and deal with the potentially mixed influences of the social milieu on coach learning, aiming to ensure that their informal development is sufficiently open-minded, reflective and critical.
Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research ...on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach’s practice that appear to build teachers’ skills and knowledge to use data to guide instructional decisions. Drawing on sociocultural learning theory and interview and survey data collected in four middle schools—two with “strong” coaches and two with “developing” coaches—we find that coaching to build data-use capacity appears to rely less on the official title or model (i.e., data coach vs. instructional coach) and more on the diversity of coach practices as well as content area and interpersonal expertise. Further, administrators play an important role in shaping the work of a coach through their mediation of political dynamics in a school. The article concludes with implications for coaching practice, as well as suggestions to guide future research and theory development.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the skills, knowledge, and experiences differentiating expert and competent strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches. Method: The participants were ...87 elite-level head S&C coaches with an average of over 18 years of coaching experience. These coaches were employed by teams from the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA Division 1 FBS "Power Five" Conferences, United States National Teams, and the Australian Football League. This study used both a qualitative and quantitative research design through the use of the Delphi method, which incorporated three rounds of surveys. The first-round survey asked the participants to identify at least one important skill, knowledge area, and experience that should be possessed by an expert and competent S&C coach respectively. The characteristics generated from the first round were placed on a second-round survey and rated on their level of importance using a five-point Likert scale. If a characteristic received a suggestion for rephrasing, and did not reach a level of consensus, or an entirely new characteristic was suggested, then it was placed on the final-round survey to be rated again. Characteristics that reached a level of consensus were placed on the final list of characteristics. Results: A total of 46 characteristics reached a level of consensus and were placed on the final list of characteristics. Conclusion: There now exists an empirically validated list of characteristics differentiating expert and competent S&C coaches. This list can aid in the selection, evaluation, and development of S&C coaches.
Sport coaches develop their coaching knowledge and identity as coaches through their life experiences over time. However, limited knowledge exists for what motivates youth coaches in Asia to coach, ...how they learn their craft, and how they develop as coaches. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental pathways of youth sport coaches in Singapore. Eleven youth sport coaches in Singapore (10 males, 1 female) from a range of sports were selected to take part in semi-structured interviews consisting of three sections: coaches' profile, valued learning experience, and motivation. Qualitative thematic analysis was implemented to understand the key aspects of coach development in their coaching careers. Data yielded six main categories about valued learning experiences: (1) interaction with other coaches, (2) learning from overseas practice, (3) athletic experience, (4) on-the-job experience, (5) mentoring, and (6) coach education program. Two main categories about coach motivation were identified. These were: (1) initial motivation to be a coach—sense of purpose and (2) motivation to continue coaching—enjoyment, satisfaction, and passion.
Sport coaches develop their coaching knowledge and identity as coaches through their life experiences over time. However, limited knowledge exists for what motivates youth coaches in Asia to coach, ...how they learn their craft, and how they develop as coaches. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental pathways of youth sport coaches in Singapore. Eleven youth sport coaches in Singapore (10 males, 1 female) from a range of sports were selected to take part in semi-structured interviews consisting of three sections: coaches' profile, valued learning experience, and motivation. Qualitative thematic analysis was implemented to understand the key aspects of coach development in their coaching careers. Data yielded six main categories about valued learning experiences: (1) interaction with other coaches, (2) learning from overseas practice, (3) athletic experience, (4) on-the-job experience, (5) mentoring, and (6) coach education program. Two main categories about coach motivation were identified. These were: (1) initial motivation to be a coach—sense of purpose and (2) motivation to continue coaching—enjoyment, satisfaction, and passion.
Coaches' apparent preferences for informal and self-directed modes of learning have been highlighted in the literature. Consequently, there is a need for innovative coach education approaches that ...complement these clearly preferred, informal routes and better provide coaches with the professional skills they need to deal with the complex nature of their work. Online blogs are one such tool said to have the potential to strengthen and promote critical thinking and reflection on professional practice; however, research evidence and theoretical frameworks for their use is inconclusive and currently lacking. Therefore, the purpose of part 1 of this two-part investigation was to explore the use of shared online blogs as a tool to promote reflection and community of practice (CoP) in a cohort of 24 undergraduate sports coaching students (5 females, 19 males). Four group blogs, purposely designed to support informal workplace learning, were subjected to content analysis in order to determine the emergent reflective quality of blog entries and the extent to which functioning online CoPs emerged. Findings revealed that shared blogs were a useful tool to promote higher order reflective thinking, and fully functioning online CoPs emerged in all four groups.
The study examined the independent and combined effects of coach leadership and coaching relationships on team efficacy. A total of 150 sport performers from football teams across a range of ...competitive levels completed a multisection self‐report instrument to assess their individual perceptions of the level of collective efficacy, the type of coach leadership, and the quality of the coach–athlete relationship. Multiple regression analyses revealed that perceptions of both coach leadership and the coach–athlete relationship predicted variance in team efficacy. Overall, the findings suggest that the quality of coach–athlete relationships added to the prediction of individuals’ collective efficacy beyond what was predicted by coaches’ behaviors of leadership alone. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
Background: Within the context of sports coaching and coach education, formalised mentoring relationships are often depicted as a mentor-mentee dyad. Thus, mentoring within sports coaching is ...typically conceptualised as a one-dimensional relationship, where the mentor is seen as the powerful member of the dyad, with greater age and/or experience Colley, H. (2003). Mentoring for Social Inclusion. London: Routledge.
Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the concept of a multiple mentor system in an attempt to advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of sports coach mentoring. In doing so, this paper builds upon the suggestion of Jones, Harris, and Miles (2009). "Mentoring in Sports Coaching: A Review of the Literature." Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 14 (3): 267-284 who highlight the importance of generating empirical research to explore current mentoring approaches in sport, which in turn can inform meaningful formal coach education enhancement. The significance of this work therefore lies in opening up both a practical and a theoretical space for dialogue within sports coach education in order to challenge the traditional dyadic conceptualisation of mentoring and move towards an understanding of 'mentoring in practice'.
Method: Drawing upon Kram's (1985). Mentoring at Work: Developmental Relationships in Organisational Life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman foundational mentoring theory to underpin a multiple mentoring support system, 15 elite coach mentors across a range of sports were interviewed in an attempt to explore their mentoring experiences. Subsequently, an inductive thematic analysis endeavoured to further investigate the realities and practicalities of employing a multiple mentoring system in the context of elite coach development.
Results: The participants advocated support for the utilisation of a multiple mentor system to address some of the inherent problems and complexities within elite sports coaching mentoring. Specifically, the results suggested that mentees sourced different mentors for specific knowledge acquisition, skills and attributes. For example, within a multiple mentor approach, mentors recommended that mentees use a variety of mentors, including cross-sports and non-sport mentors.
Conclusion: Tentative recommendations for the future employment of a multiple mentoring framework were considered, with particular reference to cross-sports or non-sport mentoring experiences.
The education and training of coaches is considered central to maintaining and improving the quality of coaching. Formal coach education is accessed by thousands of coaches each year. However, ...evidence would suggest this form of learning plays only a minor role in coaches' development. One possible reason for this is the lack of consideration of the coaches' perspective in the design of current programmes.
The purpose of this study was to systematically review the existing empirical evidence about how coaches experience formal coach education programmes developed by NGBs.
A systematic review was conducted. Based on the ENTREQ guidelines, a comprehensive search was performed in six electronic databases (ERIC, PsycInfo, PsycARTICLES, Sport Discus, Scopus, Web of Science) using key words related to coach experience, coach education and national governing bodies. The inclusion criteria were: coach, coach trainee, coach learner; formal coach education courses developed by NGBs; peer-reviewed articles in English published between 2000 and 2021; qualitative methods studies. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from the included articles.
15 studies met the study's inclusion criteria. Analysis showed three main themes influenced coaches' course experience: (1) coach educator pedagogy (2) learning design, and (3) course content. More specifically, coaches' experience depended heavily on (a) whether the educator used pedagogical approaches which include interactive elements and (b) whether educators had good interpersonal skills. In addition, coaches experienced their NGB course positively when there were opportunities to apply their learning in practical-based workshops.
The review provides a detailed understanding of what coaches perceive they want and need from NGB coach education courses. While we cannot claim that the perceptions from the coaches in this systematic review can be generalised or represent the experiences of every coach, these findings provide insight to inform how future NGB's designers and educators could think about what coaches want and need from their education and training experiences. What we found surprising was the limited number of published, peer-reviewed work, which has attempted to learn about how coaches' experience NGB led coach education. This is especially so given this is often the only mandatory learning coaches are required to complete.
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