Valued learning experiences of early career and experienced high-performance coaches

Background and purpose: This paper attempts to move the discussion of high-performance coach development from an examination of coaches' volume of experiences towards a consideration of the contribution of the learning experiences that coaches have reported throughout their careers. Furthermore, a discussion of proximal and distal guidance in the development of coaches was investigated. We examined the kinds of learning experiences within the framework of workplace learning and specifically the situated nature of learning and the view that learning occurs through social participation.

Method: Nineteen high-performance coaches participated in this study, including 10 scholarship and 9 mentor coaches (MCs). Participants rated a list of 14 developmental activities derived from empirical research on a seven-point Likert scale (0?=?not used, 1?=?of little value, to 7?=?extremely valuable). Each participant coach rated the 14 (guided, unguided) activities in the first two years of their coaching career, middle two years, and final two years. To analyse the data and identify the key trends for both the scholarship and MCs we examined statistical differences between scores for each of the sources the non-parametric Friedman test was used (p?<?.01). Significant χ² results were followed up with the Wilcoxon (two-tailed) T-test (p?<?.05) to identify statistically significant differences between scores at different time intervals.

Results: Three key findings emerged from these data: (i) reported increased valuing of a range of developmental experiences over time; (ii) temporal variance in the value of different learning sources at different stages of their careers; and (iii) an acknowledgement of the shift away from an emphasis on proximal learning sources for the MC and the shift towards proximal sources for the scholarship coach.     

Evidencing the impact of coaches’ learning: Changes in coaching knowledge and practice over time

ABSTRACT

It is clear that sport coaches learn from multiple interconnected learning experiences, yet there is limited direct evidence to elucidate what is learned and how these combined experiences shape coaches’ knowledge and day-to-day practice. This research aimed to investigate the impact of the learning of two groups of English youth soccer coaches over a period of a year and a half. Using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS) and associated video-stimulated recall interviews, changes in the practice behaviours and knowledge use of coaches completing a formal coach education course, and equivalent coaches not undertaking formal education, were compared. Data indicated that the learning period had a different effect on coaches taking part in formal coach education versus those not in education. Changes in the use of knowledge about individual players and tactics were reflected in increased behaviours directed towards individuals, and an altered proportion of technical to tactically related questioning, linked to coaches’ participation in education. Overall, more change was evident in coaching knowledge than in practice behaviours, suggesting an absence of deep learning that bridged the knowledge-practice gap.     

Talent development of high performance coaches in team sports in Ireland

Background: Coaches are central to the development of the expert performer and similarly to continued lifelong participation in sport. Coaches are uniquely positioned to deliver specific technical and tactical instruction and mentoring programmes that support the psychological and social development of athletes in a challenging, goal-oriented and motivational environment. The current study aimed to qualitatively investigate current coach learning sources and coaches’ educational backgrounds in team sports in Ireland. Methods: Coaches from five team sports in Ireland were asked to complete an online questionnaire. Subsequently male coaches (n?=?19) from five team sports who completed the questionnaire and met the inclusion criteria were invited to attend a follow-up semi-structured interview. Inclusion criteria for coaches were that they possess at least 10 years’ experience coaching their sport and were coaching more than 4 hours per week. Results/Discussion: Formal coach education does not meet the needs of high performance coaches who rely more on self-directed learning and coaching experience as their main sources of CPD. Although prior playing experience at a high level is both valuable and desirable, there are concerns about fast-tracking of ex-players into high performance coaching roles. Conclusions: Preferred sources of education and the best learning environment for coaches of team sports in Ireland are more informal than formal. Further research is needed to examine how this learning is applied in a practical manner by examining coaching behaviours and the impact it has on the athlete development process.     

In pursuit of becoming a senior coach: the learning culture for Australian Football League coaches

Background and Purpose: Given the turbulent and highly contested environment in which professional coaches work, a prime concern to coach developers is how coaches learn their craft. Understanding the learning and development of senior coaches (SCs) and assistant coaches (ACs) in the Australian Football League (AFL – the peak organisation for Australian Rules Football) is important to better develop the next generation of performance coaches. Hence the focus of this research was to examine the learning of SC and AC in the AFL. Fundamental to this research was an understanding that the AFL and each club within the league be regarded as learning organisations and workplaces with their own learning cultures where learning takes place. The purpose of this paper was to examine the learning culture for AFL coaches.

Method: Five SCs, 6 ACs, and 5 administrators (4 of whom were former coaches) at 11 of the 16 AFL clubs were recruited for the research project. First, demographic data were collected for each participant (e.g. age, playing and coaching experience, development and coach development activities). Second, all participants were involved in one semi-structured interview of between 45 and 90 minutes duration. An interpretative (hierarchical content) analysis of the interview data was conducted to identify key emergent themes.

Results: Learning was central to AFL coaches becoming a SC. Nevertheless, coaches reported a sense of isolation and a lack of support in developing their craft within their particular learning culture. These coaches developed a unique dynamic social network (DSN) that involved episodic contact with a number of respected confidantes often from diverse fields (used here in the Bourdieuian sense) in developing their coaching craft. Although there were some opportunities in their workplace, much of their learning was unmediated by others, underscoring the importance of their agentic engagement in limited workplace affordances.

Conclusion: The variety of people accessed for the purposes of learning (often beyond the immediate workplace) and the long time taken to establish networks of supporters meant that a new way of describing the social networks of AFL coaches was needed; DSN. However, despite the acknowledged utility of learning from others, all coaches reported some sense of isolation in their learning. The sense of isolation brought about by professional volatility in high-performance Australian Football offers an alternative view on Hodkinson, Biesta and James' attempt in overcoming dualisms in learning.     

Self-efficacy,perceived training needs and coaching competences: The case of Portuguese handball

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse handball coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy and recognition of training needs related to coaching competences according to their coaching experience, coach certification level and academic education. Two hundred and seven Portuguese handball coaches answered questionnaires that included a scale of self-efficacy and another of recognition of training needs. Data analysis started with an exploratory factorial analysis with Maximum Likelihood Factoring and Oblimin rotation. From the factors obtained, a One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc multiple comparisons were applied. Coaches’ self-efficacy revealed coaching competences related to: annual and multi-annual planning; planning and guiding training and competition; coaching methodology; implementation of sport development projects and coach education and meta-cognitive competences. Coaches’ recognition of training needs revealed four main areas: planning and guiding training and competition; multi-annual planning; management of sports careers and coaching education and leadership. Although an independent relationship between coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy and training needs was confirmed, they perceived themselves as having competences and highlighted training needs in all areas. Coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy were influenced by their coach certification level, academic education and coaching experience. The study suggests that sport specificity within the social culture in addition to the precise sporting domain of action influence the perceptions of coaches about their self-efficacy and training needs as related to coaching competences and, therefore, should be considered in the coach education curriculum.     

High-performance sport,learning and culture: new horizons for sport pedagogues?

Background: Research in sport coaching and sport pedagogy including studies published in this special issue bring to the fore the relationship between learning and culture in contexts of high-performance sport. This paper acknowledged that how learning, culture and their relationship are conceptualised is a crucial issue for researchers and professionals in high-performance sport.

Purpose and approach: This paper arises from a theoretical analysis of the research studies presented in this special issue. The analysis undertaken focused on the understanding and representation of the concepts of learning and culture and critically examined the methodological application of particular conceptualisations. The intention was to extend insight into both theoretical and methodological issues associated with understanding and researching athlete and coach learning, and high-performance sport settings.

Findings and discussion: This paper identifies tendencies for separatist and reductionist thinking about learning and culture in high-performance sport settings. A relational perspective is identified as critical to extending research and professional practice that is directed towards learning and/or culture. Researchers are urged to avoid identifying either athlete or coach learning (only) with specific events or experiences, and similarly avoid positioning culture as something that sits apart from athletes’ and coaches’ participation and learning in elite sport settings. The dual notions of ‘learning practices as cultural practice’ and ‘cultural practice as pedagogical practice’ are proposed as a basis for holistic thinking about learning and culture in high-performance sport settings. The extent to which such thinking is reflected in the various contributions to the special issue is considered. Attention is then directed to the methodological challenges that researchers face if they are to reflect a conceptualisation of learning as both embedded and embodied in cultural practices. Challenging and extending the underlying vision of learning that researchers, coaches and athletes have is revealed as a critical consideration in regard to research design, data collection and ways in which participants are variously positioned, represented and ‘involved’ in research. Embodied perspectives are identified as particularly worthy of greater attention in contemporary research that seeks to extend understanding of athlete and/or coaches’ learning and lived experiences within and amidst elite sporting cultures. Recent scholarship focusing on the body and lived experience is identified as providing theoretical and methodological insights that can extend future research and practice.

Conclusions: Foregrounding a relational perspective is fundamental to extending the understanding of learning and culture in high-performance sport. Future research also needs to clearly embrace the methodological challenges presented by new conceptualisations.     

Dispositions of elite-level Australian rugby coaches towards game sense: characteristics of their coaching habitus

Bourdieu's analytic concept of habitus has provided a valuable means of theorising coach development but is yet to be operationalised in empirical research. This article redresses this oversight by drawing on a larger study that inquired into how the ‘coaching habitus’ of elite-level Australian and New Zealand rugby coaches structured their interpretation and use of the Game Sense approach to coaching to illustrate how habitus can be operationalised. It focuses on the identification of characteristics of the individual coaching habitus of four elite-level Australian rugby coaches and how they shape their interpretation and use of Game Sense. Drawing on suggestions made by Lau, we identify the characteristics of four individual ‘coaching habitus’ by examining their views on: (1) the characteristics of good coaches; (2) characteristics of great rugby players and how to develop them; and (3) their dispositions towards innovation in coaching.     

The Use of Statistical Significance: A Commentary Related to Franks and Huck

Abstract

This paper focuses on the processes by which people become high school coaches. Occupational choice, professional socialization, and organizational socialization are examined, using qualitative data drawn from naturally occurring observations of coaches and informal discussions and in-depth interviews with them. Over 50% of the coaches had decided that they wanted to become a coach before entrance into college. The decision to become a coach was subjectively warranted by personal characteristics and experiences in sports, a devotion to sport, and a desire to work with young people. Youth sport coaching and student teaching which involved coaching constituted the only formal professional socialization that most of the coaches received. However, because almost all of the coaches participated in organized youth and/or high school athletics, they had a first-hand opportunity to observe their own coaches and acquire some informal images and impressions about the coaching occupation from them. Regardless of whether a neophyte began as an assistant or a head coach, technical aspects of the job and the occupation's culture were acquired by observing and listening to more experienced coaches. Through these experiences, collective understandings began to form, and the shared meanings about the occupational culture took shape. Reality shock for most novice coaches came in the form of understanding the importance the coaching culture assigns to long hours and hard work and to the realization that coaching does take an enormous amount of time. By the end of the first season, a symbolic transformation takes place and internalization of institutional expectations occurs as the neophyte begins to understand what coaching is all about.     

Coaches’ perceptions of decision making in rugby union

ABSTRACT

Background: In team games situations, the ability to make fast and accurate decisions is crucial to performance. As such, effective decision making, characterised by the consistent and efficient ability to choose the right course of action at the right moment, is a key component of match performance in team sports such as rugby union. Previous research has identified pedagogical approaches to enhance decision making. However, there is dearth in research to investigate how coaches evaluate tactical decision making and subsequently develop context specific ‘on’ and ‘off-field’ coaching practices to improve it. Further, the value coaches place on decision making is under explored.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore coaches’ perceptions of decision making in rugby union. The specific objectives to meet this aim were to: (i) Explore coaches’ perceptions of the value and importance of decision making in rugby union; (ii) Identify coaches’ opinions of the key decision making moments in games and how to evaluate them; and (iii) Investigate coaches’ on and off field methods for improving players’ tactical and strategic decision making.

Participants: Purposive sampling was used to select five male coaches, whose ages ranged from 25 to 41 years, from a regional rugby union club in Wales to participate in the study. Coaching experience ranged from two years to 16 years.

Methods: The interpretative paradigm was used within the study with data collected through semi-structured interviews with academy rugby union coaches. This type of interview gathered rich, detailed and complex accounts of coaches’ opinions of players’ in-game decision making in rugby union in order to inform practice and theory. Inductive and deductive qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data.

Findings: All five coaches agreed that decision making was a crucial part of the modern game of rugby union. There was some disagreement between them about the players’ autonomy to make their own decisions on the pitch and a general lack of clarity between ‘game plan’, ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’ amongst the coaches. All the coaches agreed that the process of evaluation of players’ decision making should involve a joint discussion with the players. They also agreed that developing decision making was one of the hardest things to coach. Finally, they used a variety of ‘on’ and ‘off-field’ coaching methods to achieve this including video analysis, questioning and the use of games based scenarios.

Conclusion: This study acquired the coaches’ voice on players’ decision making in rugby union by exploring its perceived importance to them and how they evaluated and attempted to improve it. A clear attempt was made among the coaches to develop a ‘non-judgemental’ atmosphere in the evaluation and improvement of players’ decision making. Future research should consider the use of explicitation interviewing, where the interviewer (coach) aims to get the player into a state of evocation, to relive the key decision making moments in an attempt to improve it.     

Learning to mentor in sports coaching: a design thinking approach

Mentoring has been frequently cited as a valuable method of professional development for sports coaches. Nonetheless, there is an absence of scholarly work within the sports coaching field which explores the process of learning to become a coach mentor in detail. ‘Learning to Mentor in Sports Coaching: A Design Thinking Approach’ addresses this very issue with an innovative approach towards mentor training and preparation. The focus of the book is to highlight how design thinking, a systematic method to transform problems into creative solutions, can be adopted to analyse and rewrite mentoring conversations to optimise learning for both mentors and mentees. The central argument of the book maintains that sports coach mentors share similar characteristics and traits to design thinkers in the ways in which they attempt to facilitate and support coach learning and development. This review seeks to examine the focus of the book and consider its contribution to the broader body of literature in this field.     

Parameterising expertise in coaching: Past,present and future

Abstract

Research into expertise is increasing across a number of domains pertinent to sport. Whilst this increase is particularly apparent in coaching, a key question is how to identify an expert coach? Accordingly, this paper draws upon existing studies into expert coaches to address this issue; in particular, the criteria used to select expert coaches for research purposes and the methods used in expert coach research. Based on these data, we contend that the elements of expertise are not fully reflected within currently accepted criteria which, in turn, results in expert coaching research not necessarily identifying the appropriate individuals to study. The paper concludes with recommendations for more rigorous criteria for selecting expert coaches and highlights the associated implications for the future training and development of expert coaches.     

Evaluating the impact of a coach development intervention for improving coaching practices in junior football (soccer): The “MASTER” pilot study

ABSTRACT

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of a novel coach development intervention (MASTER) on coaching practices of football coaches. The study involved six coaches (of 10–12 year old) from one representative football club (Australia February–July 2017). The 15-week multi-component intervention included a face-to-face workshop, ongoing mentoring, modelled training sessions, peer assessments and group discussions. MASTER is underpinned by positive coaching and game-based coaching practices and aimed to educate coaches on how to implement and operationalise a number of evidence-based coaching elements. At each of baseline and immediate post-intervention coaches were filmed three times and evaluated using a modified version of the Coach Analysis Intervention System. Using linear mixed model analysis, significant changes were observed for time spent performing playing-form activities [+15.4% (95% CI 6.01–24.79)(t(15) = 3.5, P = 0.003], with significant changes in the type of interventions undertaken and the nature of feedback given to athletes. Program feasibility was examined using measures of recruitment, retention, adherence and satisfaction. Results indicate program feasibility and high coach evaluation ratings. MASTER demonstrated effectiveness for improving coaching practices of football coaches during training sessions. Further large-scale trials will build evidence for the utility of MASTER for guiding coaching practices in football and other sporting codes.     

Moving forwards with the aim of going backwards fast: high-performance rowing as a learning environment

Background and purpose: This paper focuses on the learning culture within the high-performance levels of rowing. In doing so, we explore the case of an individual's learning as he moves across athletic, coaching and administrative functions. This exploration draws on a cultural learning framework and complementary theorisings related to reflexivity.

Method: This study makes use of an intellectually, morally and collaboratively challenging approach whereby one member of the research team was also the sole participant of this study. The participant's career as a high-performance athlete, coach and administrator, coupled with his experience in conducting empirical research presented a rare opportunity to engage in collaborative research (involving degrees of insider and outsider status for each of the research team). We acknowledge that others have looked to combine roles of coach/athlete/administrator with that of researcher; however, few (if any) have attempted to combine them all in one project. Moreover, coupled with the approach to reflexivity adopted in this study and the authorship contributions, we consider this scholarly direction uncommon. Data comprised recorded research conversations, a subsequently constructed learning narrative, reflections on the narrative, a stimulated reflective piece from the participant and the final (re)construction of the participant's story. Accordingly, data were integrated through an iterative process of thematic analysis.

Results: The cultural (i.e. the ways things get done) and structural (e.g. the rules and regulations) properties of high-performance rowing were found to shape the opportunities both to be present (e.g. secure a place in the crew) and to learn (e.g. learn the skills required to perform at the Olympic level). However, the individual's personal properties were brought to bear on reshaping the constraints such that many limitations could be overcome. In keeping with the theory of learning cultures, the culture of rowing was found to position individuals (a coxswain in this case) differentially. In a similar manner, a range of structural features were found to be important in shaping the cultural and personal elements in performance contexts. Finally, the cultural and structural elements in rowing appeared to be activated by the participant's personal elements, most notably his orientation towards quality performance.

Conclusion: The participant in this study was found to be driven by the project that he cares about most and at each turn he has bent his understanding of his sport back on itself to see if he can find opportunities to learn and subsequently explore ways to improve performance. The story here emphasises the importance of learner agency, and this is an aspect that has often been missing in recent theorising about learning. In this study, we find an agent using his ‘personal emergent powers’ to activate the resources in the culture and structure of his sport in an attempt to improve performance. We conclude from this account that this particular high-performance rowing culture is one that provided support but nonetheless encouraged those involved, to ‘figure things out’ for themselves – be it as athletes, coaches and/or administrators.     

Sports’ disciplinary legacy and the challenge of ‘coaching differently’

Be empowering. Be athlete-centered. Be autonomy supportive. These are three related topics currently being promoted by sport psychologists and sport pedagogists in an effort to recognize athletes’ unique qualities and developmental differences and make coaching more holistic and coaches more considerate. This has led us to ask, how likely are such initiatives to lead to coaches putting their athletes at the center of the coaching process given that coaches’ practices have largely been formed through relations of power that subordinate and objectify athletes’ bodies through the regular application of a range of disciplinary techniques and instruments [e.g. Barker-Ruchti, N., &; Tinning, R. (2010). Foucault in leotards: Corporeal discipline in women's artistic gymnastics. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27, 229–250; Heikkala, J. (1993). Discipline and excel: Techniques of the self and body and the logic of competing. Sociology of Sport Journal, 10, 397–412; Gearity, B., &; Mills, J. P. (2012). Discipline and punish in the weight room. Sports Coaching Review, 1, 124–134]? In other words, to try to develop athlete-centered coaches capable of coaching in ways that will empower their athletes without also problematizing the discursive formation of coaches’ practices concerns us [Denison, J., &; Mills, J. P. (2014). Planning for distance running: Coaching with Foucault. Sports Coaching Review, 3, 1–16]. Put differently: how can athlete empowerment initiatives be anything more than rhetoric within a disciplinary framework that normalizes maximum coach control? It is this question that we intend to explore in this paper. More specifically, as Foucauldians, we will argue that coaching with greater consideration for athletes’ unique qualities and developmental differences needs to entail coaching in a less disciplinary way and with an awareness and appreciation of the many unseen effects that disciplinary power can have on coaches’ practices and athletes’ bodies.