The research by Christine Nash, John Sproule, and Peter Hortonhad aimed to examine the difficulties encountered in the coaching roles, assess the importance of its philosophy, and evaluate the function of the coaches. Consequently, it was targeted that the findings of this study would help students to develop necessary life skills, and improve their performance in the coaching career. In this light, the researchers hypothesized that the development of coaching philosophy is needed in this field, and beginners can learn from the other knowledgeable coaches.
In this study, the researchers took a sample of twenty-one participants. These participants were all coaches who had qualified in the introductory coaching course within their respective area of preferred games. In this respect, semi-structured interviews were the strategies involved in data collection that considered 21 individuals. Each coach was interviewed at a place and time convenient for them. The interviews targeted the views of all the practicing coaches on their coaching role and how their philosophy was affected by the experiences during training. In fact, these researchers developed an interview guide through the questions used during the interview, which covered different significant areas in the sport like coaching philosophy and coach development among others.
All coaches were subjected to similar questions irrespective of their level of experiences and classification in the training program during the interview conducted by the researchers. However, the answers received from the coaches showed significant variances. In this regard, the length of the interview differed considerably according to the most knowledgeable coaches in such higher levels as category four and five completing their interview faster than the others due to their deep experience in the coaching practice. Furthermore, 9 coaches from the low levels (1 and 2) found that it was tough for them to consider an explicit understanding of the roles set as they had insufficient knowledge. However, the level 3 coaches had a profound understanding and willingness to take various roles set in the study. Finally, there was an explicit and dimensional view from the participating coaches in the level 5.
The researchers came into a conclusion that the coaching philosophy enabled the development of the training roles as well as the coaching practices. The authors argued that such development should be grounded in psychology when considering the coaches dealing with youth sports. This was demonstrated by the results obtained from the learning coaches in the high levels who were more experienced in coaching practices than those in the low levels. However, the researchers also pointed that the methods used to obtain the views from these coaches were not clear to some people.
Although this article should be considered as a positive contribution towards the sport coaching area, some negative effects can be pointed out from it. One such issue involves the point where the researchers used semi-structured interview questions, which can bring the expected views rather than random ideas. Similarly, the researchers pointed out repeatedly that coaching philosophy could not be learnt by watching other knowledgeable coaches. However, the results of this research showed a different perspective recommending the inclusion models in delivering training information to the learners.
Although sport coaching covers distinct theoretical, experiential, and practical areas including philosophical development, there are many questions asked about its philosophy. For instance, does the philosophy of coaching improve the performance of athletes or players in the field? Does this philosophy help in the development of character? Consequently, these questions require attention through implementation of further researches. In this light, further researches on philosophy were recommended to facilitate discovery and documentation of adequate information.
Reference
Nash, C., Sproule, J. and Horton, P. (2010) Sport coaches’ perceived role frames and philosophies. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. (3)4, p. 539-554.