The Organizational Tasks of High-Performance Gymnastic Coaches
in The Sport PsychologistClick name to view affiliation
The purpose of this study was to report the knowledge used by expert high-performance gymnastic coaches in the organization of training and competition. In-depth interviews were conducted with 9 coaches who worked with male gymnasts and 8 coaches who worked with female gymnasts. Qualitative analyses showed that coaches of males and coaches of females planned training similarly, except that coaches of females appeared to emphasize esthetic and nutritional issues to a greater extent. Coaches of males revealed more concerns about the organization of gymnasts’ physical conditioning. Analysis indicated that expert gymnastic coaches of males and females are constantly involved in dynamic social interactions with gymnasts, parents, and assistant coaches. Many areas of coaches’ organizational work, such as dealing with the athletes’ personal concerns and working with parents, are not part of the structure of coaches’ training programs and emerged as crucial tasks of expert gymnastic coaches for developing elite gymnasts.
Jean Côté is with the Department of Physical Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON Canada L2S 3A1. John H. Salmela is with the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON Canada KIN 6N5.
© 2023 Human Kinetics