A New Theoretical Perspective for Understanding How Coaches Learn to Coach
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The purpose of this paper is to present, using Moon’s (1999, 2004) generic view of learning, a new theoretical perspective in order to understand how coaches learn to coach. After presenting her main concepts, a case study of an elite Canadian coach is used to illustrate the different learning processes in three types of learning situations: mediated, unmediated, and internal. We believe this new view of how coaches learn provides a way to see coach development from the coach’s perspective and helps us understand why the path to becoming a coach is often idiosyncratic. Finally, the potential of this conceptual research framework for the study of coaches’ development, specifically at the elite/expert level, is discussed.
The authors are with the School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont., K1N 6N5. E-mail: werthner@uottawa.ca.
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