The lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic has created several innovative methods of interaction at workplaces and, more importantly, within the sports industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the usual training procedures and further challenged coaches and athletes to find ways of interaction. The researchers combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches and descriptive statistics in this article. This article attempts to find out the means, media, experiences, and source of interaction between coaches and athletes in five African countries during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Data were gathered from 127 coaches and 212 athletes from five African countries. The article reveals that coaches and athletes made use of phone calls, emails, text messages, and internet videos to interact during the lockdown period. The athletes benefited from the interactions, and the coaches achieved their coaching goals. The finding of this study, apart from triggering research on the use of technology in sports coaching in Africa, further creates a new path of distant coaching in Africa.
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Interaction Between Coaches and Athletes in African Nations During the Lockdown Period of COVID-19
Austin W. Luguterah, Usman Abonyi, Rita Yeboah, and Alliance Kubayi
Online Learning in a High-Performance Sport Environment—A Mixed-Method Study
Glenn Fyall, Blake Bennett, and Jackie Cowan
This study investigated a high-performance rugby academy program in New Zealand during the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020. Unsurprisingly, this challenged academy staff who were abruptly charged with conceptualizing and implementing the program in innovative ways including a move to online learning and the adoption of online learning tools. A mixed-method sequential exploratory design was employed to explore the managers, coaches, and learners’ experiences. Phase 1 explored three coaches and two academy managers conceptualization and subsequent experiences of the online program. Phase 2 explored 44 academy players’ experiences of the online learning program. Our findings reveal that an explicit focus on player well-being and connection online appeared to increase a “sense of community” within and across both cohorts through enhanced communication, participation, and interaction. The challenges encountered included: accessibility, the amount, flow, and direction of information, “app fatigue,” and online technologies that were not fit-for-purpose. Our discussion reinforces that purposeful design and constant reflection is requisite to the successful and sustainable implementation of online coaching environments. We conclude with five fundamental lessons learned from COVID-19 that are worthy of consideration in the purposeful design of future online high-performance sporting programmes.
Special Issue in Online and Remote Coaching: Exploring Coaching Delivery and Coach Education in Online/Digital Environments
Chris Szedlak, Blake Bennett, and Matthew J. Smith
Sports Coaching in an Online Space: What Can We Learn From Endurance Sport Coaches?
Jamie Blanchfield, Jean McArdle, and Tandy Haughey
Within endurance sports (ES), a practice exists in which online remote coaching (RC) is a necessary construct. This study aimed to examine the processes of ES coaches to gain insight into the experiences of coaches engaging in RC before COVID-19 forced others to do the same. To achieve this aim, semistructured interviews were conducted with ES coaches (N = 7; M = 6, F = 1). Transcripts were subject to thematic analysis, with three dimensions (a) remote coach and ES, (b) process of remote coaching, and (c) delivery of training online being identified. An additional 17 higher and 79 lower order themes were found. Results found that to be effective online, ES coaches utilised technology such as instant messaging and online software to increase presence and decrease the perceived distance from athletes. They aimed to create autonomous athletes both by choice and by necessity. The ease of access through technology had a negative and positive impact on work–life balance. A process was developed whereby only technology that served a purpose to further athlete outcomes was used and balanced with subjective feedback. Further research is needed to garner athlete expectations and experiences of RC.
Athletes’ Perceptions of Developing Relationships Through Adult-Oriented Coaching in Online Contexts
Kimberley Eagles and Bettina Callary
Online coaching has grown in popularity, in which the coach and athlete work together using Internet-based platforms, without meeting in person. Kettlebell lifting has been using the online format for some time. The majority of Kettlebell lifters are Masters Athletes (MAs), over the age of 35 years, and competing in registered events around the world. Adult-oriented psychosocial coaching approaches that prioritize relationship development have proven to be successful when coaching MAs. While the coach–athlete relationship has been extensively examined, it is not known how the coach–athlete relationship is created and maintained in an online-only environment. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of MAs’ relationships with their online coaches. Five kettlebell lifters were interviewed to explore their experiences of having online coaches. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the lifters’ individual experiences within the online coaching environment were examined. Three higher order themes suggest (a) initial relationship building involves the coach selection by the MA, as well as developing closeness and complementary behaviors; (b) progressing in the relationship through communication; and (c) coach programming that is adaptable and negotiated. The coach–athlete relationship for mature adults in an online-only platform can be fostered through adult-oriented approaches.
Assessing the Irish Football Association’s “Ahead of the Game” Coach Education Training Programme on Raising Mental Health Literacy in Youth Football Coaches
Rodney Topping, Kyle F. Paradis, and Kyle Ferguson
The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of the Irish Football Association’s “Ahead of the Game” coach education training programme on mental health literacy of youth football coaches in Northern Ireland, and to gain insights into coaches’ own role perceptions of providing mental health support for athletes. A total of 105 coaches (90% male and 10% female; M age = 37.84, SD = 8.81, M experience = 9.53, SD = 6.59) completed an online survey examining mental health literacy and role perceptions of providing mental health support for athletes. A total of 40% of the sample completed the “Ahead of the Game” mental health literacy training programme, while 60% of the sample served as the comparison group. Results showed that participants who had completed the training programme demonstrated significantly higher mental health literacy in comparison to those who had not yet undertaken the programme. Thus, the “Ahead of the Game” programme may be useful for increasing mental health literacy. Youth sport coaches are an accessible and trusted outlet as a first point of contact to provide initial mental health support for athletes, thus advocating for the integration of mental health literacy training as a key part of coach education.
The Coach Developer as a Learning Designer: An Insight Into the Development of the ICOACHKIDS Massive Open Online Courses
Sergio Lara-Bercial, Gary Hodgson, Pedro Lara-Bercial, Sheelagh Quinn, Declan O’Leary, and Kris Van Der Haegen
The role of the coach developer (CD) has broadened over the last two decades. Today CDs fulfil multiple functions, such as tutor, facilitator, expert, or mentor. They also play a significant part as learning designers. CDs are normally not trained to perform this role. This practical advances paper provides an overview of the role and required skills of learning designers, specifically in the context of the creation of an online coach development resource: the ICOACHKIDS massive open online courses. The paper offers a novel description of the development process. It describes four stages, including: (a) agreeing on target audience and learning outcomes, (b) choosing the pedagogical model, (c) selecting technological solutions and partners, and (d) content development. For each stage, the working parameters, associated challenges, and the learning gained by CDs are described. Each of these phases presents unique challenges and requires different competences. We conclude that learning design, especially in relation to massive open online courses (and perhaps, more broadly, online), must become part of the CD development curriculum going forward.
Coaches’ Use of Remote Coaching: Experiences From Paralympic Sport
Sarah Taylor, Ian Renshaw, Ross Pinder, Remco Polman, and Scott Russell
Remote coaching via the use of digital technologies has been utilized within Paralympic Sports since 2015 to address challenges experienced by coaches. These technologies have connected coaches and athletes in real time, alleviating time and travel costs. However, very little is known about the experience of coaching in these environments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the experiences of coaches’ use of remote coaching technologies. Seven coaches from five Paralympic Sports were recruited for this study and participated in semistructured interviews. Additionally, observations were conducted of remote coaching sessions that were part of their regular training schedules. Coaches’ insights highlight that remote technologies created opportunities to increase coach–athlete interactions and positively impact the development of interpersonal relationships. This allowed coaches to explore and exploit newly discovered information from within training environments to aid athletes in skill development. Additionally, remote coaching provided unexpected opportunities for coach development. However, coaches also reported new environmental and logistical challenges which disrupted their usual coaching approach. Overall, remote coaching technologies were perceived as being beneficial despite the challenges experienced. However, future research that looks to understand how to impact coach and athlete development through the online environment is encouraged.
Exploring Different Forms of Technology-Enhanced Learning Strategies in a Handball Coach Education Program
Eoin Murray, Kirsten Spencer, and Blake Bennett
Effective and accessible coach education is a key part of sustainable sport development. Recent world events and inequitable resource division has led to an increase in the prevalence of remote learning. This study examines three methods of low-cost, simple technological-enhanced learning in handball coach education: Video On Demand, Interactive Video Learning, and Direct Remote Learning. Each intervention was examined under several relevant categories: accessibility, comprehensiveness, effectiveness, and empowerment, and compared against the others. All three methods were found to be applicable methods of remote coach learning with positive outcomes in learning and application. Video On Demand was very accessible and thought by participants to allow learning from varied sources. However, interactive methods (Interactive Video Learning and Direct Remote Learning) were preferred in most cases, as they promoted inter- and intrapersonal relational interactions and contextual informal as well as formal learning.
“Who Am I to Tell Them How to Coach?”—An Analysis of Coach Developers’ Professional Identity Formation
James Davidson and Robert C. Townsend
Coach developers play a critical role in the development of coaches. However, coach developers themselves remain under-researched, in particular the socially mediated process of becoming a coach developer is poorly understood. Eleven coach developers working across Regional and National Sports Governing Bodies took part in a series of interviews and in situ observations over the course of 12 months. Engaging a reflexive thematic analysis, this paper focuses on the power relations that contour the transitions into coach developer roles. Specifically, the analysis depicts an identity-making process in which power is exerted through different sites and modalities that structure and regulate coach developers’ practice and roles through shared discourses. In efforts to secure their positions and maintain legitimate identities, coach developers operated within an uncritical selective culture, which saw them wield, maintain, and enhance the power provided to them. Building on existing research, we examine the contested nature of what it means to be a coach developer, specifically showcasing the navigation of inherently unstable professional learning cultures and critiquing coach developer training. This work begins to address calls for the voices of coach developers in their research, while identifying the reproduction of a cultural orthodoxy, and the lack of effective in situ coach developer training. Implications from the research suggest that further support and development are required in the training of coach developers in situ, as well as the need for research to interrogate the language and discourse framing the role.