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Coach development programs have been moving away from knowledge focused, rationalistic pedagogies toward more constructivist, applied approaches that recognize the complex, relational, and contextual nature of coaching and learning to coach. Teacher educators have been doing similar pedagogical work: trying to identify the dynamic elements of what makes an expert teacher and distill those elements into a learner-centered teacher education framework that brings knowledge into action. One such practice-based teacher education framework is ambitious teaching core practices. Core practices are empirically-based moves and social routines that teachers learn to enact adaptively to enhance learning across diverse groups of students. The purpose of this study was to explore the application of ambitious teaching core practices to coach development and take a step toward identifying and defining coaching core practices. Findings from this Delphi panel of expert coaches resulted in 15 ambitious coaching core practices for facilitating athlete performance and well-being including allowing space for athlete exploration, creativity, and problem solving and developing and flexibly executing a practice plan. Applying the concept of core practices to coaching is both a novel way to understand effective coaching and a first step toward a new practice-based coach development framework.

This article provides an overview of the context, details, and outcomes of a consultation and review of the International Council for Coaching Excellence’s interactions and engagements with, and service provision to, the international sport coaching research community. The consultation and review were undertaken by the International Council for Coaching Excellence Research Committee (RC). The paper starts with a description of the sport coaching research landscape. It then provides details of the role of the International Council for Coaching Excellence, its Research Fair, and RC. The paper then offers an overview of the formal initiation of the consultation and review at the Global Coach Conference, Japan 2019, as well as a brief overview of the approach used. It then details the consultation findings providing direction for the RC moving forward. The resultant revised RC terms of reference are included as an appendix.

In this paper, the authors reflect on the current literature and the evolution of coach communities of practice and how the coach development area has embraced Wenger-Trayner’s social learning theory. Studies examining parasport coach development interventions, specifically those using a landscape of practice approach, are lacking. This paper is the third in a series about increasing learning capability in the wheelchair curling landscape. The authors utilized a collaborative approach to assess the learning value created through a 13-month social learning intervention. Four composite vignettes based on the coaches’ pathways and residency within the landscape were created from the data generated and analyzed using the value creation framework. The vignettes illustrate the many dimensions of learning values experienced by the coaches. This paper advances the literature surrounding social learning theory by providing examples of the novel concept of different dimensions of learning value. Applied implications are included.

The purpose of this paper is to delineate how an intervention aimed at increasing the learning capability of Canadian wheelchair curling coaches was framed by a systems convener in collaboration with stakeholders from different levels. Social learning theory, in particular a landscape of practice perspective, provides the conceptual framework. The methodology was collaborative inquiry with people from across the landscape to delineate the intervention strategies through cycles of reflection and action. The participants included parasport coaches, researchers, and Curling Canada technical leaders. Based on preintervention findings, the intervention was driven by (a) the use of technology to overcome barriers and the implementation of learning activities at competitions, (b) the use of a collective learning map to promote meaningful learning, (c) the involvement of the sport organization leadership to promote the participation of influential people, and (d) a reflection of how subpar outcomes occurred when the systems convener failed to engage with the sport organization leadership. The discussion sheds light on the many roles of systems conveners and the importance of promoting strategic and enabling values. Sport organizations should engage a systems convener who can effectively align learning goals with the available resources and the strategic mission of the organization.

Inclusive and equitable processes are important to the development of sports coaching. The aim of this study was to explore how well UK coach education meets the needs of women sports coaches to make recommendations to further enhance the engagement of, and support for, aspiring and existing women coaches. The national governing bodies (NGBs) of four sports (Cycling, Equestrian, Gymnastics and Rowing) volunteered to participate and semistructured interviews using the tenants of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) within a Self Determination Theory (SDT) framework were undertaken with 23 coaches, eight coach educators and five NGB officers. The data themed into an analytic structure derived from SDT comprising ‘Autonomy: Freedom to coach’, ‘Coaching competence’, and ‘Relatedness and belonging’. The coaches perceived potential benefit from enhanced relatedness and belonging within their sport with the findings suggesting that NGBs should embrace coach-led decision making in terms of the developmental topics which are important and should adopt the development of competence, rather than assessing technical understanding, as the foundational principle of more inclusive coach education. Future research should investigate the impact of the inclusive practices which are recommended within this investigation such as the softening of the technocratic focus of formal coach education.