Exploring sports coaches’ experiences of using a contemporary pedagogical approach to coaching: an international perspective

ABSTRACT

Nonlinear contemporary coaching approaches are becoming more prominent in academic research, although there is still limited take-up by sports practitioners. Research has investigated why coaches continue to use traditional reproductive pedagogical approaches. However, there is limited understanding of insights and experiences of sports coaches who have switched to contemporary approaches in practice. This study aimed to: (i) explore insights of coaches who are adopting contemporary approaches to understand why they eschewed more traditional approaches and (ii) gain information on their experiences when implementing these contemporary approaches into their practice. To address these aims, 15 experienced professional individual and team sports coaches from a range of countries (i.e. Australia, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, UK, USA), were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed 59 lower-order themes and 10 higher-order themes, organised into 3 dimensions; (i) factors underpinning the coaches’ approach to athlete learning; (ii) learning approaches; and (iii), responses to contemporary pedagogical approaches. Coaches reported a typical culture of traditional methods of learning within their sports, which they believed were not effective in developing athlete performance. Hence, they elected to adopt a contemporary non-linear, individualised, adaptive approach, emphasising representative learning designs. Results suggested that typical reactions to this approach included resistance from stakeholders. However, coaches continued to use this approach and expressed the importance of effective communication with stakeholders to enable acceptance of the contemporary approaches of learning. Findings suggest how continued integration between experiential and empirical knowledge of practitioners may increase the acceptance of contemporary pedagogical approaches, facilitating acceptance of new approaches to learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport coaching
• ecological dynamics
• non-linear pedagogy
• representative learning design
• coach education

Acknowledgments

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not for profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph A. Stone

Joseph Stone is a Senior Lecturer in Performance Analysis and Skill Acquisition within the Sport and Physical Activity Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. His research focuses on skill acquisition and talent development in sport guided by the theoretical framework of Ecological Dynamics.

Martyn Rothwell

Martyn Rothwell is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching and a researcher at the Sport and Human Performance research group at Sheffield Hallam University. His area of research involves investigating the impact of socio-cultural-historical constraints on motor learning and the acquisition of sport expertise. Specifically, drawing insights from the work of James Gibson to understand how environmental constraints influence the landscape of affordances available in sporting forms of life.

Richard Shuttleworth

Richard Shuttleworth is a as High Performance Coach Development Consultant focusing on skill acquisition in coach education and elite level sport. Richard’s applied practice is supported by contemporary research in skill acquisition and he is an active member of the Sport and Human Performance research group at Sheffield Hallam University.

Keith Davids

Keith Davids researches at the Sport and Physical Activity Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, on skill acquisition and expertise in sport, motor learning and talent development. His research is underpinned by the theoretical framework of Ecological Dynamics, producing different types of evidence to support the application of key concepts to learning design and practice organisation in different sports and physical activities.