The role of coach education in the development of expertise in coaching
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Date
07/2008Author
Nash, Christine Scott
Metadata
Abstract
The coach has a crucial role to play in the furtherance of sporting performance however,
unlike the athlete, scant attention has been paid to the development of the expert coach.
This thesis investigated methods of coach education, which allowed coaches to develop
their practice through the adoption of both structured and unstructured processes. It
consists of three different studies, examining coach education, support and development,
as perceived by sport coaches. The findings conclude that coaches questioned the
effectiveness of formal coach education programmes, the support of their NGBs and the
sports specific nature of many of the awards. Coaches progress using a variety of
methods but key were the informal Communities of Practice (COP), critical thinking
skills, a supportive club environment and a personal desire to develop their knowledge
base in a range of areas. Some professions have integrated expertise development into
education programmes using a variety of methods. Sport coaching should embrace the
examples from these and introduce the concept of long term coach development into the
coach education framework.