The purpose of this study was to investigate the work-related constraints encountered by female coaches in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Participants were 100 female coaches who completed a 34-item questionnaire on the perceived constraints/hindrances to coaching. A Cronbach's a of 0.953 was recorded for the questionnaire. Results indicated that coaches identified lack of support for women coaches, inadequate salary, job insecurity, difficulties in working with parents/spectators and coaching at weekends and evenings as the major constraints to their coaching. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that female coaches should be provided with support programmes which could ensure fair treatment of female coaches, promote equitable salaries, alleviate all forms of discrimination and ensure that their needs are well catered for.

The purpose of this study was to examine coaches’ preferences for continuing coaching education. The sample consisted of 122 male and 102 female coaches from the Gauteng Province of South Africa who were purposively recruited to participate in this study. The results of this study showed that the coaches wanted to learn more about motivational techniques, advanced instructional drills, advanced first aid, goal setting, character building and conditioning drills. The results further indicated that sport coaches would be more likely to continue their coaching education if they had a desire to coach at a high level, if topics were relevant and if courses were in line with league requirements and were available online. The practical implications of the findings for the development of coaching education programmes in South Africa were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine perceived hindrances encountered by sport coaches in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. A total of 224 sport coaches (122 males and 102 females) were purposively recruited to participate in this study. An exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the Perceived Hindrance Scale. The results of this study indicated the following as major hindrances encountered by sport coaches: “Lack of support systems for women players”, “Lack of support for women coaches from superiors”, “Low salary”, “Lack of opportunities for promotion”, “Difficulties with parents/spectators” and “Lack of job security”. Recommendations on strategies to overcome these perceived hindrances are discussed.

Background. The potential performance-enhancement effect of pseudoephedrine (PSE) use has led to its prohibition in competition sports (urine concentrations >150 µg/ml). Data are, however, scarce regarding whether therapeutic PSE use enhances swimming performance. Objective. To investigate the effect of therapeutic PSE use on performance in aerobic and explosive sprint swimming events. Method. A double-blinded cross-over study design was used. Participants in the control group initially received a placebo and those in the experimental group received a divided PSE dose of 90 mg/d. Anaerobic power (50 m sprint) and aerobic (2 000 m) swimming testing was conducted at (i) baseline; (ii) after ingestion of a placebo or PSE; and (iii) after the groups were crossed over, following a wash-out period of 4 days, to determine changes in performance between trials. Results. The participants (mean age 44 years; N=7) were competitive masters swimmers with normal resting heart rates (68 beats per minute (bpm); standard deviation (SD) ±14) and blood pressures (BPs) (171 (SD ±27)/83 (SD ±16) mmHg). The use of PSE during the anaerobic swim test showed only a trivial chance (68%) of improvement, with a likely enhancement in systolic BP (86%). The aerobic swim test did not affirm performance enhancement as measured by time to completion (52% chance of a positive effect; 41% chance of a negative effect), nor did any other physiological variable of interest (peak heart rate and exercising BP) differ significantly from baseline results. Conclusion. The use of a therapeutic amount of PSE in short and endurance swimming trials did not appear to have any major ergogenic effect on performance.S Afr J SM 2013;25(2):43-46.

The purpose of this study was to develop and preliminarily validate a questionnaire to examine barriers to coaching that are encountered by women sports coaches in South Africa.Two series of studies were conducted to assess content and face validity, factorial structure, and reliability of a new questionnaire. In study one, 40 items were developed based on LaVoi and Dutove's ecological model of barriers and supports for female coaches and a thorough literature review. A panel of experts was employed to explore content validity and suitability of the provisional items. In study two, an initial 35-item questionnaire (the Barriers to Sports Coaching Questionnaire for Women; BSCQW) was administered to 152 women sports coaches who were working in South Africa. Principal component analysis was used to reduce items and determine factorial structure of the questionnaire. Analyses resulted in a 32-item BSCQW, which consists of intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, and socio-cultural barriers to coaching. The most proximal barriers were organisational (M=2.71, SD=1.24) and interpersonal (M=2.22, SD=1.04). The findings indicate that the overall internal consistency of the BSCQW was .81, demonstrating that the questionnaire was reliable. Thus, the BSCQW is a valid tool to assess barriers experienced by women sports coaches in South Africa.Further rigorous psychometric assessments are warranted.