The focus of the current study was on the ways that U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I female and male assistant coaches defined and implemented care with their student-athletes. Twenty-three coaches (14 female, 9 male) from nine different sports (baseball, basketball, golf, rowing, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field/crosscountry, and volleyball) agreed to participate in a semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research by a team of four researchers as well as an external auditor. Results indicated that care was encompassed within 12 total categories and four major domains: (a) development of care, (b) definitions of care, (c) manifestations of care, and (d) factors influencing care. Results are presented using direct quotes from assistant coaches in the form of core ideas to highlight the domains and categories. Throughout the discussion, the findings are linked to previous research on care and the broader U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association coaching context. In addition, directions for future research are also put forth.

While the topic of caring coaching and its relationship to performance has been explored by researchers mainly in the UK, it has been neglected in the US with the exception of three studies by Fisher and colleagues. The core problem is a lack of understanding regarding the construct of care and whether coaches can care about athletes in pressure-filled, high-stakes, win-at-all-cost sport contexts. Thus, in this paper, we draw upon the ethic of care first proposed by Gilligan and later developed by Noddings and on results from the aforementioned studies by Fisher and colleagues as well as insights from scholarship in the UK to propose a heuristic of the potential relationship between caring coaching and elite athlete performance. Such a heuristic could be used in future coach development programs.

Though commonly emphasized by parents, coaches, and youth sport organizations, relatively little research exists with regard to morality in youth sport. In this Insights paper, we utilize Shields and Bredemeier’s 12-component model of moral action to help coaches become aware of how sport contextual influences, personal competencies, and ego-processing variables influence the moral behavior of their athletes. With insight from conversations with youth sport coaches, in addition to empirical and professional practice evidence, we provide coaches with three practical strategies they can use to: (a) consider how morality fits into their coaching philosophy, (b) create moral group norms within their teams, and (c) integrate moral decision-making into their practice plans.

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