“Opinion and Fact, Perspective and Truth”: Seeking Truthfulness and Integrity in Coaching and Coach Education

Front. Sports Act. Living

Ashford

2022

Self Cite

In recent years, high-performance sport has seen a rising interest in Psychological Safety, a construct with a strong empirical basis in certain business contexts. As research and practice interest grows in PS, there are early indications of practitioners and, to a lesser extent research, treating the construct as being universally transferable. We offer three central concerns with this situation. Firstly, it seems that a variety of different interpretations in use may limit the practical application of the construct. Secondly, a concern that not all dimensions of PS are transferable or applicable in the HPSs context, especially for athletes. Finally, emerging evidence from outside of sport suggests potential downsides to the perceptions of PS in a performance/selection sets. We suggest that, as with all theories and constructs, there is a pressing need for nuance and context-specific evidence in how researchers and practitioners approach transferability plus, perhaps, a little more understanding of the real-world high-performance context.

Section: Moving Forwardmentioning

confidence: 66%

Psychological Safety in High-Performance Sport: Contextually Applicable?

Taylor

Front. Sports Act. Living

Ashford

2022

Self Cite

“…This information has then been disseminated through a wealth of channels, from the formal and peer-reviewed, to the informal and personally speculative (cf. Stoszkowski et al, 2020 ). Consequently, what we would typically call “coach education,” or coach development, has become a serious business.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Show Me, Tell Me: An Investigation Into Learning Processes Within Skateboarding as an Informal Coaching Environment

Carson

2022

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

Coach education is a learner-centred process, which often fails to consider the preferences of the consumer. Historically, research into performers’ experiences of coaching have been influenced by the social constructivism of learning: in short, an expressed preference for what the performer has experienced as determined by their coach, rather than their own personal preferences. Therefore, this research used skateboarding as a natural laboratory in order to explore the current practices and preferences of performers in a coach-free environment. Ninety-one skateboarders from parks in the United Kingdom and New Zealand offered information relating to their current learning practices, how they learnt about learning, and how the top-level performers in their environment were differentiated. Findings suggest that a number of learning tools are used by performers, which are closely aligned with a more traditional, cognitive view of coaching (e.g., demonstration, drills, and error usage). Results also suggest that performers deployed a number of cognitive skills (e.g., imagery, analogy, and understanding) to enhance storage of a movement as an internal representation. Finally, in the absence of formal coaching, performers use their knowledge of learning to appoint informal leaders. Implications for practice are discussed.

“…Of course, like so many other modern memes, Albert probably wrote this on his website or blog! After all, that is where so much coaching knowledge is gleaned these days, even though many have highlighted the risks of using such unfiltered sources without appropriate criticality (e.g., Stoszkowski, MacNamara, Collins, & Hodgkinson, 2020). One of the several concerns expressed about these social sources is the frequently absolutist nature of the advice offered.…”

Section: Introduction -Why Is "It Depends" Important?mentioning

confidence: 99%

It depends coaching – The most fundamental, simple and complex principle or a mere copout?

Taylor

Ashford

et al. 2022

Sports Coaching Review

Self Cite

A growing body of literature identifies the importance of conditionality in coaching and coach education. In simple terms, the complexity and hyperdynamic nature of many coaching environments makes it increasingly unlikely that any one approach, tool or even paradigm will be appropriate to every situation. Accordingly, in this paper, we critically consider the use of Professional judgment and Decision-Making (often referred to as "it depends" coaching) as a valid approach to coaching, using three exemplar constructs backed by both literature and practical challenges. We conclude by comparing the underpinnings and logic of this approach and presenting implications for coaching practice. Our intention is to stimulate debate amongst coaches, coach developers and researchers.