An Athlete-Centred High Performance Coaching Approach: A Participatory Action Research Study
Date
2020-04-16
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Degree Level
Doctoral
Abstract
A high performance sports model, as commonly constructed, highlights the performance excellence of athletes, with priorities being the development and backing of elite athletes, and, according to high performance coaches, winning in competition (Banwell & Kerr, 2016). One of the challenges of the high performance sports model is that high performance coaches feel their credibility, and perhaps job security, is directly tied to winning (Banwell & Kerr, 2016). This perspective places a lot of pressure on high performance coaches. In fact, high performance sport has the potential to push coaches in an unhealthy direction in terms of how they treat their athletes (Jacobs, Smith, & Knoppers, 2017). Therefore, it is essential that high performance coaches be provided with a coaching approach that allows them to maximize athlete development while they remain mindful of athlete physical and psychological well-being. The world of psychology has provided the building blocks for a coaching approach that enables high performance coaches to maximize athlete development while remaining mindful of athlete physical and psychological well-being. In the late 1950's, psychologist Carl Rogers (1957) began sharing his experientially-based thoughts about how someone could most effectively help other people engage in positive personal development. Rogers felt people had a natural inclination to self-actualize (Tobin, 1991). He claimed that helping people on a journey of positive personal development required the creating of three core facilitative conditions: empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence (Kirschenbaum & Jourdan, 2005). Rogers (1958) also emphasized the importance of recognizing that the person one is trying to help is in a "...process of becoming... (p. 14)." The benefits of Rogers' approach were empirically validated through decades of research (Kirschenbaum & Jourdan, 2005). However, only in recent years has any direct application of Rogerian principles targeted the coach-athlete relationship (Nelson, Cushion, Potrac, & Groom, 2014), with no specific targeting of the high performance coach-athlete relationship. These early initiatives sought to advocate what is called an athlete-centred approach to coaching (Nelson et al., 2014). Rogers' perspective on helping people pursue positive personal development (Rogers, 1958) potentially points high performance coaches in the direction of four athlete-centred high performance coaching principles: (a) The coach see the sport experience through the eyes of the athlete (empathy), (b) The coach identifies what the athlete needs and communicates this to the athlete (congruence), (c) The coach acts in the athlete's best interests (unconditional positive regard), and (d) The coach develops in the athlete the desire to pursue the best version of himself/herself (a process of becoming). Adherence to these principles is the essence of an athlete-centred high performance coaching approach. A participatory action research study designed to explore the effectiveness of an athlete-centred high performance coaching approach in enabling high performance coaches to help athletes pursue their best selves, while remaining mindful of the athletes' physical and psychological well-being, had not been previously conducted and, therefore, seemed a logical first exploratory step. Incorporating a participatory action research approach in a high performance sport setting was essential because action research has the goal of activating research participants' processing that applies a critical lens to the way they have traditionally functioned, and hopefully counteracts any mistreatment that may come to light (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2000). I conducted a participatory action research study from October, 2018 until May, 2019 with coaches and athletes of a high performance sport academy. The study followed Stringer and Genat's (2004) five phase participatory action research model consisting of research design, data generation, data analysis, communication, and action. Through semi-structured interviews, and a series of biweekly meetings, the athletes generated data related to the athlete-centred high performance coaching principles. I communicated and discussed athlete data with the coaches, and products of these discussions were specific action plans undertaken by the coaches as they sought to incorporate athlete-centred high performance coaching principles into their coaching practices. During the time period between biweekly meetings, I monitored, in practices and games, the coaches' actions in the context of an athlete-centred high performance coaching approach. The findings showed that both the athletes and the coaches viewed the athlete-centred high performance coaching approach in a positive way and, in fact, showed that the athlete-centred high performance coaching principles could be effectively categorized into two broader coaching principles: building connections and imposing demands. The athletes, by a wide margin, supported the notion that coaches who build connections with the athletes make the athletes more receptive and responsive to the coaches' demands. This link between building connections and imposing demands was embraced by the coaches, along with a sensitivity to try and find the proper balance between the two principles. The positive view both athletes and coaches had, regarding these principles, points to the possibility that an athlete-centred high performance coaching approach is both achievable and effective.
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Keywords
athlete-centred coaching, high performance sport, participatory action research
Citation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Kinesiology
Program
Kinesiology