Diane Culver

Clarifying the Concept of Communities of Practice in Sport

In an attempt to describe learning outside of the usual official curriculum, concepts such as workplace learning, nonformal learning, informal learning, and incidental learning have been used in the fields of teacher education, workplace pedagogy, and sport. These ‘outside-of-the-classroom’ learning opportunities are characterized by the important role that peers play in the learning process. Participation in communities of practice (CoPs) provides one such opportunity for learning. Recent interest in this concept for coach education and in sport has resulted in an increasing number of studies in which researchers promote CoPs, but not all these studies operationalise CoPs clearly and according to Etienne Wengers framework To clarify this situation and further stimulate the discussion around the potential of CoPs in sport, we present a brief history and description of the concept, compare it with related notions, and describe some recent studies on CoPs in sport.

Coaches of athletes with a physical disability: a look at their learning experiences

Literature has shown that research on coaches of athletes with a physical disability is lacking. The purpose of this study is to examine the learning experiences of coaches in disability sport. Five coaches participated in this study. Data included two semi-structured interviews and two non-participant observation sessions with each coach. Thematic analysis was employed using theory of human learning as a theoretical framework. Results indicated three main themes influencing the coaches’ learning and development: (a) their biographies, (b) how they chose to learn (i.e. through formal, non-formal and informal learning situations) and (c) the learning opportunities provided by their sport. The coaches noted the usefulness of varied learning situations, and identified a lack of resources and few non-formal and formal learning opportunities specific to disability sport.

Interdisciplinary physical activity counseling in primary care A qualitative inquiry of the patient experience

The Physical Activity Counseling randomized controlled trial integrated a physical activity (PA) counselor into a primary care practice to provide intensive counseling to sedentary patients following brief counseling from their regular health care provider. This article presents the voices of 15 patients, who through a series of 3 interviews, described their experience with this 3-month combined provider PA counseling intervention. Patient satisfaction was a dominant emergent theme, and the patients were particularly positive about the quality of care and educational support for lifestyle change. They favored the tailored approach and felt the strategies for overcoming PA barriers were helpful.

The importance of reflection for coaches in parasport

Past research has described reflection as a process of thinking anew about already existing knowledge and experiences. More recently, reflection has also been referred to as a way of making sense of experience in complex situations. Research in coach learning has suggested that one of the ways coaches’ learn is by reflecting on their coaching practice. The purpose of the present study was to explore how four parasport coaches used reflection to help them learn and develop as coaches. The findings are discussed in light of the context of parasport and illustrated by four themes: reflecting on educational experiences, reflecting with a ‘lens of adaptability’, reflecting with others, and the relevance of the timing and depth of reflection, as coaches reported using reflection ‘before, during and after’ their coaching experiences. Given the apparent importance of reflection for parasport coaches, recommendations are suggested for how reflective practice might be nurtured.

Becoming a Coach in Developmental Adaptive Sailing: A Lifelong Learning Perspective

Life-story methodology and innovative methods were used to explore the process of becoming a developmental adaptive sailing coach. Jarviss (2009) lifelong learning theory framed the thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the coach, Jenny, was exposed from a young age to collaborative environments. Social interactions with others such as mentors, colleagues, and athletes made major contributions to her coaching knowledge. As Jenny was exposed to a mixture of challenges and learning situations, she advanced from recreational para-swimming instructor to developmental adaptive sailing coach. The conclusions inform future research in disability sport coaching, coach education, and applied sport psychology.

Clarifying the Concept of Communities of Practice in Sport: A Response to Commentaries

INTRODUCTION The fine thing about having the opportunity to respond to comments, apart from having another chance to discuss our topic, is the possibility of improving a document by trying to fill some of the gaps highlighted by the reviewers. Therefore we would like to thank Tania Cassidy, Chris Cushion, Valerie Owen-Pugh, and Steven Rynne for their judicious remarks. As a reminder, we would like to stress that it was not our intent to present the concept of communities of practice (CoPs) as the conceptual framework to study coach education. Rather, it was presented as one among others to help understand the learning process as it occurs through social participation. Because the CoP model has gained popularity over the last decade (a search of Wenger or Communit(y/ies) of practice in the ERIC database yields 214 peer-reviewed articles since 2000), we felt it was important to examine it and to distinguish it from other team learning concepts. As is true of any other conceptual framework, however, CoP has its limitations. Rynne makes a good point when he says,

Skills trained by coaches of Canadian male volleyball teams: A comparison with long-term athlete development guidelines

Volleyball Canada and Volleyball Quebec developed long-term athlete development models in order to guide volleyball coaches concerned with athlete development. These models propose guidelines about the development of skills. However, it has yet to be determined whether coaches apply long-term athlete development guidelines in their coaching practice. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to describe the amount of time devoted to the various skills trained by four volleyball coaches of different levels and to compare these training skills with the long-term athlete development guidelines. The results of this multiple case study (n = 4) indicated that based on long-term athlete development guidelines, (a) college and university coaches over-trained technical skills; (b) high school coaches and university coaches undertrained individual tactical skills; and (c) high school coaches over-trained team tactical skills. Corrective measures that might help coaches apply the long-term athlete development guidelines are changes in the access to training facilities, competition schedules, and coach education programs.

Voices: para athletes speak

Abstract Qualitative researchers in the social sciences have been benefitting from using poetic forms to analyse and represent their research findings for about two decades now and, while still not common, recently noted that sensory research has made a debut in sport. In line with Fitzgerald’s recommendation that voice be given to young people living with disabilities, the following poems were co-constructed from the words of 15 parasport athletes from 10 sports (individual and team) combined with the researchers’ interpretation. As participants in sport for persons with physical disabilities, the athletes were asked to talk about the characteristics of a successful coach. The poems touch on traits such as empathy, understanding of disabilities, good listening skills and trying to put oneself in the shoes of the athlete. Rather than telling, the poems hope to show readers what is important for coaching disability sport. Following the poems, a reflective note is offered for each poem. While couched in the literature related to coach development and not disability studies, the poems help fill a hole in the literature about the experiences of the agents at the centre of a social relational model perspective of parasport coach development.

The learning pathways of Brazilian surf coach developers

The purpose of this study was to explore the learning pathways of five Brazilian surf coach developers, in order to understand how they became coach developers. A case study was conducted with five surf coach developers working in the sport participation context, and linked to a legally organized Brazilian surf federation. Three main research topics guided the semi-structured interviews: participants’ experiences as a surfer, as a surf coach, and as a coach developer. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to explore the participants’ perceptions of the experiences around becoming a surf coach developer. The study revealed a pattern of formative experiences for the participants, across their lives and careers. Their experiences as a surfer and as a surf coach, as well as their exposure to the surfing environment and their contact with significant others, influenced in their engagement in surfing and in the surf coach context; leading them eventually to the desire to share knowledge with others. Becoming a surf coach developer in this study corresponded to a mutual socialization process across a lifetime. This process was marked by situated socio-cultural aspects of different life phases, strongly influenced by the social relations established in immediate contexts (family) and with other specific groups (surfers, coaches, and developers).

Actual and ideal sources of coaching knowledge of elite Chinese coaches

Globalization and advances in technology have created a context where knowledge changes and circulates faster than ever. In high-performance sport coaching, coaches increasingly move from country to country to join national teams – becoming ‘migrant coaches’. From a coach development perspective, it becomes relevant to investigate how coaches from different countries learn to coach and what would be their ideal sources of knowledge acquisition. Unfortunately, there is a major gap in the English literature regarding Asian coaches. Thus, a study with Chinese gymnastics (Gym) and rhythmic gymnastics (R-Gym) coaches has been conducted. Eighty coaches completed a questionnaire on their actual and ideal sources of knowledge acquisition; 16 of these were interviewed. Data show that the coaches acquired their knowledge (actual) mainly through ‘being an athlete’ and ‘having a mentor’. Ideally, they would like to have a better balance between these two sources and formal learning situations (courses, seminars, etc.). Another key finding is the barrier resulting from the lack of English knowledge, which is an important limit for Chinese coaches wishing to gather information from abroad, especially through the Internet.