Developing Artistic Gymnastics Coaches' Professional Knowledge by Creating a Learning Community

Effective coaching requires coaches to consistently improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection and character (4C). That entails coaches to benefit from scientific knowledge continuously. However, transfer of... [ view full abstract ]

Effective coaching requires coaches to consistently improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection and character (4C). That entails coaches to benefit from scientific knowledge continuously. However, transfer of relevant sports science knowledge to coaching has been a vexing problem in many coaching cultures. Coaches often prefer contextual knowledge, with which they can link their experiences with information provided, but formal coach education courses fall short in meeting coaches' needs. Potential of Learning Community Approach has been emphasized in teaching and coaching to help bridge that knowledge gap. However, previous studies usually have a lack of a situated scientific evidence to be built upon. Moreover, they have a misconception that coaches have an adequate conceptual understanding of defining and communicating their needs, and can link their previous experiences with scientific information provided. Purpose of this study was to examine effects of a six-week learning community program (LCP), created based on coaches’ needs, on coaches’ perceptions of LCP experience. Six coaches from a competitive youth artistic gymnastics participated in this study. In defining coaches' needs, forty-five competitive gymnasts and their coaches from nine teams completed validated forms of proposed measures for the 4Cs of athlete outcomes, on which the program was constructed. A video-recorded and fully transcribed text of six-week LCP, an interview with the facilitator and a visiting sports psychologist, a focus group interview with the coaches, and researcher field notes were qualitative data sources analyzed through thematic analysis. Coaches perceived that LCP provided an excellent environment for their comprehension of situated scientific information. They become able to define and communicate their needs with experts (e.g., sports psychologist) and started to change some of their coaching practices accordingly. The study has critical implications for creating and delivering effective coach training programs to promote coaches' professional development.

Keywords: Coach education, professional development, learning community