Open AccessMasters Swimmers’ Experiences With Coaches
Author(s) -
Bettina Callary,
Scott Rathwell,
Bradley W. Young
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sage open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2158-2440
DOI - 10.1177/2158244015588960
Subject(s) - coaching , psychology , athletes , applied psychology , interpretative phenomenological analysis , medical education , pedagogy , social psychology , qualitative research , psychotherapist , sociology , medicine , social science , physical therapy
Much work addresses coaches’ contributions to younger athletes;however, the psycho-social coaching needs of adult Masters athletes remain unexamined.This study explored the lived experiences of 10 Masters swimmers (5 male, 5 female; agerange = 45-65 years) through interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis delvedinto benefits that swimmers wanted to derive from coaches, how they wished to becoached, and what they liked about coaches. Themes related to (a) swimming andnon-swimming benefits; (b) coaches’ experience and professional development, personalattributes, and behaviors holding athletes accountable to training; (c) preferences forcoaching instruction; (d) preferences for coaches’ planning/structuring of the practiceand program; and (e) preferences for how coaches prepare and interact with them atcompetitions. We discuss how benefits relate to models of athlete development andidentify how preferences link to adult learning literature and models of coachingpractice. Finally, we note incongruent findings and limitations to be addressed infuture