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Background: Learning is a social, situational process. Effective coaches consistently apply situationally appropriate coaching knowledge to improve athletes’ developmental outcomes. Learning experiences should be cognizant of coaches’ learning needs and capacity to apply knowledge to facilitate athletes’ holistic development. This involves meaningful learning experiences tailored to coaches’ contextual learning needs. The use of social learning theory in supporting coach learning and development has been recommended in providing meaningful learning environments closer to coaches’ realities.Purpose: This study explored the impact of a professional development program designed to create a social learning space (SLS) for competitive youth artistic gymnastics coaches and evaluate the value created therein. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which coaches generated a SLS and the value the coaches created through their participation in the program.Methods: Six coaches joined a weekly gathering over five weeks. Data comprised transcribed video records of the gatherings, a focus group with the coaches, a semi-structured interview with the facilitator of the gatherings, and the researcher’s notes. Thematic analysis was employed to inductively analyze the creation of the SLS and deductively analyze the value created using the value creation framework (the VCF).Findings: The findings revealed that facilitating a learning opportunity based on SLS elements can result in coaches creating a SLS. Through building productive relationships to learn to make a difference in their practices, the coaches created value. Specifically, the coaches broadened their perspectives on athlete development, deepened their understanding of gymnasts’ developmental needs, and began to transform some of their current coaching practices.Conclusion: This study demonstrates the promotion of a professional development program focusing on coaches’ learning needs using the elements of SLS and the tenets of the constructivist view of learning. The SLS structure of this study has implications for the development and implementation of professional development programs for coaches. Future studies on designing professional development opportunities for coaches should expand on the different uses of the SLS approach as a more pervasive structure of social learning, drawing on complementary principles with theories and adopting a longitudinal perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research highlights the potential significance of leveraging communities of practice (CoPs) for supporting ongoing learning and advancing professional practice. As formal CoPs are rare within the mental performance field, this held a unique opportunity to understand the value gained from active engagement in intradisciplinary collaboration. It also posed an opportunity to share how professionals seeking to develop knowledge in niche domains of practice might leverage similar forms of social learning spaces. These two purposes inspired this qualitative case study. Our CoP comprised a group of eight experienced mental performance consultants from elite sports with the goal of understanding and exploring our role in supporting athletes with sport-related concussions. Individual reflections and collaboratively developed documents were thematically analyzed using E. Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner's (2021) value creation framework to assess the value created through CoP participation. Positive value across all eight cycles of the framework was identified (e.g., identification and clarification of our role in concussion support—transformative value; critical boundaries within the practical and theoretical concussion landscape—orienting value). Through this article, we explore these values in an effort to provide insight to practitioners of various domains of psychology wishing to create similar social learning spaces. Public Significance Statement: This article highlights the experiences of mental performance consultants who participated in a community of practice (CoP) designed to explore a niche area of professional practice (i.e., concussion support). Reflections from those who participated illustrate value in learning, knowledge translation, and applied practice, while also identifying structural elements which made the CoP successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport-related concussion(s) (SRCs) pose a complex problem to researchers and practitioners alike. The psychological and emotional experience of these injuries requires individualized and multidisciplinary intervention to promote wellbeing and effective recovery. These interventions require a thorough understanding of the SRC experience. Thus, collaborative inquiry, a novel approach in the SRC domain, was employed to give athletes a voice in how their experience is portrayed and understood within the research and applied communities. Data were generated over two years through on-going discussion and reflection between the researchers and twelve elite athletes who experienced SRCs. Athletes advocated for a broader view of their injury that considers the interplay of sociocultural factors and the individual's psychosocial experience. Mutual engagement through interviews, member reflections, focus groups, follow-up emails, and further reflective conversations generated two composite narratives. These narratives are interpreted using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory to underline the interplay of factors: (1) microsystem (athletic identity), (2) mesosystem ((dis)trust in relationships), (3) exosystem (concussion protocols), (4) macrosystem (sport culture), and (5) chronosystem (timing related to major events and recovery). Through this unique combination of methodology and theory within SRC research, we aim to highlight opportunities for applied intervention, multidisciplinary collaboration, and future scientific exploration Lay summary: Elite athletes who experienced concussions collaboratively created stories which highlight the complexity of concussions. These stories and accompanying analysis are intended to help practitioners and researchers further understand some of the psychological, social, and cultural factors that contribute to injury experience and recovery. This article aims to facilitate an understanding of some of the complex and interacting factors that impact an elite athlete's experience with concussion. Through a narrative exploration of athletes' experiences and a multi-systems theory, this article highlights potential targets for applied sport psychology and rehabilitative interventions. Specifically, psychological, social, and cultural barriers and factors are identified as potential intervention areas, all of which have been largely ignored in existing return-to-sport protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkour is a relatively new sport, and so there has not yet been much published research relating to parkour, or more specifically, parkour coaching. There is a large body of knowledge relating to how sport coaches learn to coach, but such research has examined regulated sports; that is, sports with national governing bodies. In North America, where this study was conducted, parkour does not have any national governing bodies, rendering it unregulated. When asked how they learned to coach, parkour coaches from this study described the influences of various sources of learning: parkour coaching experience, previous leadership experience, experience as an athlete in parkour and other sports, other parkour coaches, non-parkour coaches, parkour coach education programmes, school, reflection, and the Internet. It will be interesting to see how the specific influences of these sources might change in the future if parkour in North America becomes regulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A follow-up of the 1990s review of qualitative research articles published in three North American sport psychology journals (Culver, Gilbert, & Trudel, 2003) was conducted for the years 2000-2009. Of the 1,324 articles published, 631 were data-based and 183 of these used qualitative data collection techniques; an increase from 17.3% for the 1990s to 29.0% for this last decade. Of these, 31.1% employed mixed methods compared with 38.1% in the 1990s. Interviews were used in 143 of the 183 qualitative studies and reliability test reporting increased from 45.2% to 82.2%. Authors using exclusively quotations to present their results doubled from 17.9% to 39.9%. Only 13.7% of the authors took an epistemological stance, while 26.2% stated their methodological approach. We conclude that positivist/ postpositivist approaches appear to maintain a predominant position in sport psychology research. Awareness of the importance of being clear about epistemology and methodology should be a goal for all researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part of the on-going dialogue on qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology, this review portrays the qualitative articles published in three sport psychology journals and examines how qualitative research can deepen our knowledge in applied sport psychology. Eighty-four of the 485 research articles published in these journals used a qualitative data collection technique. The interview was used in 67 studies. Peer review and reliability tests were often used for establishing trustworthiness. Member checking was mostly limited to participant verification of interview transcripts. Results were usually presented using both words and numbers. Selected studies are discussed in relation to applied sport psychology knowledge. Published qualitative articles suggest a conservative effort by sport psychology researchers to include the qualitative approach as a legitimate way to do research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life-story methodology and innovative methods were used to explore the process of becoming a developmental adaptive sailing coach. Jarvis's (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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are approximately 52,000 teacher-coaches coaching 750,000 high school student-athletes in Canada. Despite this large population, Canadian high school teacher-coaches remain relatively unstudied. High school coaches in Canada are often asked to coach sports with which they are unfamiliar, and because they are not required to obtain formal training, they acquire knowledge from various situations in order to meet their learning needs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how high school teacher-coaches learn to coach, using Jarvis' theory of human learning. Participants and setting: Thirty-one high school teacher-coaches (15 females and 16 males) from 17 schools (12 urban and 5 rural) in Ontario, Canada, participated in this study. All the participants had a minimum of one season of experience as the head coach of a high school sport team. Any sport offered by the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations at any level (midget, junior, or senior) was an acceptable fulfilment of this requirement. Data collection: The participants were interviewed in person at mutually convenient time and location. Interviews ranged from 30 to 75 minutes. Two focus groups, with three participants each, were conducted in two separate schools. Focus groups were conducted during lunch or after school hours at the participants' school. Data analysis: Interviews and focus groups were transcribed verbatim amassing 464 single-spaced pages of data. A theoretically driven thematic analysis was conducted and the data were coded under three main headings: formal, non-formal, and informal learning situations, and further coded using concepts from Jarvis' theory of human learning. All of the coded data were re-read and sorted into potential themes and relationships between themes and codes were identified. Findings: Results indicated that a large number of teacher-coaches had formal coach training, despite it not being mandatory. However, their appreciation of this learning situation was tempered by their biographies. Coaching clinics were viewed as an occasion to develop sport-specific competencies, especially when coaching a sport in which coaches had limited knowledge. Informal learning situations, such as past coaching and/or playing experience, were two life experiences regarded as useful for learning to coach. Interaction with colleagues was utilised by all the participants as a means of developing coaching knowledge. Lack of time was a major factor influencing the type of situations from which teacher-coaches chose to learn. Conclusions: Tailoring coach learning resources to teacher-coaches' needs and schedules would help improve their coaching competencies and ultimately maximise the benefits of high school sport for all involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of reflection to assist students in developing their initial practice is evident in the literature in many fields when it comes to building a practice that is informed by theory. In this article, the authors explore Mental Performance Consultants' (MPCs) experiences with the practice of reflection during their participation in a higher education programme (with a focus on theory and practice) and while developing their initial consulting practices. Three MPCs (current and former students of the higher education programme) participated in a semi-structured interview which was subsequently followed by a second interview where they simultaneously drew a modified Rappaport timeline to illustrate their identity and professional development journeys. The authors used this data and a content analysis of participants' relevant coursework to create three portrait vignettes to represent the MPC's development journeys with specific focus on the impacts of reflective practice. Although reflective practice is well documented as an ongoing professional development tool for MPCs, the results of this article highlight the significance of utilizing reflective practice for self-growth, identity development, and autonomy in those crucial beginning years of becoming a professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase in the identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, there is a need for teachers and coaches to have a tool box of effective strategies to facilitate physical activities for their students with ASD. Physical activity has been shown to provide numerous benefits, such as improved resilience and enhanced positive development. Swimming, specifically, is an optimal form of physical activity for children with ASD and an important life skill, considering that drowning is a leading cause of death among children with ASD. Training programs and educational opportunities for accessing appropriate strategies to teach children with ASD are seemingly scarce. This article aims to minimize this lack of resources by suggesting hands-on teaching strategies for aquatic programs for children with ASD to enhance the swimmers' opportunities to participate in recreational aquatic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The training of coaches is considered central to sustaining and improving the quality of sports provision. In Parasport, coaches are recognised at the highest level of international sport policy as performing a central role in achieving important sporting and social outcomes related to disabled people. However, an emerging body of evidence suggests that formal coach education plays only a minor role in Parasport coaches' development. To ensure equitable access and quality experiences and opportunities for disabled people in sport there is an ongoing challenge to theorise and implement the optimal structure for educating coaches. The purpose of this paper is to address the central theme of disability and coach education reform in sport. The aim is to review critically the emerging literature on coach development in Parasport to provide some clarity and consensus on existing pathways and models for coach development, before outlining some potential ways forward for coach education. Starting with a critical review of existing research on coaches' learning and development in Parasport, we then examine potential approaches to coach education, providing examples from existing research in coaching and the wider field of education. This is followed by some modest suggestions for coach education reform as it pertains to the inclusion of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Large-scale coach education programs have been developed in many countries around the world to help prepare coaches for their important role. Coaches have said that they also learn to coach from experience, starting from when they were young athletes until their current coaching positions. Finally, in the last decade, Internet resources have begun to be promoted as valuable tools for learning. Most of the studies on coaches' development have focused on only one of these three ways of learning how to coach. Purpose: To explore the different learning situations in which youth ice hockey coaches learn to coach. Participants: 35 volunteer youth ice hockey coaches from five minor hockey associations in the province of Ontario, Canada. Data collection: Coaches were interviewed individually using a semi-structured interview guide. The questions asked to coaches were about their learning through formal large-scale coach education programs, their learning experiences outside of these programs starting when they were young athletes until their actual head coaching positions, and their use of the Internet. Data analysis: The first part of the interview consisted of specific questions regarding the number of years coaches had played and/or coached hockey and their level of coaching certification. The answers to these questions were entered directly on a form and entered later into Microsoft Excel to perform descriptive statistical tests. The second part of the interview involved more in-depth questions regarding what learning opportunities contributed to their development as a coach. Finally, questions were asked regarding how they use the Internet in their coaching. The content of this second part of the interview was transcribed verbatim into Microsoft Word rich text format for further data analysis using Nvivo software (Qualitative Solution Research, 2002). Findings: The results revealed seven different learning situations including (a) large-scale coach education programs, (b) coaching clinics/seminars, (c) formal mentoring, (d) books/videotapes, (e) personal experiences related to sport, family, and work, (f) face-to-face interactions with other coaches, and (g) the Internet. Conclusion: Considering that coaches learn to coach through many learning situations, it would be inappropriate to discriminate against any of these situations, since each situation seems to have a unique role in the development of a coach. Therefore, it may be concluded that coach education should include a combination of all seven learning situations, instead of focusing on one. Future research should concentrate on investigating the complementary potential of these situations and what can be done to make each of these situations more appealing to coaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to report the physical activity and health outcomes results from the Physical Activity Counselling (PAC) trial. Patients ( n = 120, mean age 47.3 ± 11.1 years, 69.2% female) who reported less than 150 min of physical activity per week were recruited from a large community-based Canadian primary care practice. After receiving brief physical activity counselling from their provider, they were randomized to receive 6 additional patient-centered counselling sessions over 3 months from a physical activity counsellor (intensive-counselling group; n = 61), or no further intervention (brief-counselling group; n = 59). Physical activity (self-reported and accelerometer) was measured every 6 weeks up to 25 weeks (12 weeks postintervention). Quality of life was also assessed, and physical and metabolic outcomes were evaluated in a randomly selected subset of patients (33%). In the intent-to-treat analyses of covariance, the intensive-counselling group self-reported significantly higher levels of physical activity at 6 weeks ( p = 0.009) and 13 weeks ( p = 0.01). There were no differences in self-reported physical activity between the groups after the intervention in the follow-up period, nor was there any increase in accelerometer-measured physical activity. Finally, the intensive-counselling patients showed greater decreases in percent body fat and total fat mass from 13 weeks to 25 weeks. Results for physical activity depended on the method used, with positive short-term results with self-report and no effects with the accelerometers. Between-group differences were found for body composition in that the intensive-counselling patients decreased more. A multisite randomized controlled trial with a longer intensive intervention and follow-up is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]