Abstract:
Coach education programs (CEP) throughout the world have lately been constructed
around long-term athlete development (LTAD), a six-stage paradigm centered on children
and adolescents’ physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive development. The
LTAD model is extremely important for coaches working with children. However, empirical
research on LTAD coach education for school sports coaches has not yet been
conducted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the CEP on
school sports coaches’ knowledge of LTAD and assess whether they applied it to their
coaching practice. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was used. With
institutional ethical approval, thirty (n = 30) school sports coaches were recruited
through the purposive sampling method. A one-day CEP was conducted for coaches.
After completing the CEP, they were handed the coach assessment survey questionnaire.
Based on the quantitative results, twelve school sports coaches participated in a semistructured
interview after six weeks to obtain qualitative data at the end of the survey
questionnaire. Coach evaluation survey results show that all 13 categories (perceived
benefits, perceived future benefits, enjoyment, and future goals) received very high
ratings (4.86 to 5.00/5). Four primary themes emerged from the interview data: “learned
knowledge”, “helpfulness”, “confidence”, and “sports performance”. The study results
and findings indicated that the CEP for coaches is highly effective and coaches developed
knowledge through rich learning situations relevant to their coaching context. The study
can be concluded that the CEP for coaches is highly effective and it will be helped to
improve their coaching practice. The study may contribute to the development of future
CEP and make practical recommendations to assist other coaches in critically evaluating
and exploring the use of contemporary best practices in their practices.
