Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 1 | Page 42

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2018, Vol. 1
For many coaches, coaching provides their only
physical activity
There is an obvious concern that these results
might be biased because coaches are sporty people
who are naturally physically active. To test this,
the research identified coaches who have not
participated in any sport or physical activity in the
last 12 months. This group did see a drop in the
percentage of coaches who agreed that coaching
keeps them physically active (from 67% to 54%).
However, it is significant that for more than half of
these coaches time spent coaching may be the only
physical activity they are getting in a week.
More than half (54%) of those who rated their
overall health as poor also believed that being a
coach kept them physically active. Conclusions
If you assume the well documented link between
physical activity and health then these findings
show that coaches experience a health benefit
through being a coach. Two-thirds of coaches say
that coaching provides them with opportunities for
physical activity and for some coaches this appears
to be one of the few outlets they have for activity.
More than half of those who had not participated in
sport or physical activity over the last 12 months
said that they were active through their coaching.
Currently coaches do consider fitness as a
motivation
While the evidence suggests a fitness benefit from
being a coach it appears this is not recognised by
coaches themselves when they are starting out.
Just over a fifth of coaches in the survey stated
their original motivation for coaching was to stay
involved in sport and physical activity. Whether this
was to maintain their own fitness or more broadly
to stay involved in something they enjoy is unclear. However, only a fifth of coaches identified staying
active as a motivation to get involved in coaching.
There is clearly a mismatch between motivation and
benefits. Evidence from other studies suggests that
when volunteer motivations and benefits match
then recruitment processes are more effective and
retention is increased. Therefore promoting an
increase in physical activity and health as a benefit
of being a coach would be advantageous, especially
for those motivated either to be active or to look
after their health.
However, what is interesting is how few coaches
consider the health benefits of being a coach. This
is particularly interesting when compared to the
two-thirds of coaches who state they are receiving a
physical health benefit from being a coach.
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Such results also dispel a myth that coaches are
naturally sporty people and recruitment campaigns
should consider this in their messaging and
targeting of different people.
As previous volunteering literature has shown, an
individual’s decision to volunteer will be linked to a
variety of reasons specific to that individual. There
are a number of scenarios in which the personal
health benefits of being a coach would be attractive
to different individuals and should be promoted
accordingly. This could range from providing
sporty people with an opportunity to continue
a healthy lifestyle or a new route to activity for
currently inactive people who may be put off by
being a participant – although this might also need
to address the misconception that coaches are
naturally sporty people.