Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 3 | Page 24

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2019, Vol. 3
Setting Up and Evaluating a
Community of Practice for
Sport Coaches
Dr Lisa Whitaker and Mark Scott
UK Coaching
Abstract
Coaches require ongoing development and support
and often learn through informal sources. One
example of an informal type of learning that has
been identified as effective for helping coaches to
learn and develop is a community of practice (CoP).
This article presents insight into setting up and
evaluating a CoP within a football club’s foundation
trust. Through the article, we provide an overview
of the planning and training that took place in
preparation for the CoP, details regarding the
12-month evaluation plan that was designed and
our initial learning five months in.
Keywords: Community of practice, observation,
informal learning, reflection, coaches.
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Introduction
Coaches are encouraged to engage in continuous
learning to inform and develop their coaching
practice. Although numerous formal coach education
programmes exist, learning can take place in a
variety of settings and often coaches prefer to
engage with more informal sources of learning
(Walker, Thomas and Driska, 2018). One example of
a more informal type of learning that has emerged
is participation in a community of practice (CoP).
A CoP is “a group of people who share a common
concern, set of problems or passion about a topic
and who deepen their knowledge and expertise
in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis”
(Wenger, McDermott and Snyder, 2002, p. 4). This
type of approach encourages learning via social
interactions and enables coaches to focus on