Applied Coaching Research Journal Volume 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