Read Time 22 Minutes
What can we learn from the day-to-day issues and problems that coaches face ?
Professor Julian North
Centre for Sport Coaching , Carnegie School of Sport
Leeds Beckett University
Setting the scene
I was asked to respond to the above question , and I set the scene here by outlining how I intend to approach this . I begin by exploring the main issues or problems coaches face and then consider how coaches might successfully address these . I appreciate that coaches seeking to resolve day-to-day issues will often reach out to other individuals , groups , and organisations , through conversation , and social media . Therefore , the latter part of the article focuses on how coaches might negotiate public discussion of coaching practice . Finally , I explore the role of research in informing coaching practice in which I make some pragmatic suggestions . Throughout I aim to capture the nuance and variability of coaching .
What are the main issues or problems coaches face ?
As with most questions that concern coaching , and indeed other complex social activities , the answer is predictably ‘ it depends ’. Each coaching context presents situations and challenges that can vary , for example , between training , competition , the bits in between ( meetings , phone calls , texts and emails ), and in the
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