The acquisition of coaching knowledge of a unique sample of expert team sport coaches /

The purpose of this study was to identify how coaches who have surpassed their athletic achievements acquired their coaching knowledge. Six University coaches from basketball, volleyball, and hockey, with a combined total of fourteen coach of the year awards were selected to participate. Each coach was coaching at a higher level (e.g., University level) than he had competed as an athlete, had a winning percentage greater than .500 at the University level, and had been the head coach at their current program for a minimum of five years. Semi structured, open-ended interviews were conducted using an interview guide created exclusively for this study and based on the tenets of Cote, Salmela, Trudel, Baria, and Russell's (1995) Coaching Model and Chelladurai's (1978) Multidimensional Model of Leadership. Data analysis followed the guidelines forwarded by Cote, Salmela, Baria, and Russell (1993). Results of this analysis revealed three higher order categories which indicated the path coaches had taken to reach their current positions including the many ways knowledge was acquired. These were (a) career path which discussed the journey of knowledge acquisition of these coaches, from their earliest sport participation to their current coaching position, (b) personal factors, which included how the coaches' journey of knowledge acquisition had been influenced by who the coaches were, and (c) coaching knowledge, which involved the participants' current level of coaching knowledge. Despite the idiosyncratic nature of each coach's career progression many common themes emerged, including the different ways knowledge was acquired, the coaches' personal characteristics, and the level of coaching knowledge accumulated. Many of the findings that emerged were similar to those highlighted in previous studies pertaining to expert coach development (e.g., Cregan, Bloom, & Reid, in press; Salmela, 1994; Schinke, Bloom, & Salmela, 1995) which suggests that while athletic experiences may be helpful in expert coach development, they are not essential. The results provided evidence that sources of knowledge acquisition are accessible to aspiring coaches to acquire the necessary coaching knowledge, regardless of their athletic background. The current findings could potentially enhance the quality and standard of formal coach education and training programs in Canada by illustrating how a unique sample of coaches acquired the knowledge to achieve success at the university level