The impact of Indigenous community sports programs: the case of surfing

The objective of this research project was to consider the social impact of sport and physical activity on the lives of Indigenous Australians and their communities. There has been strong research interest in the links between sport and recreation programs and various health and social outcomes and a well-established body of literature exists on the use of sport to address social issues in mainstream society. The consensus is that physical activity is an important contributor to health for all people. While there is strong research interest, what remains unclear is the value and impact of sport and physical activity on Indigenous communities.Indigenous groups cannot be considered to be homogenous as there is much diversity between and within groups. It is therefore important this report is not viewed as taking an essentialist view of who Indigenous people are and how they develop. Rather, this paper attempts to describe and discuss the experiences of some individuals and their communities in site-specific surfing programs.The results of this project indicate that surfing should continue to be considered as an appropriate sport for use with Indigenous communities.It should be noted, however, that any program needs to take into consideration the diversity of Indigenous culture, how communities operate and should seek appropriate guidance.While there was great variety in terms of how surf programs in this study operated, there were some common elements across all programs including: strict surfer-to-coach ratios, opt-in opt-out structures and avoidance of controlling coach behaviours.In addition to these characteristics, quality programs also had consistency in personnel (small groups rather than single providers).This research project provided experience and information to develop recommendations relating to future similar programs including:Programs should be supported in longer term allotments Programs should collect meaningful data (well-constructed interview and survey protocols) over and above simple participation statistics To achieve meaningful outcomes, programs need continuity and should not be one-offs As transport costs represent the greatest barrier to participation in programs and surfing as a lifestyle pursuit, programs should consider the transport options most suitable for their area. Individuals who participated in the research highlighted that it can take a long time for the effects of programs to be felt. As a result, longitudinal tracking by program providers is required to provide ongoing evidence in support of programs. Funding to programs should also be sought across longer time frames to provide a greater platform to generate positive outcomes.Through this research it was possible to identify the development of individual and organisational capacity. In both areas, however, these capacities were not automatically enhanced. Careful planning and strong encouragement and support from program providers were required

‘Fast track’ and ‘traditional path’ coaches: affordances, agency and social capital

A recent development in large-scale coach accreditation (certification) structures has been the ‘fast tracking’ of former elite athletes. Former elite athletes are often exempted from entry-level qualifications and are generally granted access to fast track courses that are shortened versions of the accreditation courses undertaken by ‘traditional path’ coaches. While formal coach accreditation is not the focus of this research note, it does provide the context for the two coaching case studies. The aim of this article is to consider and contrast the experiences of a former elite athlete and a traditional pathway coach with respect to their development and their trajectory towards employment in high performance coaching settings. The notion of relational interdependence (Billett, 2006) is used to consider the characteristics that particular coaches may bring to their work. In examining the social nature of coaching work and coaching appointments further, it is possible to connect with the notion of social capital (Field, 2006). Informed by accreditation course information (coaching history, aspirations and educational achievements) and three days of in-course observations by the author, the interpretivist case study design incorporated a semi-structured interview with one former elite athlete and one traditional pathway coach during the top level coach accreditation course of one of Australia's most popular team sports. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded via a hierarchical content analysis. From this study it was possible to identify a range of affordances that are available to former elite athletes that are not readily accessible for traditional pathway coaches and vice versa. Regarding social capital, former athletes appear to possess greater amounts and are better able to leverage that capital for development and employment. Recommendations are offered and implications discussed for coaches and those individuals and organisations charged with employing high performance coaches

Understanding the work and learning of high performance coaches

Background: The development of high performance sports coaches has been proposed as a major imperative in the professionalization of sports coaching. Accordingly, an increasing body of research is beginning to address the question of how coaches learn. While this is important work, an understanding of how coaches learn must be underpinned by an understanding of what coaches do. This is not to suggest a return to the behaviouristic accounts of coaching, rather a greater consideration of what tasks entail modern coaching work, especially within the dynamic and evolving vocation of high performance coaching

Enhancing coach-parent relationships in youth sports: increasing harmony and minimizing hassle

Frank Smoll and his colleagues should be commended on continuing to advance the worthy aim of making youth-sport participation more enjoyable. Indeed, the body of work generated by Smith and Smoll [e.g., 1], along with the more recent contributions of Cumming [e.g., 2], have been highly influential in coaching research and practice over a number of years. In this commentary, we focus on three of the five areas covered by the authors: i) the difference between youth and professional models of sport; ii) the goals of youth sports; and iii) parental responsibilities and challenges

Workplace learning of high performance sports coaches

The Australian coaching workplace (to be referred to as the State Institute of Sport; SIS) under consideration in this study employs significant numbers of full-time performance sport coaches and can be accurately characterized as a genuine workplace. Through a consideration of the interaction between what the workplace (SIS) affords the individual and the agency of the individual SIS coaches, it is possible to gain an understanding how high performance sport coaches learn in the workplace. Analysis of data collected by means of semi-structured interviews with a group of coaches (n = 6) and administrators (n = 6), revealed that coaches learned through a variety of sources both within and outside of (but often influenced by) the SIS. In addition, there were a range of factors such as the working climate and the physical environment that were reported to have an impact on the learning of the coaches (structure). In keeping with Billett's (2006) theorizing, aspects of the individuals' agency (e.g. passion for the sport, drive to be the best) were also found to be critical to the learning in the workplace

In pursuit of becoming a senior coach: The learning culture for Australian Football League coaches

Background and Purpose: Given the turbulent and highly contested environment in which professional coaches work, a prime concern to coach developers is how coaches learn their craft. Understanding the learning and development of senior coaches (SCs) and assistant coaches (ACs) in the Australian Football League (AFL - the peak organisation for Australian Rules Football) is important to better develop the next generation of performance coaches. Hence the focus of this research was to examine the learning of SC and AC in the AFL. Fundamental to this research was an understanding that the AFL and each club within the league be regarded as learning organisations and workplaces with their own learning cultures where learning takes place. The purpose of this paper was to examine the learning culture for AFL coaches.Method: Five SCs, 6 ACs, and 5 administrators (4 of whom were former coaches) at 11 of the 16 AFL clubs were recruited for the research project. First, demographic data were collected for each participant (e.g. age, playing and coaching experience, development and coach development activities). Second, all participants were involved in one semi-structured interview of between 45 and 90 minutes duration. An interpretative (hierarchical content) analysis of the interview data was conducted to identify key emergent themes.Results: Learning was central to AFL coaches becoming a SC. Nevertheless, coaches reported a sense of isolation and a lack of support in developing their craft within their particular learning culture. These coaches developed a unique dynamic social network (DSN) that involved episodic contact with a number of respected confidantes often from diverse fields (used here in the Bourdieuian sense) in developing their coaching craft. Although there were some opportunities in their workplace, much of their learning was unmediated by others, underscoring the importance of their agentic engagement in limited workplace affordances.Conclusion: The variety of people accessed for the purposes of learning (often beyond the immediate workplace) and the long time taken to establish networks of supporters meant that a new way of describing the social networks of AFL coaches was needed; DSN. However, despite the acknowledged utility of learning from others, all coaches reported some sense of isolation in their learning. The sense of isolation brought about by professional volatility in high-performance Australian Football offers an alternative view on Hodkinson, Biesta and James' attempt in overcoming dualisms in learning