Developing Elite Strength and Conditioning Coaches’ Practice Through Facilitated Reflection

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that strength and conditioning (S&C) coach development should consider constructivist learning theories to promote coach development and learning of psychosocial coaching competencies. Reflective practice can encourage holistic learning through promoting an internal dialogue of the meaningfulness of an individual’s experiences. Our study aimed to examine the efficacy of a facilitated, guided, and longitudinal reflective process to promote coach learning of psychosocial coaching practice using Moon’s reflective framework. Over a four-week period, six elite S&C coaches engaged in a guided process reflection process with a facilitator. This included daily journaling in an e-diary with the facilitator providing feedback at the end of each week. At the end, each S&C coach participated in an exit interview. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings revealed that there were potential benefits for the S&C coach’s process of reflection such as providing accountability through developing a close relationship with the facilitator, which enabled the S&C coaches to more critically link learning to behaviour change. Furthermore, S&C coaches’ learning resulted in developing awareness of self/athlete’s needs, increased flexibility, and enhanced confidence. This resulted in S&C coaches developing psychosocial coaching competencies that enabled them to change their practice to become more athlete centred.