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11This study sought to analyse the lived experiences of so-called "fast-tracked" coaches from 12 men's association football and rugby union by seeking to understand how these individuals 13 prepared for and then transitioned into a post-athletic coaching career. Semi-structured 14 interviews were conducted with 13 male coaches. All participants were former elite athletes 15 and had followed a fast-tracked pathway into their current post-athletic coaching roles. 16Participants were based in England and had retired from an athletic career within 12 months of 17 being interviewed. Two general categories of "active" and "passive" coach pathways were 18 identified for the career trajectory. Active coaches purposefully prepared for a coaching career 19 during their athletic careers, whereas passive coaches did not. Passive coaches' decisions to 20 become a coach were often reactive and made after retiring from a competitive athletic career. 21Results indicate that only the career trajectory of passive coaches reflects a fast-track pathway.

There has been a growing trend of elite athletes being fast-tracked into post-athletic high-performance coaching roles in association football and rugby union in England and Wales. This has been facilitated by an increase in bespoke and condensed formal coach education courses that are designed to accelerate current and/or former elite athletes in attaining their coaching accreditation. Hitherto, however, the individual lived experiences of former athletes on this career trajectory during their transition to coaching remains under-investigated. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to analyse how elite male association football and rugby union athletes based in the England and Wales (re)created, re-negotiated or transformed their identities when negotiating a fast-tracked career pathway into a post-athletic high-performance coaching role. Fifteen male rugby union (n=10) and association football (n=5) athletes were interviewed on two separate occasions over twelve months. Interviews coincided with the start and end dates of the level three coach education course which they were concurrently enrolled on. Interviews focused upon how they (re)created their professional identities upon negotiating the career transition into a post-athletic high-performance coaching role. Data were critically theorised against sociological concepts associated to the theoretical frameworks of Bourdieu, Goffman and Foucault. Results identified how the development of a coaching identity was articulated through the need to define a 'coaching philosophy'. Upholding a coach identity in an 'honest' disposition so athlete to coach respect could be best attained was expressed by all participants and contrasted with Goffman's concepts of front and back stage impression management. Self-reflexive practices of Foucault's askesis were engaged to varying levels to create a coach identity. In three cases this resulted in participants contestation of their respective club's identity/culture and losing employment as a coach. Finally, recommendations on how coach education structures can further support these coaches in their career transitions are made.

The pathway between elite athlete and high-performance coach is common within English men's rugby union and association football. To help develop as coaches, many elite athletes gain coaching experiences within male high-performance youth academies. The purpose of this article sought to gain an insight into the socialisation processes of current and former elite athletes within association football and rugby union amongst the socio-cultural context of England, and to identify why Academy Directors seemingly preferred to recruit current and former elite athletes as academy coaches. Semi-structured interviews with 11 Academy Directors were conducted. Results showed that the Academy Directors preferred to recruit their respective club's current and former athletes as a means to govern their academy's 'club culture'. Foucault's concepts of docility and discipline conceptualise how current and former elite athletes were judged to be more trustworthy to reproduce the academy culture in their coaching practices compared to external candidates.

Although the sport of rugby union has expanded globally in both the men’s and women’s formats recently, there remains an under-representation of women coaches across all contexts. Research has focused its analysis on the under-representation of women coaches in a select few sports such as soccer. No extant research has empirically analyzed this under-representation within rugby union. This study addressed this research lacuna on why this under-representation exists from the perspective of 21 women rugby union coaches based within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The specific research objective was to analyze the coaches’ lived experiences of attending formal coach education courses in rugby union. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed thematically and conceptualized via an abductive logic against LaVoi’s Ecological-Intersectional Model and Pierre Bourdieu’s species of capital. Supportive and positive themes reported how the coach education courses had been delivered in a collegiate and lateral manner. Courses thus acted as settings where greater amounts of cultural and social capital could be acquired from both course tutors and peers. This enabled social networks to be made that were used for continual professional development beyond the courses. Barriers and negative experiences orientated upon the lack of empathy imparted by course tutors on account of men having fulfilled these roles on most occasions. Recommendations on how national governing bodies can improve the experiences of women coaches attending future coach education courses are discussed.