No abstract

Coaches learn how to coach in a variety of ways and mentorship has been suggested as a key component in learning to coach, but is also one that is not widely applied or effectively utilized in sport coaching. In sport, mentorship has been considered within the context of coach-to-coach, administrator-to-administrator and coach-to-athlete. Some attention has been paid to considering the specific context of strength and conditioning coaches, but expert level strength and conditioning coaches have yet to have their voices heard. The purpose of this article was to provide a forum for award-winning strength and conditioning coaches working at high school, collegiate and professional competitive levels to discuss their experiences both learning how to coach and their approach to working with novice coaches. The four respondents provided similar answers to each other and answers that are largely supportive of previous work with sport coaches. Despite the similarities, questions within the context of being a strength and conditioning coach remain and some questions for future research are presented.

Traditional examinations of coaching philosophies consider the perspective of sport coaches (e.g., soccer, cricket, rugby). The focus on sport coaches’ coaching philosophy has advanced the study of coaching effectiveness while simultaneously omitting strength and conditioning coaches from the larger body of literature on coaching philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how award winning strength and conditioning coaches shape and use their coaching philosophy. The participants include four renowned strength and conditioning coaches, one at the high school, one at the college, and two at the professional level. A summary is provided at the end that examines commonalities (e.g., all the respondents expressed the need to have a specific coaching philosophy) and differences (e.g., how discipline factors into their coaching philosophy) across the respondents’ views and connects their viewpoints to the broader literature on sport coaching.

No abstract