The purpose of the current paper is to present an integrative definition of coaching effectiveness and expertise that is both specific and conceptually grounded in the coaching, teaching, positive psychology, and athletes' development literature. The article is organized into six sections. The first section is used to situate the proposed definition in the predominant conceptual models of coaching. The second, third, and fourth sections provide detailed discussion about each of the three components of the proposed definition of coaching effectiveness: (a) coaches' knowledge, (b) athletes' outcomes, and (c) coaching contexts. The proposed definition is presented in the fifth section along with a clarification of common terminology and guiding postulates. The final section includes implications for practice and research.

The present study examined how model youth sport coaches learn to coach through experience. Yin’s multiple-case study approach was used with six youth team sport coaches. Data were collected over an entire sport season through a series of semi-structured interviews, observations, and documents. All six case study coaches developed and refined coaching strategies through a process of reflection. Six components characterized reflection: coaching issues, role frame, issue setting, strategy generation, experimentation, and evaluation. A reflective conversation comprising the latter four components, triggered by coaching issues and bound by the coach’s role frame, was central to reflection. The selection of options at each stage in a reflective conversation was influenced by access to peers, a coach’s stage of learning, issue characteristics, and the environment. Furthermore, three types of reflection were evident: reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action, and retrospective reflection-on-action.

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The study followed a four-phase design. In Phase I an exhaustive search was conducted for all English language coaching research published in journals from 1970 to 2001. In Phase II, copies of the research were obtained. An expert panel conducted a manual search and a review in Phase III to address validity. Analysis of the research was completed in Phase IV (Culver Gilbert, & Trudel, 2003; Silverman & Skonie, 1997). Over 1,100 articles were reviewed, and 610 met the inclusion criteria. Selected findings include: (a) a relatively low mean spread across many journals, (b) a focus on coaching behavior using quantitative methodologies, and (c) a primary emphasis on team sports in school contexts.

The purpose of this research report is to present an overview of an ongoing, international project designed to chart the developmental paths and activities of sport coaches. This brief report includes three sections: (a) conceptual framework used to guide the project, (b) project design and methodology, and (c) results from pilot studies with a sample of 15 successful coaches working in different sport contexts in the United States Unlike the findings for athletic profiles, where several trends across coaching contexts were evident, only one trend was found in how these diverse groups of coaches invested their time in coach developmental activities. In relation to other coaching activities very little time was devoted to formal coach education on an annual basis. The results reinforce the need to consider the coaching context when examining coach development and when designing coach development initiatives.