Alignment of Masters Swim Coaches’ Approaches With the Andragogy in Practice Model

Abstract

Coaches working with Masters Athletes (MAs) are tasked with facilitating learning and enhancing performance and quality of experience specifically for an adult cohort. In education, the Andragogy in Practice Model (APM) characterizes adult learners and provides teachers with principles for how to best facilitate learning (Knowles, Holton III, & Swanson, 2012). The purpose of the current study was to explore how coaches describe approaches with their MAs to discover how they align with andragogical principles. Eleven coaches were interviewed regarding their approaches in working with Masters swimmers. Data were thematically analyzed according to the six APM principles. The results revealed the bidirectional pattern of communication between the coaches and MAs, the coaches’ awareness of the athletes’ matured self-concept and prior experiences, the personalized goal oriented approach, the various approaches coaches used to motivate, and strategies that the coaches used to prepare MAs for training. The findings suggest that coaches who reported approaches in keeping with andragogical principles more effectively accommodated their MAs’ interests. When their approaches countered the principles, there appeared to be a disconnect between the coaches’ approaches and the MAs’ preferences. Together, these results provide evidence of the importance of coaches’ understanding of adult learning principles when coaching MAs.

Same coach, different approach? How masters and youth athletes perceive learning opportunities in training

“…Furthermore, these findings align with suggestions for how sport programmers and coaches can optimize MAs' limited time for sport, including strategies such as planning practices in anticipation of adults' other personal obligations, coaching them to strategically decide when and how to train on their own time, and exploring various social media tools to enhance coach-athlete exchanges. 33,34 The coach's approach, as the youth perceived it, was more structured with less self-directed opportunities. Thus, youth conformed to the norm in traditional pedagogy where the learner is dependent on the instructor.…”

Creating Multicultural Music Opportunities in Teacher Education: Sharing Diversity through Songs

“…We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to code and analyse the data which was also influenced by the theoretical frameworks of multiculturalism and reflection. IPA explored the lifeworlds and perceptions of our students (Smith & Osborn, 2003;Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2013;Callary, Rathwell & Young, 2015). After reading and re-reading the survey data, we thematically grouped the findings into broad overarching themes (Biggerstaff & Thompson, 2008;Eatough & Smith 2006;Kirn, et al, 2017).…”

Comparing Masters athletes with varying degrees of coaching for psychological need satisfaction and frustration

“…A limitation of our study is that we did not explore how specific coach-mediated processes explained MAs’ psychological needs. Future researchers might assess coaches’ use of adult-oriented coaching practices 5 and autonomy-supportive or controlling behaviors 16 and their associations with MAs’ need satisfaction/frustration. The overall frequency of immersion in a coached context may not be as important as frequent exposure to supportive coaching behaviors.…”

“…3 Though MAs remain understudied, the proliferation of Masters sport has prompted recent inquiries into the nature and impact of coaching in this context. 4–8 Exploratory work suggests MAs derive benefits from coaching, such as enhanced self-efficacy, performance, and sport interest. 4 MAs noted that coaches’ effective communication resulted in social, health, and performance benefits, 6 and they appreciated how coaches fostered the social aspects of sport, were relatable, and motivated them through enjoyable interactions.…”