Exploring the Context of Coached Masters Swim Programs: A Narrative Approach

Abstract

Knowing the psychosocial themes in a specific sport context allows us to understand athletes' experiences and informs approaches of coaches (Côté et al., 1995) and sport programmers (Danish et al., 2005). Few qualitative studies focus on psychosocial conditions of adult athletes in coached sport settings. The purpose of this study was to capture important psychosocial themes from the perspective of Masters swimmers involved in day-today coached swimming environments. Data were collected using semistructured open-ended interviews with 10 competitive swimmers (5 male, 5 female; M age = 53 years; age range: 45-65 years). Analyses revealed four over-arching themes that represented athletes' a) motives for swimming, b) perspectives on competition, c) experiences specific to being a Masters swimmer, and d) perspectives on being coached. Using a qualitative narrative approach (Denison, 2010), we developed three narrative profiles to depict how our Masters swimmers had different experiences relating to these themes. Our discussion focuses on how swimmers' understanding of the four over-arching themes depends on their profile.

Age Differences in the Influence of Residential Environment and Behavior on the Life Quality of Older Adults: The Transfer from Physical-Environment to Social-Behavior

“…For older adults who live at home, most of their daily activities are carried out in their residential environments. Among the activities, outdoor exercise (personal behavior) and interaction with neighbors (social behavior) are considered to be the most important individual behavior modes that influence the health and well-being of older adults [23][24][25][26][27]. Therefore, the social ecosystem of older adults' residential area is composed of many factors including the older adults themselves, the residential environment, the individual behavior (including outdoor exercise, neighborhood interaction) and the well-being of the older adults.…”

A Self-Reflective Toolkit of Adult-Oriented Coaching Practices in Masters Sport

“…Extensive research has led to the understanding that MAs and coaches like and feel effective when coaches engage in psychosocial coaching practices pertinent to adults (e.g., Callary et al, 2015Callary et al, , 2017Callary et al, , 2018MacLellan et al, 2018MacLellan et al, , 2019Rathwell et al, 2015). These practices have been identified in the AOSCS (Rathwell et al, 2020) as follows: (a) considering the individuality of the athletes, wherein the coach tailors their approach to consider the experiences of the individual athletes in a group when planning, organizing, and delivering their coaching; (b) framing the learning situation, wherein the coach provides learning opportunities that help the athletes to solve real-life (sporting) issues through self-discovery, problembased scenarios, modeling, and assessments; (c) imparting coaching knowledge, wherein the coach shares relevant information about their own athletic and coaching experiences and development in order to relate to their athletes' experiences, empathize with, or inspire athletes; (d) respecting the athletes' preferences for effort, accountability, and feedback, wherein the coach adapts their practice based on each athlete's interests in feedback and in being held accountable; and (e) creating personalized programming, wherein the coach schedules practices, support at competition, and season programs that cater to each athlete's needs and abilities (also see .…”

“…MAs also have varied competitive interests and orientations. Masters groups also may have a very wide age range with large variations in life experiences, expertise, sport skills, and abilities (Rathwell et al, 2015). The heterogeneity of MAs means that there are many combinations of motives and other characteristics in Masters sport groups that a coach needs to consider (Rathwell et al, 2015).…”

“…Masters groups also may have a very wide age range with large variations in life experiences, expertise, sport skills, and abilities (Rathwell et al, 2015). The heterogeneity of MAs means that there are many combinations of motives and other characteristics in Masters sport groups that a coach needs to consider (Rathwell et al, 2015). In Canada, research regarding coaches as leaders who work with groups of adults in sport is emerging as an important consideration in how to do more for adult sport, including what strategies coaches can use to recruit and retain more adults and enrich their experiences in it .…”

Masters Swimmers’ Experiences With Coaches

“…Coaches cannot take for granted that all Masters athletes have similar experiences or backgrounds in the sport. Future research could explore coaching preferences of Masters athletes depending on their profile, such as their pathway into or continuity in Masters sport (e.g., Harada, 1994), their degree of competitiveness or sociability (e.g., Hodge, Allen, & Smellie, 2008), or their athletic narrative (e.g., Rathwell et al, 2015). Future research should also explore whether coaches' perspectives of their lived experiences with athletes are congruent with MSs' perceptions, and how coaches learn to coach to the preferences, needs, and desired outcomes considered above.…”