Lived experience and community sport coaching: A phenomenological investigation

Abstract

Cronin, Colum and Armour, Kathleen M. (2015) Lived experience and community sport coaching: a phenomenological investigation. Sport, Education and Society, 20 (8). pp. 959-975.Downloaded from: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/2006/ Usage of any items from the University of Cumbria's institutional repository 'Insight' must conform to the following fair usage guidelines.Any item and its associated metadata held in the University of Cumbria's institutional repository Insight (unless stated otherwise on the metadata record) may be copied, displayed or performed, and stored in line with the JISC fair dealing guidelines (available here) for educational and not-for-profit activities provided that• the authors, title and full bibliographic details of the item are cited clearly when any part of the work is referred to verbally or in the written form as Husserl, and in particular the methodology of Van Manen, (1990), the study explored the lived experiences of a single case study community coach. Derived from semi-structured interviews and in keeping with Van Manen's methodology, findings are presented in a narrative format. The narrative describes the 'lifeworld' of the coach and seeks to identify the 'essential features' of community coaching in this case. Specifically, the narrative illustrates a dichotomy in the lifeworld of the coach; between a frenetic practical delivery mode visible in the public arena and a 'hidden' largely unknown, private world used predominantly for planning and organising. For this case study coach, the essence of community coaching lay in two complementary activities; planning and then delivering fun based activities that achieved social, health and sporting outcomes. Additionally, interacting with others such as parents, carers, and teachers was identified as an essential feature of this coach's experience. Keywords:community coaching, participation coaching, narrative, phenomenology, lifeworld, Van Manen 1 In this case, the community coach is employed on a full time basis by a state funded organisation to deliver sport coaching in schools and the wider community of an English town.3

‘Being’ in the coaching world: new insights on youth performance coaching from an interpretative phenomenological approach

“…Indeed, a phenomenological approach using such an attitude has revealed that participation coaching in community settings includes much more everyday activity (e.g. relationships with others such as teachers and private sector providers) than hitherto acknowledged by researchers (Cronin and Armour, 2013). That study also revealed that community coaching includes a "delivery mode visible in the public arena and a 'hidden' largely unknown, private world used predominantly for planning and organising" (Cronin and Armour, 2013 p1).…”

“…Indeed, for some time now, coaching literature and prescribed practice have been criticised for oversimplification, reductionism, and a failure to recognise the social and cultural influences upon coaching (Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2006). Legislative literature is therefore mostly divorced from the grounded realities of coaching practice as lived by the coaches themselves, and the context in which they exist (Miller, et al, 2015;Miller & Cronin, 2013;Cronin & Armour, 2013).…”

“…More specifically, phenomenological researchers direct their consciousness at a phenomenon by adopting a phenomenological attitude that focuses 'on the thing itself' and guards against 4 a rush to description based on "the effects and assumptions induced by theory, science, concepts, values, polemical discourses, and the taken-for-granted prejudices of common sense in everyday life" (Van Manen, 2014 p16). This premise is the foundation of the vast phenomenological research that has been undertaken and promises much for the study of sport coaching (Cronin & Armour, 2013;Kerry & Armour, 2000). Indeed, a phenomenological approach using such an attitude has revealed that participation coaching in community settings includes much more everyday activity (e.g.…”

“…This understanding of the coaching lifeworld, suggests that many more insights may be revealed by exploring the everyday experiences and world of coaches. Accordingly, this study focuses on the situated lives of four case study youth performance coaches who exist in a very different coaching context to the coach previously studied in Cronin and Armour (2013 …”

“…There are few phenomenological accounts of youth performance coaching, although Christensen (2009), and Miller, Cronin and Baker (2015) provide related studies on talent identification. In addition, Cronin and Armour (2013) provide a phenomenological account of community sport coaching. The phenomenological approaches in these studies have shed light on the interpersonal nature of coaching and the reflexive influence of the lifeworld on talent identification and community sport coaching.…”