Mapping Canadian Wheelchair Curling Coaches’ Development: A Landscape Metaphor for a Systems Approach

Abstract

This study addresses the preintervention phase of a larger project aimed at enhancing the learning capability of the Canadian wheelchair curling coaches’ landscape. To understand the learning leverage features and learning barriers of this landscape, a mapping exercise was conducted. The authors interviewed 16 people, using a semistructured interview guide. The thematic analysis and a landscape metaphor resulted in a map illustrating the main features of the landscape and where the learning potential might be. The findings of this study suggest that geographical isolation, the high costs associated with coach training, and the low number of athletes are all barriers to coaches’ learning. Therefore, with the information gleaned from this phase, an intervention for these coaches should be designed to prioritize meaningful learning opportunities, incorporate influential people noted by coaches, and leverage opportunities at training camps and competitions to mitigate the barriers identified. The landscape view allows for a systems approach that considers the potential of involving the different levels of the sport system to best serve the learning needs of coaches. Rather than focus on individual coach learning, research is needed to better understand how the landscape approach can build learning capability within sport organizations.

Framing a Social Learning Space for Wheelchair Curling

“…The purpose of this manuscript is to report on the design and delivery of an intervention aimed at increasing the learning capability of Canadian WC coaches using the landscape of practice conceptual framework. Given that the intervention was preceded by a mapping exercise to help tailor the intended landscape of practice intervention for the respective participants (see Duarte et al, 2020), the next step was to make use of the information provided from the mapping exercise to increase the learning capability of the landscape. Thus, Duarte et al (2020), as a result of their analysis and interpretation, provided a list of three main considerations for systems conveners who seek to lead social learning interventions in complex landscapes: (a) manage the limitations of the landscape by leveraging preexisting infrastructure, (b) prioritize meaningfulness of learning initiatives with coaches, and (c) incorporate the influential people noted in the mapping exercise and make use of their willingness to share.…”

“…While the coach development literature has already introduced the concept of communities of practice for coaches (e.g., Culver & Trudel, 2006), to our knowledge, only Duarte, Culver, and Paquette (2020) have looked at coach development from a broader landscape perspective. As every landscape is unique in its composition, this perspective requires a thorough understanding of the context.…”

“…Many of the notable features contained within the WC context represented in Figure 1 can be found in other disability sport coaching literature. For example, Fairhurst, Bloom, and Harvey (2017) found the recreational and competitive hills (contexts/streams) overlap and in curling teams comprising recreational athletes and Paralympic medalists (both wheelchair curlers and from other parasports who transitioned to curling) curl against the national teams of other countries (Duarte et al, 2020). Many of the WC coaches were actually seeking advice from the same influential people (e.g., national team coaches, sport science experts), mirroring what was previously found (e.g., Cregan et al, 2007;Taylor, Werthner, Culver, & Callary, 2015).…”

“…Following as it does from the mapping exercise described in Duarte et al (2020), this study is the next step in a collaborative effort to frame a social learning space to increase the learning capability of the WC coaching landscape. To our knowledge, this study is the first work that presents the framing process for nurturing a social learning space of (para)sport coaches using a landscape approach.…”

“…The purpose of the current paper is to delineate how the intervention was framed by the systems convener in collaboration with stakeholders from different levels (i.e., recreational and high-performance coaches, and sport leaders). To situate this paper within the overall research project, the framing of the intervention follows the preintervention, which comprised mapping the landscape and the exploration of the coaches' learning interests (see Duarte et al, 2020). The final part of the larger research study is the assessment of the learning value: a subsequent paper will report on the outcomes of the intervention.…”