“One Piece of a Big Puzzle”: Understanding the Roles of Coach Developers Through Interorganizational Relationships in Canada’s Coach Education System

Abstract

Coach developers (CDs) are an integral aspect of the coaching education system in Canada, as they are responsible for the delivery of the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) to coaches. A means of understanding the role of CDs within the Canadian coaching education system is to gain insight into the enablers and challenges of the interorganizational relationships (IORs) between the stakeholders (e.g., organizations, CDs, and coaches). The purpose of this insights paper was to use IORs to understand the CD relationship with other stakeholders in the coach education system as they pertain to enablers and challenges. The use of IORs is a relatively new theoretical concept within the field of coaching and coach education as it pertains to CDs. Through the empirical evidence of three sports—hockey, soccer, and baseball—there were three key themes that were indicative of IORs: the NCCP delivery, communications, and monitoring/evaluating for effectiveness. On the basis of the findings from this current study, the intended system design of the Canadian coaching education system, which is based on role-set IOR, is a vertical model of top-down governance model. On the basis of the findings from this current study, the intended system design of the Canadian coaching education system, which is based on role-set IOR, is a vertical model of top-down governance, where one decision from the top impacts all the other stakeholders within the system.

The “Face” of Coach Development: A Systematic Review of the Role of the Coach Developer

“…Furthermore, having clear roles is critical to ensure fidelity and effectiveness in CD practice (Bailey et al, 2019). Our review found issues of clarity may be due to the CD being just one part of complex coach development systems (Culver et al, 2019;Edwards et al, 2020) which is exacerbated with increasing complexity and size of systems (Edwards et al, 2020;Griffiths, Armour, & Cushion, 2018) and the creation of top-down layers for communication to pass through (Stodter & Cushion, 2019). Additionally, there is confusion following dissemination of policy and its recontextualization in the delivery of CDPs (Dempsey et al, 2021;Griffiths et al, 2018).…”

“…Although Figure 3 indicates the use of singular descriptors, multiple studies utilized the term CD and coach educator somewhat interchangeably (e.g., Brasil et al, 2018;Dempsey, Cope, Richardson, Littlewood, & Cronin, 2021;Edwards, Culver, Leadbetter, Kloos, & Potwarka, 2020;Norman, 2019) indicating an understanding (though not made explicit) of the coach educator as a form of CD. Others (e.g., the included coach mentoring research) did not use the term at all.…”

“…Our review found CDs in formal learning situations are tasked with implementing the whole, or part of, a CDP that is either disseminated to them with little or no prior input (e.g., Dempsey et al, 2021) or that they have, to varying degrees, designed themselves (e.g., Callary et al, 2021). Dissemination of coach education policy occurs via restricted layers of communication that can cause confusion and misinterpretation in implementation (Cassidy, Kidman, & Dudfield, 2015;Dempsey et al, 2021;Edwards et al, 2020;Griffiths et al, 2018;Stodter & Cushion, 2019). Indeed, a CD interviewed in Paquette et al, (2019) stated, "I can't help but think the people who create programs like this make it more complicated than it likely needs to be.…”

“…Perhaps it's because these people are usually far removed from what's actually happening on the ground" (p. 278). These issues in dissemination and training have produced varied practice and approaches (e.g., Culver et al, 2019;Watts et al, 2021) and reports from coach learners of confusion and contradiction of content (Stodter and Cushion, 2019) effecting fidelity, especially for large-scale CDPs (Culver et al, 2019;Edwards et al, 2020;Griffiths et al, 2018).…”

“…Coach developers (CDs) are a central figure in coach development systems (Culver, Werthner, & Trudel, 2019;Edwards, Culver, Leadbetter, Kloos, & Potwarka, 2020), playing a key function in the learning of sports coaches. The CD has recently received global attention (Callary & Gearity, 2019a) and multiple frameworks have been produced by national organizations to explain and contextually organize the role of the CD (CIMSPA, 2021; International Council for Coaching Excellence [ICCE], 2014;Sport Australia, n.d.).…”