'To be' a youth performance coach

By Colum James Cronin

When this thesis began, there were 1,109,000 individuals regularly providing coaching in the UK (Sports Coach UK, 2011). Despite this prevalence, academic understanding of coaching is considered limited. Jones, (2012, p.3) for example, suggests that coaching researchers have rarely moved beyond "merely acknowledging the complexity of coaching" and have failed to provide readers with 'better, more insightful accounts of a somewhat homogenous thing called coaching'. This lack of clarity and understanding is remiss because coaches are not only influential in the sporting lives of young people (Cushion and Jones, 2006), but are also tasked with facilitating the wider personal, social and health benefits associated with sport participation (HM Government, 2015; Fraser-Thomas, C t and Deakin, 2005; FraserThomas and C t , 2009; Vierimaa, Erickson, C t and Gilbert, 2012). While well intentioned, such high expectations may be premature given that the academic community has not yet provided a clear understanding of youth performance coaching. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to add clarity and understanding about youth coaching for the direct benefit of fellow researchers, coaches, and coach educators. To that end, this chapter will introduce the phenomenon of youth performance coaching, further outline the rationale for the study, and finally, describe the structure of the thesis.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1835202683
• ISBN13: 9781835202685
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Remod
• Length: 450 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"