An empirical examination of UK coaches’ issues and problems, and their support and advice networks

Although there have been increasing calls to recognise the ‘voice of the coach’ in both policy and research, there has been very little work that has asked the coaches directly: ‘what are your main issues and problems?’, and ‘where do you go for support’? Instead assessments and decisions have been made on these issues by the media, policy-makers, support agencies, governing bodies and researchers with results often reflecting the perspectives and interests of the latter. This paper presents new research with a reasonably representative sample of over 1,000 UK coaches that considers the issues and problems, and support networks, from the perspective of the coaches themselves. The results suggest that coaches experience a wide range of problems but that they can be broken down into 17 main categories with places to play sport (e.g. facilities), problems with player-coach interaction, and problems with coaching knowledge and skills, being most frequently mentioned. In terms of support networks, the coaches tended to look ‘closest to home’: to themselves, their family/friends, participants and parents, and local coaching networks. Governing bodies and coaching associations tend to be less well used. Some implications for policy and practice are discussed.