What do coaches want to know about identifying, developing, supporting and progressing athletes through a national performance pathway?

The objective of this study was to explore what coaches wanted to learn about identifying, developing, supporting and progressing athletes through a national performance pathway, before commencing a professional development course. A concept mapping (CM) design was used with Australian national sports organisation coaches undertaking an online professional development course. The coaches: (i) brainstormed what they wanted to know; (ii) grouped the brainstormed ideas around perceived similarity of meaning; and (iii) rated the ideas for importance to know and impact on coaching practice on five-point Likert scales. Data were collected and analysed (including multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis) using the Concept Systems groupwisdomTM online platform. Thirty-two coaches brainstormed 42 statements that the research team synthesised and edited to 47 unique statements, with forty coaches sorting and rating these statements. An 8-cluster map best represented the sorted data, with the following clusters: Sport psychology and athlete engagement; Training and competition environments; Athlete wellbeing; Monitoring and modelling; Talent identification; Supporting coaches to work with stakeholders; Transition and significant others; and Benchmarking and performance pathway design. Using a CM system to elicit coaches’ needs prior to their professional development has the potential to empower coaches and target specific domains of required knowledge.