AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TRANSITION FROM ATHLETE TO COACH.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the antecedents into why athletes make the transition into coaching. In-depth interviews were conducted with four participants who were all directors of their sports academy at a university. The transcripts from the interviews were then transcribed and the dialogue thematically analysed. The investigation looked into the stages that the athlete’s made throughout their entire career and the process they underwent to make the transition into coaching.

The findings revealed that there were a variety of skills learned as an athlete such as communication, teamwork and the ability to read the game and the participants recognised that these skills were also used within their coaching practise. There were also a number of antecedents identified for the termination of an athletic career within the interview. Injury, stress and education are just three of the main antecedents identified. The participants were able to recognise that transitions in the social world had affected their athletic career or coaching career in some capacity whether it was having children, starting university or partners working away from home. With the antecedents of athletic terminations already identified, the athlete’s discussed the barriers they faced whilst making the transition, rational therapy was one coping strategy which was used by a participants to cope with the barriers. The notion that athlete’s make good coaches was refused by all four participants as they all acknowledged that coaching was not just about knowing the skills, it is about interpreting them in a way so that others understand it and the way the activity is put across.