Mentoring in sports coaching: A review of the literature

Abstract

Background: Despite criticism of its positive claims being largely unfounded and ill-clarified, the concept of mentoring has come into common use within sports coaching.

Purpose: In an attempt to address these concerns, the purpose of this paper is to take better account of the researched evidence on mentoring in general before providing some guidelines of good practice that could realistically be applied to sports coaching.

Literature review: In terms of the paper's content, a discussion surrounding definitions and conceptualisations is initially embarked upon. This is followed by a review of mentoring literature from other academic and professional fields, namely nursing, education and business, where the practice has been more widely researched, established and used. Current ‘models’ of mentoring in sports coaching are then examined.

Summary and conclusions: A final section, drawing from all the literature reviewed, offers tentative suggestions as to the possible future shape of effective mentoring in sports coaching.