Investigate the impact of coach education qualifications, organised within the university context, from the tutor’s and the undergraduate student’s perspective.

Abstract

According to Vargas-Tonsing (2007), coach education has become a critical component of youth sports. Cassidy, Potrac and McKenzie (2006) claimed that there has been a significant increase in the creation and adaption of coach education programmes in recent years. Indeed, Roberts and Ryrie (2014) stated that many universities are now offering undergraduate sports coach education courses due to the recognition of sports coaching as a profession. However, a review of the standard and experiences related to such courses is yet to be identified within the research topic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of coach education qualifications, organised within the university context, from the tutor’s and the undergraduate student’s perspective. Specifically, it focuses on the integration of the UKCC course in to the undergraduate programmes and on the evaluation of the course’s content, teaching and delivery methods. Further, the study researched the similarities and differences between the qualifications on offer and generic UKCC courses. This information was collected by conducting formal, individual interviews with 6 people, 3 university tutors and 3 university students. Key findings from the study included; a summary of the challenges encountered by both tutors and students, the benefits of participating in the course, and future improvements that will improve the experience of undertaking the qualification.