Breaking the Ice: A qualitative study examining coach education and micropolitics in the sport of figure skating

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the flaws in the coach education programme with relation to British figure skating, and how this then filters into the messy and micropolitical relationships that coaches have with one another. Through the use of semi structured interviews with a purposive sample of qualified coaches, concepts and theories were used in order to uncover the reasons for the often unsavoury relationships between colleagues at ice rinks on a day to day basis. Conducting interviews allowed the researcher to discover four key findings. (1) Coach education needs to address the importance of the social complexities coaches face in their work environment (2) the lack of realistic coach education means a lack of understanding for many coaches about what the coaching environment will entail and how they need to manage it. (3) Micropolitical behaviour in the eyes of many coaches is seen as bad practice and thus leads to messy and dysfunctional interactions due to this misconception. (4) Perhaps the whole coaching concept in the sport of figure skating requires reconceptualising in order to progress the sport. The findings in this study are specific to the sport of figure skating, and should be considered for the development of coaches and coach education in this sport. The development of any future coach education programmes should address the issues noted in the discussion of results chapter, to assist in a better learning and coaching environment for all.