Establishment of Referent Structures for the Knowledge of Expert
Performance Sports Coaches
David Turner, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching – d.j.2.turner@herts.ac.uk
Introduction
Reflective Practice
Sports coaching is essentially a cognitive enterprise, involving
complex decision making, and requiring considerable knowledge
in several areas (Knowles et al., 2005). The contribution of
coaching to elite athletic performance, and the importance of
coach education are increasingly recognised. Whilst training
programmes have traditionally been assessed via declarative
knowledge gains, learning is now more commonly recognised as
a process of knowledge construction rather than reproduction
(MacLellan, 2001). Structural knowledge assessment allows for
comparison of relatedness to a reputable expert structure, and
may be viewed as an indicator of appropriate development.
Pathfinder networks have been widely used to represent
knowledge structures. These are connected graphical
representations of domain concepts, and the relationship between
them. They have been employed to model and compare the
knowledge of experts and novices in a variety of educational and
vocational contexts (Davis et al., 2003). However, this research
project represents the first known use of Pathfinder in the sports
coaching domain. Furthermore, expert referent knowledge
structures have never before been established in relation to
sports coaching.
Method
Knowledge elicitation: - key concepts pertinent to the performance
sports coaching domain, were derived from 4 expert sports
coaches (≥ 10 years coaching, coached at national level, qualified
at ≥ NVQ Level 3), 3 expert sports coaching students (2:1
Honours classification + subsequently studied at Masters level),
and the course instructor (Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching).
Knowledge representation: - Pathfinder was used to capture a
cognitive map of knowledge structures, arising from a pairwise
comparison of the relatedness of all concept pairs.
Knowledge evaluation: - Separate Pathfinder networks were
produced for an amalgamated expert sports coach knowledge
structure, an amalgamated expert sports coaching student
structure, for the course instructor, and for an amalgamation of all
experts. These were then compared statistically for similarity (a
measure similar to correlation) and coherence (a measure of
internal consistency similar to coefficient alpha).
Results
14 Key Concepts for Performance Sports Coaching
Communication
Periodisation
Management
and Preparation
Coaching
Style
Decision Making
Continuing Professional Development
Evaluation
Commitment
Goal Setting
Individualisation
Periodisation
Communication
Support
Holistic Development of Interdisciplinary
Athletes
Coaching Style
Management and Preparation
Empathy
Presented above is the Pathfinder network generated from the
mean concept ratings of all the expert participants (Coh = .50).
Novice
Coherence 
Novice
Students?
.38
.42
Expert
Students
Expert
Coaches
.30 **
Similarity 
.45
Expert
Course
Instructor
.36 ***
.26 *
The above figure represents the indicative placing of the expert
sub-groups on the theoretical novice-expert continuum, on the
basis of similarity and coherence scores obtained (* = statistically
significant/*** = very highly statistically significant).
Discussion
The 14 concepts could act as a curriculum content guide for the
education of performance sports coaches. The derived expert
cognitive maps may be employed and compared as referent
structures against which to quantitatively and qualitatively assess
coach education programme effectiveness.
This preliminary work will subsequently be used in examining the
extent to which students’ knowledge structures in relation to
performance sports coaching, become more similar/close to
expert performance coach referent structures, as they progress
through a three year University coach education programme.
Conclusion
The current research hopefully represents a valuable
contribution to the existing general literature on the use of expert
knowledge structures as evaluative educational tools; and a
unique contribution to the area of sports coaching and coach
education (which currently has an enhanced national profile in
light of preparation for London 2012).
References
Evaluation
Empathy
Interdisciplinary
Support
Commitment
Individualisation
Davis, M.A., Curtis, M.B., and Tschetter, J.D. (2003) Evaluating cognitive training
outcomes: Validity and utility of structural knowledge assessment. Journal of
Business and Psychology, 18, 2, 191-206.
Decision Making
Continuing
Professional Development
Holistic Development
of Athletes
Knowles, Z., Borrie, A., and Telfer, H. (2005) Towards the reflective sports coach:
Issues of content, education and application. Ergonomics, 48, 11-14, 1711-1720.
Goal Setting
Reflective Practice
MacLellan, E. (2001) Assessment for learning: The differing perceptions of tutors
and students. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 26, 4, 307-319.
University of Hertfordshire, Division of Sports Science, Sports Studies, and Sports Therapy, College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB. www.herts.ac.uk