Identifying learning in a coaching community of practice: a collaborative self-study

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Collaboration through coaching communities of practice (CCoPs) has been proposed as a means to support coaches’ learning (Culver & Trudel, 2006, p. 5). Building on earlier research that used a value creation framework (VCF) to document the “individual and collective benefits” that can accrue from participation in a CCoP (Bertram et al., 2017, p. 289), this paper explores the experiences of two coach-researchers coaching a university Gaelic football team for two seasons. During this time we reflected on our coaching actions and developed a greater understanding of how participation in a CCoP supported our practice. Data generation included the completion of individual and collaborative reflections, and engagement with critical friends. Each coach perceived that learning had occurred, but in different ways due to differing levels of prior experience. This longitudinal research provides evidence of the potential for a CCoP to help coaches to learn about their practice while developing their expertise informally and meaningfully. It extends existing research on how coaches learn in non-elite settings, and illustrates how the most recent version of the VCF (Wenger-Trayner et al., 2019) can help to exemplify this learning. In doing so, it highlights the importance of acknowledging the social context of a coach’s learning journey.