Abstract
Much work addresses coaches’ contributions to younger athletes; however, the psycho-social coaching needs of adult Masters athletes remain unexamined. This study explored the lived experiences of 10 Masters swimmers (5 male, 5 female; age range = 45-65 years) through interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis delved into benefits that swimmers wanted to derive from coaches, how they wished to be coached, and what they liked about coaches. Themes related to (a) swimming and non-swimming benefits; (b) coaches’ experience and professional development, personal attributes, and behaviors holding athletes accountable to training; (c) preferences for coaching instruction; (d) preferences for coaches’ planning/structuring of the practice and program; and (e) preferences for how coaches prepare and interact with them at competitions. We discuss how benefits relate to models of athlete development and identify how preferences link to adult learning literature and models of coaching practice. Finally, we note incongruent findings and limitations to be addressed in future.
Highlights
We explored benefits Masters swimmers (MSs) wanted to derive from their coaches, how they wished to be coached, and what they liked about their coaches
We provide quotes to illustrate four themes relating to how MSs wished to be coached, and what they liked about their coaches
Smith (2011), we provide the prevalence for each theme according to the number of participants whose quotes fell into the themes, and we provide the number of quotes corresponding to each theme
Summary
This study explored the lived experiences of 10 Masters swimmers (5 male, 5 female; age range = 45-65 years) through interviews. Themes related to (a) swimming and non-swimming benefits; (b) coaches’ experience and professional development, personal attributes, and behaviors holding athletes accountable to training; (c) preferences for coaching instruction; (d) preferences for coaches’. We discuss how benefits relate to models of athlete development and identify how preferences link to adult learning literature and models of coaching practice. Adult sportspersons are referred to as Masters athletes, when they are above 35 years of age and registered for sport, and when they acknowledge they “prepare in order to participate” (Young, 2011). Coaches can make sport more enjoyable for athletes, with athlete satisfaction being greatest when coaches’ actions are congruent with athletes’ preferences (e.g., Chelladurai & Reimer, 1998).
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