Morality in sport: The coach's perspective

Abstract

Literature in the field of sport has noted that coaches can be major contributors to the moral tone held in the sport environment and athletes are receptive to the moral frame provided by the coach. At the same time, coaches' perspectives of morality have been associated with the way coaches face moral issues that arise in the field. Therefore, the present study aimed at extending previous research seeking to illuminate the coach's perspectives of morality by (a) exploring coaches' perspectives of morality; (b) analysing coaches' responses in light of previous evidence; and (c) discussing the theoretical and practical implications of evidence. The present pilot study was designed as a qualitative multiple case study. Participants were six coaches ( Mage = 46.5; SD = 7.6), who had extended sport involvement, underwent required coaching education and were coaching at the time of the interview. Case 1 was represented by three females coaching an artistic individual sport and case 2 was represented by three males coaching an interactive team sport. Thematic data analysis was conducted. Results indicated that coaches found it difficult to articulate a definition of morality; though they did describe it as an ongoing learning process, context-related, that entailed reciprocity, and therefore, required permanent interchange, co-creation, negotiation and adjustment. The coaches also identified two main perspectives of morality: the moral perspective (i.e. being able to differentiate what is right from what is wrong, doing what is right and considering self-related wellbeing) and the social perspective (i.e. sport involvement and team dynamics). Extrapolating the evidence from this study may suggest that coaches could benefit from moral education interventions, which may then translate to a reduction in or prevention of undesired consequences associated with encompassing moral behaviour.