The Process of “Becoming” a Certified High-Performance Coach: A Tailored Learning Journey for One High-Performance Athlete

Abstract

Although high-performance (HP) coaches’ learning journeys are idiosyncratic and winding, most of these coaches share the characteristic of having rich experiences as athletes. Studies on the career transition of HP athletes to sports coaches reveal a sharp disagreement between these incoming coaches with their practice field experience and national governing bodies responsible for coach education programs about what is needed to be certified. This article presents a tailored initiative to support an HP athlete (Dan) in his process of “becoming” a certified HP coach in the Canadian context. This unique project took shape from a collaborative effort to combine elements of two opposing views on learning: off-the-job versus workplace learning. The article provides details on (a) the coaching context, (b) the main supportive others, and (c) the tools used to document the coaching topics that emerged from Dan’s coaching practice, as well as the learning material used, discussed, and created. When all the above content and materials were carefully organized and placed into folders, a unique “emerging curriculum” was formed and presented to the members of an evaluation committee who agreed that Dan met the HP coach certification criteria.