Sports Path Coach Education Research 2014

Sports Path Coach Education Research 2104

During 2104 at Sports Path we have completed a major research project on how coaches use the web, involving over 1,000 coaches throughout the world.

As a reward for completing the survey we provided a copy of the Sports Path World Cup Technical Report 2014

1. Responsibility for Assisting in the development of other coaches

We asked the question:

‘Do you help or assist in the development of coaches or coaching volunteers at your club or Association’.

80% of the coaches and 100% of all the Directors of Coaching/Technical Directors in our survey said ‘Yes ‘

Indeed for almost all soccer coaches with an accredited coaching qualification their role as a coach also now involves some support for the development other coaches as well and in addition to their role to help players. The role in helping other coaches is most acutely seen in assisting recruit, train and retain grassroots coaches many of whom are parents in the team the coach  for whom the coach is responsible.

Organized Youth soccer throughout the world is still growing and constantly needs a supply of more competent volunteer coaches. Even in the most developed soccer coaches in the world the majority of coaches of teams for young players have no formal coach education training. Not surprisingly the turnover of grassroots coaches in most countries is over 30%: so over a third of grassroots coaches will quit this year.

 

2. Using the Web

We asked coaches if they used the web to support the development of coaches and their answers were as follows:

Tools used	%
Emails with links to practices or videos	75%
Articles for the Club/Association Website	50%
Establishing an Online Learning Network : A dedicated space designed specifically for coaches at your club	30%
Regular E Mail Newsletter for coaches	25%
Coach provides twitter feed	20%
Coach provides their own blog	10%

 

Only 10% of the coaches surveyed said that they did not use any aspect of the web to help them on developing coaches at their club

 

3. Developing an Online Network

 

We investigated how an Online Learning Network or  VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) could support the role of the Director of Coaching/Technical Director (DOC’s) in this respect .We asked those DOC’s who had developed an Online Learning Network to name the major  benefits:-

1. To more effectively communicate the Philosophy, Style of Play  and Curriculum of the Club/Association
2. To Contribute to reducing  coach turnover
3. Develop the  Online Network of the Club/Associations  as a ‘Property’ to attract local sponsors
4. To Integrate all online content ( e.g. email,videos,practices,) into one place to allow maximum sharing
5. To enhance Face to Face support provided by the DOC
6. To Builds a  Searchable  User Generated  Library as required into Topic and Age Appropriate Categories
7. To reduce costs of training  
8. To allow for more Convenient ,Time effective & Self Paced Learning  for busy coaches via all devices  
9. To impacts quickly:  Bite Sized Learning on Demand  to help solve practical problems for coaches
10. To Facilitate  Peer to Peer support: maximizing  ongoing personal interaction with & between coaches
11. To Easily updated & maintain the content by the DOC  and coaches
12. To provide Personalized material as  each coach can develop their own  individual online  portfolios
13. To provide Ongoing education not a one- off event or learning by ‘ appointment ‘
14. To Measure and Monitor usage and interaction
15. To Embeds learning into practical coaching situations 
16. To Support Federation Coach Education, Continuing Education & CPD.
17.  To provide Additional & Alternative credentialing

4. Tools that coaches say they use to develop an Online Learning Network:

 

1. Dropbox
2. Google  : Google +,GoogleDrive inc Google Docs and Google Sites
3. YouTube
4. Word Press
5. Session planners
6. Scoop.it
7. Webinars
8. Windows chat
9. Survey Monkey
10. Moodle
11. S2S
12. Twitter
13. Sports office
14. Hudl
15. Scoopit

5. How do you use the web and your Online Network to assist your coaches?

The most common replies were as follows

Videos of recommended practices

Recommended Practices using Diagrams or Sessions Planners

Discussion Forums on Specific Issues

FAQ's

Tips from experienced coaches at the club/Association

Webinars organized just for your coaches using Skype or Google +

Quizzes

 

6. Problems

The biggest problems faced by the coaches in being able to start and/or develop the Online Network for their coaches were listed as follows:

1. Time
2. Knowledge of appropriate IT tools and platforms
3. Getting volunteers to use it
4. Money
5. Buy in from Board Members
6. How to ensure a constant feed of material and to keep the VLE up to date
7. Limited internet connection/access to internet for coaches and limited space
8. Buy in from Coaches
9. Determine relevant content
10. Knowing which problems do deal with first
11. Ease of Use