The National Coaching Foundation, 2012

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The National Coaching Foundation, 2012 This document is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to sports coach UK. sports coach UK is the brand name of The National Coaching Foundation and has been such since April 2001. sports coach UK Chelsea Close Off Amberley Road Armley Leeds LS12 4HP Tel: 0113-274 4802 Fax: 0113-231 9606 Email: coaching@sportscoachuk.org Website: www.sportscoachuk.org Patron: HRH The Princess Royal sports coach UK will ensure that it has professional and ethical values and that all its practices are inclusive and equitable.

Contents Introduction...1 Non-Coaching Trends...2 Who is Coaching?...3 Developing Coaches...7 Recruitment and Retention...9 Time Spent Coaching...11 Who is Being Coached?...12 Appendix: Sources and Links...15

Introduction This report uses existing research carried out by sports coach UK and other bodies to provide coaching insights that complement the Sporting Insight report produced by Sport England. Governing bodies can use this report to further understand current ad future trends in coaching that might affect their planning for 2013-17. The report looks at trends around who is coaching and who is being coached. It also discusses trends that may be useful to consider when developing strategies to recruit, retain and develop coaches. The Sport England Sporting Insight report includes a series of non-sporting trends which could often be applied to coaching. Therefore it is not the intention of this report to go over existing ground. However, there are certain non-sporting trends that are of particular relevance to coaching and these have been included in this report. Three important points to remember when reading this report are: The trends in this report represent the national average. As such some trends may be less appropriate for certain sports depending on context. For that reason some of the opportunities suggested in this report are phrased as questions you might want to ask about your sport rather than definitive strategies. Governing bodies should also consider analysing what data they hold on coaches, or any research they have carried out, that could shed further light on this analysis. A number of trends will often be inter-linked and governing bodies should look for how an opportunity in one area can solve a challenge in another. For example technological advances leading to an increase in online content in qualifications could be regarded as an opportunity that addresses the challenge of reduced take up of qualifications as a result of lowering disposable income. NOTE: Sources used in this report are identified by a number in the text and listed in the appendix. 1

1. Non-coaching trends Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Coaching in Higher In recent years there has been an increase in the number There will be an increased number of coaching graduates which Education of universities offering coaching qualifications. will offer opportunities to deploy more, younger, qualified coaches. There are opportunities to link with universities to provide experience for undergraduates which in turn creates additional coaching capacity for a sport. More demanding consumer expectations An explosion of choice has driven consumers to be less loyal and more fickle More qualified coaches can deliver a better quality sporting experience that is likely to retain consumers. Are the needs of differing groups in your sport reflected in the skills of the coaches and the training they are given? Content online access/creation Increasing amounts of online content Increasing online content provides opportunities to overcome barriers around cost and location of coach education courses and workshops. Do you understand the profile of your coaches and their willingness or ability to use online sources of learning? Social networks and instant connectivity Online social networks have dramatically changed how people communicate and organise their lives. Social networks provide an opportunity for governing bodies to communicate further with their coaches. Networks can be used to create Communities of Practice to stimulate coach development and sharing of best practice. Reduced income disposable It is likely to be 2013 before consumers really begin to enjoy the economic recovery, but even over the medium term we are unlikely to be able to achieve the pace of growth in consumer spending that we had become accustomed to over the decade prior to the recession (Oxford Economics, 2011). There is a danger that financial constraints will mean coaching remains the preserve of the committed volunteer/parent workforce. The challenge is to demonstrate that coaching and obtaining coach qualifications is still possible with reduced disposable income. 2

2. Who is coaching? Overall there are just over 900,000 people involved in coaching in England. Below are the main issues to consider in planning: Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Coaching is primarily a volunteer workforce 76% of coaches are volunteers, 21% coach in a part-time capacity and 3% are full-time. (1) When developing a workforce plan governing bodies need to consider that a volunteer will have restrictions on time available both for coaching and development. Does you plan for coaching deployment take into account the make-up of your workforce? Can you match when participation takes place with when your coaches are able to coach? The current coaching population massively over-represents those from higher socioeconomic groups 45% of coaches come from the higher socio-economic groups compared to 26% of the population who make up this group. Conversely lower socio-economic groups which account for one quarter of the population supply only 10% of coaches. (1) Correctly targeted bursary schemes have been seen to help those from outside traditional coaching populations to gain qualifications. There are considerable opportunities to increase the coaching workforce through recruitment from within lower socioeconomic groups. The challenge for governing bodies is to understand why people from certain backgrounds are less involved in coaching and what barriers need to be overcome. Can you think of ways to further engage people from different socio-economic backgrounds into coaching to further understand their needs? For example: financial assistance or new ways to undertake courses. The market segmentation data from Sport England can help develop strategies for groups you may want to target to get involved in coaching. 3

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Coaching outside the system We estimate that the majority of coaching still takes place outside the system (ie coaches with no link to the governing body) This group represents a pool of coaches new to coach education. Have you thought about recruitment campaigns targeting people active in sport but outside traditional club environments? There is a challenge to understand the motivations and reasons for remaining outside the system (are they aware of the opportunities? Are there barriers preventing them from getting involved?) Gender imbalance Only 31% of coaches are female and this imbalance is increased with qualifications as only 18% of qualified coaches are female (51% of the UK population are female). (1) Research has identified structural barriers to women s involvement in coaching including fewer role models working in higher echelons of coaching or leadership positions and male dominated coaching networks. (7) Cultural barriers revolve around more traditional views on gender roles and coaching. Women will tend to spend more time in domestic roles leaving less time to coach. (7) 20% of coaches became involved in coaching through their children s involvement in sport. However, men are twice as likely as women to take up coaching through their children. (2) There is an opportunity to recruit more females into coaching. The barriers preventing women from getting involved in sport have already been identified (7) and the challenge is hot your sport puts in place programmes to overcome them. Research has shown that a solid support network was important for female coaches to progress and continue working in sport. Peer and family encouragement were highlighted as vital and establishing networks across sport was also recommended. Encouraging more women to get involved in coaching through their children is an opportunity to increase the number of female coaches. Organisations may choose to develop their own sport specific schemes or work in partnership sports coach UK or other bodies such as the Women Sports and Fitness Foundation to identify specific opportunities for getting more women involved in coaching. Examples of effective good practice include the Coaching Association of Canada s Women in Coaching programme. 4

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Under-representation of Only 3% of coaches are from Black and Minority Ethnic Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds compared to 8% of the UK population. (1) coaches Research by Sporting Equals has found that although a strong interest for getting involved with coaching exists, the lack of understanding around where to start and who to talk to prevents people from taking this interest further. (8) Finance is a recurring issue alongside the location of courses which ties into the socio-economic factors highlighted above. People from BME communities have found it difficult to access information to help fund courses and are often at a disadvantage as courses are not available locally. (8) The lack of visibility of role models was also a key issue as people perceived coaching as something which wasn t accessible to their community as they saw only a small number of people from their own communities working in coaching. (8) There is an opportunity to recruit more people from the Black and Minority Ethnic community into coaching. Research has already identified barriers that could be addressed including: additional information regarding how to get involved in coaching; financial assistance or information on where to access finance; using role models in recruitment; women only sessions. Organisations may choose to develop their own sport specific schemes or work in partnership sports coach UK or other bodies such as Sporting Equals to identify specific opportunities for getting more people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities involved in coaching. Under-representation disabled coaches of The percentage of coaches with a disability is below the national average. Only 8% of coaches have a disability compared to 19% of the population. (1) A coach with a disability is more likely to hold a coaching qualification. (1) The challenge for sports it to encourage more disabled people to get involved in coaching. What could your sport do to make it easy for people with a disability to start coaching? Is your coach education fully inclusive for disabled people? Given that a popular route into coaching is through participation, increasing the number of disabled participants could also have a knock-on effect on recruiting disabled coaches. Targeting existing participants as potential future coaches is another strategy to increase the number of coaches with a disability. Putting in place a programme to help the transfer from participant to coach may help. Promoting existing coaches as role-models could also help 5

recruitment. Do you have any schemes to help retain and develop the small pool of existing coaches? (eg mentoring schemes). Research is required to better understand the barriers to entry and how they could be overcome. Organisations may choose to develop their own sport specific schemes or work in partnership with sports coach UK or other bodies to identify specific opportunities for getting more disabled people into coaching. 6

3. Developing coaches Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Qualifications There is a steady trend in coaches gaining qualifications. In 2004 38% of coaches held a qualification but by 2008 this had increased to 53%. (1) A more qualified workforce offers an opportunity to deploy coaches better to achieve the aims of the governing body. How can you create a culture where qualifications and the learning which makes them up, are perceived as worthwhile? This will provide greater recognition for already qualified coaches and promote coach education to unqualified coaches. Professional Development Coaches are unlikely to access Continuous Professional Development (CPD). 69% of coaches stated they had not undergone any CPD in their careers. (1) However of those who do use CPD Ninety-five per cent (95%) believed it was important to improve or widen coaching knowledge and practice. (2) Unpublished analysis by sports coach UK and Experian looking at those undertaking coaching workshops suggested three male and two female groups within the Sport England market segmentation who were more likely to undertake CPD. With males the types were Philip, Tim and Ben. These cover the ages 18-35 and 46-55 and represent professional males. With females the types Helena and Jackie are more likely to undertake CPD. They represent the age range 26-45 and include both professionals and skilled workers/stayat-home mums. The current lack of take-up of CPD represents a potentially large pool of coaches who could access future opportunities. However the challenge for governing bodies is to understand why coaches are not accessing CPD are they unable, unaware or unwilling? Understanding these issues is critical to improving the quality and future provision of CPD opportunities. How can you create a culture where CPD and the learning which makes them up, are perceived as worthwhile? The market segmentation analysis should be used further to advertise potential CPD opportunities to those most likely to use it. 7

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges A mixed approach to Governing body qualifications are more important for learning new and less experienced coaches. (2) As coaches progress through their careers and develop, they appear to place increased value on learning from informal and self-directed opportunities. (2) Coaching practice is the most popular form of learning, followed by reading coaching books, reflecting on past coaching and working with athletes. (2) The benefits of governing body qualifications should be promoted to new and less experienced coaches demonstrating how the content matches their needs. For more experienced coaches can you structure the learning to better meet their needs? Establishing a variety and balance of learning sources is critical to coaches development. Given the importance placed on informal and self-directed learning governing bodies need to ensure that coaches are equipped with the skills to properly analyse, and learn from, their existing coaching practice. Supporting coaches The percentage of coaches who feel supported by their governing body has declined from 75% to 67% over the last four years. (2) There are also certain areas were over one-third of coaches feel not supported at all. These include identifying opportunities to coach and the next steps to take in coaching. (2) Providing coaches with more information on their potential stages of development would address a common complaint from coaches about the support from governing bodies. Other opportunities to improve the development support of coaches from their governing body (as suggested by the coaches themselves) include: more mentoring; increased personalised support; and greater use of technology. Engaging coaches in consultation over how these issues can be tackled would be welcomed by coaches. 8

4. Recruitment and retention Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Age peaks in recruitment There are peak entry ages into coaching 16 18 years old and around 30 years old. (4) Evidence suggests younger coaches are most likely to stop coaching. Key reasons for leaving coaching include personal reasons around changes in family circumstances, education or employment which are more likely to affect younger coaches. (4) Young coaches represent an essential pool of coaches (especially given the increase in coach education at university mentioned earlier). More should be done to manage the impact of life changes. For example programmes that allow coaches to maintain connected with the governing body and coaching while taking a sabbatical from coaching for personal reasons (such as a new job, changes in family circumstances). Past experience participation Coaches who participated at higher levels (eg county sports championships and above) are more likely to have started coaching at an early age. (4) Coaches who participated in more competitive pathways may be more likely to exhibit higher levels of commitment to sport and would pursue lifelong participation through coaching. (4) Current athletes with high level sporting experiences represent a potential pool of recruits to coaching who are more likely to remain in coaching. Can you offer opportunities for these targeted athletes to gain coaching experience while still competing? Changing motivations of coaches The two most common reasons for starting coaching were an existing shortage of coaches at a club (stated as a reason by 49% of coaches) and as a way to give something back to their club/sport/community (stated as a reason by 58% of coaches). (2) Very few differences emerged between the motivations of male and female coaches. (2) As coaches gain experience so the reasons for coaching become more personal and reflect the satisfaction coaches receive from seeing their athletes/participants improve and knowing that they had something to do with it. There is also an important social aspect for coaches who enjoy the interaction with players. (4) The challenge for governing bodies is to fully understand the motivations of coaches working in different environments. This will help create appropriate development and recruitment strategies. While coach recruitment campaigns are likely to focus on the reasons for starting to coach it may be useful to also include what benefits a coach is likely to experience later in their career (eg personal satisfaction). These motivations might appeal to a different set of potential coaches. 9

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges The importance of the Research has found that coaches in different sporting environment on environments have different motivations. (3) motivation Coaches working with higher level participants are more likely to be motivated by maintaining participation in sport and the competitive element of sport. In a four year study these motivations more than doubled. Volunteer coaches appear more motivated by family and community concerns (eg helping their child or their old club). Paid coaches appear more motivated by the intrinsic qualities of coaching (eg developing athletes and the interaction with athletes and players). Though full-time coaches are more motivated by extrinsic benefits, such as career, pay and benefits, these benefits are still relatively small compared to the intrinsic benefits they receive. Governing bodies should think about matching coach motivation to the motivations of participants. For example a coach motivated by competition may be unsuitable for coaching in a social adult-returner environment. Recruitment campaigns should differentiate between different participation groups and reflect the different motivations of coaches in these groups. The motivation to coach children is likely to be different from the motivation to coach competitively in a club and recruitment campaigns should reflect this. 10

5. Time spent coaching In their Sporting Insight pack Sport England identified constraints on time as an issue for participation in sport. Given that coaches also feel these ever increasing time pressures what does the research tell us about how coaches spend their time? Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Coaching hours outside 78% of volunteer coaches coach for three hours or less delivery of sessions per week. (1) For every hour a coach spends delivering a session they will spend at least another hour in preparation, travelling, administration and personal development. (1) 22% of a volunteer coaches time is spent in administration and travel compared to only 15% for a full-time coach. (1) If coaches have less time it would be helpful to reduce the administrative burden associated with coaching. This could reduce the overall time spent in coaching activity but ensure that the same amount of time is spent delivering a session. How can you reduce the administrative burden on coaches? Are there other volunteers in a club who could assist with aspects of the coaching role outside delivery of a session? Could more assistants/leaders etc help reduce time pressures on a coach? 11

6. Who is being coached? Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Younger participants and beginners are seen as training ground for many coaches. The more qualified a coach the more likely they are to be coaching in a single sport club and to a higher level of participant. (2) The development profiles of coaches shows that coaches tend to start working with younger participants and beginners/improvers to gain experience before moving on to more competitive and older participants. (2) Do the skills of the coach match the requirements of the participant group? Should entry level qualifications focus more time on working with children and beginners? Or should governing bodies encourage better qualified coaches to stay working with children and beginners? Is there a need to promote the value of excellent children s coaches? Highlighting role models that new coaches could aspire to rather than aspiring to traditional routes of coach adults. Women are more likely to access coaching Female participants continue to have a slightly higher take-up of coaching than male participants. This tends to be a reflection on the types of sporting activities that men and women typically undertake, and the extent to which typically female activities (i.e. fitness classes, yoga, Pilates) are often led by a coach / instructor. (1) In this latest data (2008), 30% of women who had participated in the last 12 months had also received some level of coaching, this compared to 25% of male participants. (1) Research has found that informal sporting environments appeal to a lot of women and tick many of the boxes for why they take part. Beginners, returners to sport and even experienced athletes enjoy informal sporting environments. Women in informal sporting settings don t necessarily want to be coached in the traditional sense, but find the knowledge, experience and passion of the coach vital to their continued participation. (9) Are you coaches aware of any differences in the needs of male and female participants? Do you know the mix of male and female participants in your sport and does this influence your coach deployment strategies? 12

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Coaching plays a strong role in participation A report from the University of Oxford found that a good way to promote participation in sport was through an emphasis on the enjoyment and social benefits of physical activity. Research shows that over two-thirds of people who used a coach state it enhances fun. (5) In a research study of experienced coaches one-third stated that they increased their coaching as a result of more participation in a club. (2) Survey evidence suggests that those groups with a lower incidence of sports participation (females, older people, black and minority ethnic communities and people with disabilities) have a very positive view about coaching and its impact on participation. Eighty per cent of respondents from each of these groups agreed with the statement that good sports coaching helps increase people s participation in sport. (5) Making sure well qualified coaches are working with beginners or returners will help the overall sporting experience a participant receives. This is often the first impression of your sport and setting a good example will help retention. Coaches are an invaluable asset when trying to recruit harder to reach participants. How do you use coaches in your recruitment campaigns? The use of coaching increases with participation As participation increases, so does the use of coaching. On average, 27% of the population have received coaching in the last 12 months. However, of those people who had participated in sport more recently, 84% had received coaching. (1) There is a link between coaching and participant retention. However the correct coach (in terms of skills, experience and motivations) needs to working with the correct participant group. 13

Theme Trend Opportunities and Challenges Differing benefits of coaching The majority of adults surveyed (72%) identified an improvement to their fitness. A further 68% of participants also agreed that coaching enhanced their fun. Only 19% believed that coaching made a sport more accessible. (1) Women are more likely to believe that the benefits of coaching are improving fitness and enhancing fun. For example, 77% of female participants believe that coaching improves their fitness compared to 67% of men. In contrast however, male participants are far more likely to suggest that coaching benefits their sporting performance (54% compared to 28% of women) or develops their sporting skills (51% compared to 25% of women). (1) Younger children (5 to 11 years) are more likely to identify having fun as a key benefit of coaching although this is less pronounced among older children (12-15). However parents of these children are more likely to identify skills development as a key benefit for coaching. (1) Promoting the benefits of coaching should address the different participants and their needs. 14

Appendix: Sources and links for more information (1) sports coach UK (2011) Sports Coaching in the UK 3 http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/sports-coaching-uk-3 (2) sports coach UK (2012) Coach Tracking Study Final Report http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/coach-tracking-study (3) sports coach UK (2010) Coach Tracking Study Year Two Report http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/uk-coach-tracking-studyyear-two-headline-report (4) sports coach UK (2011) Research Essentials: pathways into coaching http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/research-essentialspathways-coaching (5) sports coach UK (2011) Research Essentials: sport participation and the coach http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/researchessentials-sport-participation-and-coach (6) sports coach UK (2011)Coaching Disabled People: addressing the under-representation of disabled people in sport through coaching http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/coaching-disabled-people-position-statement (7) sports coach UK & Women s Sport and Fitness Foundation (2011) Developing female coaches http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/developing-female-coaches (8) Sporting Equals (2011) Insight: BME Coaching in Sport http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/insight-bme-coaching-sport (9) Sports coach UK & Women s Sport and Fitness Foundation (2012) Women and Informal Sport s Participation http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/women-and-informal-sport-research-report 15

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