Life coaching is a rapidly expanding industry that focuses on client development, enhancement of life experience, and goal attainment often when clients are experiencing personal, professional, and social change. Online communities of practice (CoPs) provide opportunity for individuals to connect, share experiences, and learn from each other under the auspices of a unifying theme or subject. Since the 1990s, CoPs have spread from education to other areas of business and industry and continue to shape participant professional development. However, the everyday life information seeking and practices of life coaches remains unexplored within information science literature from the perspectives of life coach engagement in seeking information, life coach engagement in CoPs, and life coach interactions with other coaches. The purpose of this research study was to explore life coach perspectives of coaching, the diverse information needs of life coaches, the types and strength of relationships between life coaches and CoPs, the role of coaching certification and/or licensing as contributing to the professionalization of life coaching, and the means of communication exchange by life coaches through information communication technologies. This mixed method study focused on life coaches who self-identify as belonging to a CoP and those that do not. Theoretical frameworks for this study included Savolainen's everyday life information seeking (ELIS) and Wegner and Lave's characterization of CoPs. Methods utilized for this study included an online survey, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis.

Bakgrund: Inom fotbollen råder det oenighet kring definitionen av begreppet talang. Vissamenar att talang utgörs av medfödda egenskaper, andra hävdar att talang bildas vid mycketträning. Ändå är talang hos unga fotbollsspelare en central del av den akademi som finnsinom fotbollsklubbar med elitambitioner. Tränaren är en viktig del av hur talang uppfattas ochpåverkar vilka som elitsatsar i akademier. Som teoretiskt ramverk används en idrottsanpassad version av gatekeeping- teorin.Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka hur akademitränare ser på talang hos ungafotbollsspelare.Metod: Fem semi-strukturerade intervjuer med akademitränare har genomförts.Den insamlade datan bearbetades sedan utifrån en induktiv tematisk analys.Resultat: Analysen av materialet resulterade i fem övergripande teman; Arvet, Miljö,Inställning, Oviss Framtid och Helheten.Diskussion: Tränarnas syn på talang visar att den definieras av tränarnas eget tycke och smak.Talang verkar vara en sammansättning fysiologiska, tekniska och kognitiva egenskaper sombildas av det genetiska arvet och miljön. / Backround: Within football there is disagreement around the definition of the term ”talent”.Some say that talent consists of abilities that are innate. Others say that talent is formedthrough training. Despite that, talent in young football players is regarded a central part of theacademy system that exists in football clubs with elite ambition. The coach is also animportant part of how talent is perceived and affects which players makes an elite investmentin an academy. The theoretical frameworks that were used on the study consists of a sports-customized version of the gatekeeping theory.Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine how academy coaches view talent in youngfootball players.Method: Five separate semi-structured interviews with academy coaches were conducted.The data collected were processed using an inductive thematic analysis.Resultat: The analysis of the gathered material resulted in five overall themes: Legacy,Environment, Attitude, Uncertain Future and Entirety.Discussion: The coaches view on talent shows that talent is defined by the coaches liking andtaste. Talent seem to be a composition of the physiological, technical and cognitive abilitiesthat are formed by the genetic legacy and the environment.

Sports injuries in the adolescent are becoming more frequent as more athletes participate in sporting activity, and sport is the leading cause of injury in the adolescent. Appropriate physical conditioning of the adolescent which includes a warm-up session, endurance training, strengthening exercises and balance training have shown to reduce the rate of injury during pre-season and in-season training. The aim of this study was to establish the current knowledge of athletic coaches in the Johannesburg-North Education District, in the physical conditioning of high-school middle- and long-distance runners. There was no validated questionnaire available to complete this study, so a questionnaire was designed based on the most recent evidence regarding each item. Athletic coaches at each school were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: that they worked at high schools and/or secondary schools whose students participated in middle and long distance running, that they spoke and understood English, that they worked at private and/or public schools, and that they were either gender. There were 33 high schools in the Johannesburg-North Education District that completed the survey out of a possible 42 high schools, a response rate of 78 per cent. Following the statistical analysis of the results, it was found that the questionnaire had an internal consistency (reliability co-efficient) of 0.92. The coaches scored on average 67 per cent for the questionnaire, showing that they had a good knowledge of the physical conditioning concepts. The only significant relationship found was between the coaches’ scores for the use of balance and proprioceptive exercises and age. In conclusion it was found that coaches in both public and private schools have correct physical conditioning knowledge with regards to high school middle and long distance runners. Recommendations are made with regards to future policy, and the researcher suggests that future studies should involve testing the coaches’ practical application of their knowledge. / Dissertation (MPhysT)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Physiotherapy / unrestricted

Intercollegiate athletics at major universities provide a variety of opportunities and challenges for student-athletes who choose to participate. This qualitative project studies the quality of interactions in the sport, the social, and the academic experiences for freshman football and male soccer student-athletes and their adjustment to college. The five research questions under review were as follows: Is there a relationship between the quality of the sport experience and adjustment to college as reported by freshman football and male soccer student-athletes attending a NCAA Division I-A institution? Is there a relationship between the quality of the social experience and adjustment to college as reported by freshman football and male soccer student-athletes attending a NCAA Division I-A institution? Is there a relationship between the quality of the academic experience and adjustment to college as reported by freshman football and male soccer student-athletes attending a NCAA Division I-A institution? Are there relationships between any two of the three experiences (sport, social, and academic) that affect adjustment to college as reported by freshman football and male soccer student-athletes attending a NCAA Division I-A institution? Does the adjustment to college relate to interactions among all three experiences in any comprehensive way as reported by freshman football and male soccer student-athletes attending a NCAA Division I-A institution? The purpose of the study was to hear in the student-athletes' authentic voices their descriptions of the quality of the sport, the social and the academic endeavors and how those interactions impacted their adjustment to college. The results imply that the freshman football and male soccer student-athletes, while enduring some challenges, find ways to adjust to college as both students and as athletes. Several themes were ascertained in relation to each of the three areas under review. While the student-athletes expressed feelings indicating that their collegiate experiences were different from the experiences of students not participating in intercollegiate athletics, the majority of them revealed a high level of comfort in their college environment. They all felt attached to the university, and they all planned to return for their sophomore year.

The purpose of this study was to gather and analyze information concerning the establishment and administration of specific team rules and regulations used by the football and basketball coaches in Utah High schools. Sub-objectives of this study were: (a) to compare the opinions of coaches according to school classification - class AA, class A, and class B; (b) to compare the opinions of less experienced coaches with those of more experienced coaches; (c) to compare the opinions of basketball coaches with those of football coaches. One-hundred and thirty-nine coaches responded to a questionnaire that included statements asking for information concerning the establishment and administration of team rules, regulations, and penalties applying to the areas of alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, curfew, attendance at practices and games, dress and appearance standards, and participation in recreational activities. It was found that the coaches were of the opinion that team rules and regulations were important in high school athletics. It was also found that regardless of the classification of the school, the sport, or the number of years of experience that the coaches had, the responses of the coaches were very much similar, with only minor degrees of variation in responses to some of the questions.

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