200,000 voluntary coaches ensure that the large investments in sports facilities in the UK are effectively used and that the athletes experience a healthy life. In a socioeconomic period in which volunteering may be diminishing, more coaches to successfully implement the national strategy for sport. Yet very little is known about how individuals, in particular parents, decide to become voluntary coaches. The research set out to test if a quantitative model could represent such a decision process. It formulates a model of the process and tests the model against field data. From Social Exchange Theory, a conceptual model was developed of the decision process to enter a coach education programme. It was clear that the process was multi-dimensional. The research then showed how this multi-dimensional conceptual model could be mathematically represented by a logistic regression model. Published work on volunteering, sport and coaching was reviewed. From this literature review, a set of potential explanatory variables was obtained which previous researchers had suggested to be involved in decision processes involving volunteering and coaching. Hypotheses were made for these potential explanatory variables. Data was collected by personal interview of a sample of 112 individuals associated with athletics in the UK. The sample was taken from qualified, voluntary athletic coaches, from adult members of two amateur athletic clubs, and from parents of children in these clubs. The building of the logistic regression model showed the relative importance of each of the explanatory variables to the decision process. It also showed whether or not variables were independent or associated with another variable. Tests were conducted to indicate how well the mathematical model fitted the data and, hence, how well the conceptual model represented the sample. The use of logistic regression allowed the potential explanatory variables to be ranked in order of influence on the decision to become a coach. It also allowed the hypotheses to be tested. Qualitative information was also obtained from the interviews. These allowed the logistic regression model to be triangulated. The qualitative data gave further insights into the perceptions of adults, especially parents, and of coaches. It also indicated the key events which triggered a decision to coach. The logistic regression model provided a satisfactory fit to the data indicating the adequacy of the conceptual model. It indicates that the two genders have differing sets of significant explanatory variables. Some variables were found to be more complex than suggested by the published literature, others to be non linear and some not significant. The degree of fit suggested that one or more unknown, but significant, variables still need to be identified. The research suggests how the models could be improved and developed. There are implications for the future recruitment, training and retention of voluntary athletic coaches. By extension, the conceptual and mathematical models can be adapted for other adult education decision processes where the choice of course is voluntary.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. )

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Physical Education, Health, and Sport Studies, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-68).

Sports clubs today are exposed to multiple, sometimes contradictory, forces and expectations. This study is about sports coaches and their problems with and experiences of multiple institutional logics in Swedish sports. The aim of the study was therefore to provide further knowledge about the relationship between sports coaches’ leadership and institutional complexity. The study focused on the context of football in northern Sweden. The research questions that were examined were about institutional pressures, legitimacy, institutional logics, sports clubs’ impact and coaches’ strategies to manage institutional complexity. The data was collected through the means of qualitative interviews with 12 active football coaches. The results showed that the football coaches experience multiple institutional pressures and legitimacy claims. The coaches engage with 4 different coexisting institutional logics depending on the situation. Despite the fact that the institutional complexity is institutionalized in the context, it is sometimes viewed as problematic due to lack of control and support by the sports clubs. This indicated that the coaches are relatively autonomous and free to plan the activities as they wish and pursue the goals they see appropriate. Furthermore, the sports clubs have an important role in helping the coaches manage the institutional complexity and provide guidelines.

The starting point for this study was when as a specialist physical education teacher working in a school, I undertook a part-time inservice B. Ed degree and wrote a dissertation comparing the systems of physical education in the USSR and in England and Wales. I made one visit in 1979 to Moscow but, otherwise, had to rely heavily upon Western sources of material owing to my lack of knowledge of Russian and the difficulty in obtaining primary source material. I discovered that virtually no profound study in English had been made of children's physical education in one of the world's largest and most important countries. Yet since the early 1950s, the USSR has been one of the leading sporting nations in international competitions. For many years I have been interested in comparative physical education and, helped by my background of foreign languages' study at school, have visited schools in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and Israel, as well as the USSR. In 1981, I began work as a university lecturer with responsibilities for teacher training and started to gather information for this thesis for which I had to learn Russian, helped by staff at the Centre for Modern Languages at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. During several study visits to the USSR, I visited 1981 - Two weeks sports study tour to Moscowt Leningrad and Minsk. 1983 - Four weeks in Leningrad. 1985 - Six weeks in Moscow, Leningrad and Brest on a British Council Travel Scholarship. USSR Ministry of Education Offices, teacher training institutions, schools, sports schools and other sports institutions, interviewed officials, lecturers, teachers, students and pupils and observed lectures, lessons and training sessions. In addition, I gathered text books, syllabuses and journals and, after several years of research and study visits, set out to describe and examine all aspects of Soviet children's physical education from preschool to school-leaving age as well as the training of their teachers and coaches. It has been necessary to describe the whole physical education system since it is a more complex series of activities in and out of school than what we in England and Wales, understand as physical education, that is, lessons in school. Descriptions are fairly extensive since readers are unlikely to be able to read the sources in Russian for themselves or to make their own visits. Because the concept of physical education in the USSR is so different compared to our own, and because its structure is determined by the state of development and needs of Soviet society, a background description of the country and education system is given in Chapter I and an explanation of the development of Soviet sport and physical education in Chapter II. The concepts of Soviet physical culture, sport and physical education are different to our own and are explained. Soviet terminology in direct translation is used, for example, school physical education programmes, but physical culture lessons and teachers to emphasise the different concepts which are employed. The aims, methods and reasons behind the system of physical education for Soviet children are described and analysed and the theory and practice of its implementation have been investigated through primary sources - syllabuses, visits, observations. and interviews. The effectiveness of physical education for all Soviet children is discussed and some cross-cultural comparisons are made. Finally, suggestions are put to physical educators in England and Wales on how this study might be useful to them when considering changes in their own physical education system.

Dissertation (Ed.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Diane Gill; submitted to the Dept. of Exercise and Sport Science. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Apr. 13, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-145).

The starting point for this study was when as a specialist physical education teacher working in a school, I undertook a part-time inservice B. Ed degree and wrote a dissertation comparing the systems of physical education in the USSR and in England and Wales. I made one visit in 1979 to Moscow but, otherwise, had to rely heavily upon Western sources of material owing to my lack of knowledge of Russian and the difficulty in obtaining primary source material. I discovered that virtually no profound study in English had been made of children's physical education in one of the world's largest and most important countries. Yet since the early 1950s, the USSR has been one of the leading sporting nations in international competitions. For many years I have been interested in comparative physical education and, helped by my background of foreign languages' study at school, have visited schools in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria and Israel, as well as the USSR. In 1981, I began work as a university lecturer with responsibilities for teacher training and started to gather information for this thesis for which I had to learn Russian, helped by staff at the Centre for Modern Languages at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. During several study visits to the USSR, I visited 1981 - Two weeks sports study tour to Moscowt Leningrad and Minsk. 1983 - Four weeks in Leningrad. 1985 - Six weeks in Moscow, Leningrad and Brest on a British Council Travel Scholarship. USSR Ministry of Education Offices, teacher training institutions, schools, sports schools and other sports institutions, interviewed officials, lecturers, teachers, students and pupils and observed lectures, lessons and training sessions. In addition, I gathered text books, syllabuses and journals and, after several years of research and study visits, set out to describe and examine all aspects of Soviet children's physical education from preschool to school-leaving age as well as the training of their teachers and coaches. It has been necessary to describe the whole physical education system since it is a more complex series of activities in and out of school than what we in England and Wales, understand as physical education, that is, lessons in school. Descriptions are fairly extensive since readers are unlikely to be able to read the sources in Russian for themselves or to make their own visits. Because the concept of physical education in the USSR is so different compared to our own, and because its structure is determined by the state of development and needs of Soviet society, a background description of the country and education system is given in Chapter I and an explanation of the development of Soviet sport and physical education in Chapter II. The concepts of Soviet physical culture, sport and physical education are different to our own and are explained. Soviet terminology in direct translation is used, for example, school physical education programmes, but physical culture lessons and teachers to emphasise the different concepts which are employed. The aims, methods and reasons behind the system of physical education for Soviet children are described and analysed and the theory and practice of its implementation have been investigated through primary sources - syllabuses, visits, observations. and interviews. The effectiveness of physical education for all Soviet children is discussed and some cross-cultural comparisons are made. Finally, suggestions are put to physical educators in England and Wales on how this study might be useful to them when considering changes in their own physical education system.

The research was motivated by social workers’ need to develop additional resources to address the problems of adolescents in disadvantaged communities. The main goal was to explore mentors as a potential resource. More specifically whether sports coaches could be considered natural mentors in terms of the social support they provided to their adolescent players. The types of social support the literature ascribed to mentors were used to analyze the experiences of a sample of 10coaches and 63 adolescents drawn from six schools. The data was gathered through individual interviews with coaches and single focus groups with the adolescents. The findings suggested sports coaches were competent to provide guidance on certain moral, social and educational topics in a group mentoring situation as well as one on one mentoring to individual cases as part of a multi disciplinary team. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Sciences (Mental Health))

The research was motivated by social workers’ need to develop additional resources to address the problems of adolescents in disadvantaged communities. The main goal was to explore mentors as a potential resource. More specifically whether sports coaches could be considered natural mentors in terms of the social support they provided to their adolescent players. The types of social support the literature ascribed to mentors were used to analyze the experiences of a sample of 10coaches and 63 adolescents drawn from six schools. The data was gathered through individual interviews with coaches and single focus groups with the adolescents. The findings suggested sports coaches were competent to provide guidance on certain moral, social and educational topics in a group mentoring situation as well as one on one mentoring to individual cases as part of a multi disciplinary team. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Sciences (Mental Health))

La presente investigación es de corte cuantitativo cuyo objetivo de estudio fue relacionar el burnout y los factores psicosociales laborales en 131 entrenadores deportivos de Lima y Huancayo, cuyas edades oscilan entre los 23 y 69 años. El diseño de investigación fue no experimental transversal de nivel correlacional, para lo cual se utilizó el inventario de Maslach Burnout para entrenadores deportivos y el cuestionario de Factores Psicosociales Laborales. Para la obtención de resultados se realizó un análisis de regresión múltiple en la que se evidenció que el factor predictor del burnout es contenido y características de la tarea. También se compararon las variables en función a una serie de características propias del entrenador deportivo, tales como el nivel de educación, satisfacción con el sueldo y el tipo de trabajo, los cuales arrojaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas. En función a ello, se determinó que el desgaste emocional y la percepción de reducida realización personal están asociadas a la remuneración del rendimiento y las exigencias laborales a las cuales está sometido el entrenador en su dinámica cotidiana. / The present research is quantitative in nature and the aim of the study is to relate the burnout and psychosocial factors at work in 131 sports coaches from Lima and Huancayo, the ages range between 23 and 69 years. The research design was a non-experimental cross-sectional correlational level, for which the Maslach Burnout inventory for sports coaches and the Occupational Psychosocial Factors questionnaire were used. To obtain results, a multiple regression analysis was carried out, in which it was evidenced that the predictor of burnout is content and characteristics of the task. Variables are also compared based on a series of characteristics of the sports coach, such as level of education, satisfaction with salary and type of work, which yielded statistically significant differences. Based on this, it was determined that emotional exhaustion and the perception of reduced personal fulfillment are associated with the remuneration of performance and the work demands to which the worker is subjected in their daily dynamics. / Tesis