Coaching quality and coach education: the impact of the internet. A case study for archery

Woodcock, Bryan (2024) Coaching quality and coach education: the impact of the internet. A case study for archery. Masters by Research thesis (MPhil), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

National governance of sports policy has developed internet-based platforms to promote, deliver and inform all sports at all levels. Such practice has been commonplace since about 2017 and has been increasingly relied upon since this time. Archery GB, the National Governing Body for Archery in the United Kingdom, alongside other sport governing bodies, adopted and supported this approach seeking to place elements of its coach qualification courses and most of its coach education, knowledge, learning and support online. With the emergence of Covid-19 and the restrictions placed on sport, the move to put the coach education content and delivery online hastened the urgency of hosting and transferring all their coaching programmes onto internet platforms to be rapidly deployed. This strategy is evaluated in this research using a mixed method research design through interviews and questionnaires with Archery GB coaches at all levels. The data were generated between 2020 and 2022 and analysed using the Realistic Evaluation framework of Pawson and Tilley (1997). The findings show that archery coaches used and consulted the internet and its various platforms for coaching related information and that for many coaches this may not be the ideal platform through which to provide the level of learning or knowledge that is required to enable a coach to be the best that they can be. Other outcomes explored in this thesis concern the levels of connection through the internet, how the internet is used by archery coaches, their preferred way of learning and suggestions for future research in this area.