Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Situations: High-Performance Head Hockey Coaches who Played Goal

Using archival analysis and interviews this study examined the career pathways, learning experiences, and athletic experiences of 11 high-performance head hockey coaches who played goal in ice hockey. Guided by the learning situations discussed in Wright, Trudel, and Culver (2007) the interviews revealed four important learning experiences common to all the coaches: coach interactions, books and videotapes, coach clinics and academic education, and experiences related to playing and coaching. Like Werthner and Trudel (2009) the results indicated that certain similarities aside, each coach’s career pathway is idiosyncratic with elite athletic experience being an important, but not imperative, aspect of high-performance coaches’ career development. The findings provide insight into how these individuals acquired their coaching knowledge and provide a more complete picture of the developmental pathways associated with becoming a high-performance head hockey coach. Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Experiences 1 Chapter One: Introduction Within any profession, leadership is an essential determinant in the practicality of the field. Sport coaches play an important role in helping athletes develop and succeed in the sporting world (McNabb, 1990). The highly dynamic and complex sport environment contributes to the wide range of role responsibilities involved in a coach’s tasks (Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2003). When searching for a head coach many important attributes must be taken into account by team administrators. These might include, but are not limited to, coach education, playing experience, coaching experience, and past coaching success. Among these, previous athletic experience seems to be a critical factor when seeking a head coach (Carter & Bloom, 2009). Having reviewed the work of Erickson, Côté, and Fraser-Thomas (2007), Salmela (1994), and Werthner and Trudel (2009) it appears that a lack of athletic experiences could be a hindrance to the development of a coaching career. Although some coaches who lack athletic experiences have bucked the trend of not being able to coach at a level they could not reach as an athlete (Carter & Bloom, 2009) limited evidence exists as to whether playing a specific position influences an athlete’s chance of being appointed as a head coach. With the exception of Grusky’s (1963) Theory of Formal Structure which focused on baseball managers, there is little empirical evidence of the career pathways of high-performance coaches; in particular, of those who become head coaches of high performance hockey teams. Presently a high-performance hockey team is typically comprised of a roster that has approximately 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders. With this in mind one would expect that there should be fewer high-performance head hockey coaches who formerly played goal in proportion to those who played other positions. Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Experiences 2 According to Kidd and MacFarlane (1972) hockey is more than a game, it is a Canadian institution. As an institution, hockey is worthy of study to understand its true significance (Roy 1974). As a result, this basic interpretive qualitative study employed a constructivist lens to examine the pathways of current head hockey coaches who had, as athletes specifically played goal. Through archival research and semi-structured interviews, the career pathways, learning situations, and athletic experiences of a selection of high performance head coaches working with teams ranging from the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJAHL) to the National Hockey League (NHL) were investigated. Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Experiences 3 Chapter Two: Conceptual Framework The study examined the pathways of high-performance head hockey coaches who formerly played goal. The primary research areas that informed this investigation were coaching research that pertains to defining the coaching context, career pathways, coach learning, and position played in relation to coaching opportunities. First, an examination of the confusion regarding the terms elite, expert, and high-performance coach will be given. Second, studies pertaining to coach pathways will be presented. Third, a review of the coach learning literature will develop a framework for a sub-section which will discuss athletic experience as a key learning situation for high-performance coaches. Finally, studies written about how the position within a team affords coaching opportunities will be discussed. The Confusion Regarding the Terms Elite-Expert-High Performance Coach Numerous studies have been conducted to identify what constitutes a good coach. There have also been a number of conceptual models developed that have been founded on coaching research to define elite and expert coaches (e.g., Côté, Salmela, Trudel, Baria, & Russell, 1995; Lyle, 2002). Additionally, numerous definitions and criteria have been established to characterize expert, elite, and high-performance coaches. Unfortunately, this has led to confusion in the literature as to the precise definition of each term. A common research practice is to view coaches as expert based primarily on the performance of their athletes and the number of years of coaching experience (Wiman, Salmoni, & Hall, 2010). For example, Côté et al. (1995) defined an expert gymnastics coach as one who had at least ten years of coaching experience, coached at the provincial level or higher, developed at least one international athlete or two national athletes, and was recognized by the national association as a coach who develops elite athletes. Hardin (2000) defined expert high Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Experiences 4 school level coaches as having at least five years of coaching experience, having a record where at least 70% of competitions were won, holding two or more playoff titles, being recognized by their peers as an outstanding coach, and holding leadership roles via coach training clinics. Another view presented by Côté & Gilbert (2009) is that expert coaches are able to demonstrate coaching effectiveness on a consistent basis. Such effectiveness is defined as “the consistent application of integrated professional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge to improve athlete’s competence, confidence, connection, and character in specific coaching contexts” (Côté & Gilbert, 2009, p. 316). Bloom, Durand-Bush, and Salmela (1997) contend that in the coaching literature the difference between the expressions elites and expert coaches is not always clear because both terms have been used to identify research participants selected using similar criteria. According to Lemyre, Trudel, and Durand-Bush (2007) Generally speaking, elite coaches tends to refer to coaches involved at the higher coaching level, the other being the recreational and the developmental-performance levels. Expert coaches describes a characteristic of the coaches and is often used to contrast with novice coaches. Three of the most common criteria used to select expert coaches are the coach’s winning record, involvement at the national and international level, and 10 years or 10,000 hr of coaching experiences. When these criteria are used, all expert coaches are elite coaches, but not all elite coaches are expert coaches. (p. 206) The definitions of elite and high-performance coaches have also been used interchangeably in the literature. In general, the term elite coach refers to those coaches who are involved with athletes at highly competitive levels (i.e. above the recreational and developmental-performance levels) (Lemyre, Trudel, & Durand-Bush, 2007). According to Gilbert, Côté, and Mallett (2006) Examining Coach Pathways and Learning Experiences 5 coaches working at elite levels of competition (i.e. college) may specialize in fewer sports than coaches of recreation or developmental sport (i.e. high school). Additionally, elite coaches typically work full-time coaching, have athlete selection criteria that are demanding and restrictive as well as public performance objectives, and operate within a highly structured and formalized competition system (Gilbert et al., 2006). High-performance coaches undertake many tasks that are related to producing winning performances in elite international competition, something which involves the highest levels of commitment by the coach and athletes in order to achieve public performance goals through participation in intensive planning, training and competition (Côté et al., 1995; Trudel & Gilbert, 2006). Furthermore, the “highly structured formalised environment increasingly requires that high-performance coaches work as coaches preferably on a full-time basis” (Mallett, 2010, p. 120). All coaches from the junior hockey level to the NHL fit the description of both an elite coach and a high-performance coach because they undertake many tasks and roles, have the highest levels of commitment, and work as coaches on a full-time basis. Since it is recommended by Hockey Canada (2013) that a coach at the junior level or higher must hold a HighPerformance 1 certificate, the term high-performance will be applied to the coaches who will be investigated.