Attitudes and insights of Free State Swimming coaches towards scientific coaching principles

[摘要] English: Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes and insights ofswimming coaches in the Free State Aquatics region towards scientific coachingprinciples. A comparison between performance coaches and participant coaches'scientific coaching principles to improve performance or participation levels inswimming were recorded.Methods: This study was done by sampling data via quantitative research (i.e. aquestionnaire). All swimming coaches who were at least 18 years old, regardless oftheir level of qualification, affiliated or not with Free State Aquatics, were invited toparticipate in the study. A questionnaire was compiled using data from variousresearch sources. All coaches were categorised into a participant or performancecoach.The researcher captured data from the data forms to Microsoft Excel. A statisticianconducted further analysis using SAS Version 9.1.3. Frequencies and percentageswere calculated for categorical data. For numerical data, where data were evenlydistributed, means and standard deviations were calculated. Medians andpercentiles were calculated where data were not normally distributed. The Student'sT-test was used to compare mean values between the two groups, whereas theKruskal-Wallis test was used to compare median values. The appropriate p-valuesand/or confidence intervals were reported. For the dependent data, the mean ormedian differences were calculated within the groups. The Student's T-test, orWilcoxon signed rank test, was used to test for significant median differences. AFischer Exact test was used to test for significant frequency differences. Asignificance level of p �?0.05 was used throughout the research study.Results: Seventy one percent of the participant coaches and 29% of theperformance coaches participated in the research study. Out of a total of 42participants (coaches), 21% were male and 79% were female.An alarming result was that 36% of coaches had no qualifications in swimmingcoaching whatsoever, but are currently involved in coaching. Almost half (46.7%) ofthe participants have no swimming coaching qualification, while 41.7% of theperformance coaches only have a 'Learn to Swim' qualification. Only 23.8% of allcoaches (participant and performance coaches) are registered with SSA, which iscompulsory. Therefore, 76.2% of all coaches are not compliant with SSA rules andregulations pertaining to a coach.As expected, performance coaches rated professional knowledge (50%) andinterpersonal knowledge (58.4%) as very important. This differs from participantcoaches who indicated that professional knowledge (50%) was important to them.Performance coaches preferred learning methods through internal learning (75%)and unmediated learning (58.4%). Participant coaches reported that internallearning (56.7%) and mediated learning (40%) were their preferred learningmethods.Differences between performance and participant coaches' characteristics arepassion and enthusiasm and love for the sport, as demonstrated by performancecoaches. This is contradictory to the main goal of participant coaches who wouldlike to instil an element of fun in swimming, in order for the swimmers to gain passionand enthusiasm and ideally love for the sport so that they continue with swimming.In comparison, a participant coach's role as a friend differed significantly fromperformance coaches (p = 0.0437). This coincides with their strategy of integratingprofessional and personal life while coaching. There was no significant differencebetween participant and performance coaches with regard to the multi-disciplinaryinvolvement in performance improvement.Conclusions: It is alarming that almost half of the current swimming coaches haveno qualifications at all. SSA and FSA must enforce stricter rules and regulationsregarding coaching, so that all coaches have the minimum qualification in relation totheir level of coaching. Various learning methods must be employed to developnumerous knowledge components to achieve optimal scientific coaching.

[发布机构] University of the Free State