Evaluation of two coaching education programs: measuring effects of content and instruction on novice youth soccer coaches

Coaching education programs, both non-sport specific and sport specific, have been developed by a number of sponsoring agencies. The purpose of these coaching education programs is to develop coaching competencies leading to safe programs that foster skill development, positive social-emotional development, and enjoyment. Little research has been done to support these claims.

The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze the content of one non-sport specific and one sport specific (soccer) coaching education program, (2) assess novice coaches' knowledge base and specific coaching behaviors prior to participating in a coaching education program, (3) assess novice coaches' knowledge base and specific coaching behaviors after participating in a coaching education program, and (4) contrast the differences that exist between generic and sport specific coaching education programs to determine if the coaching education programs actually influence novice youth soccer coaches to change their behaviors and does this change reflect the content that was delivered in the course they took part in.

Eight novice youth soccer coaches of boys and girls aged 6-12 were assigned to one of two coaching education groups. A descriptive profile of each coach was established using videotape analysis, field notes, and interviews. The Instructional Observation System for Analyzing Coaching Performance (IOSACP) was utilized to assess pre and post coaching education practice behaviors. Results were analyzed following a pretest-posttest design.

Pre-intervention analysis demonstrated the novice soccer coaches as a group possessed little soccer content knowledge, had limited pedagogical content knowledge, and had little understanding of what ought to be done in a youth soccer context. The non-sport specific coaching education course was delivered as designed and was presented in a three hour lecture/discussion format. This course provided sound philosophical and structural coaching information but no content knowledge and little pedagogical information. The content presented did not influence the participants to change their practice behavior.

The five hour sport specific coaching education course, delivered in both a lecture and field based format was not delivered as designed. It provided more specific soccer content knowledge through a field based component that tied the content and the philosophy of coaching youth soccer together. This was deemed sound and this combination led to this group of coaches to change their practice structure and delivery. This change was based on the philosophy and soccer coaching content delivered in the course. The coaches’ pedagogical skills did change slightly but the changes cannot be attributed to the pedagogical content delivered in this course. The major difference between these two courses was the field based content knowledge component that was presented in the sport specific course. This component had a direct impact on the coaches that participated in the sport specific coaching education course as they completely changed the structure for conducting a youth soccer practice. This change represented the content delivered in the coaching education program.