3 Resilience in action: resilient coaches
You should now be able to build a picture up of what a resilient individual in sport might look like. In Activity 4 you’ll look further at what a resilient coach might look like by hearing from one of the leading academics in this field and his co-researcher.
Activity 4 Exploring coach resilience
Timing: Allow approximately 30 minutes
First, watch ‘Coach resilience (Part 1)’, which introduces research by Sarkar and Hilton (2020) exploring resilience in swimming coaches.
Download this video clip.Video player: Coach resilience (Part 1)
Transcript: Coach resilience (Part 1)
NATHAN HILTON:
I'm Nathan Hilton. I'm the Director of Coaching at Nova Centurion in Nottingham. And I've been involved in research around psychological resilience at Nottingham Trent University. Focus on your work off the walls on that 200. The 50s, what we're going to do, we're going to go faster 15, 20, 25.
My MS was around the theme of psychological resilience in elite swimming coaches. And I was fortunate enough to work with Mustafa Sarkar during collecting the data and developing the paper that we worked on together. Maybe after each set, just change your lane, so they all get a chance. So maybe–
MUSTAFA SARKAR:
I'm Dr. Mustafa Sarkar. I'm an Associate Professor of Sport and Performance Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. My main area of research looks at the psychology of sporting excellence. And in particular, I'm interested in individual, team and organisational resilience in elite sport and the application of resilience to other high-performance domains, such as business.
NATHAN HILTON:
And they can see what they're doing, and then they're going off on the next rep.
MUSTAFA SARKAR:
Resilience is important to study in sport because it helps us to understand why some individuals are able to withstand the pressures of competitive sport and attain peak performances, whereas others succumb to the demands and underperform.
[TEXT ON SCREEN
Research Focus]
A lot of the research has typically focused on resilience in athletes. But there's been very, very little research looking at resilience in coaches. And we identified, or we know, that coaches are performers in their own right. They are helping athletes on a daily basis, on a weekly basis to perform at their best. And coaches themselves face numerous stressors and pressures in their own coaching career.
[TEXT ON SCREEN
Research Methods]
NATHAN HILTON
There was five coaches, four males and one female. And they all had won Olympic medals, so it was quite an elite, well, we termed it super-elite, cohort of people.
MUSTAFA SARKAR
In this study, we utilised two interviews over a period of time in line with the longitudinal approach, which suggests that resilience can change over a period of time. The majority of research on resilience actually just are single interviews at one particular time point. So we extended on this by doing two interviews over two periods of time across the course of a swimming season.
We conducted one interview in September 2016 which was just post the Rio Olympics. And we also conducted one interview in April 2017, which was just before the World Championship Selection Trials. So that allowed us to understand those changes and stressors, but also the changes in protective factors that coaches use to help manage some of those stressors.
[TEXT ON SCREEN
Research Findings]
In terms of the results, there were three main categories that we identified. Firstly, we identified the stressors, the coach stressors that were experienced. We also identified six protective factors, which were the psychological qualities that protected coaches from the potential negative effects of those stressors. And we also identified various factors that coaches use to develop resilience in athletes as well.
NATHAN HILTON
Within the findings around the coach stressors, there was four higher order themes. The first one was managing the Olympic environment. And that really described either the coaches having maybe failed at an Olympic games in terms either as an athlete or a coach or on Olympic trials, but then also the stressors associated with working within that environment when they're at those competitions.
The second area was preparation for major events. And that really was around describing things that potentially could go wrong. So as an example, somebody may get ill the year before the Olympic games, not swim that well at the major meet that year, but actually could rebound and come back really well at the Olympics.
The third one was coach personal wellbeing. And that's pretty self-explanatory. It was a stressor for the coach is that being able to find the balance between maintaining their work life, but also balance around their physical and mental wellbeing.
And then the last higher order theme was directing an organisation. And that really described how the coaches work to manage the environment that they were operating within at any given time whether that be in a club setting or national centre or working for the governing body.
MUSTAFA SARKAR
One aspect of the study was to identify the protective factor that coaches utilise. And protective factors refer to the psychological qualities that enabled coaches to withstand the pressures that they experienced. So in terms of the six protective factors, the first one was progressive coaching. The second protective factor referred to the coaching support network.
The third protective factor was about maintaining a work–life balance. The fourth protective factor was about creating a secure working environment. The fifth protective factor was about maintaining durable motivation. And then finally the sixth protective factor was about effective decision making.
NATHAN HILTON
One of the things that we identified within the paper was that coaches probably needed some education around those topic areas, so they're actually able to manage those stressors and put things within day to day practice that are going to protect them and be able to withstand those stressors.
So I think for my mind, really, it's quite interesting that there's things that you are able to do that are actually going to help you and probably prolong your coaching career or practitioner career, however you want to look at it. You could look at it in the context of whatever domain you work in, there's things that you can do within your day to day life or your day to day practice that you are able to withstand those stressors and become probably more effective at what you do.
Coach resilience (Part 1)
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Now, having watched the video, answer the following questions:
- What was the aim of the research and why did the researchers feel that coach resilience was an important area to study?
- What were the key findings of the research?
- The research examined ‘super-elite’ Olympic medal-winning coaches. Do you think any of the stressors or protective factors identified in the findings could be applied to non-elite coaches?
- Can you recognise some of the features described in yourself (if you are a coach or teacher) or in coaches that you know?
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Discussion
- Dr Sarkar highlighted that coaches are performers in their own right and they will face numerous stresses and pressures in their own coaching career. As such, it was argued that it was important to understand coach resilience from two angles: how coaches can enhance their own resilience and how can they develop resilience in their athletes.
- There were three main findings identified in the research:
- a.four themes of stressors experienced by the coaches
- b.six themes of protective factors (the psychological qualities that protected coaches against the potential negative effects of these stressors)
- c.factors that coaches used to develop resilience in athletes.
- You may have reflected that several of the stressors and/or protective factors could be applied to non-elite coaches. For example, of the stressors identified, you may have considered that coach wellbeing would apply to any level of coach and that there would be an element of managing an organisation, albeit perhaps on a different scale. For example, a coach might have assistants and volunteers working with them that they manage.
In terms of the protective factors, non-elite coaches could take a progressive approach, try to maintain a work–life balance and have a focus on motivation and effective decision-making. However, a non-elite coach might not always have access to a coach support network nor function in a secure work environment.
- You may have reflected on a number of the research findings, including any potential stressors that you might face in your role or perhaps some protective factors (psychological qualities) that you recognise in coaches that you have observed. For example, you may have reflected that coaches/teachers you work with have a real love for their role, with clear enjoyment – evidence of intrinsic motivation (part of durable motivation).
So far you have considered what a resilient athlete and coach might look like, but would these features apply to a team situation? You will explore team resilience in the next section.