Health and well-being of sports coaches: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of swim coaches

Abstract

Full-time sports coaches face a unique, challenging, and constantly changing work environment. Understanding the experiences and perceptions of individual coaches is paramount to appreciating the implications of the profession on a coach's behavior and ultimately their health and well-being.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis is to understand in-depth the individual perceptions and experiences of health and well-being for swim coaches. METHODS: Six focus groups were conducted at an annual worldwide swim coaching clinic. Twenty-three participants, aged 23-70,were asked a series of open-ended questions to gain a better understanding of participants' experiences, perceptions, and beliefs related to health and well being in their profession. Questions aimed to address three research questions:(1) How do swim coaches perceive their health and well-being? (2) What are the lived experiences of swim coaches pertaining to health and well-being? (3) If a coach was a former athlete, how are health and well-being experienced in coaching? All audio files were transcribed verbatim and coded separately by 3 coders. The 3 coders thoroughly discussed each transcript before coming to consensus on finalized codes and developing major and sub themes.

FINDINGS: A number of major themes emerged including the notion that (1) coaches experience many challenges in maintaining their health, (2) there is a steady decline in health and well-being from being a former athlete to current career state, (3) coaches expressed a desire for change in the form of better benefits, research on divorce and drinking rates, and culture changes, and (4) coaching was not their first career choice but they coach for the love of it.

DISCUSSION: Swim coaches have a complex occupation that directly influences their health and well-being. Many coaches expressed interest in learning how to improve their health and well-being suggesting that targeted programming on the topic could be quite popular. The findings presented here can be instrumental in the development of such programs and motivating professional organizations to support such endeavors.