Practitioner reflective practice: Informing coach education

Citation

Gazetas G, Gillott AM & Macdonald S (2025) Practitioner reflective practice: Informing coach education. International Council for Coaching Excellence 15th Global Coach Conference, Athens, Greece, 20.11.2025-23.11.2025.

Abstract
There is an ongoing debate and often scepticism regarding how findings in academic research in coach education can find practical application and acceptance in the multi-dimensional, complex, often nuanced reality of coaching practice. Adventure sports coaching domains where dominant parameters such as those of everchanging, dynamic physical and social environments together with the fact that coaches often perform alongside their student-participants can be particular examples where coach education, traditionally driven by research sometimes bears little relation to the reality that practitioners experience. This presentation will demonstrate how the utilization of practitioners’ real-life experiences and reflexivity offers priceless opportunities to be a potent catalyst for the design of better adventure sports coach education programs as well as inform academic research via particular research methods. Drawing from an experience of over 15 years of sea kayak guiding while thinking, reflecting and journaling as a coach, the author has channelled reflective accounts and memories through the methods of evocative autoethnography (Bochner & Ellis, 2016) and creative non-fiction to explore how the practitioners’ viewpoint can inform adventure sports coach education and support sea kayak guides/leaders enriching their professional judgement and decision making (Martindale & Collins, 2013). In this light and a narrower focal point, this presentation will demonstrate the power of an (auto)ethnographic approach to identify and distill core coaching themes to inform workshops that support adventure sports guides/leaders.