The Impact Of A Mentor In a Non-formal Coach Development Programme Within a County Age Group Cricket Programme

As the provision of coaching within sports increases, the development of coaches has seen greater levels of research as well as a greater level of critique. Whilst the provision of coach development is focused on organisationally controlled formal coach development methods, research highlights that nonformal and informal coach development programmes have the potential to offer more to a coach in comparison to standardised coach development. Also, the presence of a mentor with coach development has seen wider attention within research. Empirically, mentors are seen to provide support for coach development however, the extent of this support is minimal. Therefore, this study looks to build on this research and provide empirical data to support the development of coaching outside of formalised education. 3 coaches worked with a mentor from a county cricket pathway environment over an 8-week non-formal coach education programme to assess the impact of the development environment as well as the impact of the mentor on the development made by coaches on the programme. After reviewing 360-review feedback obtained pre and post-programme, as well as weekly coaching conversations with the mentor and research assistant, all coaches displayed improvements towards their self-discovered goals. From the qualitative data and the thematic analysis that was completed, it was found that the coaches benefitted from the programme but highlighted time, individuality and further engagement as factors affecting their learning on the programme, as well as the programme acting as a great start to their development. In its current state, the study provides a good insight into the use of coach development and the support of a mentor, justifying the promotion of coach development programmes outside of organised coach education to enhance coaching but identifying the need for further research to fully understand the effects on coach development.