The Lived Experiences of School Coaches Towards Gender-Sensitive Coaching Standards

Coaching is a tough and demanding profession that plays a vital role in the development of student-athletes physically and psychologically. Coaches fulfill the roles of a teacher, parent, mentor, competitor, friend, and guidance counselor. It is a multi-task responsibility that helps coaches evolve to become more pedagogical, sensitive, and technical in the needs of the program and of the student-athletes. This study was conducted to describe the lived experiences of school coaches in coaching student athletes and in coming up with a gender-sensitive coaching standards. This study used a qualitative descriptive approach for data collection and analysis. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. In the course of the interview, eight (8) participants were engaged in a semi structured interviews which they described their personal experiences in sport coaching. The recorded interview was transcribed into texts and analyzed. From the analysis of transcribed texts, three (3) research questions (RQ) were characterized by emerging themes and sub-themes. RQ 1 has five main themes namely: (a) Coaching as a Display of Character: Be Yourself, (b) Coaching as a Challenging Profession: Challenges Out. . . Solutions In!, (c) Coaching as a Rewarding Profession: Beyond MVP, (4) Coaching as an Embracing Profession: Self-discovery, (5) Coaching Towards a Successful Sports Program: Proactive Moves. RQ 2 has four (4) main themes such as: (a) Coaching as Planning: For the Win, (b) Coaching as Leading: Shoot and Rebound, (c) Coaching as Organizing, Coaching as Controlling: Model the Model. RQ 3 has three (3) main themes, (a) Gender and Coaching: Holistic Approach, (b) Gender and Relationship: Finding Self-worth, (c) Gender and Discrimination: Foul Ball. Based on the themes, a coaching standard was proposed - Win-Win Strategy: A Gender Sensitive Coaching Standard.

The study concluded that the gender-sensitive coaching standards contains unique features that would help coaches become reliable and respectful in the field of sports. Likewise, management practices were highlighted and challenges were identified among women, openly gay and lesbian coaches. Furthermore, the study recommended the adoption of the gender-sensitive coaching standards of every school, provate and public, basic education institutions and higher education institutions. This study can also be used by future researchers in conducting further studies that deal on gender equality in sports.