Abstract
Research has shown that there is a high turnover of sport coaches in South Africa, yet there has been relatively little attention paid to the barriers and hindrances encountered by sport coaches. The purpose of this study was to examine barriers and hindrances experienced by such coaches in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.
A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to 224 (122 males and 102 females) sport coaches. The Perceived Hindrance Scale (PHS), Reasons for Entering and Leaving the Coaching Profession Questionnaire (RELCPQ), Coach Motivation Scale (CMS) and Coaching Education Questionnaire (CEQ) were used to collect quantitative data. In addition, two focus groups, consisting of five participants each, were conducted. The participants were selected on the basis that they had been coaching for at least five years.
The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used to analyse the quantitative data. Statistical methods such as means, standard deviations, frequencies, percentages, t-test and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to analyse data. The level of significance was set at 0.05. On the other hand, qualitative data were analysed thematically. This method involved generating initial codes, reading and re-reading the transcripts and summarising raw data in order to identify emerging and meaningful themes.
The results of this study indicated the following as major barriers and hindrances encountered by these coaches: "Lack of support systems for women players", "Lack of support for women coaches from superiors", "Low salary", "Lack of opportunities for promotion", "Difficulties with parents/spectators" and “Lack of job security”. Additionally, arising from the thematic analysis of the focus group interviews, interference from management, pressure to win, lack of resources and parental pressure were identified as major barriers and hindrances encountered by such coaches. In an attempt to overcome these barriers and hindrances, a sport...
M.Phil. (Sport Science)