Drivers for change: reflective practice to enhance creativity in sports coaches

ABSTRACT

Reflective practice has become a standard component of coach development programmes, almost taken for granted. This research examines the links between long-term reflective learning and the application to, and the ongoing effect on, coaching practice. Twelve elite sport coaches, from a range of sports, previously took part in a reflective intervention. Nine months after the intervention these coaches participated in semi-structured interviews, specifically, we were interested in what, if any, drivers for change had arisen from critical reflection. Data from the interviews revealed three key themes: extended role of the coach; evolution of decision-making; and creativity and innovation. Reflective practice must be a tool for coach development but to be an effective tool it must be utilised to its full effect, as it has the potential to drive change and encourage creative thinking and practice within sports coaching.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation
• applied practice
• expertise
• critical thinking

Assumptions in reflective practice

Most people who have attended a coach education course or participated in coach development will have heard about the benefits of reflective practice (RP). Indeed, in many ways RP ‘has become a “taken-for-granted” part of coaching that is accepted enthusiastically and unquestioningly and is assumed to be “good” for coaching and coaches’ (Cushion, 2016, p. 1). Undoubtedly thinking deeply about coaching practice is positive, however RP should include a critical element, often referred to as critical reflection. Schön (1983) presents RP simply as the ability to reflect on one’s actions in order to engage in a process of continuous learning. Could this infer, however, that the critical element is unproblematic or that coaches are able to challenge their practice as a matter of course? If so, this is surely problematic, especially since Schön also emphasises the importance of the practitioner as an active experimenter. It is safe to say that within coaching RP is a very commonly suggested tool, but we would suggest that there is little guidance as to how to make the best use of it.

In mainstream education, reflection has long been used to integrate theory with practice, facilitate self-discovery, and is often considered a cornerstone of the profession (Dye, 2011). Akbari et al. (2010) suggested five elements to practitioner reflection: practical (tools to help reflection), cognitive (reflection on professional development), affective (reflecting on learners and their progress), meta-cognitive (reflecting on beliefs, personality, and identity), and critical (consideration of wider socio-political issues). Notably, however, these elements are not currently part of the offering within coaching and coach development. Within coaching, RP has been used as a support for critical analysis of coaches’ beliefs, knowledge, and decision-making skills (Trudel et al., 2013). Strategies such as self-assessment and assessment, specifically focused on the pedagogical action of coaches, can encourage them to reflect on their own practice, stimulating professional learning (Paquette et al., 2014). There is little evidence of systems and practice built into formal or informal coach learning, as Werthner and Trudel (2009) pointed out coaches think about their practice but very rarely adopt RP. Reflecting on these omissions, we maintain that RP should be integral to the coach education and development process, but not as evidence suggests it currently exists.

What should we get from RP?

Dewey (1910, p. 6), often credited as being the first in the RP field, considered reflective practice as ‘the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it’. This suggests a questioning of practice, based on knowledge gained from theory and experience. In this regard, reflection has been associated with higher levels of learning, enabling the ability to contemplate, integrate, and improve upon existing knowledge (DiStefano et al., 2023). By encouraging questioning and the examination of personal assumptions, focused reflection can enhance perspectives that help with understanding the complex and ambiguous situations facing many professionals, including coaches (Faller et al., 2020). Given the ‘messiness’ surrounding coaching practice at all levels, RP must be considered a vehicle for sensemaking.

RP can also be of use within situations requiring decision-making, as reflecting back is an extremely effective method of reasoning forward (Mortari, 2015). Schön’s (1983) theories of reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action have been used within many domains with documented benefits. Simply put, reflection-in-action refers to decision-making that occurs quickly and, at least seemingly, intuitively. Consider the coach in a competitive situation, deciding to make a key substitution or change tactics, in an attempt to vary play. Reflection-on-action occurs after the event and, using the same scenario, would encourage the coach to think about what caused the situation, what options were available and whether they made the best choice in the situation. More recent work carried out in hockey and netball by Richards et al. (2012) demonstrates the effective use of in-action and on-action RP to develop coach and team understanding, highlighting the connection between the deliberative practice environment and fast-paced competitive arena. Importantly, however, effective intuition in high-level coaches is often associated with an automatic recourse to post hoc on-action, used as a process of internal audit to check what was done (Collins et al., 2016). Therefore, we would advocate RP as a method of checking and enhancing decision-making.

What more can we get from RP?

There is no doubt that judicious use of RP can drive growth. Within medical environments, for example, the practice of critical reflection on decisions and performance has been shown to lead to innovation and the generation of new ideas for treatment and patient care (Sims et al., 2015). For example, Ng et al. (2022) discovered that during the uncertainty posed by Covid, practitioners had to develop new approaches to cope with the complexities presented by the pandemic. They advocated an approach based on RP and adaptive expertise to help professionals respond and innovate in the appropriate manner by carefully combining the two approaches, to adapt to unknown circumstance and drive change in practice. Hatano and Inagaki (1986) conceptualise adaptive expertise as different from routine expertise, being the ability to apply flexible problem-solving approaches and generate new solutions as the context demands. By combining RP with adaptive expertise, these medics were moving away from reliance on clinical checklists and solving problems themselves.

Schön considered that problem solving should abandon scientific principles and theories, and ‘search, instead, for an epistemology of practice that is implicit in the artistic, intuitive processes which some practitioners do bring to situations of uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value conflict’ (Schön, 1983, p. 49). Faced with unexpected and puzzling situations, practitioners could make initial assumptions that, when coupled with experience, guided further investigation. By embracing these more tacit solutions, coaches may not always understand or appreciate why they then take the actions they do. So, despite widespread acceptance and recognition in the field of RP, there have been criticisms of Schön’s view due to lack of clarity (Eraut, 2004) and difficulties in application to practice (Ekebergh, 2007). Despite this analysis, there are identified benefits associated with RP being utilised in other fields, so we suggest the link with adaptive expertise, the innovation and creation of new ideas can be drivers for change in coaching.

How might we work towards these goals?

Within the discipline of sports science, Woods et al. (2022, p. 3) ask, ‘Can we support intellectual freedoms of professional development for academic sport scientists – encouraging them to explore beyond the “already known” of their discipline – potentially leading to genuinely novel, creative and practically useful insights for the broader (sporting) community?’ This approach is encouraging, or promoting change, with the goal being the growth of the profession. The key rationale for advocating the inclusion of RP in sport coaching is a positive change, encouraging similar evidence-informed practice.

In a previous paper Nash et al. (2022) showed that coaches do not necessarily engage in critical reflection, or if they do, they are not always aware that is what they are doing. They used an intervention to change coaches’ perceptions of and use of reflective practice. We wanted to follow up on that to see what effect increased and prolonged use of critical reflection would have on coaching practice. Specifically, we were interested in what, if any, drivers for change had arisen from critical reflection. All the coaches interviewed were actively involved in critical reflection, but what had this meant for their practice?

Methods

Participants

The recommended sample size for a small qualitative study involving interviews is between 6 and 20 (Braun & Clarke, 2019). The participants were 12 high-level coaches, from various sports (see Table 1) (M age = 44.58, SD = 4.27). All were recruited by personal contact (Thomas et al., 2007) to take part in one-to-one interviews and, prior to this study, had been coaching at national level for at least 10 years (M = 15.75, SD = 3.60). Participants had participated in a long-term reflection promotion intervention and had incorporated RP into their coaching for at least a year prior to these interviews. To protect their anonymity, we have used the term sport category rather than name the sport. Institutional ethical approval was secured prior to data collection commencing, and informed consent was obtained from each participant.

Table 1. Participant coach details.

Coach	Sex	Sport Category	Age	Years Experience	Highest Level Coached
1	Male	Net/Wall	41	13	National
2	Male	Net/Wall	51	22	National
3	Female	Net/Wall	43	14	National
4	Male	Team Invasion	47	16	National
5	Male	Team Invasion	43	13	National
6	Female	Team Invasion	46	15	National
7	Male	Team Invasion	53	21	National
8	Female	CSG	37	12	National
9	Female	CSG	49	21	National
10	Male	Combat	42	13	National
11	Male	Target	48	14	National
12	Female	Individual Aesthetic	47	15	National

Data collection

Coaches were interviewed in depth to ascertain their current use of RP, the benefits they felt had accumulated and what they perceived that RP had contributed to their practice. We piloted the interview schedule with two coaches prior to data collection, however these responses were not included for analysis. Each interview lasted between 50 and 60 min. Questions were deliberately left open, focusing on their continued use of RP since participating in the original intervention (Nash et al., 2022). Against the purposes of the study, one central question was ‘what impact has RP had on your coaching practice?’ Other elements asked participants to consider what changes had occurred as they continued to implement RP into their coaching. Against these purposes, the nature of the interview allowed the researcher to guide the discussion, while at the same time, enabling the participant to highlight the areas they felt were important.

Data analysis and credibility

Once the interviews were transcribed, an inductive thematic analysis was completed in accordance with the steps outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006). This process enabled data credibility by (a) the independent coding of the data (i.e. investigators’ triangulation); (b) the checking of the categorisation process by two researchers experienced in qualitative methods (Lincoln & Guba, 1985); and (c) examination by participants of the researchers’ scripts and their interpretation to ensure that the data collected were authentic and reflected their experiences (Birt et al., 2016). This practice of member reflection – the opportunity for coaches (members) to reflect on and, if appropriate, query particular aspects of the interpretation of the data they provided – represents good practice in qualitative research (cf. Smith & McGannon, 2017). As advocated by Creswell (2009), the process was carried out with analysed data rather than transcripts. This was important to retain diversity and produce the higher level, overarching themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006), while also offering participants the best opportunity to contribute to the picture generated.

Findings

Data from the interviews revealed three key themes arising from 97 meaning units gathered from the 12 participant coaches. These themes were as follows: extended role of the coach; evolution of decision-making; and creativity and innovation. The derivation of these higher-order themes is shown in Table 2. No differences were found between gender of coaches, type of sport coached, or length of time spent coaching.

Table 2. Summary of themes developed from analysis of interviews.

Higher Order Themes	Lower Order Themes	Data Extract
Extended Role of the Coach	Influencer Explore Marketing Own it (warts and all)	I have become an evangelist for different ways of coaching. I just see the endless possibilities, the different options that I can try. I need to sell the new ideas, the continual advances in thinking. I weigh up the pros and cons and then I ask myself ‘will this work for us’
Evolution of Decision-Making	Tacit/Intuitive Automaticity (to be avoided) Understanding what I am seeing No right answer	I would go with a gut feeling Stick to the game plan – that was the plan – it would work. I am better at seeing what is happening in a match and making a call based on my observations I have realised that there is no such thing as the ‘right answer’
Creativity & Innovation	Logic v Creativity Challenge the rules/norm Change is good What if questions	I have ripped up the rule book, completely discarded my plan and gone with my gut Innovation in coaching, new ways of doing things, different approaches can’t be repeated all the time, or it becomes normal practice Building on new ideas, new ways to do the same things I find myself also asking the ‘what if’ question – I find this helps me discover new ways of doing things

Extended role of the coach

All the coaches were still enthused about their roles, developing their players and teams and trying to learn; however, they were also clear that they now viewed their role in a wider context. This theme reflected the change in, or at least, greater recognition of, cognitive processes rather than a more initial ‘action’ orientation previously reported (Nash et al., 2022). Coach 8 noted,

I love coaching, I just think about it all the time … how to solve problems, how to get better. I’ve been involved in [my sport] for over half of my life but I’m not tired of it, not burnt out like some I know. I just see the endless possibilities, the different options that I can try. It’s like being on the beach and searching for crabs under rocks – you never know what rock they are going to be under but you gotta keep flipping rocks.

This notion of incorporating different aspects into practice, whilst documenting the process of change within their role was highlighted by Coach 2 reflecting:

I used to try all the new ideas that I saw other coaches doing. Now I find that I am being more selective, I weigh up the pros and cons and then I ask myself will this work for us? Knowing what questions to ask makes an enormous difference and if it doesn’t work, try again.

Participants reported that they were constantly thinking about how they could enhance their practice as Coach 11 said: I love thinking about things in the abstract – it doesn’t even need to be a problem – it’s more like how can I make this better? We achieved what we wanted so now what? How do we get to the next stage? Rather than remaining static in their coaching practices, these coaches were engaging with different types of thinking, such as problem solving, and advocating change. This was reinforced by Coach 4 who thought:

Coaching is tough, really tough, and just re-hashing old solutions based on repeating existing patterns of behaviour and traditional thinking will not allow me, or my players to develop. I need to sell the new ideas, the continual advances in thinking.

This expansion of the coaching role was referred to by all of the coaches with the recognition that the more they used RP, the more perspective they gained on the myriad of possibilities they could use in their coaching. Coach 12 reported: my role is evolving – I feel that on the mats during practice I have become an evangelist for different ways of coaching. I encourage everyone to explore new moves that work for them. I believe that since I have been practising reflection that I am less constrained and I’m taking on more as a coach.

Evolution of decision-making

A critical component of coaching at every level is decision-making, more importantly, evaluating all the available sources of information and making the appropriate decision, informed by RP. Coach 5 said ‘I think I am better at seeing what is happening in a match and making a call based on my observations – quickly. I used to question myself all the time but now I can make decisions assertively’. Experience with RP also builds confidence as Coach 7 thought ‘I trust my decisions more now that I can see I’m basing them on evidence. Before I would go with a gut feeling, but I’m reflecting back on previous decisions, evaluating them’.

This confidence, built by the practice of reflection, enabled these coaches to change direction, in this specific case, patterns of play. As Coach 6 reported When we lost a goal, I used to tell the players to stick to the game plan – that was the plan – it would work. Now I use setbacks as an opportunity to re-evaluate the game plan. An opportunity to react to the opponents game plan – much more proactive’. Similarly, Coach 1 thought:

I have realised that there is no such thing as the ‘right answer’. Everything is shades of grey and very context dependent. Unlike some of the things I hear, pushing this way or that approach, I now deliberately deliberate on what is best. I have learned to embrace the grey!

Some coaches offered insight into their solutions to perceived issues with their players or teams. Coach 7 summarised their ideas, saying,

We decided that the players need to be put under more pressure but the drills that we normally used were just not offering enough opportunities for decision making. So, we took this one step further and introduced cage football – really the survival of the fittest – nowhere for players to hide.

Creativity and innovation

Critiquing practice, as these coaches were doing, encourages thinking about professional advances, as well as the evolution of personal practice, often leading to innovative outcomes (Tassone et al., 2018). This was manifested in a variety of ways, such as challenging the norm. For example, Coach 3 viewed more sharing of ideas and discussion as a potential way forward, saying,

Some coaches I know view knowledge as power and refuse to let other coaches benefit from their experience, whether that’s observing sessions or having a discussion around some issues. I’ve never felt like that, but I think I have developed more understanding of why now. Innovation in coaching, new ways of doing things, different approaches can’t be repeated all the time, or it becomes normal practice. So, you have to keep thinking, keep creating. People can’t copy that!

This element of critique was extended by the ‘what if’ questions, leading to thought-provoked change. As Coach 6 reflected,

I like to ask the ‘so what’ question but now I find myself also asking the ‘what if’ question – I find this helps me discover new ways of doing things. I really enjoy this freedom of thinking – almost like shedding constraints and really indulging in some blue skies thinking.

Similarly, Coach 12 asserted,

Reflection is now an indispensable part of my practice – it involves observing, developing, digesting planning and being in touch with my alter ego. To be creative I need to be confident in myself and my practice and that has been a big change.

Thinking about concepts of challenge and change were indispensable tools for these coaches. Coach 10 said,

Some of my best ideas come from challenge, from complex situations and difficult people. I really feel on occasions I have ripped up the rule book, completely discarded my plan and gone with my gut. It doesn’t work all the time but when it does – wow!

In a similar fashion, Coach 4 observed

I feel that I have completely changed my thinking. I used to be all about the next step, the rational, tried and tested approach, so don’t rock the boat. Now I am much more willing to take a gamble, try something different. It may only work once or twice but it disrupts the game and that is a plus. Keep the opposition guessing.

The concept of new ideas and pushing boundaries was also prevalent in this group of coaches. For example, Coach 5 thought,

I never say ‘you can’t do that!’. I’m usually like ‘what are we going to try here that is unexpected?’ The players love it – it’s different for them too and not repetitive skills and drills but building on new ideas, new ways to do the same things. It keeps me motivated too.

Other coaches in this study offered more abstract thoughts, typified by Coach 1 ‘to be successful as a coach today, I need to be resilient because there are so many conflicting demands so generating creative approaches is crucial’.

Discussion

The aim of this study was to examine how the continued use of RP affected coaches practice; specifically, any changes that they saw as ensuing from this practice. Despite the varying contexts these coaches were operating in, individual sports as well as team invasion games, as shown in Table 1, they all espoused similar principles when discussing the benefits of continuing RP.

According to Collins et al. (2023, p. 11), ‘when it comes to changing professional practice, there is a certain amount of buy-in or ‘selling’ required, which is an established and expected component of the applied sport science support process’. According to these coaches, this holds equally true while driving change within the coaching arena. These coaches had to become the agents for change, as exemplified by Coaches 4 and 12, who recognised the need to market, or sell, new approaches to everyone involved, athletes, colleagues, and the wider club or organisational community. This incorporated functioning as an influencer, as these coaches felt responsible for spreading their new knowledge to all involved, although they acknowledged that there were also risks associated with this process. However, RP helped each of them to determine the likely success of various approaches, which made the change process easier to manage.

The recognition that their role as a coach was evolving was attributed by the participants to their deeper thinking while employing RP. They were able to see more options, as highlighted by Coach 8, ‘the endless possibilities’, ask relevant questions according to Coach 2 or constantly search for new ideas to develop their coaching. As coaches gain more experience their role can change, often as a result of coach education or professional development (Neelis et al., 2020); however, these coaches were using RP to evolve their own practice, driven by the need to solve challenges within their coaching practice.

Sport coaching has long been considered a decision-making practice and interestingly, these coaches identified improvements in their decision-making ability as a result of their continued use of RP. Klein’s (2017) decision-making model considers this diverse nature of experiences among experts by generally describing that a situation recognition task should result in four by-products: relevant cues, typical actions, plausible goals, and expectancies. Coach 5 exemplified this by referring to his trust in his observational abilities and resultant actions. Equally, Coach 6 referred to the changing of outcomes and expectations based on her reaction to the scenario evolving in front of her during competition. She attributed RP to her newly acquired ability to change direction/focus by reacting to the unfolding patterns of play and her confidence in taking decisive action to call the changes.

The coaches in this study reported abstract and conceptual thinking, coupled with enhanced decision-making directly related to their coaching context. Coach 1’s notion of ‘embracing the grey’ was recognition of the complexities at this level of coaching (Collins et al., 2022; Szedlak et al., 2021). RP enabled these coaches to see beyond the tickbox, recipe following representations of problem solving often presented in coach education courses (Lowry et al., 2023). This search for answers to problems of practice denotes characteristics commonly observed in those at an elite level in many different domains (Nash & Collins, 2006). However, these coaches were using their enhanced RP skills to interrogate their own practice, combining RP and flexibility associated with adaptive expertise (Ng et al., 2022). Their questioning and critical thinking was developed, enabling them to select the most appropriate response to problems and then re-evaluate, often tweaking to better suit their context. This deep learning and application has been associated with improvements in professional practice (Collins et al., 2012).

Due to their standing, these coaches could be viewed as leaders in their sports, people that other coaches approach for their thoughts and ideas, influential within their sport. The coaches were open about their ideas, not viewing knowledge as power, as suggested by Coach 3. According to Sternberg (2006), generating ideas is a component of creativity, but is also part of the bigger picture, of understanding why. Coaches 4, 6, 10, and 12 all referred to increasing confidence, connecting the dots, and challenging the norm as benefits of RP, whereas fear of failure is an inhibitor to creativity (Lee et al., 2017). This realisation by Coach 10 that the ‘rule book’ does not always allow for diversity of thinking added to the pushing boundaries reported by Coach 5 closely relates to the representation of possibilities advocated in creativity by Martin and Wilson (2017).

Vaughan et al. (2019, p. 2090) refer to the ‘challenge of developing creativity to enhance human potential is conceptualized as a multifaceted wicked problem due to the countless interactions between people and environments that constitute human development, athletic skill, and creative moments’. The coaches in this study were not anticipating creativity and innovation as an outcome of continued use of RP, and given the complexity of coaching, especially at the elite level, should we consider RP as a driver for change?

The reported consequences of creative thought and innovation can have benefits for both organisations and individuals, including increased engagement, motivation, problem solving, and collaboration (Wong et al., 2018). If this creativity is an outcome that can be encouraged in sport coaching through critical reflection, then it should be encouraged by coach developers and sporting organisations.

Key takeaways for coaching practice

RP is advocated as a key tool for coaches and many studies have highlighted the importance and benefits associated with embedded practice. For example, the importance of values (Peel et al., 2013), transformative practice (Dixon et al., 2013), self-awareness (McWilliams, 2019), critical thinking (Hamblin et al., 2022), and quality of coaching practice (Da Silva et al., 2022) have all been investigated. However, the aim of this research was to ascertain what effect increased and ongoing critical reflection would have on coaching practice. At present, the benefits associated with RP appear to be more ad hoc than systematic and implemented.

Coaches must be encouraged to reflect; however, if our aim is to raise the quality of coaching practice, we must do more than that. RP must be a tool for coach development but to be an effective tool it must be utilised to its full effect. This study demonstrates that continued, regular use of RP enhances problem-solving, decision-making, and a deeper appreciation of the extensive role of the coach. Coaches should aspire to expertise but should also be introduced to the tools that will help them achieve this status.

With a study of this type, there will always be limitations, often in demonstrating cause and effect. The long-term nature of the initial intervention and subsequent follow-up indicates that these participant coaches perceived sufficient value in the RP process to continue with the practice. It would be useful, if a similar study was to be conducted, to monitor any resulting changes in behaviour, pre and post intervention and follow-up. Similarly, it may be helpful to see if the athletes working with these coaches had noticed any changes in longer term coaching behaviour and approach.

RP has the potential to drive change within coaching practice and the generation of new ideas, innovation, and creativity will allow coaches to emulate experts in other domains by fostering critical thinking and questioning of practice. The critique of practice is important, but the depth of analysis is key to the changing of practice, the willingness to follow this new thinking into action. The all-important question of ‘why am I doing this?’ closely followed by ‘what if I changed [this element]’ would be beneficial for all coaches to use on a regular basis. Sport coaching, especially at the elite level, is concerned with challenge and change – we suggest RP can support this.

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Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Christine Nash

Christine Nash Currently, leads the Applied Coaching Research Group at the University of Edinburgh, researching in coaching expertise and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and conference presentations. She has worked within a number of Higher Education institutions worldwide, as well as a coach within the sport of swimming.

Dave Collins

Dave Collins As an academic, Dave has over 450 peer review publications and 90 books/chapters. As a practitioner, he has worked with over 90 World or Olympic medallists plus professional teams and performers. Dave has coached to national level in three sports, is a 5^th Dan Karate, Director of the Rugby Coaches Association, Fellow of the Society of Martial Arts and BASES, Associate Fellow of the BPS and an ex Royal Marine.