University of Hertfordshire

Increasingly, formalized mentoring programmes have been implemented by UK sporting institutions as a central coach development tool, yet, claims supporting formal mentoring as an effective learning strategy are often speculative, scarce, ill-defined and often accepted without verification. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore some of the realities of formalized elite sports coaching mentoring programmes. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 15 elite coach mentors across a range of sports. The findings revealed the importance of understanding the complexities of elite sports coaching environments, that elite sports coach development is highly specific and, therefore, should not be over-formalized, and how current elite sport coach mentoring programmes may be better conceptualised as a form of social control rather than being driven by pedagogical concerns. Following this empirically based analysis of practice, a number of implications for Governing Bodies (GBs), mentors and mentees were considered.

Keywords: Sports coaching, coach education, mentoring, formal coach learning, elite coach development, micro-politics.