Introduction and context
Partnering with a provincial coaching association in Canada, we explored the experiences and perceptions of 15 mentor and 29 mentee coaches who participated in a formal virtual parasport coach mentorship program. Mentor coaches built a virtual relationship through mutual trust and respect and were perceived by their mentees as supportive, motivating, and knowledgeable. Mentee coaches valued conversations with their mentors surrounding disability-specific knowledge that enhanced their coaching efficacy. Coaches highlighted the need for a greater sense of community within parasport and recommended keeping a virtual component of the program to foster accessibility and learning. Findings provide insight into effective mentorship in parasport for researchers, practitioners, and organizations overseeing this important initiative. Our results will contribute to higher quality experiences for Canadian parasport coaches and athletes and work to progress the growth of parasport worldwide.
Methods
Our participants were acquired through our partnership with the Coaches Association of Ontario. Data were gathered via focus groups and individual interviews and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis.
Key findings and implications
Our analysis led to the identification of three overarching themes describing (1) how the virtual mentoring relationship was developed, (2) the learning outcomes that mentees developed, and (3) perceptions of the program, including recommendations, advice, and final remarks.
In most cases, at the beginning of the program, mentors and mentees decided on the frequency, length, and communication method of meetings, with many pairs meeting weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly for 30-60 minutes through a virtual platform (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) or by telephone. Multiple mentor coaches highlighted the importance of being able to see their mentee’s faces, almost simulating an in-person face-to-face conversation, to build a connection.
Throughout the mentorship program, mentor coaches actively shaped the mentee’s ability to stay motivated and positive throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Many coaches highlighted how interacting with their mentors worked to enhance their feelings of passion and excitement for when they could return to coaching. Additionally, due to their lack of experience coaching in the parasport context, many mentees described feeling unsure or unprepared to coach athletes with disabilities. In conjunction with the learning opportunities offered through the program (e.g., disability-specific webinars and workshops), mentor coaches actively worked to enhance their mentee’s parasport coaching efficacy.
Overall, there was an overwhelming sense of positivity at the end of the mentorship program, with many asking to be involved in the following year’s program. Mentees were particularly grateful for their mentor’s knowledge and commitment to helping them grow as a coach and valued the process on a personal and professional level. Mentors echoed these sentiments highlighting the need to continue formal mentorship programs in parasport to continue the development and connection of parasport coaches over the years.
Strengths and limitations
Although this study has a number of strengths, including a partnership with a coaching association, this research is not without limitations. For example, the formal mentorship program was originally designed for an in-person environment, however due to COVID-19, had to be adapted to a virtual context and many coaches were unable to coach in-person at the time of the data acquisition. Thus, follow-up data from this cohort of participants would be ideal to understand how coaches have incorporated the information learned from this program into their own long-term coaching practices. Additional methods of data collection and research designs would also be valuable, such as quantitative measures of learning outcomes and designs targeting the perspectives of athletes or coach dyads to better understand how mentorship influences the personal and professional development of parasport athletes. Finally, this research was conducted in the Canadian context, a country with a strong parasport tradition, therefore future researchers should work to expand our understanding of parasport coach education to countries around the globe with different cultural or contextual factors to consider.
Conclusions and next steps
We believe our study was the first to explore the experiences and perceptions of mentee and mentor parasport coaches participating in a year-long formal mentorship program. The continued implementation of this program has the potential to influence parasport progression on an individual (i.e., enhancing coach knowledge and confidence), interpersonal (i.e., increasing coaching networks and community), organizational (i.e., coaches starting parasport programs within their sport organizations) and sociocultural level (i.e., dismantling stereotypes of disability and parasport through advocacy and awareness). It is also hoped that this initial program will encourage researchers and community partners to continue working together to create the ideal parasport environment.