Adventure sports coaches must make sound judgements and effective decisions to ensure they can manage the significant risks present in an operating environment that is hyper-dynamic and has significant environmental complexity (Collins & Collins, 2013). High-level stakeholders in adventure sports require coaches demonstrate competency to…

Adventure sports offer an exciting area of investigation regarding pedagogical best practices. Previous research points to the evolution of adventure sports coaching with the development and implementation of the PPTT (physical, psychological, technical, and tactical) framework. However, there is a missing area of consideration within the PPTT…

This article considers the epistemological chain in adventure sports coaching through personal experiences of undergraduate adventure students using semi-structured interviews and qualitative thematic analysis. Findings showed many observable practices utilised by adventure sport coaches were epistemologically sophisticated. This included…

The epistemological underpinning of Adventure Sports Coaches' (ASCs) coaching and leadership practice is a growing area of research. The epistemological stance that links to caving instructors, winter mountaineering instructors and rock-climbing instructors practice however has not been considered. Consequently, this paper sought to explore the…

The role of the Adventure Sports Coach (ASC) has recently become the focus of academic interest. Although research emerging from the field is beginning to diversify, the majority is limited in terms of sampling and methodology. The current study broadened the participant base by providing a demographic analysis of ASCs. An online survey of 504…

This paper forwards the position that the adventure sports coaching environment contains features that are accentuated in comparison with traditional sports coaching contexts, and that these accentuated features are conducive to the development of sophisticated epistemic beliefs. We consider the manner in which physical, social and temporal…

Parkour is a relatively new sport, and so there has not yet been much published research relating to parkour, or more specifically, parkour coaching. There is a large body of knowledge relating to how sport coaches learn to coach, but such research has examined regulated sports; that is, sports with national governing bodies. In North America,…

This paper expands work on professional judgment and decision-making and examines the coping strategies used by adventure sports professionals to manage the cognitive loads of decision-making. A mixed methodology was employed in which a sample of participants completed a Pro Active Coping Inventory and a sub-group then completed an Applied…

This paper presents a mixed-method investigation of client's perceptions of a good adventure sports coach. Semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically, and the findings used to inform a subsequent larger survey that sought to verify the importance of the themes identified in the interviews. The findings draw an alignment between the…

Understanding and exploiting the synergy between theory and practice lies at the heart of effective education for outdoor professionals. Accordingly, and in an attempt to stimulate debate, this paper conceptualizes the interaction between theory and practice in the context of the education of outdoor professionals. We identify issues specific to…

Individualisation is a key aspect of coaching practice. This is particularly important for adventure sport coaches, given the demands of the hyper-dynamic coaching environment and the various motivations to participate in adventure sports. However, the literature on individualisation is limited. As a logical beginning, the aim of this study is to…

This article continues a theme of previous investigations by the authors and examines the focus of in-action reflection as a component of professional judgement and decision-making (PJDM) processes in high-level adventure sports coaching. We utilised a thematic analysis approach to investigate the decision-making practices of a sample of…

The aim of this research was to further the literature on the identity and practices of adventure sports coaches (ASCs). Current research indicates that these coaches hold well-defined epistemic beliefs that underpin their approaches to coaching. We sought to explore whether these findings applied to a more diverse sample and to examine their…

This paper examines the coaching behaviours of different paddlesport coaches (n = 17). A sample of coaches specialising in non-competitive paddlesport from professional, club and educational contexts are examined utilising a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. The three groups are shown to share common aspect such the importance of…

The primary objective of this research was to establish the range of interpersonal strategies, tools and techniques used by adventure sports coaches (ASCs) to influence participants' actions and behaviours, and to determine where these strategies were acquired. An interpretative approach was employed using semi-structured interviews with a…