ADULT LEARNING PRINCIPLES IN MASTERS SPORT: A COACH'S PERSPECTIVE

The art of teaching students has parallels with coaching athletes (Jones, 2007). Research has indicated that adult athletes, termed masters athletes (MAs), feel that coaches should orient their approaches differently when working with them as opposed to younger athletes (Callary, Rathwell, & Young, 2015; Ferrari, Bloom, Gilbert, & Caron, 2016). Adults' preferences for coaching approaches align with key learning principles of the andragogy in practice model (APM) (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2012). The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand if and how each of the six andragogical (i.e., adult learning) principles were evidenced in how a 30-year-old female canoe/kayak coach described her approaches to facilitate learning with her MA group compared to those taken with her youth athlete group. Three semi-structured interviews, each lasting 90 to 120 minutes, were conducted with the coach. Field notes of learning situations documented during observation of separate MAs and youth training sessions informed questions comprising Interviews 2 and 3. Following deductive analysis, the results showed that the coach's approaches with MAs were largely andragogical, especially in her ability to respond to adults' inquisitive nature, provision of self-directedness, and recognition of the athletes' intrinsic motives. The coach's approaches with youth more closely followed traditional pedagogy, whereby she directed information delivery, limited the youth's autonomy and decision making in training, and considered more extrinsic, competitive motives important to their commitment. Despite these contrasts, aspects of both andragogy and pedagogy were evident in the ways the coach described her approaches with the two cohorts. Findings suggest that the APM in this specific sport context may be flexibly applied and its principles adapted in ways that respond to both youth and adult athletes' learning needs depending on the situation. Discussion focuses on how the sport context may serve as an appropriate medium to make conclusions regarding the practice of adult learning.