Educational strategies for the acquisition of professional knowledge by youth basketball coaches

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the educational means that coaches of school-aged children utilize to acquire their professional knowledge. Youth basketball coaches (n=118) with a heterogeneous education coming from different educational means participated in the study. Of them, 81.7% were previously basketball players.

As a measurement instrument, a modified version of the scale by Feu (2006) was utilized to determine the coach's professional knowledge. The new scale had 21 items distributed in seven dimensions that corresponded to three theoretical factors. The items were answered with a 5-point Likert scale.

The statistical analysis consisted of an exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation and self-values >1 in order to determine the latent structure of the relationships between the scale's items. Previously, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index and Bartlett's sphere test were analyzed. The reliability of the scale and the sub-scales was studied through the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. The means, standard deviations, and correlations between item and scale as well as item and sub-scale were analyzed.

The exploratory factor analysis, after the elimination of five items, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficients demonstrated that the scale and sub-scales had some adequate psychometric properties (α>.70). All the items obtained item and sub-scale correlations greater than .40. Formal education was the factor that had the greatest acceptance among the coaches (M=21.71±4.63) followed by acquired experiences as a player (M=16.70±5.64), and then the acquired experiences and innovations as a coach (M=13.45±2.97).

The scale that was utilized has adequate validity and reliability to determine how the coach constructs his/her professional knowledge.

KEY WORDS: Coach, education, professional knowledge