Where does it all start? Gender-differences in athletes’ intention to pursue a coaching career

Background: While studies have addressed the reasons why coaches choose or leave the coaching profession, an initial inquiry into coaching should focus on the level of interest among athletes in becoming coaches.Objectives: The study investigated differences between male and female athletes’ intention to pursue a coaching career in South Africa.Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional research design involving 200 (152 male and 48 female; Mage = 29.21, standard deviation [s.d.] = 4.75) athletes. Participation in the study was voluntary. Data were collected through various scales assessing athletes’ self-efficacy, outcome expectations, barriers and supports, choice goals and intention to coach.Results: The findings showed that male athletes recorded significantly (p 0.05) higher mean values for self-efficacy, outcome expectations, barriers, choice goals and intention to coach than female athletes. Two factors were shown to be independently predictive of the intention to coach: self-efficacy (β = -0.21, p 0.01) and barriers (β = 0.19, p 0.01).Conclusion: This study provides novel information to sports federations on the factors influencing athletes’ career aspirations.Contribution: This study adds to the body of knowledge on interest in coaching after an athlete’s playing career is over and offers baseline data for encouraging and enlisting athletes as coaches.