Micro-role transitions in sport coaching: considerations for promoting women in coaching

Sport coaches ‘wear many hats’; they have multiple roles and responsibilities both within sport and life in general. Research highlights that stress can spillover across domains and negatively impact on coaching practice, interpersonal relationships, health, and wellbeing. However, limited research has examined the space and time between domains wherein coaches navigate micro-role transitions as they commute between contexts and identities. We present a recent study using a mixed-methods design that explored 41 highly qualified coaches’ transitions between roles in life and sport as well as the implications for health and coaching practice. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software revealed that coaches with lower levels of perceived stress expressed more positive emotions when writing about the influence of life commitments on their coaching practice. Further, coaches reported challenges with the process of undertaking micro-role transitions and noted their negative impact on mental health, coaching effectiveness, and relationships in both sport and life. Integrating organizational and sport psychology research, we extend findings from this study to the issue of under representation of women in sport coaching. We present a program of research focused on women coaches’ micro-role transitions to elucidate the individual, interpersonal, organizational, and sociostructural factors that influence their experience of working within high-performance sport. Findings from the research aim to inform the development of strategies that can be used to optimise micro-role transitions and promote sustainable health and high performance. We outline how effective micro-role transitions can increase the participation and retention of women coaches across all levels of sport.