Beyond one-size-fits-all: Professional development needs of Chinese elite coaches across strength-power, endurance, and team sports

Purpose This exploratory cross-sectional questionnaire study compared Chinese elite coaches’ professional-development perceptions and needs across strength-power, endurance, and team sports, focusing on coaching attributes, learning topics, learning sources, and education programme design. Methods A total of 151 eligible elite coaches (50 strength-power, 48 endurance, and 53 team-sport coaches) completed a structured questionnaire covering four professional-development dimensions rated on 5-point Likert scales for perceived importance or preference. Between-group differences were tested with Kruskal-Wallis H and Dunn's post hoc tests, with effect sizes reported. Results All groups valued practical experience and athletic background over educational qualifications and certifications, favoured discussions with peers and mentors and reflective practice, and preferred practicums, workshops, and face-to-face delivery over lectures and fully online formats. Group differences centred on learning content: tactics and strategy received the highest preference ratings from team-sport coaches, intermediate ratings from endurance coaches, and the lowest ratings from strength-power coaches ( p < .001, ε 2 = .207, large); strength and conditioning was rated lower by team-sport coaches ( p = .003), and load monitoring was rated higher by endurance than team-sport coaches ( p = .003). Other significant differences were small to medium. Technical skill development, mental training, and team building and leadership received high preference ratings across groups. Conclusion Chinese elite coaches in this exploratory sample shared a common developmental foundation while differing mainly in content priorities corresponding to each sport's performance demands. Elite coach education could retain a practice-based, context-grounded common core while differentiating content by sport.