Narrated coaching knowledge networks among elite coaches in open-skill and closed-skill sports

Elite coaches draw on multiple forms of knowledge, yet previous research has focused more on identifying knowledge domains than on how these domains are organized and connected. This study investigated narrated coaching knowledge among 17 elite Chinese coaches from open-skill and closed-skill sports. Using critical incident interviews, we coded transcripts with a nine-code coaching knowledge framework and applied Epistemic Network Analysis to model code co-occurrence and describe network patterns across the sampled sport contexts. Across the full sample, the coded accounts showed a dense, cohesive pattern of connections, with reflective practice and lifelong learning occupying a central bridging position. Exploratory differences between the two sport-context groups were also observed. Coaches in the open-skill group showed a more radial network pattern, with institutional and system governance and reflective practice and lifelong learning occupying prominent positions. Coaches in the closed-skill group showed relatively stronger connections among performance diagnosis and instructional adaptation, fundamental training and physical preparation, and reflective practice and lifelong learning. In both groups, institutional and system governance remained strongly connected with reflective practice and lifelong learning. These exploratory findings suggest that, within this group of elite coaches, narrated coaching knowledge was organized as a relational system connecting technical, reflective, interpersonal, and system-level elements in practice.