While the topic of caring coaching and its relationship to performance has been explored by researchers mainly in the UK, it has been neglected in the US with the exception of three studies by Fisher and colleagues. The core problem is a lack of understanding regarding the construct of care and whether coaches can care about athletes in pressure-filled, high-stakes, win-at-all-cost sport contexts. Thus, in this paper, we draw upon the ethic of care first proposed by Gilligan and later developed by Noddings and on results from the aforementioned studies by Fisher and colleagues as well as insights from scholarship in the UK to propose a heuristic of the potential relationship between caring coaching and elite athlete performance. Such a heuristic could be used in future coach development programs.
FisherLABejarMPLarsenLKet al.Caring in the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Sport: the perspectives of 18 female and male head coaches. Int J Sport Sci Coach2017; 12: 75–91.
2.
FisherLAShigenoTCBejarMPet al.Caring practices among U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I female and male assistant coaches. Int J Sports Sci Coach2018; 14: 471–484.
3.
KnustSKFisherLA. NCAA Division I female head coaches’ experiences of exemplary care within coaching. Int Sport Coach J2015; 2: 94–107.
4.
Gano-OverwayLANewtonMMagyarTMet al.Influence of caring youth sport contexts on efficacy-related beliefs and social behaviors. Dev Psychol2009; 45: 329–340.
5.
NewtonMMagyarTMKimM-Set al.Psychometric properties of the caring climate scale in a physical activity setting. Revista de Psicología del Deporte2007; 16: 67–84.
6.
GouldDMaynardI. Psychological preparation for the Olympic Games. J Sports Sci2009; 27: 1393–1408.
7.
JowettSShanmuganVRelational coaching in sport: its psychological underpinnings and practical effectiveness. In: SchinkeRMcGannonKRSmithB (eds). Routledge international handbook of sport psychology, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 471–484.
8.
WerthnerPColemanJSport psychology consulting with Canadian Olympic athletes and coaches: values and ethical considerations. In: SchinkeRJ (ed). Contemporary sport psychology, Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2009, pp. 233–252.
9.
GilliganC. In a different voice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.
10.
GilliganCMoral orientation and moral development. In: BaileyACuomoCJ (eds). The feminist philosophy reader, Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2008, pp. 467–477.
11.
GilliganC. The birth of pleasure: a new map of love, New York, NY: Random House, 2011.
12.
NoddingsN. Caring: a feminine approach to ethics and moral education, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984.
13.
NoddingsN. The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 1992.
14.
NoddingsN. Is teaching a practice?J Phil Edu2003; 37: 241–251.
BaierA. Moral prejudices: essays on ethics, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.
17.
BartkySL. Femininity and domination: studies in the phenomenology of oppression, New York, NY: Routledge, 1990, pp. 104–105.
18.
EngsterD. Rethinking care theory: the practice of caring and the obligation to care. Hypatia2005; 20: 50–74.
19.
HeldV. The ethics of care: personal, political, global, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2006.
20.
HoaglandSLSome thoughts about “caring”. In: CardC (ed). Feminist ethics, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1991, pp. 246–263.
21.
KittayEF. Love’s labor: essays on women, equality and dependency, New York, NY: Routledge, 1999.
22.
KittayEF. A feminist public ethic of care meets the new communitarian family policy. Ethics2001; 111: 523–547.
23.
RuddickS. Maternal politics: toward a politics of peace, Boston, MA: Beacon, 1989.
24.
SloteM. Morals from motives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
25.
TrontoJCAn ethic of care. In: CuddAEAndreasenRO (eds). Feminist theory: a philosophical anthology, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, pp. 251–263.
26.
KohlbergL. The claim to moral adequacy of a highest stage of moral judgment. J Philos1973; 70: 630–646.
27.
CroninCArmourK. Care in sport coaching: pedagogical cases, New York, NY: Routledge, 2019.
28.
CroninCWalshBQuayleLet al.Carefully supporting autonomy – learning coaching lessons and advancing theory from women’s netball in England. Sports Coach Rev2018; ▪▪: 1–23.
29.
JonesRL. Coaching as caring (the smiling gallery): accessing hidden knowledge. Phys Educ Sport Pedagogy2009; 14: 377–390.
30.
JonesRLBaileyJSantosS. Coaching, caring and the politics of touch: a visual exploration. Sport Educ Soc2013; 18: 648–662.
31.
PurdyLPotracPJonesR. Power, consent and resistance: an autoethnography of competitive rowing. Sport Educ Soc2008; 13: 319–336.
32.
CassidyTJonesRLPotracP. Understanding sports coaching: the social, cultural and pedagogical foundations of coaching practice, London: Routledge, 2004.
33.
GiddensA. The constitution of society, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1984.
34.
NybergD. Power over power, London: Cornell University Press, 1981.
35.
TarlowBCaring: a negotiated process that varies. In: GordonSBennerPNoddingsN (eds). Care-giving: readings in knowledge, practice, ethics and politics, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996, pp. 56–82.
36.
ArmourKJonesR. Physical education teachers' lives and careers: PE, sport and educational status, London: Falmer Press, 1998.
37.
MountjoyMRhindDJATiivasAet al.Safeguarding the child athlete in sport: a review, a framework and recommendations for the IOC youth athlete development model. Br J Sports Med2015; 49: 883–886.
38.
WallingMDDudaJLChiL. The perceived motivational climate in sport questionnaire: construct and predictive validity. J Sport Exerc Psychol1993; 15: 172–183.
39.
EnnisCD. Creating a culturally relevant curriculum for disengaged girls. Sport Educ Soc1999; 4: 31–49.
40.
WatsonDLNewtonMKimM-S. Recognition of values-based constructs in a summer physical activity program. Urban Rev2003; 35: 217–232.
41.
Gano-OverwayLAGuivernauMR. Caring in the gym: reflections from middle school physical education teachers. Eur Phy Educ Rev2014; 20: 264–281.
42.
LarsonASilvermanSJ. Rationales and practices used by caring physical education teachers. Sport Educ Soc2005; 10: 175–193.
43.
McCaughtryN. Elaborating pedagogical content knowledge: what it means to know students and think about teaching. Teachers Teach: Theory Pract2005; 11: 379–395.
44.
StuhrPTSutherlandSWardP. Care enacted by two elementary physical education teachers and their students. Int J Human Move Sci2011; 5: 5–28.
JowettSCockerillI. Olympic medallists' perspective of the athlete–coach relationship. Psychol Sport Exerc2003; 4: 313–331.
48.
JowettSCockerillIIncompatibility in the coach–athlete relationship. In: CockerillI (ed). Solutions in sport psychology, London: Thompson Learning, 2002, pp. 16–31.
49.
HillCE. Consenual qualitative research: a practical resource for investigating social science phenomenon, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2012.
50.
BeckLG. Reclaiming educational administration as a caring profession, New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 1994.
51.
ForoodLThe assistant coach's role. In: ReynauldC (ed). She can coach, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2005, pp. 155–164.
52.
LumpkinKAnshelM. Work addition among intercollegiate sports coaches. J Sport Behav2012; 35: 406–432.
53.
CrenshawK. Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. Univ Chicago Legal For1989; 1(Article 8): 138–167.
54.
TymowskiG. Pain, children and high-performance sport: a justification of paternalism. Prof Ethics2001; 9: 121–152.
55.
GlickPFiskeST. The ambivalent sexism inventory: differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. J Pers Soc Psychol1996; 70: 491–512.
Fisher LA and Zuleger B. Research to practice: a curriculum for encouraging coach caring. United States Center for Coaching Excellence North American Coach Development Summit. Forthcoming 2019.
61.
FisherLA. “Where are your women”? The challenge to care in the future of sport. Sex Roles2016; 7: 377–387.
