High-performance sport is still not appropriately addressing issues that perpetuate women's underrepresentation in elite sport coaching and leadership. Therefore, it is also unlikely representation for other minority groups in high-performance sport will be achieved any time soon. For high-performance sport to progress, there is an opportunity to create environments that foster a variety of coaching styles with diverse racial, ethnic and gender identities. This paper points to statistics from elite football and Olympic sports to highlight the issue of the underrepresentation of women coaches in high-performance sport and draws upon a range of literature to inform an evidence-based and strategic approach to designing development in the context of increasing coach and leader gender diversity in these settings. It explores leadership in high-performance sport, learning and development, and high-performance sport environments. We argue future focused development should prepare high-performance sport leaders to intervene at an environmental level where they provide leadership, facilitate performance enablers, and engage athletes and performance staff to shape cultural change
NesselerCGomez-GonzalezCGasparettoT. Head coach tenure in college women's soccer. Do race, gender, and career background matter. Sport Soc2021; 24: 972–989.
2.
GilfixZMeyersonJAddonaV. Longevity differences in tenures of American and foreign major league soccer managers. J Quant Anal Sports2020; 16: 17–26.
3.
PriceS. Premier league managers are lasting longer in the job than European counterparts. Forbes, 2022.
4.
SerpellBGHarrisonDLyonsM,et al.Dark traits as a potential feature of leadership in the high-performance sports coach. Int J Sports Sci Coach2021; 16: 281–290.
5.
HansenPChroniSSkilleE,et al.Leading and organising national teams: functions of institutional leadership. Sports Coach Rev2021; 10: 274–294.
6.
MallettCCoulterT. The anatomy of a successful Olympic coach: actor, agent, and author. Int Sport Coach J2016; 3: 113–127.
7.
SalcinovicBDrewMDijkstraP,et al.Factors influencing team performance: what can support teams in high-performance sport learn from other industries? A systematic scoping review. Sports Med Open2022; 8: 25.
8.
HasbrookC. Female coaches - why the declining numbers and percentages?J Phys Educ Recreat Dance1988; 59: 59–63.
9.
LewisECantorN. Our compelling interests: the value of diversity for democracy and a prosperous society. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press, 2016.
10.
YangYTianTYWoodruffTK,et al.Gender-diverse teams produce more novel and higher-impact scientific ideas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA2022; 119: e2200841119.
11.
International Olympics Committee. Gender equality and inclusion report. 2022.
12.
KnoppersADe HaanDNormanL,et al.Elite women coaches negotiating and resisting power in football. Gend Work Organ2022; 29: 880–896.
13.
FilardoGDa GracaBSassD,et al.Trends and comparison of female first authorship in high impact medical journals: observational study (1994-2014). Br Med J2016; 352: i847.
14.
LaVoiNMcGarryJFisherL. Final thoughts on women in sport coaching: fighting the war. Women Sport Phys Act J2019; 27: 136–140.
15.
BurtonL. Underrepresentation of women in sport leadership: a review of research. Sport Manage Rev2015; 18: 155–165.
16.
CrustLLawrenceI. A review of leadership in sport: implications for football management. J Sport Psychol2006; 8: 28–48.
17.
DinCPaskevichD. An integrated research model of Olympic podium performance. Int J Sports Sci Coach2013; 8: 431–444.
EisenstatRABeerMFooteN, et al. The uncompromising leader. Harv Bus Rev. 2008; 86: 50–57, 157.
20.
Gonzalez-GarciaHMartinentGTrinidad MoralesA. Perceived coach leadership profiles and relationship with burnout, coping, and emotions. Front Psychol2019; 10: 1785.
21.
PerrySJWittLAPenneyLM,et al.The downside of goal-focused leadership: the role of personality in subordinate exhaustion. J Appl Psychol2010; 95: 1145–1153.
22.
SakarMHiltonN. Psychological resilience in Olympic medal-winning coaches: a longitudinal qualitative study. Int Sport Coach J2020; 7: 209–219.
23.
SilverthorneCWangTH. Situational leadership style as a predictor of success and productivity among Taiwanese business organizations. J Psychol2001; 135: 399–412.
24.
SchinkeRBloomGSalmelaJ. The career stages of elite Canadian basketball coaches. Avante1995; 1: 48–62.
25.
KimHCruzA. The influence of coaches’ leadership styles on athletes’ satisfaction and team cohesion: a meta-analytic approach. Int J Sports Sci Coach2016; 11: 900–909.
RogersJ. Psychopaths. Snakes on the make. Health Serv J2009; 119: 20–22.
28.
MorganPBFletcherDSarkarM. Understanding team resilience in the world’s best athletes: a case study of a rugby union world cup winning team. Pyschol Sport Exerc2015; 16: 91–100.
29.
MorganPBFletcherDSarkarM. Recent developments in team resilience research in elite sport. Curr Opin Psychol2017; 16: 159–164.
30.
MorganPBFletcherDSarkarM. Development team resilience: a season-long study of psychosocial enablers and strategies in a high-level sports team. Psychol Sport Exerc2019; 45: 101543.
31.
HodgeKHenryGSmithW. A case study of excellence in elite sport: motivational climate in a world champion team. Sport Psychol2014; 28: 60–74.
32.
MallettCLara-BercialS. Serial winning coaches: people, vision, and environment. In: RaabM, et al. (eds) Sport and exercise psychology research: from theory to practice. London, UK: Academic Press, 2016, pp.289–322.
33.
RosetteASTostLP. Agentic women and communal leadership: how role prescriptions confer advantage to top women leaders. J Appl Psychol2010; 95: 221–235.
ChelladuraiP. Discrepancy between preferences and perceptions of leadership behavior and satisfaction of athletes in varying sports. J Sport Psychol1984; 6: 27–41.
36.
ChelladuraiP. Leaderhip in sports: a review. Int J of Sport Psychol1990; 21: 328–354.
37.
ChelladuraiPCarronAV. Leadership. Vanier city: Canadian association for health, physical education and recreation. 1978.
FurnhamATreglownLHydeG,et al.The bright and dark side of altruism: demographic, personality traits, and disorders associated with altruism. J Bus Ethics2016; 134: 359–368.
40.
JacksonBDimmockJGucciardiD,et al.Personality traits and relationship perceptions in coach-athlete dyads: do opposites really attract. Psychol Sport Exerc2011; 12: 222–230.
41.
YangSXJowettSChanDK. Effects of big-five personality traits on the quality of relationship and satisfaction in Chinese coach-athlete dyads. Scand J Med Sci Sports2015; 25: 568–580.
42.
LenzGS. Learning and opinion change, not priming: reconsidering the priming hypothesis. Am J Pol Sci2009; 53: 821–837.
43.
GilletNRosnetE. Basic need satisfaction and motivation in sport. Athl Insight Online J Sport Psychol2008; 10.
44.
Suarez-OrozcoMSattin-BajajCSussrez-OrozcoMM. Educating the whole child for the world. New York: NYU Press, 2010.
45.
HidiSRenningerK. The four-phase model of interest development. Educ Psychol2006; 41: 111–127.
HeilmanMBlockCMartellR,et al.Has anything changed? Current characterizations of men, women, and managers. J Appl Psychol1989; 74: 935–942.
49.
HeilmanMWallenAFuchsD,et al.Penalties for success: reactions to women who succeed at male gender-typed tasks. J of Appl Psychol2004; 89: 416–427.
50.
HilbertM. Toward a synthesis of cognitive biases: how noisy information processing can bias human decision making. Psychol Bull2012; 138: 211–237.
51.
BrennerOTomkiewiczJScheinV. The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics revisited. Acad Manage J1989; 32: 662–669.
52.
Catalyst. The double-bind dilemma for women in leadership: damned if you do, doomed if you don't. New York, NY, USA; 2007.
53.
IbarraHElyRKolbD. Women rising: the unseen barriers. Harv Bus Rev2013; 91: 60–66.
54.
HopkinsMO'NeilD. Authentic leadership: application to women leaders. Front Psychol2015; 6: 1–5.
55.
KitsosJSellK. The influence of intercollegiate athletics regulations on the professional practice of strength and conditioning coaches. Strength Cond J2008; 30: 56–66.
56.
MesquitaIRibeiroJSantosS,et al.Coach learning and coach education: Portuguese expert coaches’ perspective. Sport Psychol2014; 28: 124–136.
57.
WrightCCarlingCCollinsD. The wider context of performance analysis and it application in the football coaching process. Int J of Perform Anal Sport2014; 14: 709–733.
58.
GreenwoodDDavidsKRenshawI. Experiential knowledge of expert coaches can help identify informational constraints of performance of dynamic interceptive actions. J Sport Sci2014; 32: 328–335.
59.
GreenwoodDDavidsKRenshawI. How elite coaches’ experiential knowledge might enhance empirical research on sport performance. Int J Sport Sci Coach2012; 7: 411–422.
60.
StoszkowskiJMacNamaraACollinsD,et al.“Opinion and fact, perspective and truth": seeking truthfulness and integrity in coaching and coach education. Int Sport Coach J2021; 8: 263–269.
61.
BlackettAEvansAPiggottD. “Active” and “passive” coach pathways: elite athletes’ entry routes into high-performance coaching roles. Int Sport Coach J2018; 5: 213–226.
62.
SerpellBGCookC. Exploring finger digit ratios (2D:4D) in surgeons, professional rugby players, and political journalists to form a directional hypothesis: Could finger length predict attention and focus?Front Behav Neurosci2022; 16: 1–9.
63.
GoetzTHallN. Emotion, motivation, and self-regulation: a handbook for teachers. Wagon Lane, Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing, 2013.
64.
EverhartCBChelladuraiP. Gender differences in preferences for coaching as an occupation: the role of self-efficacy, valence, and perceived barriers. Res Q Exerc Sport1998; 69: 188–200.
65.
FungL. Assessment: coaching efficacy as indicators of coach education program needs. Athl Insight Online J Sport Psychol2003; 5.
66.
HampsonRJowettS. Effects of coach leadership and coach-athlete relationship on collective efficacy. Scand J Med Sci Sports2014; 24: 454–460.
67.
JowettSCockerillI. Olympic Medallists perspective of the athlete-coach relationship. Pyschol Sport Exerc2003; 4: 212–331.
68.
ShortSEShortMW. Coaches’ assessment of their coaching efficacy compared to athletes’ perceptions. Percept Mot Skills2004; 99: 729–736.
69.
TsorbatzoudisHDaroglouGZahariadisP. Examination of coaches’ self-efficacy: preliminary analysis of the coaching efficacy scale. Percept Mot Skills2003; 97: 1297–1306.
70.
BrueningJE. Coaching difference: a case study of 4 African American women student-athletes. J Strength Cond Res2004; 18: 242–251.
71.
DurellDLPujolTJBarnesJT. A survey of the scientific data and training methods utilized by collegiate strength and conditioning coaches. J Strength Cond Res2003; 17: 368–373.
72.
FletcherDArnoldR. A qualitative study of performance leadership and management in elite sport. J Appl Sport Psychol2011; 23: 223–242.
73.
FrostJ. Characteristics contributing to the success of a sports coach. Sport J2010; 36.
74.
ArguelALockyerLLippO,et al.Inside out: detecting learners’ confusion to improve interactive digital learning environments. J Educ Comput Res2017; 55: 526–551.
75.
D'MelloSGrasesserA. Dynamics of affective states during complex learning. Learn Instr2012; 22: 145–157.
76.
CropleyD. Promoting creativity and innovation in engineering education. Psychol Aesthet Creat Arts2015; 9: 161–171.
77.
AbrahamACollinsDMartindaleR. The coaching schematic: validation through expert coach consensus. J Sports Sci2006; 24: 549–564.
78.
SameroffA. A unified theory of development: a dialectic integration of nature and nurture. Child Dev2010; 81: 6–22.
79.
SerpellBGLarkhamSCookC. Does stress affect nonverbal engagement in teams? A case study in professional team sport. Team Perform Manage2020; 26: 197–210.
80.
VeenmanMVan Hout-WoltersBAfflerbachP. Metacognition and learning: conceptual and methodological considerations. Metacogn Learn2006; 1: 3–14.
81.
SpruceRBolL. Teacher beliefs, knowledge, and practice to self regulated learning. Metacogn Learn2015; 10: 245–277.
82.
ZimmermanBMoylanA. Self-regulation: where metacognition and motivation intersect. In: HackerDDunloskyJGraesserA (eds) Handbook of metacognition in education. New York, NY, USA: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2009, pp.299–315.
BjorkRDunloskyJKornellN. Self regulated learning: beliefs, techniques and illusions. Annu Rev Psychol2013; 64: 417–444.
85.
CiampoliniVMilistetdMRynneS,et al.Research review on coaches’ perceptions regarding the teaching strategies experienced in coach education programs. Int J Sport Sci Coach2019; 14: 216–228.
86.
PekrunR. The control-value theory of achievement emotions: assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educ Psychol Rev2006; 18: 315–341.
87.
MartinC (ed). The importance of self-efficacy to usability: grounded theory analysis of a child's toy assembly task. In: Human factors and ergonomics society annual meeting, 2007. Los Angeles: Sage CA.
88.
CrewtherBTShettyKJarchiD, et al.Skill acquisition and stress adaptations following laparoscopic surgery training and detraining in novice surgeons. Surg Endosc2016; 30: 2961–2968.
89.
TreffingerDYoungGDSelbyE,et al.Assessing creativity: a guide for educators. Sarasota, FL: Center for Creative Learning, 2002.
90.
PluckerJABeghettoRADowGT. Why isn't creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potentials, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educ Psychol2004; 39: 83–96.
91.
MetzIKumraS. Why are self-help books with career advice for women popular?Acad Manag Perspect2019; 33: 82–93.
92.
ZakrajsekRAbildsoCHurstJ,et al.The relationships among coaches’ and athletes’ perceptions of coaching staff cohesion, team cohesion, and performance. Athl Insight Online J Sport Psychol2007; 9: 1–4.
93.
ThelwellRCWagstaffCRDChapmanMT,et al.Examining coaches’ perceptions of how their stress influences the coach-athlete relationship. J Sports Sci2017; 35: 1928–1939.
94.
ThelwellRCWagstaffCRRaynerA,et al.Exploring athletes’ perceptions of coach stress in elite sport environments. J Sports Sci2017; 35: 44–55.
95.
PenteadoRZSilvaNBMontebelloMI. Voice, stress, work and quality of life of soccer coaches and physical trainers. Codas2015; 27: 588–597.
96.
LordRDevlinSCaldwellC,et al.Leadership in the national football league: do leaders make a difference? Leadership lessons from compelling contexts. Monogr Leadersh Manage2016; 8: 31–66.
LeaperCRobnettR. Women are more likely than men to use tentative language, aren't they? A meta-analysis testing for gender differences and moderators. Psychol Women Q2011; 35: 129–142.
103.
KrahnA. Sport policy praxis: examining how Canadian sport policy practically advances the careers of nascent female coaches. Women Sport Phys Act J2019; 26: 3–11.
104.
Immordino-YangMDamasioA. We feel, therefore we learn: the relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind Brain Educ2007; 1: 3–10.
105.
CookCJCrewtherBT. The social environment during a post-match video presentation affects the hormonal responses and playing performance in professional male athletes. Physiol Behav2014; 130: 170–175.
106.
CookCJCrewtherBT. The impact of a competitive learning environment on hormonal and emotional stress responses and skill acquisition and expression in a medical student domain. Physiol Behav2019; 199: 252–257.
107.
BoudD. Relocating reflection in the context of practice. In: Beyond reflective practice: new approaches to professional lifelong learning. NY, New York, USA: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2010, pp. 25–36.
108.
PekrunRLinnenbrink-GarciaL. International handbook of emotions in education. NY, New York, USA: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.
109.
FarmerTDawesMAlexanderQ, et al. Manuscript under revision. 2016.
110.
HolperLGoldinAShalomD,et al.The teaching and the learning brain: a cortical hemodynamic marker of teacher-student interactions in the Soctratic dialog. Int J of Educ Res2013; 59: 1–10.
111.
WheatleyTKangOParkinsonC,et al.From mind perception to mental connection: synchrony as a mechanism for social understanding. Soc Personal Psychol Compass2012; 6: 589–606.
112.
RodriguezMPetersonRVijaykumarK. Social media's influence on business-to-business sales performance. J Pers Sell Sales Manage2012; 32: 365–378.
JonesJGittinsMHardyL. Creating an environment where high performance is inevitable and sustainable: the high-performance environment model. Annu Rev High-Perform Coaching Consult2009; 1: 139–149.
