The role of care in coaching and athlete success

About the Speaker:

Colum Cronin is a Reader in Sport Coaching and PE at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Colum’s research focuses primarily on coach-athlete relationships and coach education. He has a particular interest in understanding caring relationships in sport coaching. Indeed, he is the co-author of the book, Care in Sport Coaching published by Routledge which examined care in international youth athletics and basketball. He has also done work on care for Irish Cycling, UK coaching, England Netball and other organisations. Care will be the focus of his presentation.

Key Themes:

What do we mean by care?

We will explore if care is more than being kind or supportive. What does it actually involve and take to be caring?

How can caring relationships help athletes?

We will consider how relationships fit into coaching and look at examples of caring relationships across a range of sports.

Why is care often overlooked in sport and elsewhere?

We will look at the history of care labour and consider why care work is often hidden, and unappreciated, yet incredibly valuable.

How can we practically enact care in endurance sports?

We will explore ideas and examples to help coaches, support staff and others involved in sport teams and organisations develop caring relationships.

Description supplied by the event organiser.