The Coach-Athlete Relationship in an Online Environment

Abstract

Online coaching environments have grown in popularity, in which the coach and athlete work together using Internet-based platforms, without meeting in person. Kettlebell lifting has been using the online format for some time. The majority of Kettlebell lifters are Masters Athletes (MAs), over the age of 35 years, and competing in registered events around the world. Adult-oriented psychosocial coaching approaches that prioritize relationship development have proven to be successful when coaching MAs. While the coach-athlete relationship (CAR) has been examined in terms of closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation, it is not known how the CAR is created and maintained in an online environment. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of MAs’ relationships with their online coaches. I interviewed five kettlebell lifters to explore their experiences of having online coaches. The study employed the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to make sense of lifters’ individual experiences within the online coaching environment. The results are laid out as three higher order themes of coach selection by the MA, bi-directional communication, and coach programming, that are further split into eight subthemes that outline how MAs and coaches’ relationships are successfully formed and sustained in a purely online environment. The current study fills a gap in published literature since understanding the coach-athlete relationship for mature adults in an online only platform has not yet been studied.