The Opportunities And Challenges Of Virtual Coach Education In Rural And Remote Communities

IntroductionWithin sport for development (SFD), it has been widely established that coaches—and the presence of strong adult relationships—play a critical role in facilitating a broad array of positive youth outcomes. However, the ability of coaches to play a meaningful role is influenced by their involvement in coach education and the support they receive from learning communities. While coaching education is important, not all coaches can access it readily, due to a lack of programs in certain geographic areas, a lack of local/in-person expertise, financial or time constraints, and other factors that make it inaccessible. Virtual education has emerged as a potential strategy to overcome these challenges, but despite growing technological adoption, practice has outpaced research, and evidence supporting the efficacy of virtual coaching remains limited.MethodsGuided by the Task–Technology Fit Framework, this study assessed virtual coach education across ten sport-for-change organizations in ten countries to illustrate and understand access, strategies, strengths, and limitations associated with virtual coach education.ResultsFindings showed high motivation among the sport-for-change organizations to integrate virtual coach education into their coach education strategies and overall capacity building, revealed variation in the utility of virtual technology among organizations, challenges to technological use related to access and resources, and finally strategies employed to support learning in a virtual space.DiscussionOverall, the current study revealed a major equity issue in relation to SFD organizations engaging in virtual coaching training, highlighting the influence of structural inequities which continue to cause barriers to technology access that can exacerbate the equity gap. As is often the case, the communities that face the greatest marginalization experienced significant inequities in access to quality coach education. Building on creative strategies outlined in the article, it is recommended that researchers and practitioners continue to think “outside the box” on virtual coach education strategies as well as the broader role of coach education.