A Successful Career as a Player Provides a Faster Path to High Level Coaching : A Qualitative Study

Abstract: Aim  In the study, we problematize, among other things, the leadership qualities of players and why the majority of coaches in Swedish elite handball are former players.  Within the Swedish handball elite, over 60% of all head coaches have a previous successful playing career. According to a study by Werthner et al., (2009) this may be because with previous experience as a player, this can facilitate the work as a coach because you then have specific knowledge that may be needed. Players in team sports should be good at building relationships, be selfless and self-disciplined, etc. These are also qualities that are important for a coach to have. However, the position of team captain is more similar to the position of a coach than an ordinary player. Which is quite obvious when the team captain acts as a helping hand to the coach. There are different paths to becoming a coach, especially at the elite level. The purpose of this study was to problematize these pathways and find out if a household name and former elite player gets a faster route to success as a coach. Method  We conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews from 10 coaches in the sample from four different leagues in the Swedish handball elite. These were Damallsvenskan, Herrallsvenskan, SHE and Handbollsligan. From Damallsvenskan there was one assistant coach and one head coach. In Herrallsvenskan we had one head coach. From SHE we had one assistant coach and two head coaches, and last we had one assistant coach and four head coaches. Consent was collected and it included knowing whether the participants wanted to be anonymous or not in the study. All gave consent to be mentioned by name after quotations in the study. We carefully followed the guidelines for GDPR and the Swedish Research Council's four general requirements. We then did a thematic analysis of the interviews, which contributed to a more detailed data collection. Results In the results, we divided the different stories from the participants into themes with sub-themes; Player career and personality traits, The coaches’ path to Swedish elite handball, Education connected to coaching and Coaches’ opinion regarding elite players becoming elite coaches. The results were created through our thematic analysis of the answers to our interview questions. Conclusion  The most important thing for us with this work was to reach out to the people with the dream of a coaching career at an elite level, that this is possible if you work for it. We discussed, reflected and drew conclusions in the discussion section about, among other things, the faster path that former players get is preferable and how faster it really is, given that they have no experience in pedagogy and didactics.