Author(s): TORSTVEIT, M.K., AUSLAND, Å., AUGUSTSSON, S.R., IVARSSON, A., KJÆR, J.B., LAXDAL, A.G., LINNÉR, S., MELIN, A.K., RADOVAN, F., SOLSTAD, B.E., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF AGDER, Country: NORWAY, Abstract-ID: 2315

Introduction
In contemporary sports coaching, a prevailing perspective centres around knowledge and methodologies largely derived from male athletes, often generalized to coaching of female athletes. However, this approach fails to consider biological, psychological, and social factors inherent to coaching female athletes. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to investigate associations between coaches’ perceived importance of female-specific coaching topics and their self-evaluations of knowledge regarding the same topics. It was also of interest to examine the need of a coach education program (CEP) for improved coaching of female athletes.

Methods
A web-based survey was administered to coaches of female athletes in Norway, encompassing inquiries into perceived importance and self-evaluations of knowledge of female-specific topics, such as puberty, hormonal influences, and communication. The need of a CEP for improved coaching of female athletes were rated on a scale from 1 (low) to 7 (high). A total of 650 coaches (n=260 females) in ten different sports responded to the survey. The average age was 44 years (SD=16.1) with an average coaching experience of 11.3 years (SD=7.8). Repeated Measure ANOVA using SPSS software was used to analyse the data.

Results
Statistically significant disparities between ratings of perceived importance and coaches’ self-evaluations of knowledge across all variables (ps < .001, Cohen’s d ranged between .73-.92), were found. Coaches consistently rated the importance of female-specific coaching topics higher than their perceived competence in addressing them with no significant interaction effects based on sex (ps > .05, n2 ranged between .000-.002) or completed coach education (ps > .05, n2 ranged between .000-.002). Additionally, higher perceived availability of knowledge was positively associated with smaller differences between ratings of perceived importance and coaches’ self-evaluations of all variables (ps <.001, n2 ranged between .009-.019). Lastly, the results showed a median score of 6 in terms of need of a CEP for improved coaching of female athletes.

Discussion
These findings underscore a gap between coaches’ perceived importance and their self-evaluations of knowledge regarding female-specific coaching topics, thereby signalling the need for enhanced availability of knowledge and CEPs focusing on female-specific topics. The absence of interaction effects based on sex or completed coach education might indicate that both male and female coaches, despite having completed previous CEPs, need more in-depth knowledge about coaching female athletes. Further, the association between knowledge availability and the reduced disparity between ratings of perceived importance and coaches’ self-evaluations of knowledge highlights the importance of making female-specific coaching resources more available to coaches. Consequently, this study emphasizes the pressing need for female-specific contents in future CEPs.