Browsing by Author "Neuvonen, Petteri"

Football club activities play an important role in the physical education of Finnish children. The educational impacts of the activities depend largely on the club’s guidelines and the coaches’ educational skills. The role of the coach as an educator is unavoidable, as sports creates educational situations where it is possible to influence children’s actions and thinking directly or through their parents. The research assignment of this study is to describe the views of football coaches involved in childhood sports on their role in children’s physical education. The objective is to research how children’s coaches view their role as an educator, and the factors influencing their role in the football club. The study was carried out as a qualitative case study, in which the research material consisted of semi-structured thematic interviews with five children’s football coaches. Two full-time and two part-time coaches, and one volunteer coach from different football clubs in the Helsinki metropolitan area were selected for interview by quota sampling. The analysis of the material was carried out using theory-guided content analysis, where the coaches' views on the research topic were described. The coaches described that their role is significant as part of children’s physical education. With their actions, the coaches offered a role model to children, for instance in behavior and attitude to competition. Enjoying football was raised as the most important educational goal. Collaboration with children’s parents and members of the coaching staff influenced the role of the coach as an educator. The clubs guided the coaches in different ways and team sizes defined by the clubs impacted the role of the coaches. Based on the literature and my research, a competent coach enables high-quality physical education in football clubs. The skills of coaches should be developed and means to do so should be further studied. Based on the research, it can be recommended that clubs use team sizes small enough to allow the coach to consider children’s individual needs.