Coaching Athletes with Severe Disabilities: An Exploration of Coaching Education and Development in Power Soccer

Quality coaching is imperative to maximizing sport potential and performance, but there are unique challenges, skills, and experiential requirements necessary for effective coaching in disability sport. Power soccer (PS) is a competitive sport played around the world by individuals with severe disabilities who use power wheelchairs. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of PS head coaches regarding coaching education (CE) and development in the U.S. Premier Conference head coaches participated in semi-structured mini-focus group interviews. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data. Findings highlight the informal nature of knowledge acquisition prevalent in PS and the need for more formal CE and development opportunities in parasport. Coaches relied on reciprocal mentorship and knowledge from more experienced players to learn new and applicable skills, game tactics, and PS movement patterns. The coaches with existing disabilities had a relatedness advantage over their peers without disabilities.