In 2016, the Center for Leadership in Athletics launched the Ambitious* Coaching Project, a research study designed to identify the knowledge and skills at the heart of effective coaching. The goal of the project was to identify specific coaching practices that support holistic wellness and social-emotional development of athletes while preparing them for age-appropriate performance and competition.
The study utilized a Delphi method to identify an initial set of coaching core practices, followed by a video capture of coaches who met a specific set of “ambitious” criteria. Videos were coded for high frequency, high leverage behaviors that occurred across different sports, ages, and competition levels. From this work, 15 Ambitious Coaching Core Practices emerged that help the CLA tell the story of how coaches can engage athletes in a fundamentally sound, intentional, and integrated approach to sport, designed to elicit both high levels of execution and personal growth and fulfillment.
Additional exploration of the Core Practices has spawned a range of activities guided by our deepening understanding of what makes an effective coach. These activities include curriculum development for coach training and workshops, foundational material for the ACCEL certificate, and the creation of online coaching resources, including the Core Practice Handbook.