Scott Rathwell

University of Lethbridge · Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a qualitative research methodology used to understand participants’ subjective realities through personal interpretations of their lived experiences and the meanings they attach to these experiences (Smith, 2011). IPA has been used predominantly in health psychology, with rising interest within the...

Using an online cross-sectional randomized design, we explored whether messages emphasizing benefits of sport (sport gain-framed messages) would activate and elaborate hoped-for possible sport selves in 40- to 59-year-olds. One group viewed a video containing sport gain framed messages, and a comparison group completed a sport and physical activity...

Knowing the psychosocial themes in a specific sport context allows us to understand athletes’ experiences and informs approaches of coaches (Côté et al., 1995) and sport programmers (Danish et al., 2005). Few qualitative studies focus on psychosocial conditions of adult athletes in coached sport settings. The purpose of this study was to capture im...

The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics head coaches looked for when hiring their head assistant coach, the main roles and responsibilities assigned to assistants, and the techniques and behaviors used to develop them. Data were obtained through interviews with six accomplished Canadian University head...

Limited tools assess positive development through university sport. Such a tool was validated in this investigation using two independent samples of Canadian university athletes. In Study one, 605 athletes completed 99 survey items drawn from the YES 2.0. Separate a priori measurement models were evaluated (i.e., 99 items, YES 2.0, YES-S). Confirma...

https://scapps.org/jems/index.php/1/article/view/3080 ABSTRACT: Coaches can use the Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; Rathwell et al., 2020) to reflect on their psychosocial coaching approaches with Masters athletes (MAs). This study explored how a coach used the AOSCS alongside a mentor for ongoing adult-oriented coach development. Grou...

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the implementation of socio-sanitary restrictions and a mass exodus from organized sport and physical activity (PA). As restrictions are lifted, many individuals are attempting to re-engage with sport. Masters athletes (MAs) are optimal for studying successful re­-engagement because they adhere to sport throughout adult...

The Return-to-Sport (RTS) protocol is recommended for rehabilitating concussed athletes (Patricios et al., 2023). Limited studies exist on psychosocial factors influencing RTS (Bloom et al., 2022). Social support is a psychosocial factor that influences concussion rehabilitation (Kita et al., 2020). We explored nine (n = 7 females, n = 2 males) Can...

The return-to-sport (RTS) protocol is the pervasive concussion management strategy for athletes. Recovery from concussion typically takes two weeks, yet athletes may experience longer recoveries (McCrory et al., 2017). Prolonged recovery may cause adverse psychosocial outcomes (i.e., anxiety, depression, or suicidal ideation; Caron et al., 2017). P...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS) is a valid and reliable measure of coaches’ and Masters athletes’ perspectives of how often adult-oriented coaching practices are used. However, Masters athletes’ heterogenous traits have been acknowledged as barriers to generalizing research findings on coaching behaviors. Therefore, this study aime...

Masters athletes (MAs) are competitive adult athletes beyond the age of peak performance (Motz et al., 2022) who demonstrate high levels of athletic identity and time invested into sport (Appleby & Dieffenbach, 2016). Identity-Based Motivation Theory (IBM; Oyserman et al., 2017) posits that motivations mediate the link between identities and behavi...

Continuous coach education courses (CCEC) are considered a crucial vehicle for exposing coaches to topics (e.g., nutrition , mental health, positive youth development) not addressed in their initial coach training. CCEC can help coaches develop well-rounded coaching practices based on youth's physical, social, emotional, and psychological needs. Th...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey assesses how often coaches use practices tailored to adult and older adult athletes. Cross-sectionally, said practices contribute to a quality masters sport experience for masters athletes (MAs); however, the stability of adult-oriented coaching over time and whether changes in coaching over time correspond...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS) assesses psychosocial coaching practices for coaches who work with adult athletes. The AOSCS can be used as a self-assessment tool for coaches’ professional development, but there is a need to better understand its relevance for coaches. The purpose of this study was to explore coaches’ perspectives...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS) can be used by coaches to reflect on how they coach competitive adult sports participants. There are coach (AOSCS-C) and athlete (AOSCS-A) versions. The purpose of this case study is to portray how coaches reflect on scores from the AOSCS with a coach developer. Nine coaches (White; ages 23–72; five...

High school sport presents opportunities for adolescents to build a solid foundation for positive mental health. Given recent calls to consider gender as a key variable when studying mental health, the purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of gender on the relationship between the satisfaction/frustration of the three basic psycholo...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; Rathwell et al., 2020) is a promising coach education tool (Callary et al., 2021) for coaches who work with adult athletes. Research using the AOSCS has measured how often adult-oriented coaching practices are used but has not measured athletes’ preferences for these different practices. Therefore, i...

Student-athletes are identifiable members of university communities and expected to behave in ways that align with school values. The purpose of this study was to test (a) if university student-athletes have more moral intentions than non-student athletes, and (b) whether being reminded of their affiliation to their university enhances student-athl...

Playing the piano at expert levels typically involves significant levels of trial-and-error learning since the majority of practice occurs in isolation. To better optimize musical outcomes, pianists might be well served by emulating some of the practices found in sports, where motor learning strategies are grounded in biomechanics and ergonomics in...

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; Rathwell et al., 2020) provides researchers with a self-report tool to measure the frequency of use of adult-oriented coaching practices. Studies involving the AOSCS have reported several types of validity and reliability (Motz et al., in press; Rathwell et al., 2020), yet the psychometric invariance...

Although psychological distress has been shown to increase during adolescence, participation in organized activities may have protective effects. The present study aimed to identify whether there is a relationship between high school student-athletes’ breadth of participation in organized activities and psychological distress, using a latent class...

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/WHDS92ERJ2FW7CW6FWK7/full?target=10.1080/1612197X.2022.2043927 ---- The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; Rathwell et al., 2020) reliably assesses coaching practices tailored to Masters athletes (MAs). It recognizes the uniqueness of coaching adults (Callary et al., 2021) and has good face validity and...

Este artigo tem como objetivos refletir sobre as políticas e a cultura vigentes no sistema desportivo português e propor a integração de uma abordagem centrada nos fatores determinantes para o desenvolvimento dos jovens. As propostas apresentadas visam promover uma reflexão acerca das políticas implementadas pela tutela, com o intuito de melhorar o...

The purpose of this article is to propose the integration of an assets-based approach to development in the Portuguese sport system. The propositions advanced are aimed at instigating reflections on policy-level initiatives that can be undertaken with the intent of bettering the state of sport in Portugal. We argue that changes from an assets-based...

Over the last decades, qualitative methods have dominated Positive Development through sports research. Therefore, valid and reliable quantitative measurement tools are scarce. Additionally, most Positive Development research has focused on youth sport contexts. University sport has been considered a crucial period for a Positive Development approa...

https://www.scapps.org/jems/index.php/1/article/view/2610 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_FdhDYwyn0 --- Adult-oriented coaching practices have been described qualitatively by Masters athletes (MAs) as a preferred method to receive coaching (Callary et al., 2017) and to foster hallmarks of Quality Masters Sport Experiences (QMSE; Young et al.,...

https://www.scapps.org/jems/index.php/1/article/view/2611 -- Recent qualitative evidence (Callary et al., 2017) suggests that adult-oriented coaching practices may enhance Masters athletes' (MAs) sport experiences. Most cognitively mediated coaching models posit that when athletes' preferences for coaching practices align with the coaching practice...

This study explored the views of Canadian Masters athletes (MAs; M age = 51, range 38–62; three men and five women) from 12 sports (10 individual and two team sports) on sport psychology for performance, experiential, and lifestyle enhancement. Using Braun and Clarke’s procedures for thematic analysis, the authors interpreted data from semistructur...

This book is a foundational resource for all coaches and student coaches who are, or who plan to be, working with Masters athletes. This athletic cohort typically includes adults over the age of 35 years who are registered for sport programs/events, and who invest in training to improve themselves for competitions that range from recreational to ch...

Piano performance motor learning research requires more “artful” methodologies if it is to meaningfully address music performance as a corporeal art. To date, research has been sparse and it has typically constrained multiple performance variables in order to isolate specific phenomena. This approach has denied the fundamental ethos of music perfor...

Objectives Researchers have advocated for coaches to intentionally teach life skills to their athletes given the accrued developmental benefits. The purpose of this research was to develop and offer initial evidence of validity and reliability for a measure assessing the extent to which coaches are intentional in their approaches to teaching life s...

https://www.routledge.com/Coaching-Masters-Athletes/Callary-Young-Rathwell/p/book/9780367442385 This chapter explores the different roles played by athletes, including, but not limited to player-coaches, athletes on boards of directors, social conveners, and treasurers. These roles play into how coaches divert and adjust their power and control ov...

In recent years, the role of coaches in fostering Positive Development (PD) has been explored within the context of university sport. However, research in non-English speaking countries such as Brazil, which is highly representative of university sport in LatinAmerica,is still scarce.The purpose of this study was to analyze Brazilian coaches’percep...

Coach education has been positioned as an important catalyst in enabling coaches to maximise the positive influence of high school sport on student-athlete development. The purpose of the study was to conduct a subsequent season follow-up evaluation, examining longer-term changes in coach-athlete relationship, coach interpersonal behaviours, and li...

Adult sportspersons (Masters athletes, aged 35 years and older) have unique coaching preferences. No existing resources provide coaches with feedback on their craft with Masters athletes. Three studies evaluated an Adult-Oriented Coaching Survey. Study 1 vetted the face validity of 50 survey items with 12 Masters coaches. Results supported the vali...

Objectives High school sport is considered a suitable context in which to develop life skills, yet most coaches are not equipped with the knowledge/tools needed to deliberately teach life skills. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Coaching for Life Skills online training program in helping coaches create environments...

Exploratory research suggests Masters athletes (MAs; adult athletes >35 years) derive benefits from the coached context. This study sought to compare groups of MAs with varying degrees of coaching for reports of psychological need satisfaction and frustration. A total of 561 individual sport MAs completed surveys assessing psychological need satisf...

Objectives: The effective tailoring of instructional approaches to adult learners is beneficial in educational domains. No tool exists to assess coaches' use of adult-tailored methods in Masters (>35+ years-old) sport. This study tested the content (face) and factorial (convergent, discriminant) validity of a self-report survey, derived from instru...

Athletic identity (AI) is associated with increased motivation across a broad age range of exercisers. The study of AI and Masters athletes (MAs) has received less attention. The relationship between AI and motivation was tested with a large sample of MAs (n = 455; Mage = 51.97, SD = 11.51). MAs completed the Athletic Identity Questionnaire (AIQ) a...

Qualitative studies highlight the use of adult-oriented coaching as an alternative to traditional pedagogical practices when coaching Masters athletes (MAs; Callary et al., 2017). Studies have yet to quantitatively assess associations between various adult-oriented coaching practices and MAs' psychosocial outcomes. Four-hundred-and two MAs (Mage =...

University sport is a unique context for examining positive development (PD) because it falls somewhere on a continuum between high school sport, and professional sport. University sport is different than high school sport because the talent level is much greater, with many university athletes representing their country at the Olympics (e.g., women...

High school sport is one of the most popular school-based extracurricular activities in North America, situated as a developmental activity during which coaches can foster quality relationships with students to promote basic psychological needs satisfaction and teach life skills. The primary purpose of the study was to examine associations between...

The practice of high school sport is, in large part, justified based on the premise that participation exposes student-athletes to an array of situations that, when experienced positively, allow them to learn and refine the life skills necessary to become active, thriving, and contributing members of society. The purpose of this paper is to examine...

We examined the level and prevalence of mental health functioning (MHF) in intercollegiate student-athletes from 30 Canadian universities, and the impact of time of year, gender, alcohol use, living situation, year of study, and type of sport on MHF. An online survey completed in November 2015 (N = 388) and March 2016 (n = 110) revealed that overal...

Many forms of mainstream coach education continue to sparingly address content specifically related to positive youth development and/or life skills, instead maintaining a focus on the technical and tactical aspects of sport. The purpose of the paper is to present the evaluation findings of the pilot implementation of the Coaching for Life Skills p...

We examined the level and prevalence of mental health functioning (MHF) in intercollegiate student-athletes from 30 Canadian universities, and the impact of time of year, gender, alcohol use, living situation, year of study, and type of sport on MHF. An online survey completed in November 2015 (N = 388) and March 2016 (n = 110) revealed that overal...

Paralleling the graying of the baby boomer generation, there has been remarkable growth in the number of Masters athletes (adult sport participants generally 35+ years old) and Seniors athletes (55+) worldwide. The phenomenon of the aging or older athlete is an opportunity to study the psychological conditions and considerations that distinguish ol...

Masters Athletes (MAs; adult athletes typically over 35 years old who prepare in order to compete at levels ranging from very recreational competition to serious competition) want coaches to cater their approaches to working with adults. Using adult learning principles, we previously found that some coaches cater their approaches in ways to accommo...

Evidence suggests Canadian university sport programs can foster positive development. Further, university coaches have claimed to focus on their athletes' personal and psychosocial development. Despite coaches' claims, little is known about university coaches' strategies for enhancing positive development. The aim of the present study was to explor...

Governing bodies of university sport have adopted more holistic approaches to the development of their athletes (Canadian Interuniversity Sport, 2013; NCAA, 2015). To our knowledge, there has been little empirical effort made to describe and assess positive development in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) context. In this study, we qualitati...

Coaches working with Masters Athletes (MAs) are tasked with facilitating learning and enhancing performance and quality of experience specifically for an adult cohort. In education, the Andragogy in Practice Model (APM) characterizes adult learners and provides teachers with principles for how to best facilitate learning (Knowles, Holton III, & Swa...

Gould and Carson (2008) called for research to uncover the underlying mechanisms related to how positive development occurs through sport. The purpose of this study was to identify who is responsible for university student-athletes’ development of life skills, through the lens of student-athletes. Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducte...

Although experts have noted that adolescent athletes should be educated about concussions to improve their safety, there is no agreement on the most effective strategy to disseminate concussion education. The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and assess a concussion education program. More precisely, four interactive oral presentatio...

Although countries’ gender equality is associated with important health outcomes, especially for females, it remains unclear whether gender equality is associated with leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). Data from 34 countries was acquired from the International Social Survey Program, the Pew Research Forum, the United Nations, and the World Ban...

Investigations into the strategies that are used by participants when they control their knowledge of results (KR) schedule during practice have predominantly relied on multiple-choice questionnaires. More recently, open-ended questions have been used to allow participants to produce their own descriptions rather than selecting a strategy from a pr...

We explore the match between what a female Masters dragon boat racer wants and needs from a coach, and what a female dragon boat coach working with Masters athletes does with her team.

Much work addresses coaches’ contributions to younger athletes; however, the psycho-social coaching needs of adult Masters athletes remain unexamined. This study explored the lived experiences of 10 Masters swimmers (5 male, 5 female; age range = 45-65 years) through interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis delved into benefits that swi...

Masters Athletes (MAs) are a highly unique cohort who participate in competitive sport in adulthood. Understanding the factors facilitating one athlete’s personal commitment may illustrate the nature of adaptive strategies for remaining active in sport. In this case study, Andrew (pseudonym), a 52- year-old nationally ranked Canadian runner, provin...