Adventure sports have become increasingly popular in recent years, having been integrated into everyday life through rapid commercial growth and improved accessibility (Berry, Lomax & Hodgson 2015). The diverse and rapidly evolving nature of adventure sports has resulted in an increased need to understand the unique and multifaceted role of the adventure sports coach (ASC), who is required to employ appropriate coaching styles and methods to handle the demands of a wide variety of participants, environments, outcome goals and risks (Collins & Collins, 2012). A small but emerging base of research has begun to examine the diverse and complex coaching practice inherent to adventure sports, providing an insight into the processes behind ASCs behaviours (Collins & Collins, 2012; Christian, Berry & Kearney 2017). Collins, Collins and Grecic (2015) articulated the importance of understanding a coach’s personal philosophy, which considers how experiences influence the conceptualisation of coaching practice and effectiveness.
Current exploration in this field has been pioneered by Christian, Berry and Kearney (2017), who researched the influence of epistemic beliefs on practice, and the developmental experiences and chains which form them, shaping and cultivating their personal coaching philosophies. However, these ground-breaking small-scale studies, were limited by both sample size and the assertion that expertise would be characterised by qualification and experience. This paper will substantiate the findings of Christian et al., (2017), and further support the epistemological chain as a framework from which to explore ‘coaching philosophy’ within the domain of adventure sports. By utilising a quantitative approach to research, a much
larger sample size will be accessed, providing the first large scale data profiling of ASCs in the UK. This will allow for both demographic variables and coach specific experiences to be analysed and compared to epistemic beliefs, paving the way to better understanding how coach educators can facilitate the cultivation of personal coaching philosophies.