Coaches’ perceptions of the management of professional sport coaches in South Africa

Abstract

Sport has become a part of life in South Africa. It has grown into an attractive mega-industry that employs many people. Among them is the professional sport coach who is an important member of the human resources in a sport organisation. This individual performs multiple roles that ensure that the sport organisation is able to achieve its goals and objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the management of professional sport coaches from a coach perspective. The study utilised a mixed method approach which involved conducting interviews with 10 professional sport coaches and administering questionnaires to 400 professional coaches drawn across all the nine provinces of South Africa. The study found that there were inconsistencies in the management of professional sport coaches in five areas, namely recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, job security and labour relations. Recommendations are made to address the identified inconsistencies.