Dr. Uri Schaefer Presents Coach Survey at Global Coach Conference

The 14th ICCE Global Coach Conference was held in Singapore at the end of November (29 November to 3 December 2023) with ICSSPE President Dr. Uri Schaefer initiating a session on “The development of the profession of coaching” together with John Bales, President of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) -- an ICSSPE member. 

ICSSPE and ICCE have collaborated on several projects in the past and were joint partners of the Erasmus+ funded PEAK project (Policy, Evidence, and Knowledge in Coaching), which was initiated and run by ICSSPE, ICCE and five additional partners and concluded in 2022. For more information on the PEAK project and the materials developed, see HERE.

The high-quality and well-organised Global Coach Conference under the theme “Coaching for a Better Tomorrow” was organised by the ICCE, Sport Singapore, and Coach Singapore. Lectures from all over the world attended the conference, including world-renowned experts in their field. See the event website for more: https://www.gcc2023-sg.com.

Four speakers were scheduled for the “Development of the Profession of Coaching” session”

• A Villiotis, The Hellenic Federation of Sports Coaches and Trainers (POPA), Greece
• Kubischta & Nieminen, The Professional Coaches of Finland: Supporting coaches in all aspects of their work, Finland
• Uri Schaefer, Israel Coaching Association, Israel 
• Sequeira & Mendonca, Coaching Portugal, Portgual.

Representing the Israel Coaching Association, Uri Schaefer presented the findings of the  coaches' survey conducted in Israel in 2022, which had the aim to learn about the status and rights of coaches in Israel. 416 coaches from 51 different sports participated in the study (out of 1250), including 313 male and 103 female coaches. The questionnaire included 39 personal-demographic and professional questions.

The study's findings show that most research participants were satisfied with the quality of their training. However, when asked about the level of satisfaction from the in-service training, 56 percent of the participants were not satisfied with the frequency of their professional development program. 

It also emerged from the findings that seniority in coaching is related to the scope of the job, the type of trainees, and the level of academic education. The higher the seniority, the higher the chances that you work full-time, coach a high-performance athlete and have a college education.

Additional findings revealed that approximately 30 percent of the coaches do not have professional liability insurance and that 66 percent of the research participants who are not members of existing coach's associations (Football/Soccer, Basketball, and Tennis), are interested in joining the Israeli Coaches Association. 

The coaches also reported that 54 percent have returned to the same level of activity as before the COVID-19 pandemic, while 17 percent of the coaches reported that the scope of their work had not yet returned to the same level. The finding also revealed that 54 percent of the coaches reported that they have a decrease in the number of trainees compared to the period before the pandemic. 

Further research will be necessary to learn more in-depth about the characteristics of the coaches’ work, as well as the gender situation in coaching in Israel. 

For more on the Israel Coaches Association see HERE (currently in Hebrew language only).