Encouraging the Conditions to Support Care: A Head Coach’s Story of Developing a Caring Culture in a U.K. Basketball Club

Cronin, C ORCID: 0000-0002-1687-4437, Grogan, J, Roberts, SJ ORCID: 0000-0001-7370-0161 and Keane, A (2026) Encouraging the Conditions to Support Care: A Head Coach’s Story of Developing a Caring Culture in a U.K. Basketball Club. International Sport Coaching Journal. pp. 1-12. ISSN 2328-918X

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Abstract

Necessitated by sustained evidence of abuse and inappropriate coaching practices, an ethic of care has been promoted as a promising approach to sport coaching. Providing care in sport contexts is difficult however, because caring is often labour intensive and many individuals including coaches themselves may need care. Thus the conditions of some sport coaching contexts may not be conducive to care. Currently, there are few evidence-based examples of how to develop the conditions that facilitate care in coaching contexts. Accordingly, this study reports on a Head Coach’s attempts to develop a “caring culture” using the Continuous Change Model for Caring Cultures (CCMCC). Utilising a structural narrative analysis of stories gathered across a season, findings reveal challenges including limited capacities and capabilities to care, and the need to align care with wider norms. The narrative also highlights the value of publicly rewarding care and how other characters beyond the Head Coach attempted to provide care in different scenes. These findings provide the first account of utilising the Continuous Change Model for Caring Cultures, including stories and analysis that may support others to develop the conditions to support caring relationships.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences; 1303 Specialist Studies in Education; 1701 Psychology; 3904 Specialist studies in education; 4207 Sports science and exercise; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports > GV711 Coaching G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Human Kinetics
Date of acceptance:	5 March 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	22 May 2026
Date Deposited:	21 May 2026 14:44
Last Modified:	22 May 2026 14:36
DOI or ID number:	10.1123/iscj.2025-0063
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28616

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