Fostering pathways for girls into volunteer community sport coaching

The purpose of this research is to examine girls’ perceptions of volunteer coaching opportunities in community sport and their desired organisational support to pursue this path. The study draws on theory of perceived organisational support to understand support mechanisms needed to enable pathways and develop girls into sport coaching roles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with self-identified girl ice hockey players ages 12–17 from Ontario, Canada. Interviews focused on their experiences across three hockey clubs, the nature of the relationships influencing their perceptions of coaching pathways, and of organisational support available and/or needed to help them develop as coaches. The findings provide evidence of girls’ altruistic coaching intentions, the importance of relatability and communication in coaching pathways, preferences for resource equity, and the availability of coaching pathways. The research highlights girls’ desire to give back as coaches despite limited certification awareness and provides recommendations for engaging them in community coaching.