Exploring the interplay between learning, knowledge, biography and practice: The tale of an experienced track and field athletics coach.

This paper examines how the learning biography of Jack (pseudonym), an experienced track and field athletics coach, shaped his thoughts about coaching practice. Data were collected through seven in-depth, semi-structured, narrative-biographical interviews that formed part of a cyclical and iterative data analysis process. Our analysis of Jack’s narrative revealed how his understanding of two distinct features of his coaching practice (i.e. implementation of periodization and pedagogical delivery style) developed in contrasting ways. Jack’s story was primarily, although not exclusively, interpreted using Alheit’s concepts of biographical learning and biographicity, Biesta and Tedder’s writings on agency and learning in the life-course, and Jarvis’ discussion of learning as a process of becoming. The findings of this study raise significant questions for how the field of sports coaching seeks to understand coach learning.