Learning the trade-recognising the needs of aspiring adventure sports professionals

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate debate and prompt further research, specifically regarding the training, development and higher education of aspiring Adventure Sports Professionals (ASP). The design of the paper draws specifically on 10 years of observation of trends within the Higher Education (HE) outdoor degree teaching sector in tandem with the authors’ own professional outdoor teaching career. Earlier research indicate the role and significance of Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in professional practice in Adventure Sports (AS) coaching and leadership. Consequently, PJDM appears to be a vital element of the education of the ASP. The training and practice of these PJDM skills is a situated cognition that is is conspicuous in its absence within many coach and leader education programmes where the ASP is required to balance pedagogical and welfare demands in consequential environments. A cognitive apprenticeship approach is advocated which builds on recent articles highlighting the importance of PJDM in such domains, with attention focussed on considering how best to address this omission from these learning and training opportunities. The paper compares and contrasts the role of the ASP with their counterparts working within the domains of traditional sports coaching leadership, and notes significant and important differences in demands of each role.