Professional Judgement and Decision Making in High-level Adventure Sports Coaches

The thesis firstly establishes the uniqueness of the new profession of adventure sports coaching (ASCing), followed by consideration on the role and function of Professional Judgement and Decision Making (PJDM) in adventure sports. The thesis utilises a pragmatic qualitative paradigm and video assisted thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. The data demonstrates the sophisticated epistemological beliefs of a group of ASCs. The findings support the existence of an epistemological chain that runs throughout ASC coaching practice. The thesis identifies that the sophisticated epistemology held by the ASC underpins a PJDM process that balances risk with benefit in the form of a constantly audited multi looped process that is highly individualised to meet the learning needs of the student. ASCs employed a range of practical and cognitive strategies to facilitate differentiation within the coaching process. The thesis concludes that the ASC has a clear role that synergises performance development, personal development and experiential development, this is dependent on a PJDM process that has a focus on the person being coached, the environment of the coaching and the task being taught. From this the thesis concludes further that PJDM, epistemology and constraints led approaches to coaching should be addressed in ASC education via the development of a range of meta skills associated with Adventure Sports (AS) coaching practice.