Interaction Culture in Elite Sports Coaching: A Gender Perspective"

Based on the central research question of how coaching interactions in elite and youth elite sports can be described and systematized from an interaction-theoretical perspective, and which linguistic and communicative patterns contribute to the meaningful coordination of actions and to competitive success, the project examines the interactions between coaches and athletes in competition and training contexts.
The focus is on analyzing linguistic and communicative forms of address, as well as the underlying interaction patterns that enable effective coordination of decisions and actions during competition. Drawing on approaches from interaction theory, coaching processes are empirically examined and systematically compared in both highly compressed competitive situations and preparatory training settings.
In particular, the project takes into account the organization of participation, the relationship between strategic and communicative actions, differences between team and individual sports, as well as gender- and diversity-specific dimensions of interaction.
The goal is to reconstruct patterns of successful interaction based on a broad empirical foundation and to derive insights from them for the professional development of coaches. In this way, the project contributes to the evidence-based advancement of coaching practices in elite sports.

The project employs a qualitative, iterative research strategy with the goal of reconstructing and systematically describing coaching interactions in elite and youth elite sports from an interaction-theoretical perspective. The focus is on linguistic and communicative action sequences during breaks in competition, as well as in the training contexts preceding and following these breaks. Since there is currently very little evidence-based research available in this specific subject area, the grounded theory methodology developed by Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin has been chosen as an exploratory and theory-developing approach. The goal is to gradually develop theoretical concepts and patterns of interaction based on empirical data. Data is collected through audiovisual recordings of training and competition situations in various sports. The focus is on analyzing how coaches and athletes coordinate their actions through language and what interaction patterns emerge in the process. Data collection, processing, and analysis are organized into a cyclical, iterative process in which the collection and analysis phases alternate continuously. The analysis is based on constant comparison and draws on the coding paradigm of grounded theory. This allows for the identification and systematization of similarities and differences in interaction patterns across different sports. Initial findings from previous studies already indicate that, in particular, interruptions in competition vary significantly depending on the sport; similar differences are also expected in training contexts.
A key feature of the research design is the integration of knowledge generation and transfer: The findings are adapted and tested in the form of training and professional development programs for coaches. As part of an iterative overall process, the insights gained in this way are in turn incorporated into further data collection and analysis.
The research design thus aims both at the theory-guided reconstruction of interaction patterns and at their practical application with a view to professionalizing coaching in competitive sports.