Senior Matthew Richards learned about research as well as about youth sports coaches in his project: “The research process in its entirety is demanding yet incredibly rewarding. I learned that you must be okay with not having all the answers. You will frequently need to rely on the help of others, and that dependency will only build stronger relationships, humility, and will lead to newfound knowledge.” Matthew’s research, part of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, was motivated by his past sport experience in high school athletics and his desire to pursue graduate studies to become a strength and conditioning coach. He was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, of Jamaican parents and will graduate in May 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with emphasis in Sport Studies.
Dr. Karen Collins is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology: Sport Studies. She has been at the University of New Hampshire for nine years and specializes in coaching, coaching education, and social issues in sport. Matthew’s project, she says, provided timely evaluation for the five-year old CoachSmartNH program. Although Dr. Collins has not been an “official” mentor before, she enjoys “working with students and seeing them develop a knack for research.” It can at times be frustrating for the faculty mentor, she admits, “because we have to take a step back and be patient about the process.” Dr. Collins has worked with Matthew in preparing his article and feels that writing for Inquiry’s wider audience is “definitely a challenge,” especially for those accustomed to writing in “discipline-specific prose.” The Inquiry experience, she feels, is especially useful for students who will be “practitioners, as opposed to researchers, in their field.” Therefore, she concluded, “we need to adapt and be flexible.”
Read Matthew Richards' research article Coaching Education and a Survey of Youth Sport Coaches’ Perceptions of their Coaching Efficacy >>
