Developing cultural intelligence in sport: A qualitative study of coaches’ perceptions of cross-cultural training

Abstract

Coaches worldwide are required to interact frequently with people from different cultures. This can create some personal and professional challenges for coaches working with foreign athletes. Coaches’ training programmes have the responsibility to give them the right skills and prepare them to work in a global sports market, which involves several cross-cultural interactions. A cross-cultural training programme for sports coaches was implemented with 56 coaches from a Portuguese-speaking country. This research focuses on the qualitative evaluation of a cross-cultural training programme, using Thematic Analysis and NVivo software. The themes identified in the qualitative analysis were: a recommendation of training to other coaches; the importance of the coaching role; the important role of cultural training; the importance of growing as an individual and as a coach; and a recommendation for the training to be part of the coaching courses. The themes related to the Reflective Practice were the following: the experience with different cultures; learning from the cultural experience; and the importance of planning cultural experience beforehand. Future studies should consider recruiting more coaches with international experience during their careers. Interviews or focus groups should also be considered to get more in-depth information about the coaches’ perceptions of cross-cultural training.