The intersection of sport coaching and art crit: A narrative review of pedagogy in practice.

Abstract

Delivering constructive and informative feedback from coaches to athletes is central to coaching effectiveness. Feedback has long been regarded as essential psychological and pedagogical competencies of sports coaches designing learning environments. Subsequently, the art “crit” is a widely acknowledged pedagogy which is increasingly being used in other disciplines. Nevertheless, there is a clear gap in the literature on the intersection of sport coaching and the art “crit”, highlighting the need for further exploratory research in this under-examined area. This narrative review: i) examined if the pedagogical practice of “crit” has been used in sport feedback and coaching contexts; and, ii) reviewed the literature for any pedagogical parallels of structured feedback practices that have been attempted between the domains of sport and art. The Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles was used to guide the development and content of this review. Findings indicated that there is the potential for individuals with multi-disciplinary knowledge in art and sport to demonstrate coaching qualities that support strong performance outcomes in an athlete. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that coaching frameworks and the coaching role can be integrated into, and learn from, different domains to support learning and performance outcomes. The co-creation and development focus inherent in art “crit” may provide opportunity for more constructive and collaborative dialogue. Although this crossover has not been studied, the clear theoretical and practical overlaps point to valuable opportunities for applying critique methods within sports coaching. This narrative review provides preliminary insight into the interdisciplinary link, and we conclude our study by providing new perspectives on key issues relating to the intersection of the art “crit” and sports coaching. It is proposed that “crit” as a multidisciplinary approach can help establish a shared language that supports constructive collaboration with a focus on excellence within a psycho-socially safe coaching environment.