Using the grounded theory to develop the theoretical model of Chinese school sports coaching competence

Background School sports coaching is gaining recognition as a formal profession worldwide, highlighting its significant role in students’ holistic development. Given the complex social and cultural dimensions of the role, this study explores a coaching competence model tailored to the school context, emphasizing the need to consider both national and local frameworks to ensure effective implementation. In China, school sport coaches are responsible for both physical education teaching and sports training across all types of schools. Within the integration of sports and education, school sport coaches can expand their impact not only on student-athletes or athletes but also on general students in practice. Compared with physical education teachers’ perspectives, sports coaches’ competence development has rarely been studied. This study aims to develop a sustainable Chinese school sports coaching competence model. Methods The qualitative data were gathered mainly through semi-structured interviews. School sports coaches and related stakeholders (N=22) were selected as participants using purposive sampling techniques. Grounded theory was employed to analyse the data via NVivo 11.0 software. Results The school sports coaching competence model comprises three categories consisting of 15 sub-categories, 92 concepts, and 317 labels. These categories are as follows: (a) Perception of identity, encompassing role of the coach, refection on students, and understanding of policies; (b) Code of ethics, which includes sports virtues, sports-humanistic spirit, and principles of movement science; (c) Coaching excellence, comprising lifestyle and fitness strength, local sports development, teacher-coach partnership, leadership in extracurricular activities, safety and injury protection, athlete selection and training, instruction and demonstration, coaching refective practice, and athlete-coach rapport. Conclusion Chinese school sport coaching competence model emphasizes the integration of sports and education for student development. It provides both local and national perspectives to enhance the professional development of school sports coaches’ community worldwide