Term of Award

Spring 2010

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Daniel R. Czech

Committee Member 1

George Shaver

Committee Member 2

Samuel Todd

Committee Member 3

Noah Gentner

Abstract

There have been studies, which have examined the lived experience of Christian athletes' use of prayer (Czech et al., 2004); however, no published research has sought to understand how a Christian coach may utilize prayer. The purpose of this study was to gather a narrative of the lived experience of collegiate Division I Christian head coaches' use of prayer within their profession. A humanistic framework, specifically existential-phenomenology, which was centered on seeing the individual being interviewed as the expert on the matter at hand (Dale, 1996) was used to allow for an information rich and detailed description of the coaches' experience. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: Relying on God's Guidance and Plan, The Roles of Coaching, Prayer Types, and Personal Faith not Forced. Each theme except Personal Faith not Forced was comprised of two or more subthemes. Implications from this study may benefit coaches, athletes, sport psychology consultants, and those who may encounter Christian prayer within sport by providing insight into how coaches may use prayer.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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