Baxter, Haley2025-11-072025-11-072025-11-072025-11-03https://hdl.handle.net/10012/22618Volunteer coaches play a crucial role in teaching skills, guiding athlete development, and leading community sport programs (Cassidy et al., 2023). However, there is a notable underrepresentation of women and girl volunteer coaches in community sport, necessitating further research into their recruitment and support. Currently, little is known about the experiences of girl youth athletes related to coaching pathways and the support available to enter volunteer coaching roles despite this population representing an important pipeline of future sport coaches (LaVoi & Boucher, 2021). This dissertation explores organizational support as it relates to the management of volunteer coaching pathways for girl ice hockey players in community sport. Guided by an interpretivist approach, this dissertation is presented in an integrated article format, comprised of three manuscripts that collectively contribute to the lack of research on women and girls in volunteer sport coaching roles at the community level (Baxter et al., 2021). This qualitative study draws on data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with nineteen self-identified girl ice hockey players ages 12 to 17 years old and ten leaders of nonprofit community ice hockey organizations located in South-Western Ontario, Canada. Data were collected to maintain the overarching purpose of the dissertation while addressing the separate research objectives of each manuscript. Subsequently, data were analyzed following Braun et al.’s (2021) reflexive thematic analysis techniques and guided by the aims and theoretical assumptions identified in each of the respective manuscripts. Theoretically, this research draws on perceived organizational support (POS) theory (Eisenberger et al., 1986). POS refers to the general belief that organizational members (e.g., employees, volunteers) hold, regarding the extent to which an organization cares about their well-being and values their contributions (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Members with positive assessments of POS tend to have higher rates of retention and commitment to an organization. In addition, the third manuscript (Chapter 4), draws on Ryan and Deci’s (2000) self-determination theory (SDT) to provide an additional analytic lens related to volunteer well-being. SDT suggests that well-being consists of three psychological needs, including the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The purpose of the first manuscript (Chapter 2) was to examine perceived organizational supports for girl volunteer coaches in community sport and identify what support processes are needed to generate pathways and develop girls into sport coaching roles. The findings reveal girls' altruistic coaching intentions, the importance of relatability and communication in coaching pathways, preferences for resource equity, and the availability of coaching pathways. The research highlights girls’ aspiration to give back as future coaches despite limited awareness of coaching certification processes. The purpose of the second manuscript (Chapter 3) was to examine current challenges, strategies, and opportunities amongst club leader’s for the recruitment of girl youth ice hockey coaches in community sport clubs. The findings also reveal the lack of organizational support sport club volunteers felt from provincial and national sport organizations as acknowledged in the challenges they face in relation to the recruitment of girls and women as ice hockey coaches. Challenges include a lack of specific targets and informal strategies related to recruitment of women and girl coaches, club leaders perceived lack of interest in coaching amongst women and girls, and prioritization of elite-level sport by provincial and national sport organizations. Despite these challenges, leaders describe opportunities for engaging girl youth volunteer coaches including through the engagement of alumni networks, encouragement of volunteerism amongst current athletes, and support of the coach certification process for girl coaches. The purpose of the third manuscript (Chapter 4) was to examine how the tenets of well-being as proposed by self-determination theory - autonomy, competence, and relatedness - can enhance our understanding of the organizational supports needed to facilitate girls’ transition from players to volunteer coaches. Findings reveal that girls have positive experiences throughout their playing careers that contribute to their sense of well-being, yet there is limited knowledge of how these experiences can facilitate pathways into coaching despite an expressed interest in pursuing coaching opportunities amongst girls. Together, the three manuscripts that comprise this dissertation offer new insights to help sport governing bodies and clubs consider the importance of club level intervention to promote the recruitment of girl athletes as volunteer coaches who are, according to LaVoi and Boucher (2021), the start of a fruitful “pipeline” of future women and girl coaches. In addition, the use of POS and SDT provides a theoretical understanding of how clubs can create supportive environments to engage girls as volunteer coaches during their playing career and offers an important direction for nonprofit sport organizations seeking to improve capacity, increase the representation of women and girls in coaching and leadership positions, and deliver sustainable, high-quality sport programs in our communities for all participants (Hoye et al., 2019).envolunteer managementsport coachingperceived organizational supportself-determination theoryyouth volunteerismwomen and girlsDoctoral Thesis