Date of Award
2026
Degree Name
Communication Studies
College
College of Liberal Arts
Type of Degree
M.A.
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Dr. Richard Jones
Second Advisor
Dr. Clinton Brown
Third Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth Pacioles
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Zane Dayton
Abstract
For many families, their children’s athletic activities are a primary source of parent-child bonding for both parents and children, and many parents choose to coach their children’s sports teams to be more involved. While research shows the benefits and challenges that come when the parent navigates a dual role of parent and coach, research has not yet looked at parents who played sports at a professional or collegiate level. Through semi-structured interviews with 5 former elite athletes who coached their children in athletics, this study applies communication theory of identity to analyze their experience and explore the benefits and challenges of former elite athlete parents who have leveraged their expertise to coach their children’s teams, the communicative strategies they used to manage identity tensions and how their expert status played a role in shaping their child’s athletic development.
Subject(s)
Communication.
Communication in sports.
Communication in families.
Interpersonal communication.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Identity (Philosophical concept) -- Communication.
Parents -- Communication.
Children -- Communication.
Interviewing.
Coaching (Athletics)
Sports -- Communication.
Recommended Citation
Manning, Jake, "From the big leagues to little league. Identity tensions and experiences of former elite athletes coaching their children in athletics" (2026). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. 2114.
https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/2114
