Senior Lecturer
Sport J2A, Pathfoot Building, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, Stirling, FK9 4LA
I am an experienced and active coach, coach educator and mentor with over 30 years of practical experience, coaching in Adventure Sports Coaching and Performance Coaching domains. Before my appointment at Stirling in December 2017, I had spent the previous ten years coaching the dynamic sport of canoe slalom at both club and national level.
I am currently Programme Director for:
In addition to teaching at Stirling, I coach canoe slalom as a volunteer with my local club, work as a coach educator for British Canoeing and mentor several performance coaches.
As a coaching practitioner, I seek to bring a ‘what could really works’ focus to my academic work. My specific areas of interest are: coaching effectiveness, coach development and education, pedagogy, talent development from a holistic perspective, and coaches decision making.
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Higher Education Academy
Article
Emmerson J & Macdonald S (2025) 'You Know, Coaching, It Feels Like a Bit of a Magpie Game': A Qualitative Investigation into Sources of Teacher-Coach Knowledge and the Subsequent Impact on Espoused Teacher-Coach Pedagogy. Education Sciences, 15 (1), Art. No.: 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010109
Article
Macdonald S, Allen J & Chapman R (2025) Sports Coaching Review "I am different now … I've come to understand what coaching is"; an exploration of an Olympic coach's beliefs and pedagogical practice. Sports Coaching Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2025.2575652
Poster
Seizure free steps: A review of behaviour change techniques for physical activity in epilepsy.
Macdonald B, Baker G & Macdonald S (2024) Seizure free steps: A review of behaviour change techniques for physical activity in epilepsy.. Scottish Physical Activity Research Connections (SPARC) Conference, Edinburgh, UK., University of Edinburgh, 04.12.2024.
Article
Jordan N, Macdonald S & Allen J (2024) Military Sports Recovery Athletes’ Perspectives on Role of the Coach in Athletes’ Well-Being: The Importance of Supporting Basic Psychological Needs. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.2023-0117
Article
Allen JB, Reid C & Macdonald S (2024) "It’s about putting the learning into context": A multimethod, multiple perspective exploration of the process of learning in introductory coach education.. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541241263178
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Preparing for the Olympic Games: exploring a coach's beliefs and pedagogical practice
Macdonald S, Allen J & Chapman R (2024) Preparing for the Olympic Games: exploring a coach's beliefs and pedagogical practice. Cluster for Research into Coaching (6th International Conference), University of Northumbria, Newcastle, 14.06.2024-16.06.2024.
Article
The "Face" of Coach Development: A Systematic Review of the Role of the Coach Developer
Jones T, Allen J & Macdonald S (2023) The "Face" of Coach Development: A Systematic Review of the Role of the Coach Developer. International Sport Coaching Journal. https://doi.org/10.1123/iscj.2022-0017
Book Chapter
Macdonald S (2022) Questioning. In: Coaching Adventure Sports. Dursley: Adventure Sports Media House, pp. 223-232. https://adventure-sports-media-house-ltd.square.site/product/coachingadventuresports/1
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Macdonald S & Allen J (2019) Coach Created Talent Development Motivational Climate: Implications for approaches to learning and talent development., 04.09.2019-05.09.2019. https://www.worcester.ac.uk/about/academic-schools/school-of-sport-and-exercise-science/sport-and-exercise-science-research/cric-2019.aspx
Article
Coach-created talent development motivational climate in Canoe Slalom in the United Kingdom
Macdonald S & Allen J (2019) Coach-created talent development motivational climate in Canoe Slalom in the United Kingdom. International Sport Coaching Journal / ISCJ, 6 (1), pp. 74-87. https://doi.org/10.1123/iscj.2017-0091
Presentation / Talk
Macdonald S & Allen J (2017) Examining the canoe slalom talent development coaching climate created by coaches and experienced by athletes. ICCE Global Coach Conference, Liverpool, England, 31.07.2017-02.08.2017. https://www.icce.ws/events.html
Currently, I am primarily deployed on the MSc. Sport Performance Coaching programme.
Module Coordinator for:
SPSP050 Coaching Concepts,
SPSP054 Coaching as Learning,
Module Contributions
SPSP057 Understanding Performance
SPSP065 Independent Study
SPSP037 Applied Coaching Project.
On the BA (Hons) Sports Studies programme I am
Module Coordinator for:
SPSU9CL Coaching Sport,
Module Contributions
SPSU9RP Major Project in Sports Studies
SPSU9D5 Developing Excellence in Sport
