What is a pracademic?
Bridging the research-practice ‘gap’ in sport
A Pracademic is a person whose career spans the boundaries of research and practice. Posner (2009) argued that pracademics are necessary to foster 'Academic-Practitioner Interactions.' Pracademics have significant experience in both worlds, and can jump between both with ease, but what does this mean for sports coaching? How can Coachology help your organisation?
Research usually prefers carefully manipulated conditions in a controlled research environment. Similarly, the theories within research are often simplified to a 'perfect world', argued to be necessary to facilitate testing. In contrast, the real world of applied practice is complex and messy, because it takes place in real-life situations, with uncontrolled and poorly defined variables. Often we see two notable groups with significant gaps, however, both groups are considerably important to each other.
Coachology is focused on the learning process by staying up to date with the latest research and evidence-based practice, whilst staying embedded in what's happening on the court, field or pitch.