抄録
The purpose of this study is to investigate, through eight case studies, the internal experiences that coaches have when they are coping with their own conflicting feelings. Coaches often have various conflicting feelings when they are carrying out their duties in school athletic club activities. One might claim that a simplistic solution is to ignore such feelings. However, this perspective does not demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of what they face. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate their internal experiences before deciding on a method to solve the conflict.
This study was based on several semi-structured interviews with eight coaches, and presents four cases from among these. Coaches' internal experiences of coping with self conflicts were found to take three forms: the narrowing, the deepening, and the widening of their internal experiences. In the first phase, when coaches have self conflicts, they tend to increase their worries because their viewpoints are confined by the effect of the negative feelings of other people and the coaches themselves. However, coaches also tend to obtain a new insight into dealing with the self conflict through the following two internal experiences. The first is the experience of deepening self understanding by being honest with oneself when dealing with such negative feelings. The second is deepening understanding of others and the conflict phenomenon at the same time as widening one's view through external experience.
These results indicate that the coaches who increase their worries through self conflict are narrowing their internal experiences, but they solve their conflicts through deepening and widening their internal experiences.
