Position Paper: Structured Education and Professional Development for Wheelchair-Basketball Coaches in Israel
N. Nahumson Fridman, Y. Hutzler, R. Lidor
Coach education and professional development are essential to sustained success in any athletic discipline. Although wheelchair basketball is a leading Paralympic team sport, Israel – like many other countries – lacks a formal, sport-specific qualification framework for its coaches. This position paper draws on empirical data from a qualitative study based on interviews with 21 Israeli wheelchair-basketball coaches. It identifies systemic gaps in coach education and proposes strategies for addressing them. The findings reveal a heavy reliance on informal, trial-and-error learning on the court, alongside the absence of tailored, structured training programs. Importantly, existing options do not accommodate the specific demands when coaching athletes with physical impairments, nor do they account for the different needs of coaches with or without prior wheelchair-basketball experience. While all participants held formal certifications in mainstream basketball coaching, they emphasized that these general programs did not address essential aspects of wheelchair basketball, including player classification, wheelchair biomechanics, and disability-related physiological considerations. To bridge these shortcomings, we propose a two-track professional development model: (1) a targeted certification track – a concise national qualification focused on wheelchair biomechanics, impairment-related physiology, and a practical and applicable classification system; (b) a structured mentorship program – a formalized peer-mentoring initiative through which experienced wheelchair-basketball coaches support less experienced peers and transfer their experiential, court-based knowledge. Implementing this dual approach could raise coaching standards, strengthen coaching expertise and professionalism, bridge knowledge gaps, and promote equal opportunities within Paralympic sports in Israel.