Closing Reflections on Football Coach Education: Towards a Rhizomatic Approach

Having divided the book into thematic sections organised around a central theme, with each chapter exploring a contemporary issue within a designated country's football coach education programme and provision, this final chapter attempts to offer innovative steps forward for both research and practice. The chapter begins by providing a short section summary for each of the seven thematic areas which have come before this concluding section. Each summary is accompanied by three critical questions for readers to consider, with the aim of stimulating reflection and insight into areas for future research within football coach education. Next, the chapter introduces the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (1987), specifically the notion of rhizomatic learning and the associated concepts of assemblages, becoming, and lines of flight. Despite extensive use within the teacher education literature, Deleuzoguattarian concepts have received little application within the sport coaching and coach education field. Consequently, the principle aim of this closing chapter is to put several Deleuzoguattarian concepts to ‘work’, producing a language to understand how change (learning) occurs within football coach education, while helping readers to think critically, productively, and differently about enhancing current and future provision.