Dr Simon Quick

Biography

Dr Simon Quick is a Lecturer in Sport Coaching whose work sits at the intersection of sport pedagogy, coaching ethics, coach cognition, coach development, and athlete welfare. His scholarship is driven by a central concern: how coaches think, act, learn, and make ethically complex decisions in environments where performance demands, human relationships, and athlete wellbeing are deeply intertwined. Simon brings a distinctive practitioner-informed lens to his academic work. Before entering higher education, he spent 12 years teaching Physical Education in secondary schools and held senior leadership roles including Head of Physical Education, Athletic Director at an international school in Chile, and Deputy Headteacher in the UK. These experiences continue to shape his understanding of coaching as an educational, relational, and ethical practice, rather than simply a technical or performance-focused activity. He completed his PhD at Leeds Beckett University, where his doctoral research used ethnographic methods to explore coaching cognitions in ice hockey. His current research examines the tensions between athletic performance and athlete welfare in high-performance sport, with particular interest in coaching ethics, stress and burnout, coach development, international student-athlete experiences, and psycho-social perspectives on coaching practice. Recently, Simon completed an 18-month ethnographic study into the lived experiences of Olympic gymnasts and coaches, exploring how welfare and ethics can be fluid, fragile, and contested in elite sport settings. Simon’s recent research and innovation activity has attracted over £61,000 in awarded funding, supporting projects on ethical coaching in high-performance sport, coach development, applied coaching partnerships, and the relationship between athlete welfare and performance. His funded work has been supported by the British Academy Leverhulme and the University of Essex Innovation Fund, including applied projects with organisations such as UK Coaching and Ipswich School. His publications span several key areas of contemporary coaching scholarship, including in-situ coach cognition, situated decision-making, coach education, coach developer roles, ethical practice, athlete welfare, and the lived experiences of coaches in high-performance environments. He has also contributed to a growing body of work on NBA assistant coaches, examining stress, coping, family support, burnout, and barriers to career advancement among minority coaches. Simon’s work has been published in journals including Quest, the International Sport Coaching Journal, the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, the International Journal of Kinesiology in Higher Education, and the Journal of Health, Sport and Kinesiology. His scholarship is intentionally applied, seeking to bridge academic insight and the realities of coaching practice in schools, clubs, universities, national governing bodies, and elite sport organisations. Alongside his academic role, Simon is a highly qualified and experienced coach. He holds a Level 4 Lawn Tennis Association coaching qualification and has more than 15 years of coaching experience across tennis and rugby at national level, alongside formal coaching qualifications in basketball, lacrosse, football, swimming, and gymnastics. This breadth of experience informs his teaching across modules including Applied Pedagogical Principles of Sports Coaching, Professional Skills and Development, Coaching Practice Placement, and Developing Effective Coach Education Programmes. Simon is an active international collaborator and presenter. He has presented his work at major conferences including the United States Center for Coaching Excellence, the International Council for Coaching Excellence, the North American Coach Development Summit, the World Congress of Performance Analysis of Sport, and the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education Annual Conference. He has also been invited as a keynote speaker for the International Organization for Health, Sport, and Kinesiology, and his work was recognised through the 2024 NAKHE Engaged Scholar Program Award. Beyond his teaching and research, Simon contributes to curriculum development, academic quality, and sector-facing practice through external examiner and advisory roles with UK higher education institutions, including Bangor University, University College Birmingham, and the University of Hull. He supervises postgraduate research projects on coaching and performance-related topics and welcomes enquiries from prospective students interested in sport coaching ethics, coach cognition, coach development, athlete welfare, high-performance sport, and physical education. Additional roles: External Examiner for Bangor University: FdSc /BSc Sport Science (Sports Coaching); FdSc Sport Science (Outdoor Recreation) 2024-28 External Examiner for University College Birmingham: BSc (Hons)/FdSc Sports Coaching and Fitness 2024-28 External Examiner for University College Birmingham/Warwick University: BSc (Hons)/FdSc Sports Management 2025-28

Qualifications

• PhD Leeds Beckett University, (2022)

• MSc Psychology (Conversion) University of Derby, (2028)

• Post Graduate Certificate of Secondary Education (PGCE) University of Sheffield, (2009)

• MSc Sport Science University of Essex, (2008)

• BSc (Hons) Lancaster University, (2007)

Appointments

University of Essex

• Lecturer, Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Science, University of Essex (18/9/2022 - present)

Other academic

• Senior Lecturer, Sport and Exercise Science, University of Lincoln (1/1/2022 - 17/9/2022)