This paper investigates the sources of coaching knowledge of athletic coaches. It starts with discussing the theoretical foundation of coach education from the perspectives of knowledge capture and community participation, it is concluded that the learning outcomes need the complementary interaction of the two to construct a cognitive structure. This is then followed by an analysis of the sources of knowledge based on different types of coach education, meaning formal, non-formal, and informal coach education. It is found that an important source influencing the knowledge of coaches is informal learning, including interactive learning methods like mentoring, combat exercises, or learning by observing others, as well as the supplementary learning methods through multiple channels like the Internet and professional communities of coaches are rich knowledge banks for coaches. Therefore, it is important to utilize both formal education and social interaction in the knowledge forming process of coach education. It is recommended that systematic studies of the issues concerning local coaches to be conducted in the future take account of this framework to serve as a reference for related units in terms of the directions for education and curriculum planning.