Coaching
Coaches significantly influence athletes and help maintain sport participation at all ages.
Coaches at all levels exert great influence on their players/athletes and can play a significant role in maintaining participation in sport and physical activity at all ages. Their philosophy and method of coaching can shape attitudes, motivation, and impact upon participants' wellbeing. Quality coaching not only delivers optimal physiological, technical, and tactical aspects of a sport, it provides experiences that hook participants (and their family) into a sport by providing appropriate contexts, activities, encouragement, and motivation in a safe and fun environment.
Coaches can help participants, especially children, develop physical and social skills. Participants, of all ages, who receive quality coaching tend to have higher long-term participation rates than participants who aren't coached.
The contrasting situation can also occur, the coach-participant relationship can sometimes produce conflict that serves as a trigger for leaving a sport or reducing participation.
Resources and reading
- 4 steps to becoming a role model coach, opens in a new tab. Jim Grove, Active for Life, (15 September 2016)
- The Most Important Aspect of Coaching and Leadership - Being a Good Role Model, opens in a new tab, Jeff Haefner, Breakthrough Basketball, (2009). The legendary coach John Wooden says, "A leader's most powerful ally is his or her own example."
- 'The Impact of Coaching on Participants 2017, opens in a new tab', UK Coaching, (November 2017). This report presents the results from a four year study examining the experience of both adult and young participants who were either coached or not coached. Additional questions were added in the final year to focus on the reasons why people stop taking part in sport or physical activity. Participants were grouped into several market segments: active committed; active at risk; active returners; and inactive dropped out. Overall the results indicate that both adults and young people who are being coached are more likely to continue being committed to sport and physical activity, less likely to stop participating, and more likely to return to activity if they do stop (i.e. due to injury). However, the responses also demonstrate that people being coached are just as likely as those not being formally coached to think about stopping. Positive coach/participant relationships, and matching delivery to individual needs are important aspects for maintaining participation for all age groups.
- The impact of coaching on participants, opens in a new tab, Hopkinson M, Sports Coach UK, (2014). This report presents the findings from the first year of a four-year study of the impact of coaching (and coaches) upon sports participation. The current results provide evidence to support the belief that quality coaching can help bring people into sport, enhance their enjoyment, and increase how often they play and the likelihood of them staying involved. Key results from the survey identify how important quality coaching is. The report suggests that both adults and young people will have more positive playing experiences the higher the quality of their coach. The survey aimed to gather views from both people who are coached in their chosen sport, and those who play but do not receive coaching.
- ‘Member Retention and Acquisition’, Swimming Australia, (unpublished). Market research surveyed parents and swimmers to determine what factors influenced leaving the sport. In 2% of cases the reason cited was ‘issues with coaching’, and 6% responded that their reason for leaving the sport was too much emphasis on competition, which is a factor that a coach has some control over.
- ‘Retaining More Kids for Longer’, Swimming Australia, (unpublished). Report found that coaches putting too much pressure on junior athletes was one of several triggers for leaving the sport.
- Why Children/Youth Drop Out of Sports, opens in a new tab, Peter A. Witt, Tek B. Dangi, Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Volume 36(3), (2018). Forty percent of kids played team sports on a regular basis in 2013. Yet, numerous children and youth drop out of sports every year as well. This article explores the reasons why children and youth drop out of sports and offers suggestions for how parents, coaches, and youth development professionals can help to minimize unwarranted and premature dropping out. Three sets of reasons or constraints have been offered for why children and youth drop out of sports. Intrapersonal constraints include lack of enjoyment (not having fun, being bored); low perceptions of physical competence; intrinsic pressures (e.g., stress); and perceptions of negative team dynamics (negative feelings toward team or coach).
- Correlates of youth sport attrition: A review and future directions, opens in a new tab, Balisha S, Rainhama D, Blancharda C, et al., Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Volume 15(4), pp.429-439, (2014). Given the potential benefits of youth sport, this study sought to identify correlates (i.e. factors) of youth sport attrition and evaluate the strength of evidence for each correlate. One hundred forty-one distinct correlates were examined from published literature between 1982 and 2012. Reasons for attrition were identified as being biological, intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy related. Positive coaching relationship was one of the interpersonal correlates. It showed a low negative correlation with attrition (i.e. positive coach relationships kept athletes playing).
- Personal Reasons for Withdrawal from Team Sports and the Influence of Significant Others among Youth Athletes, opens in a new tab, Rottensteiner, Christoph; Laakso, Lauri; Pihlaja, Tuomo; et al., International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, Volume 8(1), pp.19-32, (March 2013). The aim of this study was to identify the main reasons for withdrawal from team sports and to examine the influence of significant others (i.e., coaches, parents, peers, and siblings) in the decision making concerning withdrawal from youth sports. The results indicated that having other things to do and a decline in excitement were the most important reasons for withdrawal. Coaches and teammates appeared to be the two main groups of significant others who influenced young player's decision making related to their withdrawal. Statistically significant differences in withdrawal components related to ability and social issues were found between gender and years of involvement. Recommendations and practical implications for coaches and policy makers to reduce the withdrawal rate among young athletes are provided.
- Role models, sporting success and participation: a review of sports coaching's ancillary roles., opens in a new tab Lyle, John, International Journal of Coaching Science, Volume 7(2), pp.25-40, (2013). Appropriate role models such as coaches are essential elements in a high quality sporting environment: these will contribute, along with many other factors, to the perception of sport as an attractive, attainable and rewarding experience. This review suggests that coaches should emphasise qualities of determination, hard work, coping and moral behaviour. However, coaches should also take care when using other athletes as inspirational examples or models of appropriate behaviour, and bear in mind their own status as role models to younger impressionable athletes.
- Social climate profiles in adolescent sports: Associations with enjoyment and intention to continue, opens in a new tab, Gardner L, Magee C and Vella S, Journal of Adolescence, Volume 52m oo,112-123, (2016). This study explored whether adolescent sports participants' perceptions of the social climate fall into distinct profiles, and whether these profiles are related to enjoyment and intention to continue with organised sport. 313 Australian adolescents, mean age 13 years, participated in this study. Four distinct profiles were identified: (1) positive social climate; (2) diminished social climate; (3) positive coach relationship quality; and, (4) positive friendship quality. Participants reporting positive social climate and positive coach relationship quality profiles were most likely to continue in organised sport. The results highlight the value of positive coach-athlete relationships and an overall positive social climate for retaining adolescents in sport programs.
- Drivers and barriers of Participation, Australian Sports Commission, (accessed 7 July 2025). A toolkit to support organisations to design and deliver participation outcomes, to get more Australians moving more often. The toolkit covers drivers and barriers of participation, trends that impact sport participation, and planning methodology.
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