Coaches of elite athletes with disability: senior sports administrators’ reported factors affecting coaches’ recruitment and retention

ABSTRACT

Sport for elite athletes with disability is gaining recognition comparable to its non-disabled counterpart, with Paralympians considered among the world’s elite athletes. The value of sports coaching to the development, training and success of athletes with disability is similarly recognised. This research explored the views and experiences of administrators and policymakers working at a senior level in Australian organisations with oversight of coaches of elite athletes with physical disability, focussing on factors influencing their recruitment and retention. Semi-structured interviews were held with 10 participants working in organisations with responsibility for a range of sports including athletics, swimming, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, equestrian sport, triathlon, cycling, rowing, goal ball, boccia, football and power lifting. Results identified that there were barriers to recruiting coaches to work with athletes with disability, primarily due to preconceptions of stigma, and the perceived need for disability-specific knowledge. However, the coaches’ retention rates were substantially higher than that of coaches in general, with reported factors including personal satisfaction, richer interpersonal relationships and enhanced career progression.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• sport
• coaching
• recruitment
• retention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Although the term ‘disabled person’ is preferred in some jurisdictions, reflecting the view that disability is not a personal attribute (Silva and Howe 2012), but rather that the person is disabled by societal and cultural factors, ‘person with a disability’ is currently preferred in Australia, as the use of ‘person first’ language is considered to emphasise the person rather than the disability. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper we have used the person first terminology of ‘athletes with disability’ to situate the research in the context of its participants.

Similarly, although there is some contention regarding the use of the term ‘para-sport’ rather than the more established ‘disability sport’, the former term is now considered by the International Paralympic Committee to be more appropriate, and was therefore chosen to be the more correct term for this paper to reflect the contemporary nature of the research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yvette Wareham

Yvette Wareham is a PhD candidate in School of Social Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.

Brendan Burkett

Brendan Burkett is a Professor of Sport Science and Director of High Performance Sport at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.

Peter Innes

Dr Peter Innes is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.

Geoff P Lovell

Geoff P Lovell is an Associate Professor in Psychology, School of Social Sciences, at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.