Coaching Athletes with Disabilities

The sport coaching literature on coaching athletes with disabilities is relatively nascent but researchers are becoming increasingly interested in the domain (e.g., Cregan, Bloom, & Reid. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 78(4):339–350, 2007; Culver & Werthner. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 10(2):167–175, 2017; McMaster & Culver. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 4(2):226–243, 2012; Duarte & Culver. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 26(4):441–456, 2014). While the majority of the current research has examined the coaching of athletes with physical disabilities, there is a small body of research that looks at coaching athletes with intellectual disabilities. In this chapter, we will describe the context of disability sport coaching and discuss what the current research is telling us. Moreover, we will provide an overview of a selection of international coach education programs for coaches in disability sport and explore the existing landscape of disability sport coaches’ learning opportunities (or lack thereof). Examples of the countries reviewed include Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Brazil. This section is concluded with a synthesis of the issues present across coach education for disability sport. Finally, we introduce a coach development model and an accompanying vignette to illustrate a pathway for continued learning. This model may enable disability sport coaches to maximize their learning experiences and continue to develop their practices, despite there being a dearth of formal coach education programs. Our hope is that these insights inspire growth in coaches and sport organizations involved in disability sport to better serve this community.