The Blurred Lines in Coach-Athlete Relationships
The relationship between coach and athlete is arguably the most pivotal relationship for those looking for success on the sporting scene.
Dual-role coaches
It is commonly seen in sport that parents or partners take on the role of coach. Numerous examples spring to mind across a variety of sports and levels: Jake Wightman and his father Geoff in athletics; parents taking on their child’s grassroots football team; Venus and Serena Williams and their father in tennis, to name but a few. Often, these athletes go on to achieve great success, but is it to the detriment of their wellbeing outside of the sport?
In recent years, stories have broken surrounding those that have fallen foul to boundaries becoming blurred between coach and athlete. Examples include the Ingebrigtsen family and their father who coached and allegedly abused them; or Max Verstappen and his father leaving him at petrol station after a poor tactical manoeuvre.
What makes up the coach-athlete relationship?
It is an area with extensive research within sport psychology, in which it has been concluded that components within a model described as Jowett’s Three Cs + One C (2009), can be the determinant for a fruitful coach-athlete relationship. These components are closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation.
Strong levels of each component are crucial to allow the relationship to harbour success, rather than be an additional stressor for the athlete involved. But how much of these factors is too much?
| Component | Definition | Example |
| Closeness | A mutual trust, respect, fondness, and understanding of each other. | Trust in a coach’s guidance, for example when returning from injury and asking for an action plan. |
| Commitment | Actions undertaken to sustain a strong, functional relationship long-term. | This can be seen as loyalty and sacrifice by coaches and athletes. Showing up regardless of conditions causes greater buy-in by both parties due to increased appreciation, sense of duty and longer-term development plans. |
| Complementarity | A common understanding of goals, progression and complementary behaviours. | Athletes and coaches understanding and agreeing how to move forward to achieve the next goal, for example increasing training volumes. |
| Co-orientation | Co-operative thoughts and behaviours. | Being on the same page about their partnership and dynamics of the relationship. |
The impact of dual-role coaches
Dual-role relationships can result in increased emotional investment, improving closeness. Alongside this, a deeper understanding of the sacrifices made behind the scenes by each party results in elevated commitment. In theory, these things are beneficial and cause greater buy-in from both sides. This is likely to be a strong contributing factor as to why these athletes are often successful but can be dangerous. Increased commitment correlates to elevated threat levels, which could suggest a power imbalance.
Further research highlighted some negative reoccurring themes of dual-role relationships including isolation, conflict, manipulation, and pressure. This accompanies a difficultly to distinguish when each role should take precedence, with the coaching role being dominant. This means athletes often cannot get away from training or their coach. In some cases, when living with the partner or parent, it means there is no time to leave training and simply go home and switch off from a tough day. Or, no break if the partnership isn’t seeing eye-to-eye.
Extending to grassroots sport, children often feel torn between parents and teammates if their friends on the team do not like the coach’s outlook; or that they have let down their coach-parent after missing a goal, and therefore has no one to turn to for comfort. This negatively impacts children’s enjoyment and participation in sport, an area that should be of keen focus to emphasise and ensure from a grassroots level upwards.
What can be done?
Upon reflection of the pressure caused dual-role coach-athlete relationships, there is reasonable debate for the suggestion that it should not be allowed on moral grounds.
This is unrealistic however, as many grassroots organisations rely on parents and volunteers to operate, and a ban could result in a collapse all together. Additionally, for every poorly treated athlete there is a success story that aids its sport and legacy, like Eilish McColgan being coached by her mum, Liz, and partner, Michael.
There is the potential for stricter monitoring by governing bodies on coaching regulations. Moreover, improved awareness of the consequences could be a valuable tool. Coaching qualifications across sports can increase focus on implications felt by athletes, helping coaching set-ups be created with boundaries in mind, promoting healthier dynamics.
