By Oisin Hallissey
At its heart coaching involves a relationship between the coach and athlete (participant). In many sports the coach has time to develop this relationship and the consequences of not getting it right on the first interaction may not have long lasting effects. In adventure sports, however, coaches often deliver one-off coaching sessions in complex environments where ‘getting it wrong’ by misreading the student can have a serious impact on trust, credibility and ultimately the students and/or coaches’ personal safety. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the strategies adventure sport coaches use for building rapport between coach and students.
