Defining success: a coach’s perspective. Research Findings Report

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) identified the need to redevelop the coaching landscape to align it with the needs and requirements of coaches. This led to the release of the Modern Approach to Coaching (Australian Sports Commission, 2022). One key factor of this modern approach is ensuring that coaches consider what makes for a successful coaching environment.

The word ‘success’ is frequently used within the sport ecosystem, but rarely explicitly defined. Within the Australian sport ecosystem and specifically within the context of the Modern Approach to Coaching, consistent with an athlete-centred approach (Pill, 2018) coaches are encouraged to “develop a broader understanding of their players and what success looks like” (Australian Sports Commission, 2024b).
However, little is known about the construct of ‘success’ by Australian sport coaches and their sport ecosystems. Different sport contexts are recognised as a likely influence on what constitutes or is understood as success. For instance, within elite levels and high-performance sport, success may be widely accepted as performance-oriented, while community-based sports programs or club settings provide opportunities for play and therefore participation and retention numbers may constitute what is considered ‘success’ (Australian Sports Commission, 2024a; Department of Health and Aged Care, 2024).

Given little is known about how Australian coaches at all levels of sport understand and construct the idea of ‘success’ understanding coaches’ definitions of success is important and warranted given the critical role of sport coaches within sporting contexts, the multivalent use of the term success evident within government and sports organisation communiqué (Commonwealth of Australia, 2010; UK Sport, 2025; Sport New Zealand, 2025), and the multitude of different sporting contexts all influence the likelihood of the Modern Approach to Coaching resonating with coaches. As such, the aim of this project was to form a clearer picture of how Australian coaches define success within their coaching context.