Trust-based coaching unlocks athletic potential for disabled athletes
Swedish research reveals that coaches who build strong personal relationships with athletes with intellectual disabilities can better understand their needs and create effective training adaptations. The finding challenges how sports organizations typically structure programs and suggests that customized coaching approaches drive both skill development and meaningful inclusion.
Originaltitel: Building relations to identify the need for adaptations: Swedish coaches’ perspectives on sport inclusion of athletes with intellectual disability
**Svenska idrottsföreningar förlorar marknadsandel genom att exkludera idrottare med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning – men relationell tränarkompetensutveckling vänder trenden.** Femton svenska träners intervjuer visar att inkludering av idrottare med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning kräver systematisk relationell arbete, inte enbart anpassningar av träningsmetoder. Genom att etablera förtroende kunde tränar identifiera individuella behov och utveckla kommunikationsstrategier som stödde både social utveckling och prestation. Tränar som tillämpade autonomistödjande tillvagagångssätt och konkretiserade abstrakta begrepp uppnådde högre engagemang och idrottsskicklighet bland denna atletgrupp. Resultat från Svenska idrottsförbundet, Mittuniversitetet och Karolinska Institutet indikerar att tränarkompetensutveckling kring relationell förmåga direkt påverkar både idrott och medlemstillväxt. För regionala idrottsföreningar och förbund utgör detta ett affärsfall för regulär utbildning – utan investeringen förlorar organisationer både målgrupp och statsanslag.
Research on coaching athletes with intellectual disability (ID) remains limited. This gap constrains coaches’ knowledge and capacity to adapt their practices to meet the support needs of athletes with ID. As a result, sport is often organised around normative expectations of physical and cognitive ability, which may contribute to athlete's experience of exclusion. The aim of this study was to explore how coaches understand their role in relation to athletes with ID, describe their relational work, and create adaptations that support athletes with ID participating in sport through sense of belonging and inclusion, as well as sport skill development. Fifteen coaches (aged 45–68 years) working with athletes with ID participated in semi-structured digital interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis informed by the social relational model of disability and the relational competence model. The analysis resulted in three themes: Change of norms, Supporting trust, and Development of sport skills . Establishing trusting relationships enabled coaches to better understand athletes’ individual needs and to develop communication strategies that supported both social and sport skill development. Understanding athletes’ goals and needs further guided coaches towards more inclusive practices at multiple levels, including tailoring adaptations to make abstract concepts more understandable and adopting autonomy-supportive coaching approaches. Taken together, this study illuminates that inclusion for athletes with ID depends on how their voice, influence, and resources are enabled within sport contexts, which impacts sport equity and athlete skill development. This knowledge can contribute to enhanced competence among coaches, sport clubs, and sport federations.