Sport New Zealand (Sport NZ) commissioned this literature review to support the implementation of the New Zealand Community Sport Coaching Plan. The aim of the literature review is to help Sport NZ identify and understand the profile of coaches at all levels of sport, both paid and unpaid, and ranging from community to high-performance settings. It also provides a synthesis of key findings from the international literature on approaches to recruiting, developing and retaining coaches that should be considered by the New Zealand Coaching Workforce Project. The literature review addresses the following key questions:
- What is the profile of coaches at various levels of sport – who are they, where do they come from, why do they get involved in coaching?
- What approaches have been taken to recruiting, developing and retaining coaches, and how successful have these been? What are the keys to success, and things to avoid?
- What does Sport NZ need to do to find out more about our coaches?
The scope of the literature review was international literature that has an applied focus (rather than theoretical), including recent research, surveys, strategies and plans, and drawing particularly on literature from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom (especially England, Scotland and Northern Ireland). For comparative purposes, a discussion of New Zealand’s approach to recruiting, developing and retaining coaches has also been included.