Burn out, coaching philosophy, and why the end does not justify unethical means – here’s why sport coaches should follow a deontological ethical approach

The cultural importance of sport across the world is well established, with meaningful significance given to policies that promote participation for health and psychosocial reasons, strong narratives, nation-building, and entertainment formed through the consumption, both contemporary and historical, of performance sport. In this commentary, we argue and provide evidence that any examination of sports culture inevitably ties to ideologies of performance, and that oftentimes this results in approaches to the development of athletes and sportspeople that overemphasize profoundly unethical means of achieving a variety of performance ends. Because of this, our position in this commentary uses a philosophical perspective to justify our proposition, one that espouses a more holistic approach for sport coaches, organizers, and architects that, through supporting athletes and focusing on development, actually mirrors scientific principles for sport performance, more so, we believe, than any ‘win at all costs’ approach.