Community coach education in Australia: A desktop review

Given the importance of quality sport opportunities for youth, it is necessary to better understand the education offered to coaches who deliver these experiences. This paper identifies and describes formal coach education offerings from the 10 most popular youth sports in Australia. We conducted a desktop review of National Sport Organisation (NSO) websites of these 10 sports, to explore the scope, content, and requirements of community coach education programs offered across Australia. The results from these searches highlighted considerable variation across sports with respect to the course costs, time commitments required, delivery mode, and content. Most sports offered one or two community-level courses and cost between zero to $383.69. Time commitments varied from 90 min to six months, and delivery modes included online learning, blended formats, and in some cases on-the-job training. Content offerings ranged from three to 11 modules, with some emphasising sport-specific technical skills while others focused on broader coaching principles. Understanding the diverse approaches currently adopted in Australia may serve to inform future community coach education programs in various national and international sporting contexts.