Coach to learn and learn to coach: synergising performance and development in the athlete-coach-environment learning system

While high-performance sport traditionally highlights a dualist perspective on distinct pathways of development and performance coaching, an ecological dynamics rationale recognises the deeply entwined relations between development and performance. Acknowledging an athlete-environment-centred approach, an increasingly relevant topic concerns “coach learning”, supporting the idea that theories of athlete development present useful insights for understanding coach development. In this position paper, it is argued that athlete and coach learning are not independent from one another, thus forming part of an athlete-coach-environment learning system. This first of two insights papers discusses the contiguity between athlete development and performance and coach learning. It seeks to highlight a dual coach learning pathway towards “coaching to learn” (infused by knowledge of the environment) and “learning to coach” (supported by knowledge about the environment). To underline the interconnectedness of athlete/coach learning, two examples are discussed from: I) the 2021 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup; and II), high-performance workshops for Olympic sport coaches.