Sustainable high-performance coaching: recommendations from an international expert round-table summit

High-performance (HP) coaching has been described as a potentially unsustainable profession. Limited research has explored the potential benefits of well-being and stress management interventions aimed at the individual coach level, but there is a lack of guidance within the literature on how to support and enhance the sustainability of the HP coaching profession. To address this, we gathered a panel of 14 international experts (i.e., the authors, including Olympic and Paralympic coaches, performance directors, program directors, and scholars with extensive research and practice experience) for a two-day round-table summit to discuss, reflect on, and co-create recommendations on how to develop programs to support high-performance coaches (HPCs) to be more sustainable and successful in terms of performance, well-being, and engagement. Data from the summit included audio recordings and field notes collected from whole- and small-group conversations and presentations, and were analyzed and organized into themes representing recommendations for future program content (understanding the coaching context; self-awareness, self-care, and self-compassion; establishing values and committed actions) and program delivery (logistics and delivery; creative and flexible resources; organizational responsibility; hoping to perform versus prepared to perform). Sport psychology practitioners, program directors, coach educators and developers, and coaches can benefit from considering these recommendations when creating programs aimed at well-being and sustainability in HP coaching.