Codes of Conduct, Compliance, and Trust in Coaching Ethics

Building upon the original essay in the first edition of this book, this chapter examines the socio-cultural setting in which sports coaching ought to take place, providing an applied and contemporary analysis using concrete illustrative examples of policy and practice. We argue that central to an understanding of coaching as a profession is that it must be underwritten by exacting moral standards. We direct criticism towards the preponderance of coaching organisations that rely on an unexamined and superficial use of codes of conduct to do the bulk of their ethical work. Drawing on broadly Aristotelian insights, we suggest that if such codes are to be of any merit, they must be built on the central virtue of trust, which requires not merely that coaches are professional in name, but that such central virtues carry over into the authoritative and regulatory functions of coaching institutions.