Trust and (Dis)trust in Community Sport Coaching

This chapter aims to help you to understand and navigate interpersonal (dis)trust in the context of community sport coaching. We begin by outlining how the consideration of trust has much to offer in terms of understanding the complex interplay between community sport coaches and the various contextual stakeholders that form their practice networks. Drawing on Hardin and Cook’s theorisation of (dis)trust, Goffman’s dramaturgical writings addressing strategic interaction, and Hoy and Tschannen-Moran’s conceptual framework on the five facets of trust, the chapter then explores those relational factors that are often deemed necessary if we are to trust and be trusted. Specifically, it examines those interpersonal strategies that a community sport coach might use not only to determine the trustworthiness of others, but also to appear trustworthy themselves. The chapter includes a running practitioner commentary in which an experienced community sport coach, Martyn, critically reflects on the importance of interpersonal trust, inclusive of the interactional strategies he has implemented in an effort to assess the trustworthiness of others and convince others he is trustworthy.