Building relations to identify the need for adaptations: Swedish coaches’ perspectives on sport inclusion of athletes with intellectual disability

Research on coaching athletes with intellectual disability (ID) remains limited. This gap constrains coaches’ knowledge and capacity to adapt their practices to meet the support needs of athletes with ID. As a result, sport is often organised around normative expectations of physical and cognitive ability, which may contribute to athlete's experience of exclusion. The aim of this study was to explore how coaches understand their role in relation to athletes with ID, describe their relational work, and create adaptations that support athletes with ID participating in sport through sense of belonging and inclusion, as well as sport skill development.

Fifteen coaches (aged 45–68 years) working with athletes with ID participated in semi-structured digital interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis informed by the social relational model of disability and the relational competence model. The analysis resulted in three themes: Change of norms, Supporting trust, and Development of sport skills . Establishing trusting relationships enabled coaches to better understand athletes’ individual needs and to develop communication strategies that supported both social and sport skill development. Understanding athletes’ goals and needs further guided coaches towards more inclusive practices at multiple levels, including tailoring adaptations to make abstract concepts more understandable and adopting autonomy-supportive coaching approaches.

Taken together, this study illuminates that inclusion for athletes with ID depends on how their voice, influence, and resources are enabled within sport contexts, which impacts sport equity and athlete skill development. This knowledge can contribute to enhanced competence among coaches, sport clubs, and sport federations.