ABSTRACT
This chapter defines athlete welfare as well as a range of related terms. Athlete welfare is a broad concept which encompasses a range of issues. It fundamentally concerns promoting the health and wellbeing of an athlete. The researchers manipulated key information within the scenarios to assess the impact on perceptions. A global study was conducted to evaluate the impact of working towards the International Safeguards for Children in Sport. Half of this sample were organisations who worked directly with children. Self-audits demonstrated that these organisations had progressed from having 45% to 64% of the safeguards fully in place. The coach-athlete relationship is a close working relationship and central to an athlete’s performance. Debates related to athlete welfare in sport have often portrayed that a choice has to be made between protecting an athlete’s welfare and achieving peak performance.
