ABSTRACT
By situating the concept of duty of care firmly within its originally intended and well-established limits, the law of negligence, this chapter provides a more precise framing of the practical content of the duty of care incumbent upon modern sports coaches.
The chapter considers relevant and important contextual issues regarding coaching practice and engages critically with the law of negligence’s control mechanisms of duty (of care), breach (of duty), causation and the most applicable defences to a claim of coach negligence. Furthermore, the legal doctrines of in loco parentis, customary practice and vicarious liability are revealed to be of particular interest, as is recognition of the dangers associated with negligent entrenched coaching practice. In the vast majority of claims brought against coaches in negligence, breach of duty is the determinative issue. Accordingly, the extent of a coach’s duty, or requisite standard of care, is rigorously scrutinised by means of an interdisciplinary analysis. It is argued that legal liability for athlete injury caused by a breach of duty of care is a significant issue facing all coaches and that the emerging interface between sports coaching and the law is progressively placing more responsibilities upon coaches.
