Walters, SimonFyall, GlennOwers, Ben2026-06-182026-06-182026http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21434This study explored youth athletes’ perceptions of the sport experiences led by coaches who had completed Sport New Zealand | Ihi Aotearoa’s Coaching for Impact coach development programme. Existing literature highlights that developing community sport coaches is complex and that the effectiveness of coach development initiatives should be evaluated beyond coach learning alone. Accordingly, this research examined how the coaching approaches of those involved in the contemporary, nationally led programme influenced the quality of youth sport experiences, as described by their participants. The study was informed by the Personal Assets Framework and Self-Determination Theory, which together conceptualise quality youth sport as an interaction of activities, relationships, and settings, and explain the motivational processes through which coaching can shape participants’ lived experiences. Aligned with a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm, an Interpretive Description methodology guided the study design, enabling an in-depth enquiry that utilised youth voice while drawing on relevant literature and practitioner knowledge. Nineteen purposively sampled participants aged 13 to 18 years, representing both individual and team sports, participated in semi-structured focus group interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes and four sub-themes were generated, describing factors that participants perceived to be influencing their sport experiences. Findings suggested that coaches positively impacted experiences through the development of quality coach-athlete relationships, effective leadership of sport delivery, and the application of autonomy-supportive and athlete-centred coaching approaches. In addition, they revealed that youth sport experiences were shaped by factors beyond the coach, including the influence of peers and family, the importance of achieving personal goals in sport, and the negative impact of ego-orientated goals. While coaches could not control all aspects of participants’ experiences, the analysis reinforces that they were influential across all factors, positioning them as key contributors to the quality of youth sport environments. Three practical recommendations are proposed, calling for continued investment in developing coaching effectiveness, intentional alignment between athletes’ goals and their sporting environments, and greater consideration of the wider social and system context to support the delivery of quality youth sport experiences.enThesisOpenAccess