Self
Decision-making, confidence, emotional response, energy and reflective practice.
Coach development · Leadership · Performance
For coaches serious about getting better.
Independent coaching, observation and development for head coaches in performance sport.
Better coaching begins with understanding
the coach and the context.
The problem
The role is bigger than coaching the team.
Head coaches develop players, lead staff, manage relationships, make difficult decisions and carry responsibility for performance.
Yet many receive little independent feedback on how they are performing in the role itself. Coach & Context provides space to think, receive challenge and turn experience into better practice.
The founding offer
01 / Individual development
Head Coach
Partnership
A six-month relationship built around the real work of leading a performance programme.
What it includes
- 01 Initial role and development diagnostic
- 02 Two confidential conversations each month
- 03 Direct observation of coaching or meetings
- 04 Decision review and structured reflection
- 05 Midpoint and final development review
The whole role
Five connected areas of head-coach performance.
Staff
Alignment, delegation, challenge and the development of assistant coaches.
Environment
Standards, relationships, selection, leadership and accountability.
Organisation
Managing upwards, navigating stakeholders and leading the wider programme.
Performance
Planning, training, meetings, analysis and preparation for competition.
The approach
Development grounded in practice.
Not another course. Not a library of drills. A professional relationship connected to what the coach is leading now.
Embedded
Development connected to the coach’s real environment and current challenges.
Observed
Useful feedback grounded in seeing the coach at work, not reflection alone.
Individual
A one-size-fits-one approach shaped around the person, role and context.
Applied
Every conversation should influence something the coach thinks, decides or does.
Relational
Trust, honesty and constructive challenge built over time.
The founder
Iain Chisholm
Rugby coach · Coach developer
Experience across the whole coaching landscape.
Iain has led senior and youth rugby programmes and coached across club, pathway and international environments. His work spans head coaching, coach development, international XVs and sevens, performance analysis, player pathways and staff leadership.
He is completing an MSc in Sports Performance Coaching at the University of Stirling and is a sportscotland coach developer in high-performance sport.
“Head coaches should not be expected to develop everyone else without receiving meaningful development themselves.”
November 2026
Founding Head Coach Partnerships
Five places for active rugby head coaches who want independent support across the whole role.
£300 / month · six months
Applications and direct enquiries opening soon.
Enquiries
Start a conversation.
If you’re interested in working together, leave your details and I’ll come back to you personally.