World Aquatics is opening the door to a new era of learning – bringing knowledge, expertise and practical resources directly to the aquatics community.
Aimed primarily at coaches, the series also offers valuable insight for athletes and others working across aquatic sport, translating expert knowledge into tools that support both performance and wellbeing.
Delivered through World Aquatics’ global digital learning and development platform CORAL, the new Expert Series will launch on Friday 25 September.
It will serve as a studio-based, discussion-led learning experience that brings leading experts into the community, transforming specialist knowledge into practical insights, with ideas and tools that can be applied in the participants' own sporting environments.
The Expert Series
The ongoing CORAL Expert Series will feature episodes that dive deeper into specific sports and functions, each designed to feel like a real professional discussion rather than a traditional lecture, combining expert insights, real-life scenarios and practical applications. The goal is to take specialist knowledge beyond theory and help participants understand how it can be applied to the challenges they face in their own sporting environments.
First Episode: The Mind-Body Loop: How Mental Health Shapes Injury Risk and Recovery
The first episode explores the two-way relationship between sports injuries and mental health. This important topic was chosen to kick off the series as mental and physical health are closely connected. It discusses how injury can affect an athlete psychologically, which in turn can increase their vulnerability to a physical injury.
Featuring Dr. Alan Currie, this episode is specifically aimed at coaches. Dr. Currie will examine the emotional, cognitive and behavioral responses athletes can experience following an injury and how these can influence their return to the sport.
What Coaches Will Gain
Coaches have an important role to play in creating environments where athletes feel able to talk about their concerns and seek the support they need. In this first episode, coaches will develop the tools to better understand and support athletes through injury and recovery, with expert discussions, practical frameworks and real-world sporting scenarios.
The episode will also explore how to recognise psychological responses to injury, identify potential warning signs, support an athlete's psychological readiness to return to sport, and recognise when additional mental health support may be needed.
Early identification of mental health concerns, together with appropriate care, can contribute to more effective rehabilitation and return to the sport.
What's Coming Next
The Mind-Body Loop marks the starting point of the CORAL Expert Series. As the series develops, future episodes will explore specific sports and functions alongside broader areas that shape the sporting environment, including psychology, education and sustainability.
Together, the series will build an evolving library of practical, expert-led learning, providing new knowledge, perspectives and resources to support the continued development of athletes and coaches in aquatic sport.