Optimizing the interaction between coaches and scientists in a community of research. To optimize the interaction between sports practice, research and education, the School of Sportstudies at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences developed four Communities of Research. One of these communities aims to optimize sport performance in (elite) athletes. Within this community coaches, athletes, researchers, teachers and students work together to answer questions from the field. Since these questions require expertise from various domains, students of multiple schools are involved (e.g. ICT, (applied) psychology, physiotherapy, sport sciences). New knowledge is directly translated into the curriculum to educate future coaches with up-to-date information. This talk provides insight in how this community is organised. The Groningen Monitoring Athletic Performance Study (MAPS) will serve as an example of one of the long-term research projects.