Environmental analysis and interaction patterns of high school baseball coaches and athletes

This study was initiated in an attempt to assess if coach-athlete interaction patterns vary in different athletic environments. [This is an excerpt from the abstract. For the complete abstract, please see the document.

How the perceived effectiveness of a female coach is Influenced by their apparent masculinity/femininity

The aim of this study was to investigate how the apparent masculinity/femininity of a coach influenced others’ perceptions of their ability to successfully interact with their athletes. Seventy-three participants (44 males, 29 females, Mage=23.8 SD= ± 8.41) watched four videos depicting a coach working with a group of athletes. Each video was the same but featured the four combinations of masculinised/feminised coach and male/female athletes. Participants rated the coach on perceived relationship quality, empathy, and competency. There was a main effect in relationship quality (closeness) and three of four subscales of coaching competency, with the masculinised coach rated higher than the feminised coach. There was also a non-significant trend for the feminised coach to score higher in relationship quality and competency when working with male athletes compared to female athletes, and the masculinised coach to score higher with females. For affective empathy, there was a main effect for athlete sex, with both coaches rated higher working with male athletes. There was also a non-significant trend for both coaches’ cognitive empathy to be rated higher when working with male athletes. The perception of the masculinity/femininity of a coach influences how others understand their interactions even when the behaviours of that coach are similar across situations. Coaches need to be aware that gender-based stereotypes may influence how others perceive their competency. This could potentially affect coach effectiveness and career progression

The role of debriefing in enhancing learning and development in professional boxing

The use of debriefing by 6 elite coaches (9–16 years’ experience coaching professional boxers) and 6 professional boxers (minimum 3 professional bouts) was explored via interviews (25–40 minutes). Boxers represented the featherweight, welterweight, and heavyweight divisions. Interview questions were framed around, 1) the use of video and data analysis, 2) coach-athlete interaction, and 3) learning and development. The importance of data, video, and the effective integration of performance analysis to facilitate comprehensive feedback to maximise learning opportunities was identified. The coach-athlete relationship, and engagement of the athlete within the debriefing process emerged as an aspect needing continual micro-management to ensure ongoing effectiveness. The development of an “open and honest” relationship and a “safe space” to air thoughts and opinions was greatly encouraged. The length of debriefing session did not appear to impact overall engagement. The use of video debriefing to facilitate a coach’s ability to develop the athletes mentally, in addition to their physical boxing capabilities, was a key and standout aspect that should be appropriately considered. The findings add to the limited investigation within boxing, providing insight into the debriefing processes within professional boxing by those on both sides, i.e. the coach and the athlete

The coaching process in professional youth football: An ethnography of practice

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 06/12/2001.Coaching and the coaching process are characterised by a number of complex interactions between the coach, the player and the club environment. Yet understanding of the coaching process as a complex, holistic process remains limited. There are 'gaps' in our existing knowledge, particularly in comprehending the dynamic relationship between the coach, player and club environment, and in understanding the implications of these interactions for practice and the coaching process. This research sought to examine and represent the complexity of the coach-player-club environment interface, and to understand some of the ways that they interact to construct and impinge upon the coaching process. The research was conducted on the premise that a sound understanding of the complexity of the coaching process drawing upon empirical research, rather than idealistic 'models', can inform the future development of coaching practice and coach education. Within the framework of ethnography, the research took place over one season and used participant observation, unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews and group interviews in one Football Association, Premier League Academy. The aim was to explore the coaching process and practical coaching context, as played out in the day-to-day experiences of coaches and youth team players. In addition to the main case-study club, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five coaches working with youth teams at other clubs. The research used concepts from grounded theory and also the work of Pierre Bourdieu to analyse and present the data. In its findings, the study depicts a coaching process that is interdependent and interrelated and highlights complexity in each of the following elements: the club, sessions and games, players and coaches, relationships, and 'attitude'. The dynamism within and between each of these elements is illustrated in the ways that each can facilitate, constrain or even prevent 'effective' practice and the operation of the coaching process. Moreover, the research demonstrates the powerful nature of tradition and culture, highlighting their pervasive influence upon the coaching process and coaching practice. Life at the case study club was characterised by authoritarianism and pressure, and was relentlessly directed towards winning. This backdrop strongly influenced the relationship between coaches and players, and impacted upon the coaching process. Importantly, the research presents evidence to suggest that coach education may be a relatively 'low impact' endeavour in comparison to the coaches' other experiences which are presented as a significant force shaping both coaches' development and practice. To harness this experience and develop coach education, this research suggests that the governing body could consider embracing mentoring as part of coach education and, as part of this, coaches should be encouraged to engage in critical reflection in order to understand how cultural and other forces shape their practice. However, for mentoring to succeed, it must be grounded in a thorough understanding of the culture of football clubs, and the ways coaches draw upon their life experiences in football to direct their own practice and judge the practices and 'worth' of others. Importantly, this research begins to answer some of the criticisms levelled at previous research by examining interaction and complexity within the coaching process in-situ. It highlights the problematic, interrelated and interdependent nature of relationships that construct and influence the coaching process and coaching practice. Importantly, it highlights the important and under-researched link between coaching practice, the coaching process and the immediate and wider social context of football

Understanding the female judoka’s “coach – athlete” relationship: a British perspective

Background and Study Aim: The initial idea for the investigation came from Maki Tsukada’s two year observation of the British system, but also after reflection on the London 2012 Olympics and the “coach – athlete” interaction. The wider impact of the study will mean that coaches will have a greater understanding of how to build and work at their relationship with their athletes and understand what the important dynamics are within. The purpose of this study was the knowledge about the “coach – athlete” relationship, to gain a greater understanding into the relationship between female judo athletes and their coach. Material and Methods: The participants chosen were the Women’s Great Britain Judo Squad 2013, the athletes (n = 36) and the National coaches (n = 2). The study explores what is felt as important, the dynamics in the relationship and does the athlete’s opinion differ from that of the coach. The athletes participated in a specifically designed questionnaire and the coaches in semi-structured interview. Results: The findings demonstrate the importance of the relationship and the varying, yet often similar attributes expressed, from both the athletes and coaches. Conclusions: The significant and fundamental finding was the importance of the “coach – athlete” relationship being recognised by both the athletes and the coaches, with the athletes declaring that they definitely need a coach to develop and improve. In a direct comparison on what is important to the athlete and to the coach in the dynamic of the relationship, the points are very similar

Relationship between Anxiety, Self-Confidence, and Evaluation of Coaching Behaviors

Two experiments examined Smoll and Smith\u27s (1989) model of leadership behaviors in sport. The coaching behaviors of a male head coach of a collegiate women\u27s basketball team (n=11 players) were examined. The data supported competitive trait anxiety as an individual-difference variable that mediates athletes\u27 perception and evaluation of coaching behaviors. There also was support for adding athletes\u27 state cognitive anxiety, state self-confidence and perception of the coach\u27s cognitive anxiety to the model as individual-difference variables. Athletes who scored high in trait anxiety (p\u3c.001) and state cognitive anxiety (p\u3c.05) and low in state self-confidence (p\u3c.05), and athletes who perceived the coach as high in state cognitive anxiety (p\u3c.001), evaluated coaching behavior more negatively. Game outcome may influence the effect of self-confidence in mediating athletes\u27 perception and evaluation of coaching behaviors. Additionally, athletes perceived several specific coaching behaviors more negatively than did the coach, and athletes drastically overestimated their coach\u27s self-reported pregame cognitive and somatic anxiety and underestimated his self-confidence. Overall, the results suggest that coaches should be more supportive and less negative with high anxious and low self-confident athletes

Influences on the Formation of Coach-Athlete Relationships

For a team to be successful, coaches and players need to have a good relationship. Without this relationship there can be tension within the team that hinders success. The many factors that impact the formation of these relationships depend on both the coach and the athlete. From the data it shows that the athletes that were part of the sample, their motivation and other factors were affected by the poor relationships that were built. If there can be information on what affects the relationship, future coaches and athletic directors can use this information to their advantage

Leadership in Sport Organizations

First paragraph: The ability to lead, inspire and motivate people is an important human characteristic. Indeed, it has been suggested that leadership is vital for effective organizational and societal functioning (Antonakis, Cianciolo, & Sternberg, 2004), with great or poor organizational, military, or sport performances frequently credited to great leadership or lack thereof. Therefore, it is not surprising that leadership has become one of the most studied topics within the social sciences (Antonakis et al., 2004). Leadership has been studied from a number of different perspectives (e.g., trait, behavioural, contingency, relational, skeptic, information-processing based approaches) which has resulted in a large number of different theories and models of leadership. Indeed, as long ago as 1971, Fiedler (1971) stated that, “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are theories of leadership - and there almost as many theories of leadership as there are psychologists working in the field” (p. 1)

The grooming process in sport: Case studies of sexual harassment and abuse

Drawing on interviews with two elite female athletes from different sports, one from a study in Norway and the other from a study in England, this article explores the process of 'grooming' in the context of sport. Both athletes experienced grooming for sex by their male coaches yet were able to stop the process at a particular point. Grooming has been used to demarcate 'sexual harassment' and 'sexual abuse' as separate points on a continuum of sexually exploitative behaviours. Grooming involves slowly gaining trust before systematically breaking down interpersonal barriers. Elite athletes can become trapped into compliance because they trust and like, or even love, their abusers. The motivation behind sexual harassment and abuse is often power, whereby the harasser seeks to take control over another individual. The abusers use threats (such as being cut from the team) and rewards or privileges to secure co-operation and manipulate the victims to maintain secrecy. Our primary purpose here is to use these adapted realist tales to provide a richer and more personal illustration of these events (within-case) than is presented through extrapolated checklists of 'risk factors' (cross-case). The stories also illustrate vividly elements from the different stages in the grooming process in sport, as described in previous literature. Finally, they reinforce the need to identify protective factors as part of anti-harassment and abuse prevention programmes with both coaches and athletes

Student-athletes’ evaluation of coaches’ coaching competencies and their sport achievement motivation

The primary concerns of this study is whether universities’ sport coaches possess good coaching competency skills in bringing up potential athletes for the country.What are coaches’ coaching competency levels? Do their competencies capability able to contribute significantly to sport achievement motivation of student-athletes? Thus, this study was designed to evaluate the competency level of coaches and student-athletes’ achievement motivation at the Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) in sports competitions.A total of 322 student-athletes were participated in the questionnaire survey. Researchers have adapted the Coaching Competency Scale to measure four different dimensions of coaching competency and Sport Orientation Questionnaire to measure achievement motivation of student-athletes. Validity and reliability of the instrument were found to be satisfactory.The results of this study indicate that the coaches’ competency levels at the HEI were not differ significantly by gender and performance of student-athletes, but it was differed significantly by type of sport, between team and individual sports.In addition, this study showed that there was a moderate relationship between the competencies of sport coaches and achievement motivation among student-athletes.However, among the coaches’ coaching competencies, motivation competency of coaches was found to be significant contributor to student-athletes sport achievement motivation. The study provides important insights from the perspective of sport development programme at the related organizations which can be valuable in identifying and recruiting suitable coaches; and helping coaches to some extent in planning strategies for coaching athletes to ensure the effectiveness of its role as a coach