A Brief Report on the Link between Perceived Coach Behaviour, Coach-Athlete Relationship Quality and Performance among South African Male Senior National Level Team Sport Para-Athletes
A Brief Report on the Link between Perceived Coach Behaviour, Coach-Athlete Relationship Quality and Performance among South African Male Senior National Level Team Sport Para-Athletes
A fundamental feature in successful coaching outcomes and athlete performance is rooted in the quality of the coach-athlete relationship which is impacted by coaches’ way of being. This investigation examined whether perceived coach behaviour associates with the coach-athlete relationship quality and self-rated season performance among members from two South African male senior national para-sport teams (n = 23, M age = 32.65). The predictive utility of coaches’ perceived behaviour on the dyadic relationship quality and athletes’ views on their own performance was also determined. Cross-sectional quantitative data were collected by means of the Coaching Behaviour Scale for Sport, Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire and a Likert-scale item recording athletes’ subjective rating of perceived standard of performance for the respective competition season. The team members’ reported fairly good standard of season performances and sound relationship standings with their involved head coaches who were seen to exhibit behaviours most illustrative of mental preparation, personal rapport, and competition tactics. Inferences drawn from the correlation analyses advised that particular adoptive coach behaviour in para-sport coaching appears to be a meaningful construct associated with the establishment and maintenance of relationships with athletes. Regression analyses also exposed coaches’ competition strategy behaviour to be a significant predictor of complementarity in the coach-athlete relationship, which along with the noted positive correlations provide a good basis for further exploration in similar sport contexts.
___
- Baker, J., Yardley, J., & Cote, J. (2003). Coach behaviors and athlete satisfaction in team and individual sports. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 34, 226 - 239.
- Becker, A. J. (2009). It's not what they do, it's how they do it: athlete experiences of great coaching. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 4(1), 93-119.
- Chelladurai, P., Imamura, H., Yamaguchi, Y., Oinuma, Y., & Miyauchi, T. (1988). Sport leadership in a cross-national setting: the case of Japanese and Canadian university athletes. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 10(4), 374-389.
- Choi, H., Cho, S., & Huh, J. (2013). The association between the perceived coach–athlete relationship and athletes' basic psychological needs. Social Behavior and Personality: an International Journal, 41(9), 1547-1556.
- Cote, J., Yardley, J., Hay, J., Sedgwick, W., & Baker, J. (1999). An exploratory examination of the coaching behavior scale for sport. Avante, 5(3), 82-92. Crawford, J. L., & Stodolska, M. (2008). Constraints experienced by elite athletes with disabilities in Kenya, with implications for the development of a new hierarchical model of constraints at the societal level. Journal of Leisure Research, 40(1), 128-155.
- Culver, D., & Werthner, P. (2018). Voices: para athletes speak. Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health, 10(2), 167-175. doi:10.1080/2159676x.2017.1393004
- Cushion, C., & Lyle, J. (2010). Sports Coaching: Professionalisation and practice. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.
- Davis, L., & Jowett, S. (2014). Coach–athlete attachment and the quality of the coach–athlete relationship: implications for athlete’s well-being. Journal of Sports Sciences, 32(15), 1454-1464.
- Dieffenbach, K. D., & Statler, T. A. (2012). More similar than different: the psychological environment of Paralympic sport. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 3(2), 109-118.
- Fairhurst, K. E., Bloom, G. A., & Harvey, W. J. (2017). The learning and mentoring experiences of Paralympic coaches. Disability and Health Journal, 10(2), 240-246. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2016.10.007
- Hampson, R., & Jowett, S. (2014). Effects of coach leadership and coach–athlete relationship on collective efficacy. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 24(2), 454-460.
- Jooste, J., & Kubayi, A. N. (2018). Perceived coach leadership style and psychological well-being among South African national male wheelchair basketball players. Disability and Health Journal, 11(4), 655-659. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2018.07.004
- Jowett, S. (2005). The coach-athlete partnership. Psychologist, 18(7), 412-415.
- Jowett, S. (2007). Coach–athlete relationships ignite sense of groupness. In group dynamics in exercise and sport psychology (pp. 81-96): Routledge.
- Jowett, S. (2017). Coaching effectiveness: the coach–athlete relationship at its heart. Current Opinion in Psychology, 16, 154-158.
- Jowett, S., Adie, J. W., Bartholomew, K. J., Yang, S. X., Gustafsson, H., & Lopez-Jimenez, A. (2017). Motivational processes in the coach-athlete relationship: a multi-cultural self-determination approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 32, 143-152. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.06.004
- Jowett, S., & Chaundy, V. (2004). An investigation into the impact of coach leadership and coach-athlete relationship on group cohesion. Group Dynamics-Theory Research and Practice, 8(4), 302-311. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.8.4.302
- Jowett, S., & Cockerill, I. M. (2003). Olympic medallists’ perspective of the althlete–coach relationship. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 4(4), 313-331.
- Jowett, S., & Meek, G. A. (2000). The coach-athlete relationship in married couples: an exploratory content analysis. The Sport Psychologist, 14(2), 157-175.
- Jowett, S., Nicolas, M., & Yang, S. (2017). Unravelling the links between coach behaviours and coach-athlete relationships. European Journal of Sports and Exercise Science, 5(3), 10-19.
- Jowett, S., & Ntoumanis, N. (2004). The coach–athlete relationship questionnaire (CART‐Q): development and initial validation. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 14(4), 245-257.
- Jowett, S., & Poczwardowski, A. (2007). Understanding the Coach-Athlete Relationship. In S. Jowett & D. Lavallee (Eds.), Social Psychology in Sport (pp. 3-14). Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics.
- Jowett, S., & Shanmugam, V. (2016). Relational coaching in sport: its psychological underpinnings and practical effectiveness. In R. J. Schinke, K. R. McGannon, & B. Smith (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Sport Psychology (pp. 471-484). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- Keegan, R. J., Harwood, C. G., Spray, C. M., & Lavallee, D. (2014). A qualitative investigation of the motivational climate in elite sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 15(1), 97-107.
- Koh, K. T., Kawabata, M., & Mallett, C. J. (2014). The coaching behavior scale for sport: factor structure examination for singaporean youth athletes. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 9(6), 1311-1324. doi:Doi 10.1260/1747-9541.9.6.1311
- Lafrenière, M.-A. K., Jowett, S., Vallerand, R. J., & Carbonneau, N. (2011). Passion for coaching and the quality of the coach–athlete relationship: the mediating role of coaching behaviors. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12(2), 144-152.
- Lindauer, J. R. (2000). A comparison of preferred coaching leadership behaviors of college athletes in individual and team sports. (MSc in Exercise and Sport Science - Physical Education Teaching), University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
- Martin, J. J., & Whalen, L. (2014). Effective practices of coaching disability sport. European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 7(2).
- Mellalieu, S., Shearer, D. A., & Shearer, C. (2013). A preliminary survey of interpersonal conflict at major games and championships. Sport Psychologist, 27(2), 120-129. doi:DOI 10.1123/tsp.27.2.120
- Nicholls, A. R., Levy, A. R., Jones, L., Meir, R., Radcliffe, J. N., & Perry, J. L. (2016). Committed relationships and enhanced threat levels: perceptions of coach behavior, the coach–athlete relationship, stress appraisals, and coping among athletes. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 11(1), 16-26.
- Nicholls, A. R., Morley, D., & Perry, J. L. (2016). Mentally tough athletes are more aware of unsupportive coaching behaviours: perceptions of coach behaviour, motivational climate, and mental toughness in sport. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 11(2), 172-181.
- Nicolas, M., Gaudreau, P., & Franche, V. (2011). Perception of coaching behaviors, coping, and achievement in a sport competition. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 33(3), 460-468.
- Philippe, R. A., & Seiler, R. (2006). Closeness, co-orientation and complementarity in coach–athlete relationships: what male swimmers say about their male coaches. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 7(2), 159-171.
- Roxas, A. S., & Ridinger, L. L. (2016). Relationships of coaching behaviors to student-athlete well-being. Academic Perspectives in Higher Education, 2(1), 10.
- Sherman, C. A., Fuller, R., & Speed, H. D. (2000). Gender comparisons of preferred coaching behaviors in Australian sports. Journal of Sport Behavior, 23(4).
- Tawse, H., Bloom, G. A., Sabiston, C. M., & Reid, G. (2012). The role of coaches of wheelchair rugby in the development of athletes with a spinal cord injury. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 4(2), 206-225. Townsend, R. C., Smith, B., & Cushion, C. J. (2015). Disability sports coaching: towards a critical understanding. Sports Coaching Review, 4(2), 80-98.
- Wachsmuth, S., Jowett, S., & Harwood, C. G. (2018). On understanding the nature of interpersonal conflict between coaches and athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences, 36(17), 1955-1962. doi:10.1080/02640414.2018.1428882
- Wareham, Y., Burkett, B., Innes, P., & Lovell, G. P. (2017). Coaching athletes with disability: preconceptions and reality. Sport in Society, 20(9), 1185-1202. doi:10.1080/17430437.2016.1269084
- Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. S. (2018). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (7th ed.). Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics.Wilson, N. C., & Khoo, S. (2013). Benefits and barriers to sports participation for athletes with disabilities: the case of Malaysia. Disability & Society, 28(8), 1132-1145.
- Zealand, P. N. (2019). About Para Athletes. Retrieved from www.paralympics.org.nz/Para-Athletes/About-Para-athletes