Psychological characteristics of coaches of successful and less successful athletes in team and individual sports

47 The article is based on the common idea in sport psychology that the coach, besides his/her athletes, is the key figure in sports. Our goal was to test this idea in Slovene sport and examine the way Slovene coaches work with their athletes. Systematic study should result in scientific insight on the role and work of coaches in sport, and provide relevant information about importance of coaches in the development of sport. Authors of numerous books single out a coach as a crucial person in athletes’ sports career progression (Tušak & Tušak, 2001; Krevsel, 2001; Chelladurai, 1990; Martens, 1990; Gummerson, 1992; Sabock, 1985). Solomon (2001) found that the coach’s estimate of athlete’s self-confidence is the best predictor of athlete’s performance in competitions. Dick (1997) defines coaching as “more an art than a science”. The process of training consists of two components: the first, skill improvement, regards knowledge transfer, and the second is the development of a relationship between the coach and athletes which influence athletes’ development of the self-efficacy and can facilitate their psychological growth (Jowett & Cockerill, 2003). Self-efficacy depends primarily on how much we believe we have been successful in various activities within a particular field (Bandura, 1977). Poczwardowski, Barott and Henschen (2002) regard the coach-athlete relationship being responsible for the entire sports experience, quality of training, and competition performance. Quality of coach-athlete relationship depends on the contribution of both sides. The relationship will be effective if both sides are satisfied. Research studies have demonstrated that, on the coach side, various dispositional and situational factors are important, as well as certain acquired skills. These factors are: coach’s personality traits, emotional control, expertise/competency, innovativeness, communication skills, leadership style, motivational structure, gender and the like (Reimer & Toon, 2001, Serpa, 2001; Tušak & Tušak, 2001). On the athlete’s side, there are also several interrelated factors that interactively influence coach-athlete relationship quality. Studies have already demonstrated that the most important factors for athletes are: their personality traits, chosen sporting discipline, age, gender, and competition quality level (Taylor & Wilson, 2005). Kajtna, Tanja, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sports, Slovenia;