Although social support is integral to the coaching process, there is only a limited understanding of the antecedents of perceived coach support. We applied generalizability theory to examine perceived coach support and its antecedents at perceiver, provider, and relational levels of analysis. Two studies were conducted in which athletes rated the degree to which they identified with a selectio...

Coaches play a multifunctional key role in high-performance team sports. One of the coaches’ responsibilities, in some sports, is to use team timeouts effectively. The sport science literature has however only given limited attention to the use of timeouts – this is especially the case in handball. This is somewhat surprising since timeouts can be used as a strategic intervention in the dynamic...

Although social support is integral to the coaching process, there is only a limited understanding of the antecedents of perceived coach support. We applied generalizability theory to examine perceived coach support and its antecedents at perceiver, provider, and relational levels of analysis. Two studies were conducted in which athletes rated the degree to which they identified with a selectio...

PURPOSE Winning several national championships is an extraordinary feat that very few university coaches have accomplished. The objective of this study was to investigate how some of Canada's most accomplished university team-sport coaches created and sustained a culture of excellence in their programs. METHOD Six university coaches who had won more than 30 national titles participated in thi...

Within the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) framework, research has considered the consequences of coaches' autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors on various athlete outcomes (e.g., motivation and performance). The antecedents of such behaviors, however, have received little attention. Coaches (N = 443) from a variety of sports and competitive levels completed a self-report ...

This study explores coaches’ and athletes’ subjective views about what they think are expected fromcoaches in sport. A Q-sample of 36 different opinions about different expectations about coaches’ behaviors, and how these expectations affect their athletes’ motivation, performance, focus and emotions, was presented to 23 coaches and 59 athletes at a Norwegian high school specialized for sports....

This study aimed to explore how track and field coaches respond to athletes with eating problems. Eleven experienced coaches participated in semi-structured interviews exploring their responses to, and challenges faced when, working with athletes with eating problems. The analysis revealed three themes relating to the strategies employed by coaches. The first theme indicated a supportive approa...

The objectives of this study were to describe the dietary practices recommended by coaches working with adolescent athletes and to assess their nutritional knowledge. During a regional competition in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 55 coaches were interviewed. These coaches represented 22 cities with athletes enrolled in Olympic gymnastics, tennis, swimming, and judo events. A 3-section questio...

Researchers have argued that coaches are performers in their own right and that their psychological needs should be considered (Giges, Petitpas, & Vernacchia, 2004; Gould, Greenleaf, Guinan, & Chung, 2002). The purpose of this research was to examine high performance women coaches’ perceptions of their sport organizations’ social context, with specific attention to psychological need support. S...