A study on the relationship between the athlete's impression to the coach and the athlete's gratification to the coach's pursuit in their job

Abstract

    Coaching influence to an athlete may vary according to the athlete's impression to the coach. Obviously, the better the athlete's impression to the coach, the more effective the coach's influence are. A hypothesis was raised that the athlete's gratification to the coach's pursuit in their job might be the key factor in creating the coach's impression. In order to proof that, a questionnaire survey was conducted to the collegiate student-athletes. The survey was included three different views of the subjects to remark their former high school coaches such as a role-model, as a leader, and as a coach overall. The regression analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between the athlete's gratification to the coach's pursuit in their job and the coach's impression. As a result, male athletes were inspired when the coach was able to lead them in the field, and when the coach gave them good advice. In the same way, female athletes were inspired when their coach took into consideration about the team's mood, and when the coach gave them good advice. Surprisingly, both male and female athletes were not impressed when the coach demonstrated good examples dealing with sport skills. In conclusion, the verbal expression seems to be a key factor in coaching to inspire their athlete.