女性アスリートにおける育成年代のトレーニング環境とライフスキルの関連

―集団球技系種目競技者を対象として―

抄録

　This study clarified what kind of training environment empowers female ball sport athletes to assert their own opinions, and examined the relationship between training environment, competition level, and life skills acquisition level in the developmental age category. We surveyed 838 female athletes from age 18 to 36 belonging to the Japan Top League Alliance, made up of 373 athletes with national team experience and 456 without, and confirmed the following two major points.

　First, female athletes' life skills were classified into four clusters (overall high group, overall low group, communication-active group, communication-passive group). In the developmental years category, it was evident that the overall high group was in an environment in which it was easy to obtain direct support from the coach, whereas the overall low group and communication-passive group had weak relationships with the coach.

　Second, when directly encouraged by coaches, those with national team experience displayed high levels of social norm skills and problem-solving skills, although this was limited to communication regarding the competition. In contrast, those without national team experience scored higher on all four life skills when coaches took an indirect approach to atmosphere creation. Furthermore, in order to enhance athletic performance, it is thought that instructors aim to create a training environment that encourages activities outside the realm of sports such as academic and volunteer activities, as well as those within their sport. Thus, there were differences in the training environment during the developmental years depending on the level of competition, and there were also differences in the life skills acquired.

　The results suggest that communication between instructors and athletes is an important factor in the training environment and life skills of female athletes.