The coaching environment can have serious effects on an athlete and her performance. Understanding how athletes and coaches interact is not only important for athletic performance but also for managing the dynamics of a team and athlete-coach relationship. A coach plays a very important role in an athlete’s life and having a coaching environment that is negative can not only be detrimental to the athlete’s performance on the field or court, but also to the athlete’s life outside of sports.
Research shows that those who are presented with a positive environment are more likely to participate in a sport activity; On the other hand, if a coach has a negative environment, it negatively effects athletes not only at practice and games, but also in school and at home.
The psychological needs of student-athletes include a various emotional and structural elements. Confidence in athletes is key to athletic success and some theories prove why motivational climates are important for sport, exercise/physical activity, and performance (Noble, Vermillion, & Foster, 2016). The self-determination theory (SDT) states that an individual’s level of motivation can range from intrinsic motivation to extrinsic motivation to amotivation (not motivated); This theory is measured on a spectrum from low to high forms of self-determination (Noble, et al., 2016). Under this theory, there are three psychological needs that an athlete attempts to satisfy: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy involves the desire to self-organize and integrate in a way that works for herself. Competence is the individual’s ability to have an effect on the environment and opportunity to express her capabilities. Lastly, relatedness refers to an athlete’s need for belonging and having a connection to others. The fulfillment and combination of all three of these needs will greatly influence an athlete’s overall well-being (Noble, et al., 2016).
Researchers found that athletes who view their coaches as empathetic produce more motivational benefits. Similarly, when coaches created an autonomous environment it directly and positively affected the way the athlete felt as far as competence, self-esteem, energy, and sustained positive emotions went. The way athletes interacted with each other and the training environment also benefitted from the autonomous environment that the coaches encouraged (Noble, et al., 2016). The type of sport or gender (structural factors) had an impact on autonomous coaching environments as well. These factors have a history of being associated with the development of students and student-athletes. Studies show the importance of psychological development and how it effects athletes’ development. Athletic environments are tremendously important for developing and educating young people’s view of authority figures (Noble, et al., 2016).
SDT helps to understand the multifaceted environments associated with sports or athletic performance. Examining the structural factors associated with social environments and student athlete development provides a more in depth explanation of coaching dynamics (Noble, et al., 2016). There are various questions to be answered related to coaching environment and its impact on athletes including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, feedback, and performance indicators.
Self-determined motivation can be improved by developing relevant interactions within the sport setting. The structured settings define expectations and the impact can positively increase self-determined motivations. Studies have proved that developing collective interactions can promote healthy communication among athletes. This occurs when athletes are given choices for motivation, which leads to better elf-esteem. In this study, athletes perceive their coaches in a positive light and there are no differences between structural factors (gender) (Noble, et al., 2016). This research concluded that with coaches’ autonomy support, through praise that focused on progress, athletes competence need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction in the coaching relationship. It would be valuable for coaches to promote practice and competitive settings where athletes are comfortable with their environment, regardless of sport or gender (Noble, et al., 2016). A better picture of what explains student-athletes’ perceptions of coaching environments will help coaches’ communication efforts and impact student-athletes.
Students who are engaging in sports regularly understand and know how it feels to be completely engrossed in the activity. Many athletes who love their sport can explain the intense feelings they get when they engage in their specific sport. There are two motivation types that will be discussed: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. When an athlete has a strong intrinsic motivation towards a sport it’s because they are self-determined to engage in the activity. An athlete who is intrinsically motivated to participate in a sport is doing so because they genuinely enjoy the sport and have fun. That is an important determinant when deciding to compete in an activity (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Researchers have found that extrinsic motivation can be self-determined or non-self-determined. When extrinsic reasons for participating in the sport are internalized, the extrinsic motivation is self-determined. In this circumstance, the athlete is endorsing the values of the sport and fully engages in the activity for personal reasons. However non-self-determined extrinsic motivation happens when an athlete feels obligated to participate by either a coach or feelings of guilt. Studies have been proven that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have an impact on athletes’ persistence in the sport (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Although many factors impact athletes’ motivation in sport, the coach-athlete relationship is one of the most important influences on athletes’ motivation and performance. Coaches can make a remarkable difference on athletes and the team as a whole. It is important that a coach not only teaches skills to her athletes but also nurtures the person as a whole (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). A coach who is not only knowledgeable about the sport but also her athletes will be much more successful than a coach who only cares about winning. By using extrinsic motivation to keep athletes interested and engaged in the sport, a coach is also creating intrinsic motivation to inspire her athletes for personal excellence. With the combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, athletes’ motivation and performance will increase and will become more successful in his/her sport (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Because being involved in sports requires training and discipline that are not necessarily enjoyable, athletes may not be able to rely on intrinsic motivation only. It is important for athletes to value the importance of their training for skill development. If an athlete values the importance of staying fit and being healthy for skill development, then self-determined extrinsic motivation is apparent. When an athlete is motivated extrinsically, athletes react positively to cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences that relate to intrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Coaches who encourage intrinsic motivation will have athletes who invest more effort into the sport with more concentration and higher performance levels.
When it comes to coach-athlete relationships, it is important that coaches nurture their athletes’ intrinsic motivation and self-determined types of extrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Coaches have their own values as well so it is important that they convey their values and not just behaviors. Involvement from coaches plays a huge role in the development of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in athletes.
Various studies have been conducted to show the importance of intrinsic motivation for athletes and coaches. When a coach provides choices for athletes, their intrinsic motivation is more likely to increase. When athletes choose the activity, they will be intrinsically motivated to complete a task. It is quite beneficial for the coach and the athlete to have choices in a practice setting. With choices, the athlete will be motivated by the enjoyment of the activity and won’t feel as if she is being forced to complete the task (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Another important aspect of coaches’ motivation for athletes is not only providing choice but rationale for tasks. Having limits and rules when providing these tasks is key as well. This allows athletes to understand the reasons for engaging in activity. When tasks at practice are significant, the athletes are motivated easily and their values are accepted. When an athlete is presented with a task and is told to complete it to help the team improve, the athlete is more apt to be motivated to get better at the specific skill. When athletes are presented with “bigger picture” tasks they will have higher intrinsic motivation and they value the team and its goals (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
When coaches present athletes with limits and rules, she is practicing different discipline techniques that athletes will internalize as encouraging and motivating. When a coach sets limits, an athlete knows her regulations and will not jeopardize “acting out” because it could hurt the team (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Coaches who are supportive of their athletes often take into account the athletes feelings about tasks and rules. A coach who acknowledges the athletes’ perspective shows the athlete that she cares about her needs and feelings specifically, and not as a whole team. Alternatively, a supportive coach provides her athletes with opportunities for independent work. Research shows the impact this has on athletes is quite beneficial for motivation and coach-athlete relationships. Athletes who are given the chance to take initiative are less likely to become unmotivated in their sport because they are encouraged to participate in an activity of their choice so there is no loss of enjoyment (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
When coaching a sport, athletes require feedback throughout the season to improve their skills and become more effective at the specific sport. Research has shown that intervention from coaches and feedback is sometimes inaccurate. In certain situations a coach can show video to her athletes of them playing and give feedback as needed. There are various benefits of using the computer to record athletes’ behavior. One important benefit is the use of slow motion and replay so the athlete will be able to see the action over and over to improve her skills (Hughes and Franks, 2010). When giving feedback to an athlete, a coach must first be very knowledgeable about the skill being criticized. Knowledge is critical to the learning process and when a coach fails to provide the correct information, she is preventing learning from taking place (Hughes and Franks, 2010).
Some problems do arise when a coach relies on video for feedback. A coach needs to be able to identify ‘ critical elements’ of successful athletic performance. Fast and efficient feedback should be provided to the athlete once the critical elements are established. The problem is video is not advanced enough to provide this type of feedback quickly enough (Hughes and Franks, 2010). When developing these systems, researchers developed a way to enter data so coaches could record practice and events in real time. Since the development of these computer programs, the coaching process and giving feedback has improved. With the use of a camera recording the athletes during competition and a trained observer entering events into a computer, the coach is able to prioritize the problem areas and give feedback accurately (Hughes and Franks, 2010).
The need for objective information is outstanding for the coaching process. Coaching and teaching the skills rely drastically on the analysis of athletic performance. Having a coach who is engaged and wants to improve the athletes’ skill will also greatly improve the coach-athlete relationship. During a competition many occurrences will stand out to a coach for areas of improvement or areas that have been improved since the last game. Highlighted features of play are usually what a coach remembers from a game whether it is decisions made or exceptional achievements by the athletes. When it comes time to practice a coach will analyze performance and make a practice plan around what she believes needs help. When the athletes and coach agree on the areas of improvement, coach-athlete relationships improve and the team camaraderie greatly improves (Hughes and Frank, 2010). The use of video and technology for feedback has come a long way in recent years. To have the ability to visualize a specific skill and see what the athlete is doing wrong will help in the feedback process immensely.
Positive feedback is also important in keeping an athletes’ intrinsic motivation. Clearly positive feedback compared to no feedback has a positive impact on young athletes, but research shows that giving an athlete verbal feedback has a higher impact. Positive feedback as two functional aspects: informational and controlling (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). The informational aspect provides information regarding her competence; the controlling aspect provokes the athlete into re-emitting the behavior. When the informational aspect is prominent, positive feedback allows athletes to realize their competence and in turn has a positive impact on her intrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Although when the controlling aspect is prominent, feedback will challenge intrinsic motivation.
Controlling behaviors put pressure on the athlete and can curb the athletes’ autonomy. Some constraints by a coach can reduce the athlete’s sense of self-determination and why she is playing the sport to begin with. Controlling behaviors could create situations in which failure to act in a way that is expected could hinder the coach-athlete relationship and in turn the athlete’s self-esteem (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). These types of behaviors take on many forms including guilty-inducing criticisms and tangible rewards.
Physical control over an athlete undermines her autonomy, which, in turn, has a negative impact on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The use of threat and other power-assertive techniques will result in withdrawal from the sport and the coach. Studies have proven that undermining the intrinsic motivation results in a decrease in the participants’ interest of the sport. Even young athletes who experience pressure from coaches and parents report less enjoyment and motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
When coaches rely on psychological control, genuine thoughts and feelings that an athlete may have towards a sport are threatened, as well as the coach-athlete relationship. Any form of manipulation for the coach-athlete bong could deter an athlete’s motivation and love for the sport (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
There is much debate regarding the use of tangible rewards on intrinsic motivation. Research has shown that, even though tangible awards were highly recommended at one time, rewards do not necessarily have a positive impact on an athlete. For rewards, the competence feedback needs to be highly prominent in order for them to increase an athlete’s intrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Although unexpected rewards do not alter intrinsic motivation, the appearance of them could become expected and therefore challenge intrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
In Today’s world, athletes’ self-esteem is always on the line. Behavioral outcomes become so important that people cannot focus on anything but. Athletes are no longer free to choose a goal for themselves. The coach ordains every goal. Ego-involvement narrows athletes’ focus on the outcome and limits their behaviors to only concentrating on the outcome that the coach designed. This in turn causes a breakdown in the coach-athlete relationship (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
To enhance the coach-athlete relationship, athletes have three basic psychological needs which include the need to feel connected to the social environment, competent in what they undertake, and autonomous in their actions. Being autonomous in actions means an athlete’s actions are in accordance with her values and not being controlled by external forces or internal pressures (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). This does not mean the athlete is independent since it is possible she still has a provider. For example, athletes who value their coach’s competence highly can choose to let the coach make the strategic decisions without feeling like their values are being challenged. The ultimate effect of coaching behaviors will depend on how athletes interpret these behaviors. When athlete perceive that their coach allows them to feel competent, their intrinsic motivation will be increase because their basic psychological needs will be satisfied (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Another way to enhance the coach-athlete relationship is showing structure and involvement in athletes’ general well being. Without the coach’s structure, athletes lack necessary information to progress in their discipline. Without the coach’s support and involvement, the athlete does not feel connected (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). When all three basic needs are met it is apparent that supportive behaviors are beneficial for an athlete’s motivation along with structure and support. Evidence has shown that providing structure to athlete’s fosters their need for competence. Setting limits and guidelines allows athletes to interact competently with the coach and other team members (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
In study performed with young male wrestlers, researchers found that favorable adult involvement patterns predicted athletes’ high levels of enjoyment. Similar results were found in a study conducted with high school girls that showed encouragement and support increased girls’ participation in sports and physical activity. Another study found that the more athletes who perceived their coaches to be caring and involved, the more they were self-determined in their motivation towards their sport (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
As discussed thus far, coaches play a huge role in athletes’ intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivation by providing structure and being involved. In this motivational model of the coach-athlete relationship, three determinant of autonomy-supportive coaching behaviors are projected: the coach’s personal orientation, the coaching context, and the athletes’ behaviors and motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Autonomy-supportive coaches favor an athlete-centered approach. However controlling coaches often gear towards a coach-centered approach. Research has indicated that coaches’ personal orientations are either autonomy supportive or controlling, which have an effect on interpersonal styles and motivation. It is believed to be true that how a coach responds to different situations depends on which interpersonal style they rely on. Coaches who value an autonomy-supportive style has a positive impact on their athletes’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Although an autonomy-supportive style has been shown to foster athletes’ intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivation, Western culture still promotes a controlling style of teaching and coaching (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). It is important to understand, however, that a coach’s interpersonal style is flexible with training and an autonomy-supportive style can be taught (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
It is important to remember that contextual factors can also influence coaching behaviors. Even if a coach believes in autonomy-supportive behaviors, their actual behaviors are shaped by the coaching context within which they operate (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Sports are generally highly competitive and just like athletes do, coaches feel the intense pressure to bring home a medal for their school, city, or organization. However when pressure is put on a coach to perform, people are more likely to radiate controlling behaviors (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Pressure to perform is apparent when coaches are told that their own interests are tied to their athletes’ performance. Often times a coach’s job is dependent on the team’s performance and achievements. In circumstances like this, coaches become ego-involved and emit controlling behaviors. This has a negative impact on the coach-athlete relationship. A high ego-involved coach focuses on the outcome, rather than the athletes’ experiences and relationship (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Stress is another pressure that leads to controlling behaviors. With the pressure to perform, stress depletes coach’s psychological resources, leaving a coach with little time to take other perspectives into consideration. When this happens athletes will shut down causing a negative impact on their motivation to be involved with the sport (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Studies have shown that even parents are more critical of the athletes when put in a high stress environment.
The final source of influence on coaches’ behavior comes from athletes’ behaviors and motivation. The coach-athlete relationship is a mutual process where the coach and the athlete influence one another (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). It is proven that coaches do not act the same way with every athlete. Furthermore the coach will reach to each and every athlete’s motivation differently.
It is well known that some athletes are more difficult to deal with than others. Individual differences are observed at an early age and suggest that children with more controlling parents are more difficult (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). Studies have shown that mothers who believe their child is difficult and uncontrollable are more controlling than mothers who think their adolescent is well behaved. The same goes for the coach-athlete relationship. If an athlete is more difficult, the coach is more controlling (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
Although the above study is not always accurate with coaches and athletes, coaches’ expectations can have a huge impact on athletes’ behaviors. If coaches believe certain athletes will not perform up to standards, they will send a message of mistrust and ignore the successes of these athletes (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010). This type of behavior weakens athletes’ confidence and decreasing their motivation. Distraction and lack of motivation could lead athletes to perform poorly.
The motivational model for the coach-athlete relationship is presented in a way that shows how coaches’ behaviors impact athletes’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Coaches play a large role in how much or how little athletes want to be involved in sports. When a coach provides opportunities for an athlete to grow in and out of the sport setting, an athlete is more apt to continue playing the specific sport. A supportive style of coaching allows athletes to take initiative and avoiding a controlling environment (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).
This motivational model of autonomy-supportive behaviors is clearly beneficial to the coach-athlete relationship. The athletes’ intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivations are important determinants of performance and persistence. Many athletes have reached tremendous performance by adapting their behaviors to meet the coach’s needs. However, some researchers believe if a coach would adapt her behaviors to meet the athletes’ needs, performance would be improved even more (Mageau and Vallerand, 2010).