Within sports, youth with hidden disabilities (HD) may have difficulty with understanding/following directions, physical coordination, remembering plays, and sustaining attention. These behaviors are often considered challenging for coaches. While previous research has addressed coaches' self-reports through surveys related to efficacy and coaching athletes with HD, they did not address questions regarding coaches' proposed strategies for addressing such challenging behaviors; such research may provide better understanding of their perceptions as well as information regarding coaches' knowledge about accommodating learning differences among their athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate coaches' perceptions of practice situations involving athletes exhibiting various challenging behaviors and coaches' proposed solutions to addressing these situations. Fifty-five youth sport coaches viewed four practice situations and completed questionnaires following the video clips. Results found that while coaches could often point to the need for demonstrations and checking for understanding, they often did not consider that the coach may have given faulty directions and would instead recommend repeating the instructions to make sure the athlete understood. Other times, the coach indicated that the athlete must not know terminology or perhaps had not been taught the skill used in the drill. Interestingly, these coaches all reported very high efficacy in: 1) appropriately redirecting the athlete(s), 2) effectively making accommodations to coach the athlete(s), and 3) preventing the athlete from interfering with coaching the athletes. This research continues to underscore the need for improved coaching education.
This mixed-methods study examined the association between high school sport coaches’ moral disengagement and their perceived coaching efficacy, and began to explore coaches’ justifications of and consequences for the hostile aggression exhibited by their athletes. High school coaches in the United States ( N = 449) completed online surveys that included the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale, Coaching Efficacy Scale II-High School Teams, and questions regarding their beliefs about and responses to athlete’s hostile aggressive behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine the association between coaches’ moral disengagement and their perceived coaching efficacy, and multiple analysis of variance explored differences in moral disengagement and coaching efficacy based on coaches’ justifications for athletes’ hostile aggression. Qualitative analyses involved coding coaches’ responses to questions of when they believed hostile aggression displayed by athletes was justified, and their typical responses to athletes’ hostile aggression. Results suggested that coaches’ moral disengagement was a negative predictor of their total perceived coaching efficacy, as well as specific aspects of their perceived coaching efficacy. Further, a majority of coaches indicated that hostile aggression was never acceptable or justified. Based on these results, differences in moral disengagement were found between coaches who did and did not justify athlete hostile aggression. The most common consequences for hostile aggression involved reduced playing time and additional physical conditioning. The current findings highlight the significance of coaches’ moral disengagement as it relates to their coaching, supporting a need for greater coaching education around coaching philosophies and approaches to disciplining athletes.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine youth American football coaches and their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, sport concussions. Coaches (n = 103) were recruited from a randomized sample of Pop Warner leagues within a large Western state to complete the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey. Coaches ranged from 25–75 years of age and were coaching youth athletes ranging from 6–14 years of age. Coaches scored in the 80th percentile on concussion knowledge, and in the 85th percentile on concussion attitudes. However, coaches were lacking in some areas of concussion knowledge such as concussion symptomology. There was also a statistically significant positive correlation between coaches’ scores on the Concussion Knowledge Index and the Concussion Attitudes Index, r = .43, p < .01. The results of this research indicate that while youth sport coaches report basic knowledge of concussions, there remain gaps in their education. This highlights the need for research to review current coaching curriculum, observe actual coaching behaviors, and to determine best practices for teaching coaches.
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