Coaching Behaviors That Enhance Confidence in Athletes and Teams

Abstract

Confidence is a well-known psychological quality that is relevant for performing at one’s best. Previous literature examined sources from which athletes derive their confidence, what behaviors coaches perceive to be the most effective at building confidence, and the level of congruence between athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions on confidence-building techniques. However, research has rarely asked athletes what they believe are the most important behaviors coaches can do to build confidence in both individuals and teams. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore athletes’ perceptions of what coaches can do to build confidence from the perspective of athletes. Collegiate student-athletes (n = 264) completed two open-ended questions regarding specific behaviors that coaches do to build confidence in athletes and teams. A total of 649 interpretable meaning units were analyzed into 13 lower-order themes and 5 higher-order categories. Results revealed that creating a nurturing positive environment, responding to athletes productively, developing effective practices for training, developing interpersonal relationships with athletes, and possessing effective intrapersonal qualities themselves are all behaviors identified as important for building confidence. Many of the behaviors were common to building confidence in both athletes and teams, though there were confidence-building behaviors unique to either group.

Reviewing Original Research Articles Published in the International Sport Coaching Journal

“…The context examined was primarily performance-only sport (49.5%; Forlenza et al, 2018), followed by a combination of participation and performance sport contexts (16.8%; Huysmans et al, 2018), participation only (15.8%; e.g., Falcão et al, 2017), studies that did not report the level of competition (8.0%; Driska, 2018), and study designs that were not applicable (5.9%; Al-Emadi et al, 2018). The most targeted age groups were performance adults (31.7%; Prophet et al, 2017), performance youth (9.9%; Newland et al, 2019), and participation youth (9.9%; Søvik et al, 2017).…”

Coaching Effectiveness: A Personal Discourse on Bringing Clarity to an Overused Concept

“…The majority of writers adopt a profiling or feature matching approach. This applies to the listing of behaviours (Becker, 2013), indices of coach-athlete relationships (Forlenza, Pierce, Vealey, & Mackersie, 2018), environment (Seanor, Schinke, Stambulova, Ross, & Kpazai, 2017), and practice structures (Light & Harvey, 2017). However, this approach is also subject to some concerns.…”

Aplicación del modelo “Cadena de conciencia” y efectos sobre la orientación motivacional y la confianza

“…Machida et al (2012), siguiendo el enfoque conceptual más estudiado para la confianza en el deporte (Sport Confidence Model; Vealey, 1986), identificaron la orientación y el clima motivacional hacia la tarea como fuentes controlables de importancia crítica para la confianza. Crear un ambiente positivo y acogedor, responder a los deportistas de manera productiva, desarrollar prácticas efectivas para el entrenamiento, desarrollar relaciones interpersonales con los deportistas y poseer cualidades intrapersonales efectivas, son conductas identificadas como importantes para desarrollar la confianza en los deportistas (Forlenza et al, 2018). Reigal et al (2018) estudiaron las percepciones del deportista sobre el clima motivacional generado por sus entrenadores y la asociación con sus habilidades psicológicas.…”

“…El hecho que ambos grupos muestren esta tendencia, si bien tiene una magnitud de efecto mayor en el GE, podría explicarse por la orientación y los valores de los entrenadores, en línea con el enfoque formativo del club (más que hacia el rendimiento). En lo que respecta a la confianza, los resultados coinciden con Forlenza et al (2018), que demuestran cómo la influencia del entrenador y el clima generado por este son conductas que permiten desarrollar la confianza en los deportistas. En Reigal et al (2018) también se vincula el clima de apoyo a la autonomía y el clima orientado a la tarea con la autoconfianza.…”