Putting Coach Confirmation Research into Practice: How to Confirm Youth and High School Athletes and Coach More Effectively

Division-I Student-Athletes’ Affective and Cognitive Responses to Receiving Confirmation From Their Head Coach

“…Athletes do not merely wish to be praised; they strongly desire and respond well to calls for improving their performance. Cranmer et al (2016) recommended that coaches “recognize when athletes do not perform up to the standards based on their abilities, give athletes specific ways to better their performance, and hold athletes accountable for meeting reasonable expectations” (p. 28). Film sessions, scheduled evaluation periods, and routine methods of feedback (e.g., progress reports) may facilitate the opportunity to communicate challenge and establish it as normative.…”

“…Confirmation is valuable within coaching because it serves as a social resource that positively influences attitudes towards oneself, interactions with others, and engagement in a variety of activities. Cranmer, Brann, and Anzur (2016) suggested that confirmation may assist in the development of adolescent athletes and offer alternatives to antisocial patterns of coaching, such as verbal or physical aggression (Kassing & Infante, 1999). They further asserted that confirmation “provide[s] coaches with the tools to promote improvement, while reducing the pressure to perform or the potential regret that can result from making mistakes” (p. 27).…”

Quantifying Coach Confirmation

“…Coaches may consider incorporating challenge and acceptance of their athletes into their coaching philosophies in an effort to improve their effectiveness. For instance, coaches should acknowledge athletes’ performances with verbal praise (e.g., “good job”) and nonverbal gestures (e.g., a pat on the back) as well as recognize when athletes do not perform up to standards, give athletes specific ways to better their performance, and hold athletes accountable to meeting reasonable expectations (see Cranmer et al, 2016, for further insight regarding how to enact confirmation in athletic coaching). Interestingly, challenge appears to account for sizably more variance within athletes’ satisfaction.…”

“…Interactions with coaches—specifically those that athletes find confirming—can be profound experiences that affect athletes throughout their life span. Further, given the prosocial and functional nature of confirmation, this construct may have implications for effective coaching, including fostering athlete learning, affective evaluations of sport, and relationships with teammates (Cranmer, Brann, & Anzur, 2016). Together, these features underscore the importance of investigating confirming communication within sport.…”

“Challenge Me!”

“…The efforts of athlete–coach communication scholars are greatly needed because, although well intentioned, many athletic coaches have little education in the practice of coaching and may lack extensive knowledge regarding behavioral approaches that increase their effectiveness (Camire et al, 2011). Recently, coach confirmation was introduced as one such communicative behavior that may increase coaches’ effectiveness (Cranmer & Brann, 2015; Cranmer, Brann, & Anzur, 2016; Cranmer, Brann, & Weber, 2016).…”