ABSTRACT

Introduction

Method

Results

Discussion

References

Problems in Sport Today

       Next, problems that coaches might encounter in working with adolescent athletes were listed and the coaches were asked to rate their perception regarding how frequently they have encountered the problem with their athletes (1 = never, 4 = frequently). Results are contained in Table 2 and reveal that failure to take person responsibility, lack of motivation/work ethic, poor communication/listening skills, problems with parents and poor grades were the most frequently cited problems. The least frequently cited problems included dealing with sexual harassment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs, athletes committing anti-gay harassment, and athletes sexually assaulting someone.

Role of Coaches

       Different roles that coaches might be expected to play when working with athletes were listed and the coaches were asked to rate their perception regarding four different aspects for each role expectation listed: (1) how frequently they serve this role (1 = never, 5 = frequently); (2) how prepared they feel they are to serve this role (1 = very prepared, 5 = very unprepared); (3) how successful they are when they do it (1 = very successful, 4 = very unsuccessful); and (4) whether they feel serving in this role is an appropriate part of their job (1 = absolutely yes, 4 = absolutely not). Table 3 contains means and standard deviations for their perceived ratings and shows that the coaches felt they most often took on the role of counselor and athletic trainer, were most prepared to handle these roles, were most successful in fulfilling them and felt they were part of their role as a coach.

Coaches Influence on Athletes

       The coaches were asked a series of questions about their influence on young athletes. All responses were made on 4 point rating scales with response options including “to a great degree” (1), “to some degree” (2), “not much” (3), and “not at all” (4). Results revealed that the coaches perceived that coaches as a general group have considerable influence over the values and behaviors of their athletes (M = 1.25, SD = .45) and they in particular influenced the values and behaviors of their athletes (M = 1.51, SD = .54).

Differences Between Coaches of Boy’s and Girl’s Sports

       While not the primary purpose of this study, the data allowed the investigative team to examine whether coaches of boy’s versus girl’s sports differed in their perceptions of coaching life skills and coaching life skills issues. Univariate analyses (p < .05) revealed that there was no significant differences between coaches of boy’s versus girl’s sports on the role of sport in character development and in beliefs or the role of coaches in life skills development items. However, significant differences (p < .05) were found on the problems in sport today ratings. Coaches of boy’s sports rated a greater tobacco use (M boys = 2.58; M girls = 2.44), recreational drug use (M boys = 2.21; M girls = 1.83), performance enhancing drug use (M boys = 1.51; M girls = 1.21), alcohol use (M boys = 2.88; M girls = 2.44), trouble with the police (M boys = 1.79; M girls = 1.32), on the field violence (M boys = 2.11; M girls = 1.75), off the field violence (M boys = 2.07; M girls = 1.79), committing sexual harassment (M boys = 1.63; M girls = 1.35), stealing (M boys = 2.41; M girls = 1.83), cheating on the field (M boys = 1.92; M girls = 1.54), poor grades (M boys = 3.24; M girls = 2.89), and hazing (M boys = 1.84; M girls = 1.49) as significantly more frequent in boy’s sports as compared to girl’s sports. In contrast, being a victim of sexual harassment (M boys = 1.22; M girls = 1.45) and being a victim of anti-gay harassment (M boys = 1.11; M girls = 1.30) were reported to be more frequent among girl’s sports than boys. Finally, as expected, boy’s sport coaches responded significantly higher in the surrogate father role (M boys = 3.07; M girls = 1.91), while girl’s sport coaches (M boys = 1.63; M girls = 2.65) were significantly higher in the surrogate mother role. No other differences were evident.

Discussion

       If sport psychologists are to facilitate coaches efforts to develop life skills in young athletes a need exists to better understand coaches’ views about personal development of athletes, their role in teaching life skills, and the problems they face in doing so. The results of this survey show that these high school coaches placed primary importance on the objective of psychological and social development of student athletes. This is in contradiction to the assumption that many coaches are in coaching to “win.” In fact, these coaches recognized that coaches in general and they themselves in particular have a powerful influence on the students who play for them. In particular, they felt that teamwork, the development of a hard work ethic, time management, and goal setting were the skills most developed in student athletes through coaching. Interestingly, these findings support the contentions of leading youth development researcher, Reed Larson (2000), who feels that participation in extracurricular activities, especially sport, can develop initiative or the ability to start and follow through on goals and activities in participants. They are also consistent with studies of adolescents that show the youth who have mentors (such as coaches) in their lives have more positive attitudes toward school (Zimmerman, Bingenheimer, & Nataro, 2002). However, it is important to note that coaches (especially untrained and inexperienced coaches) may be socialized to believe sport develops these attributes but as McCallister and her colleagues (2002) found may not be implementing strategies to do so.

       Some of the most interesting findings from the study relate to the problems the coaches identified in working with student-athletes today. The failure to take personal responsibility for one’s actions and a lack of motivation were seen as the most significant problems Poor communication/listening skills, problems with parents, and poor grades were also rated as very significant. Addressing these needs is critical for coaching educators, sport psychologists designing life skill development programs, and athletic administrators. In addition, the very serious problems of hazing, racism, sexual and anti-gay harassment, and performance-enhancing drugs were rated as happening “rarely.” However, one cannot be sure that these things happen rarely as the coaches may not be aware of such incidents.

       Relative to the failure of student athletes to take personal responsibility for their actions it is interesting that this issue has been addressed in detail by Hellison (1995). Specifically, Hellison (1995) has outlined a five-stage model for teaching responsibility to youth through physical activity and recent evidence testing the model is very encouraging (Hellison & Walsh, 2002). This model includes the stages of: self-control and respect for others; effort; self-direction and goal setting; caring for others; and applying these goals outside of the gym. Practical strategies for implementing this model have also been identified. To date, however, this information has not been infused into coaching education curriculums. This needs to be done.

       Relative to problems with athlete motivation and communication, existing coaching education materials (e.g., Martens, 1987; Seefeldt, Clark, & Brown, 2001) addresses these topics in considerable detail. However, the perspective taken is on how coaches can improve their own motivational and communication skills. More emphasis needs to be placed on how to teach student athletes to motivate themselves and to develop appropriate communication skills that they can use on a daily basis. Examining the research on self-regulation may be most useful in this regard as it focuses on how individuals can learn to regulate and control their own behavior (Gould & Chung, 2004).

       It is not surprising that high school coaches would be interested in student athletes’ academic progress, especially poor grades. In a recent study of award winning high school football coaches who were identified for their character building qualities in players (Gould, Collins, Lauer & Chung, in press), it was found that these coaches took a special interest in their players academic performance whether it was monitoring academic progress, encouraging good grades or tutoring players. The National Football Foundation has also recently initiated its “Play It Smart Program” that provides special academic coaching with high school athletes and this has resulted in noted academic improvements (Petitpas & Champagne, 2000). This certainly suggests that coaches paying special attention to academics can greatly facilitate academic development and help counteract concerns over poor grades.

       Finally, problems with dealing with parents were identified as a significant issue facing coaches today. High school coaches need training in this area both relative to what they can do to prevent such problems from occurring (e.g., organize and run a parent orientation program at the start of the season) and how to handle unavoidable confrontations with sport parents. Fortunately, programs such as the American Sport Education Parent Training Program (1994) have been developed to help coaches in this regard.

       In summary, high school coaches play an important role in helping adolescents develop personal and social life skills through their sports participation. It must be remembered, however, that the youth sports literature has consistently shown that the development of desirable personal and social skills are not an automatic by-products of participation. Character is not caught, but taught through participation (Hodge, 1988)! Hence, we must make efforts to assess the issues high school coaches face and then provide educational information and training to help them better meet the needs of the students with whom they work. Additional research is also needed. Examining if, when and how coaches at different levels of play foster life skills and develop desirable personal characteristics in their athletes is important as would be a nationwide survey of issues facing student athletes today. Finally, case studies of how coaches teach life skills may be particularly useful to conduct as little is known about the process of doing so.

References

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       Côté, J., & Salmela, J. H. (1996). The organizational tasks of high-performance gymnastic coaches. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 247-267.

       Gilbert, W.D., Gilbert, J. N., & Trudel, P. (2001a). Coaching strategies for youth sports. Part 1: Athlete behavior and athlete performance. JOPERD, 72, 29-33.

       Gilbert, W.D., Gilbert, J. N., & Trudel, P. (2001b). Coaching strategies for youth sports. Part 1: Athlete behavior and athlete performance. JOPERD, 72, 41-45.

       Gould, D., Collins, K., Lauer, L., & Chung, Y. (in press). Coaching life skills through football: A study of award winning high school coaches. Journal of Applied Psychology.

       Gould, D., & Chung, Y. (2004). Self-regulation in young, middle and older adulthood. In M.R. Weiss (Ed.), Developmental sport psychology and exercise psychology: A lifespan perspective (pp. 383-402). Morganton, WV: Fitness Information Technology, Inc.

       Hellison, D. (1995). Teaching responsibility through physical activity. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

       Hellison, D. & Walsh, D. (2002). Responsibility-based youth programs evaluation: Investigating the investigations. Quest, 54, 292-307.

       Hodge, K. (1988). A conceptual analysis of character development in sport. Unpublished dissertation. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

       International Youth Foundation-US Staff. (2000). Why do expectations matter? Community Youth Development Journal, 1, 54-56.

       Larson, R. (2000). Toward psychology of positive youth development, American Psychologist, 55, 170-183.

       Martens, R. (1987). Coaches guide to sport psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

       Martinek, T., & Hellison, D. (1997). Fostering resiliency in underserved youth through physical activity. Quest, 49, 34-49.

       McCallister, S.G., Blinde, E.M., & Weiss, W.M. (2000). Teaching values and implementing philosophies: Dilemmas of the coach. Physical Educator, 57, 35-45.

       NFSHSAA (2005, September). High school athletics participation breaks 7 million mark. Retrieved August 26, 2006, from http://www.nfhs.org.

       Petitpas, A.J., Champagne, D.E. (2000). Sport and social competence. In S.J. Danish & T.P. Gullotta (Eds.), Developing competent youth and strong communities through after-school programming (pp. 115-137). Washington DC: CWLA Press.

       Petitpas, A.J., Cornelius, A. E., Van Raalte, J. L., & Jones, T. (2005). A framework for planning youth sport programs that foster psychosocial development. The Sport Psychologist, 19, 63-80.

       Seefeldt, V., Clark, M.A., & Brown, E.W. (2001) (eds.). Program for athletic coaches’ education. (3^rd edition). Traverse City, MI: Cooper Publishing.

       Terry, J. (2000). Play it again: Notes from the editor. Community Youth Development (CYD) Journal, 1, 5.

       Zimmerman, M. C., Bingenheimer, B., & Nataro, P. C. (2002). Natural mentors and adolescent resiliency: A study of urban youth. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 221-243.

Footnotes: ¹ A copy of the survey used in this study is available upon request from the first author.

Author Notes: The authors would like to thank the North Carolina High School Activities Association for its help in providing the mailing lists of coaches for this investigation.

Funding for this study was provided through a University of North Carolina Greensboro Dean’s Initiative grant.

The authors would like to thank all the coaches who volunteer to participate in this study.

Daniel Gould is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at the Michigan State University.

Yongchul Chung is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Paige Smith is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Jackie White is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to:Daniel Gould, Ph.D., Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Dept. of Kinesiology, Room 210 IM Circle, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, Phone: 517-432-0175, Fax: 517-353-5363, E-mail: DRGOULD@MSU.EDU