The Perception of National Athletes on Their Coaches’ Behaviour and Skills in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study examined the perception of athletes on their coaches’ behavior and skills in terms of knowledge, fairness, and coaches’ characteristic features. The motive of the present study is to examine the athletes’ perception of their coach’s behaviour and skills related to their relevant sport. The research was conducted using a descriptive quantitative research design. The subjects of the study were 100 voluntarily national athletes of which 56 females and 44 males in different sports representing team sports - Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Hockey, and individual sports - Karate, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Judo, and Wushu. Sample were selected according to the random sampling method. The Coaching Behaviour and Skills Scale for Sport (CBS-S) which was developed by Andreas Carlsson and Carolina Lundqvist (2016) was used to assess the study. The reliability of the questionnaire (CBS-S) was examined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.954). The scale was composed of 47 questions and divided into six (06) sub dimensions of (Physical Training and Conditioning, Technical Skills, Goal Setting, Mental Preparation, Competition Strategies, Coaches’ Interpersonal Behaviour). The data was analyzed by descriptive data analysis to test the effect of sub dimensions for the athletes’ perception and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to test the significant difference between each sub dimension. The results of the study reveal that the sub dimension of coaches’ technical skills had the highest median average. There was a statistically significant difference between male athletes’ and female athletes’ perception of coaches’ technical skills when it was taken based on the gender and the sport (p=0.04). Nevertheless, type of sport and the athletes’ gender had not shown a significant relationship (p=0.05) on athletes’ perception of their coaches’ and the overall results of the study (median value = 6.0000) showed that the athletes’ perception of their coaches’ behaviour and skill is at a level of acceptance. Further, it can be recommended to National Federations to increase the recruitment of female coaches and it can be suggested to coaches to pay attention about their technical skills while they presenting it to the athletes.