The study by Kavussanu Maria, Boardley Ian, Jutkiewicz, Natalia, Vincent Samantha and Ring Christopher addressed coaching efficiency and usefulness, and also examined the predictors and a comparison between the information on the trainers and the athletes. In the report, they addressed the concern on the increased research on the conceptual model of coaching effectiveness. Their findings on coaching effectiveness are worth critique.
First, the research evaluated the effectiveness of coaching through analyzing the predictors. Secondly, it assessed the predictors of coaches’ efficiency as alleged by their athletes. Finally, it also examined the contrasts relating to the reports obtained from the athletes, and the coaches founded on the coaching effectiveness field. The supposition of the study was that sex predicted athletes’ insights of the coaching efficacy which was not supported by the research conclusions.
The study adopted 26 coaches (19 males and seven females), 291 athletes, eight individual teams, and seven sports’ teams based in Universities within Britain. The adopted data-gathering tools were demographic feedback forms for the athletes and Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES) for the coaches and the adopted account of the CES for the athletes.
The coaches were approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Birmingham after which questionnaires were provided prior to the training session. The period of study was three to four months in the 2004-2005 seasons. To measure the dimension of coaching effectiveness, the 24-items CES measure was used to gauge the perceived coaching efficacy. The CES modified version was also adopted.
The data was analyzed using various statistical tools. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the mean team scores in comparison to coaching effectiveness that was presented by the coach of every team. The ratings of the athletes and those of their respective coaches were analyzed using the One-way ANOVA. MANOVA was also done to examine the potential interaction between the sport and sex, and how it influenced coaching effectiveness. The structures of the attributes were scrutinized by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) so as to define if the features had been retained.
The study established that the age of the coaches determined their coaching effectiveness. Coaches who had longer years of experience had high coaching expertise. Gender was ascertained to influence the coaching effectiveness as male coaches had better strategies for games. The experiences of the coaches determined the understanding and effectiveness of the athlete’s sporting. Also, the disparity between the coaches’ and athletes’ feminism or masculinity had a negative impact on the expected trainees’ motivation. A higher significance difference was observed between coaches’ and athletes’ ratings. In this regard, the coaches rated the coaching effectiveness in an elevated value as compared to that of the athletes.
Various procedures were applied where eight individual teams and seven sports players based at the University groups were used in a competition. Concurrently, this is an indication of obtaining biased results because of the coaches working conditions and the athlete’s training circumstances. Individual team coaches would perform lowly when compared to the coaches from the university. The athletes were also subjected in reporting differently on the coaching effectiveness as their environment could dictate.
In regard to how the authors discussed their findings regarding the predictors of coaching effectiveness, they compared the male and female coaches’ effectiveness. It is not justified that being a male is a guarantee to develop skills towards leading the team compared to female counterparts. It is true that the experience in years of coaching can be a predictor in the technique effectiveness as the authors suggested. According to the findings on the predictors of perceived coaching, effectiveness is not absolutely true that sex compatibility would be a predictor in this case. The motivation and value efficiency of the athletes are not correlated to the gender of the coaches.
Future research should consider using coaches of teams working on the same environmental condition. Research should be undertaken to determine if the connection between a male coach and a female athlete improved the performance of the coach in any competition outside their training fields.
Reference
Kavussanu, M., Boardley, D., Natalia, J., Samantha, V., & Ring, C. (2008). Coaching efficacy and coaching effectiveness: Examining their predictors and comparing coaches. The Sport Psychologist, 22(1), 383-404.