The influence of coaches on sport teams (2013)

This research investigated the perceived effectiveness of the coach in interactive sport teams. As research methodology a questionnaire of approximately 100 questions was completed by 7 coaches and 61 players of 6 interdependent sport teams. The analyses were based on 19 questions about the working method of the coach. These questions measured the occurrence of the behaviors of the coach that support 1) social cohesion, 2) task cohesion and 3) participative leadership perceived by the players and coach of a team. Overall, an independent sample t-test showed that the perception on the coaching behaviors were comparable for the players and the coach in interactive sports. Moreover, Pearson correlations between the occurrence of the coaching behaviors (as perceived by players and coach) and the team performance didn’t show correlations in the way that was expected. In contradiction to the expectations the results indicated that the team performance was not related or there was a negative correlation to the perceived effectiveness of the coach. In an exploratory way the added value of a team captain was also investigated. The outcomes showed that the team captain was of added value for an interactive team. To get more specific knowledge about the added value of a team captain further research is suggested.