Coaches’ implementation strategies in providing social support to Singaporean university athletes: A case study

Abstract

Coaches are effective providers of social support to their athletes. Although sport-specific measures of social support have been developed to better understand athletes’ perceptions of available support, limited amount of research has addressed how sport coaches implement specific social support strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine university coaches’ implementation strategies in providing various forms of social support to their athletes. A total of eight sport coaches from team and individual sports (four from each sport) were purposefully selected for this study. Coaches were individually interviewed. The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. The results revealed that coaches from different sports shared similar strategies across emotional, esteem, informational and tangible dimensions, but with some distinguishable differences in the way these strategies were implemented. In documenting the lived experiences of sport coaches, key strategies valued highly among these coaches were highlighted, providing important implications for coaches to know how to incorporate these strategies into their coaching practice to better support athletes’ well-being and improve the quality of coaching. The findings also provide an implementation framework of social support that emphasizes key strategies for coaches to focus on in their coaching approaches.

Research on the Relationships Among the Gender Consciousness, Social Support, and Wellbeing in Taiwan College Female Athletes

“…Teachers assist them in their academic development during the training (O’Neill et al, 2017), and the coaches provide suggestions for their training and adjust their skills. The social circles of female college athletes are primarily their families and schools, and their social support comes from family members, teammates, classmates, coaches, and teachers (Koh et al, 2019). When female college athletes face physical or mental problems, such as high demand from the training environment, physical illness or emotional troubles, they will seek support from their teammates, coaches, and family, especially from teammates and peers (Crutcher et al, 2018).…”

“…If one’s needs cannot be met for a long time, one will feel unhappy (von Rosen & Heijne, 2019). Similarly, evidence from prospective many studies that during activities such as work, recreation, and exercise or through continuous interactions and gaining feedback, one can exercise their potential and meet one’s needs, thereby generating pleasurable sense of achievement and value (Koh et al, 2019; Pressman et al, 2009; Teixeira et al, 2012). The wellbeing of individual comes from comparing one’s actual life status with the goal that individual has constructed.…”

“…Scholars have given various definitions of wellbeing, but they all believe that wellbeing is when a person is fully satisfied with life (including positive emotions, physical and mental health, and healthy development), that person can obtain happiness (Brooks & Magnusson, 2007; Koh et al, 2019; von Rosen & Heijne, 2019). When an individual reaches comprehensive satisfaction in life (which involves positive emotions, physical and mental health, and healthy development), that individual can achieve wellbeing.…”

Black Canadian university football players’ perspectives on the coach-athlete relationship

“…Jowett and Poczwardowski (2007) further suggest that coaches and athletes form alliances in order to provide the athlete with guidance and mentorship in the process of achieving their sport related goals. SEP scholars have conducted a great deal of coach-athlete relationship research in various contexts including that of acculturation and adaptation to new team environments (e.g., Ferrari et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2016;Koh et al, 2019). For example, Kim et al (2016) investigated different strategies that Canadian coaches used to support first-year athletes' transitions from high school to University athletics.…”

“…The results inferred that informational and social support from coaches in addition to athlete resilience was a key combination in mediating stress and burnout. Though these particular studies do not directly center race or other cultural identifiers,Koh et al (2019) further investigated coach strategies for providing social support to university level Singaporean athletes and found a common pattern of implementing various forms of emotional, esteem, informational, and tangible support that led to positive coach-athlete partnerships. This study ultimately offers potential frameworks for coaches seeking to strengthen the 3+1Cs through multiple avenues in culturally specific settings.…”