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This study examined the effectiveness of instructional self-talk on acquiring and performing three basketball skills (dribbling, passing, and shooting). Sixty-two young, novice players were organized into two groups. The experimental group accompanied the practice of three specific drills with self-talk. The control group performed the same drills traditionally. Six assessment sessions were completed. Repeated measures MANOVAs showed that experimental group participants performed better than their control group counterparts when dribbling and passing. Experimental group participants and their coaches reported using self-talk more when passing and dribbling and less when shooting. In addition, experimental group participants achieved significantly better dribbling and passing scores (p < .05) between assessment sessions. These results support instructional self-talk as an effective tool for skill acquisition and performance enhancement of skills low in complexity.

The aim of the study was to explore what sport federations look for when recruiting elite athletes into coaching, and what resources are offered to retiring elite athletes transitioning to coaching careers. The authors interviewed 10 federation officials representing eight different sports, winter and summer, individual and team sports. Thematic analysis was employed and four “what recruiters look for” higher-order themes were found, including: having the whole package essential for coaching, personal attributes displayed in their time as an athlete, singular dedication to the sport, and knowing them from their time as an athlete. Three higher-order themes surrounding resources were identified, on the support provided to those going from athlete-to-coach to facilitate a stable start, professional development, and holistic wellbeing. These resources were also considered in relation to the phase at which they were offered in the transition process, such as upon hiring, early on in the career, and as ongoing ones. While a standard or universal approach to this does not appear to exist, practices and approaches were identified here that were considered within the scope of the existing research and can be used to inform future coach development work.

The aim of the present investigation was to develop an instrument assessing the content and the structure of athletes’ self-talk. The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, a large pool of items was generated and content analysis was used to organize the items into categories. Furthermore, item-content relevance analysis was conducted to help identifying the most appropriate items. In Stage 2, the factor structure of the instrument was examined by a series of exploratory factor analyses (Sample A: N = 507), whereas in Stage 3 the results of the exploratory factor analysis were retested through confirmatory factor analyses (Sample B: N = 766) and at the same time concurrent validity were assessed. The analyses revealed eight factors, four positive (psych up, confidence, anxiety control and instruction), three negative (worry, disengagement and somatic fatigue) and one neutral (irrelevant thoughts). The findings of the study provide evidence regarding the multidimensionality of self-talk, suggesting that ASTQS seems a psychometrically sound instrument that could help us developing cognitive-behavioral theories and interventions to examine and modify athletes’ self-talk.

Considering the limited attention paid to interpersonal aspects of emotions, this study explored coaches’ perceptions of athletes’ performance-related states and how they used this information for its regulation. Using a case study approach, three coach-athlete dyads from competitive tennis took part in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Individualized profiling of psychobiosocial states was used to assess athletes’ states in most and least successful performances and as a way of data triangulation. Findings indicated that the coaches paid attention to bodily, motor-behavioural, and operational components of a performance state, and used this information to appropriately adapt their responses to the players’ needs, via the provision of positive reinforcement, and performance-related feedback. The coaches described themselves as calm, patient, and understanding; characteristics that appeared to be vital for the coach-athlete relationship and the coaches’ emotional competence. Findings are discussed within the contexts of emotion regulation and coach-athlete relationship, and how they might be useful to help coaches develop emotional competence.

While there is growth in research recognizing the coach as a performer, little is known about the practices of federation officials who are ‘responsible for’ and have the potential to influence coaches’ experiences. This study explores practices enacted by Norwegian federation officials within their role of working closely with the national team coach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven sports directors employed by some of Norway’s medal-winning individual sports federations. Thematic analysis furnished three theme-practices: (a) sincerely caring for the employees, (b) fostering a development focus, and (c) recruiting coaches with the organizational culture in mind. We viewed these practices as ways of enacting the federation culture and the sports directors work with the coaches as being the main support for the coach, acting frequently as a buffer with regard to both administrative and sport issues. Considering recent findings on how Norwegian national team coaches evaluate their stress experiences, the identified practices appear to be ones that can have some bearing on the coaches’ stress evaluation mechanisms and outcome expectancies. Practical implications are outlined as well as suggestions for future research extending these findings across different cultures (sports and nations).

The aim of the present research was to investigate the relationship between coaching behavior and athletes’ inherent self-talk (ST). Three studies were conducted. The first study tested the construct validity of the Coaching Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) in the Greek language, and provided support for its original factor structure. The second study examined the relationships between coaching behavior and athletes’ ST in field, with two different samples. The results showed that supportive coaching behavior was positively related to positive ST (in one sample) and negatively related to negative ST (in both samples), whereas negative coaching behavior was negatively related to positive ST (in one sample) and positively related to negative ST (in both samples). Finally, the third study examined the relationships experimentally, to produce evidence regarding the direction of causality. The results showed that variations in coaching behavior affected participants’ ST. Overall, the results of the present investigation provided considerable evidence regarding the links between coaching behavior and athletes’ ST and suggested that coaches may have an impact on athletes’ thoughts.

We investigated coaches’ mindsets of athletic talent as conceptualised by Dweck (athlete talent mindset, A-TM) along with the athlete age at which they believe talent can be identified. We also looked at the age of talent identification in coaches of different A-TM. Using data collected as part of a survey conducted in Norway, the 3,830 participating coaches were men and women between 16 and 83 years of age. Overall, the coaches held a predominantly growth A-TM. However, older coaches, those not born in Norway, and coaches in athletics, gymnastics, and football were found to have a more fixed A-TM. Regarding their views about talent identification age, one fifth of the coaches believe that talent can be seen before 12 years of age, with football, gymnastics, and swimming coaches and those not born in Norway being more prone to detect talent at younger ages. Analyses also showed that the more fixed A-TM coaches believed that they could identify talented athletes at younger ages; however, not all of them reported such talent identification age views. These findings indicate that coaches’ A-TM and views regarding talent identification operate as two separate beliefs, which may be useful for understanding coaches’ early talent identification and development approaches.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore, in depth, well-being within the unique context of high-performance sports coaching. The aim was to capture the process of well-being while considering the contextual nuances and influences of high-performance coaching environments in a mid-range theory of coaches’ well-being. Design: Constructivist grounded theory served as a guiding approach for data collection and analysis. Method: Individual interviews (n = 20) were conducted with methodological rigour enhanced by originality, usefulness, resonance, and credibility. Aligned with the methodology, we utilised theoretical sampling to aid the development of individual categories. Results: Findings suggest that well-being is an integrating process between coaches’ personal values (identity) and culturally prescribed values (identity), with a degree of harmony as the overall goal. Conclusion: The mid-range theory presents a contextually bound process of coaches’ well-being. It provides a more practical insight into the area and highlights the importance of cultural considerations and competencies.