Search Results

This study highlights how sport psychology professionals can assist sport administrators in evaluating and strengthening youth sport programs. A sport psychology research team provided expertise to two sport administrators to develop a survey to examine their athletes’ experiences participating in the programs. The study examines the relationship between athletes’ perceptions of the climate (caring, task, and ego involving) to their intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future intention to participate in the sport. Volleyball clinic (Sample 1: N = 71) and basketball summer camp (Sample 2: N = 138) participants completed the survey. Canonical correlation analyses for each sample revealed one significant function indicating that the athletes’ perceptions of a caring/task-involving climate, along with low perceptions of an ego-involving climate, were associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future desire to participate. Sport administrators can use this information for coach training, parent education and overall program evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of mindful engagement in the relationship between male high school athletes’ motivational climate perceptions on their teams (i.e., caring, task-, and ego-involving climate) to athlete coachability. Athletes (N = 164, M _age = 15.58 years) from multiple sports completed measures assessing mindful engagement in sport (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale—Revised), Caring Climate Scale, task- and ego-involving climate perceptions (Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire), and coachability (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory). Initial bivariate correlations linked mindful engagement and coachability positively with perceptions of a caring and task-involving climate and negatively with ego-involving climate perceptions. Structural equation modeling analyses then revealed mindful engagement mediated the relationship between climate and coachability. Encouraging coaches and players to foster a caring/task-involving climate might assist in enhancing athletes’ mindful engagement in sport, which may positively influence the degree to which they are coachable.

Psychological coping skills in sport are believed to be central to athlete performance and well-being. This study examined the relationship between the perceived motivational climate in elite collegiate sport teams and player psychological coping skills use. Division I athletes (N = 467) completed a questionnaire examining their perceptions of how caring, task-, and ego-involving their teams were and their use of sport specific psychological coping skills (i.e., coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting/mental preparation, concentration, freedom from worry, confidence/achievement motivation, and coachability). Structural equation modeling revealed positive relationships between perceptions of a task-involving climate and confidence/achievement motivation (β = 0.42) and goal setting/mental preparation (β = 0.27). Caring climate perceptions were positively associated with coachability (β = 0.34). These findings illustrate how encouraging athletes and coaches to create a caring, task-involving climate may facilitate athletes’ use of psychological coping skills and set athletes up to perform their best and have a positive sporting experience.