Factors Influencing Coaching Efficacy Among Youth Team Sport Coaches

Abstract

Coaches play a vital role in the determining success and the overall improvement of an athlete, and in order to do that, coaches must possess both the coaching process knowledge and sport-specific knowledge. However, not much is known about the efficacy of coaches involved in youth team sports and what factors that may influence them. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify factors that can affect the coaching efficacy among youth team sport coaches. A total of 77 youth team sport coaches who coached during the SUKMA 2012 (a sports event that involved young athletes below 21 years of age) were selected through purposive sampling to participate in this study. Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES) questionnaire was used to measure the coaches’ coaching efficacy. Overall, Malaysian coaches who coached team sports showed that their level of coaching efficacy was on the higher end of the scale with the mean total scores of 7.68 (SD = 0.51). Among the four subscales, technique efficacy (M = 7.61, SD = 0.65) showed the lowest mean total scores compared to other subscales, namely character building (M = 7.78, SD = 0.57), motivation (M = 7.69, SD = 0.51), and game strategy (M = 7.66, SD = 0.57). Furthermore, regression results showed that coaching courses attended (p < 0.001), coaching experience (p < 0.05), and education level (p < 0.01) of coaches were the most related factors that affected coaches’ coaching efficacy. In conclusion, coaches who showed better efficacy to guide youth athletes are those who have attended intermediate coaching course, have coaching experience more than five years, and possess degree level of education. The information from this study may possibly help the relevant authorities to spot and recruit suitable coaches that are effective in guiding, motivating, correcting, and instilling good sports performance in their athletes.