The Coach-Athlete Relationship and School Experience as the Determinant of Sports-Specific Life Satisfaction

Abstract

The present study is aimed at determining coach athlete relationships, perceived school experiences and sports life satisfaction levels of athlete high school students and to examine the levels based on certain variables. The sample of the research consisted of a total of 306 students, 117 (38.2%) male and 189 (61.8%) female, who continued their education at different high schools in Trabzon in the 2019-2020. "Personal Information Form" designed by the researcher, “The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q),” “The Sport-Specific Satisfaction with Life Scale (SSWLS)” and “Perceived School Experiences Scale (PSES)” were used as data collection tools in the research. In the statistical method of the study, descriptive statistics, t-test, pearson correlation tests and regression tests were used. In the research findings, while there was a significant difference in the sub-dimensions of the coach-athlete relationship and sportive life satisfaction according to gender, no significant difference was found in the perceived school experiences. A significant difference was found in all scales and sub-dimensions according to the status of playing in the school team. As a result, a high level of positive correlation was found between the coach-athlete relationship and sportive life satisfaction, and between perceived school experiences and sportive life satisfaction. In addition, another important result is that the coach-athlete relationship (51%) and school experiences (32%) have important roles in predicting the satisfaction with sportive life.