The Mentoring Role Of Louisiana High School Girls' Basketball Coaches In The Recruiting Process

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine coaches’ perceptions of their roles as mentors, the impact that high school coaches have on choices female athletes make regarding attendance in post-secondary education, the type of information possessed by the coaches to assist in these decisions and whether or not the coaches in the state believed in the necessity for additional training for themselves, their peers and whether or not additional training would benefit the athletes under their tutelage. Two hundred twenty four girls’ basketball coaches from throughout the state were surveyed and one hundred twenty eight participated in the survey. A researcher-designed instrument with an embedded information inventory was used to characterize the population of coaches, describe beliefs of the coaches regarding their roles as mentors and assess the level of knowledge of the coaches regarding recruiting rules and eligibility requirements for athletes who transition from high school to collegiate basketball. A Likert-type scale was used to measure the beliefs of coaches regarding their role, what their athletes would face, and whether additional training would benefit coaches and athletes. It was concluded that coaches have a strong belief in their roles as mentors, have a disparity of beliefs regarding what students will face and believe additional training would benefits themselves, their peers and their athletes. It was further concluded a deficiency exists in the level of knowledge possessed by the coaches regarding recruiting rules and eligibility requirements for athletes who aspire to play at the collegiate level. As a result of these findings, it was recommended that the State of Louisiana or the Louisiana High School Athletic Association investigate a training or certification program for coaches to bolster their knowledge of recruiting requirements with the end goal of enhancing college opportunities for recruitable athletes.