Abstract:

Aim: To examine the relationship between the perception of same gender coaches by male and female Iranian skaters and their sport achievement motivation and commitment. Participants: Fifty two female and forty two male skaters, age range 13 to 18 years, from the province of Isfahan in Iran. Materials: The following 3 questionnaires, tested for reliability and validity for the Iranian population and adapted for Farsi, were used: i) Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand and Briere (2001) Interpersonal Behaviour Scale to measure social support of trainers, ii) Gill and Deeter (1988) Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ) to measure achievement motivation, and iii) Scanlan, Simons, Carpenter, Schmidt and Keeler (1993) Sport Commitment Model to measure sport commitment. Procedure: The questionnaires were administered to participants in person by the first author after training sessions in sport stadiums. Results: There was a significant positive correlation between perceived coaches' social support and sport achievement motivation and commitment for both male and female participants. However, on all of the above measures females scored significantly more positive ratings than their male counterparts. Results of regression analyses conducted separately for males and females showed that relatedness support is the strongest predictor for sport achievement motivation and commitment for males, whereas autonomy support was the strongest predictor for sport commitment amongst females. Implications: These findings are of particular interest in understanding the impact of perceived coaching support for young male and female athletes, especially if coached exclusively by the same gender.

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