The purpose of the study is to explore the role that gender plays within the coach-athlete relationship, with the intention to provide valuable knowledge towards the creation of a successful coach-athlete relationship. The quality of the coach-athlete relationship is highly important as it can contribute to an athlete’s motivation, self-esteem and success within the sport (Jowett & Meek, 2000). It has been suggested that the coach-athlete relationship is one of the primary influences on an athlete (Jowett & Poczwardowski, 2007) and can therefore have a significant effect on an athlete’s quality of life (Greenleaf, Gould & Dieffenbach, 2001). With athletes and coaches working closely and spending lots of time together it has been suggested
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Although female athletic participation in sport has increased since title IX, there has been a decrease in the number of female coaches in sport over the past 30 years (Freeman, 2001). Therefore proper judgment cannot be obtained and further research is needed to understand if the preference for a male coach is due to a result of a lack of female coaches, an underlying factor such as the success of the team, or due to an assumed traditional gender role of the …show more content…
According to the social role theory, This may cause problems within the coach-athlete relationship when the male is the athlete and the female is the coach. As males are perceived as being more dominant and in control (Rudman and Glick, 2008), the male athlete will want to take on the role that is perceived as the norm and this could cause controversy with the coach resulting in a negative relationship between the coach and athlete, as they would not be able to interact effectively as both of their roles would clash (Heilman, Wallen, Fuchs, & Tamkins, 2004). However, there are many successful coach-athlete relationships that are made up of a female coach and a male athlete showing that there is a need for a greater extent of research on the role that gender plays within the coach athlete relationship especially in dyads made up of female coaches and male athletes. Research is limited in this area and most research is conducted on male coaches with male athletes or male coaches with
Although female athletic participation in sport has increased since title IX, there has been a decrease in the number of female coaches in sport over the past 30 years (Freeman, 2001). Therefore proper judgment cannot be obtained and further research is needed to understand if the preference for a male coach is due to a result of a lack of female coaches, an underlying factor such as the success of the team, or due to an assumed traditional gender role of the …show more content…
According to the social role theory, This may cause problems within the coach-athlete relationship when the male is the athlete and the female is the coach. As males are perceived as being more dominant and in control (Rudman and Glick, 2008), the male athlete will want to take on the role that is perceived as the norm and this could cause controversy with the coach resulting in a negative relationship between the coach and athlete, as they would not be able to interact effectively as both of their roles would clash (Heilman, Wallen, Fuchs, & Tamkins, 2004). However, there are many successful coach-athlete relationships that are made up of a female coach and a male athlete showing that there is a need for a greater extent of research on the role that gender plays within the coach athlete relationship especially in dyads made up of female coaches and male athletes. Research is limited in this area and most research is conducted on male coaches with male athletes or male coaches with