SportLogia
Vol. 6, Issue 2, December 2010.
THE LINK OF A COACH’S PERCEPTION OF LOCUS OF CONTROL AND HIS/HER MOTIVATIONAL APPROACH TO ATHLETES
Mladenović Marijana1
1 College of Sports and Health, Belgrade, Serbia
ORGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER
doi: 10.5550/sgia.1002035
COBISS.BH-ID 1845784
UDK: 796.37.03.071.4
Summary FULL TEXT (.pdf) free of charge
The locus of control is related to the perception of the cause of certain events. It is considered a general personality orientation, a kind of personal disposition, and can be internal and external.When the locus of control is internal, it is said to be autonomous, while external causality can becontrolled (by others) or it can be impersonal (under the influence of a coincidence or luck). The approach in working with athletes can be based on supporting autonomy or behavior control. The aim of this explorative research was to determine the type of locus of control of future sports coaches, the a priori motivational approach to athletes and the potential link between the two variables. It has been presumed that coaches with an internal locus of control i.e. those who believe that they themselves are in control of events in their lives, would be more inclined, in working with athletes, to apply the approach based on supporting autonomy. The sample consisted of 122 examinees, students of coaching at the College of Sports and Health in Belgrade. The results confirmed the preliminary hypothesis and showed that the autonomous causality orientation (internal locus) dominates, linked with a supporting approach. The controlling and impersonal orientations (external locus) are related with the approach which reinforces behavior control in athletes. Especially relevant is the fact that the approach to athletes which is based on a moderate supporting of athlete autonomy is linked with all three causality orientations. It is relevant to further investigate which factors, personal and environmental, impact the orientation of the coach towards the supporting approach. Supporting athlete autonomy is an important issue, not only in a theoretical sense, but practical as well, as it has positive consequences on the psychological development and mental health of athletes, especially the younger categories.
Key words: coach’s motivational approach, locus of control, supporting athletes’ autonomy, control of athletes’ behavior.
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