Concerns and developmental needs of highly confident and less confident elementary coaches in Hong Kong

Abstract

The development of this study was based on three assumptions, namely 1) that coaching efficacy (confidence specific to the task of coaching) impacts the performance of coaches, 2) that coaching efficacy is influenced by the individual's procedural and declarative knowledge on coaching, and 3) that coaches do their work best when they are confident in carrying out their tasks and when their concerns and developmental needs are adequately addressed. With these assumptions in mind, this study aimed to explore the concerns and developmental needs of highly confident and less confident elementary coaches in Hong Kong. Data was collected by means of the Coaching Efficacy Scale developed by Feltz et al. (1999), the Coaches Concern Scale developed by Fung (2004), and a self-developed Coach Education Needs Survey. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that coaches who are less confident did not see the need for development as much as those coaches who have more confident. Furthermore, the latter are also more concerned about themselves as coaches. The importance of this finding is discussed and directions for future research are provided.

African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation & Dance Vol. 13 (2) 2007: pp. 119-126