Psychological intervention in sports coaches leadership: A case study

Abstract

This paper analyzes, through a descriptive and longitudinal case study, the effectiveness of a mentoring program at a technical sports of skate hockey. To do so, the Leadership Sports Scale (LSS) is applied to a sample consisting of 14 athletes (M = 15.07 years) that represent the universe of players in four female categories of a club and its unique technical. The initial results, expressed through descriptive statistics and mean difference, show the existence of significant differences (p<.05) between the perception and preference of leadership of the athletes in the dimensions of training and instruction, conduct democratic and autocratic behavior. Based on that, we implemented a process of intervention individualized consisting of six counseling sessions to the technician referred to these dimensions of the LSS. The results obtained in the LSS, once after the intervention, show the disappearance of the discrepancy between perceived leadership and preferred by the players (p<.01) and the perception of an increase in the delivery of positive feedback (p<.01). The self-perception of the trainer and the preference of leadership of the athletes did not show statistically significant differences before and after the intervention. The results suggest increased psychological support within the team and its implications are discussed for the work of the sports psychologist in team sports.