Empowering coaching in youth basketball: the balancing mechanism between coaching authority and athlete autonomy

In training practices, ingrained power dynamics between coaches and athletes often hinder the adoption of an "athlete-centered" approach, leading to diminished efficiency in sports training. Consequently, academia calls for scholars to reflect on coach-athlete power relations and explore coaching approaches aligned with athletes' needs. In youth basketball training, how can coaches maintain authority while granting athletes' autonomy and placing them at the core of training? However, this balance remains under-explored in the literature.

This study adopted U. S. youth basketball training as a case, with primary data collected from publicly available coach interviews on the Spotify audio streaming platform. We systematically applied Procedural Grounded Theory (PGT) to analyze the transcribed content.

The study found that coaches' identification with basketball in family, community, and professional environments generated strong affective organizational commitment, prompting a person-centered sense of responsibility and professional mission, which culminated in self-disciplined behavior. This commitment and responsibility enable coaches to form a coaching philosophy centered on the interconnection of team awareness, Balancing Rigor and Flexibility, and humanistic philosophy, which is manifested as scientific talent selection, developmental guidance, heuristic tactical guidance, and empowerment-oriented management during training, thereby achieving a dynamic balance between coaching authority and athlete autonomy.

The theoretical model constructed in this study establishes a new theoretical framework for subsequent research and provides youth basketball coaches with practical and replicable coaching guidelines. It can help coaches implement the "athlete-centered" approach and enhance coaching effectiveness.