The coaching preferences of elite athletes competing at Universiade '83

The study investigated the coaching preferences of 95 male and 65 female elite athletes competing at Universiade '83 (Edmonton, Canada). Preferred coaching behaviour (PCB) was measured using a version of the Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai and Saleh, 1978, 1980). Preference scores were analyzed on the basis of sex, age, nationality, and type of sport. A MANOVA indicated that males prefer significantly more Autocratic behaviour than females (p = .039). Also, athletes in team sports prefer significantly more Training behaviour (p = .001), Autocratic behaviour (p less than .001), and Rewarding behaviour (p = .017), and significantly less Democratic behaviour (p less than .001) and Social Support behaviour (p = .002) than athletes in individual sports. No significant differences in PCB attributable to the age or nationally of the athlete were found. In addition, data collected in a previous study (Terry and Howe, 1984), which examined the PCB of 'club' athletes, was included to facilitate a comparison of club v elite athletes. A MANOVA showed that elite athletes prefer significantly more Democratic behaviour (p = .01) and Social Support behaviour (p = .001), and significantly less Rewarding behaviour (p = .01) than athletes at a 'club' level. Although differences between subject groups were found, it can be concluded that athletes generally tend to favour coaches who "often" display Training behaviour and Rewarding behaviour, "occasionally" display Democratic behaviour and Social Support behaviour, and "seldom" display Autocratic behaviour.