A study of the relationship between coach leadership behavior and junior tennis players' satisfaction

This study investigated the relationship between coach leadership behaviors and junior tennis players' satisfaction in Taiwan. The idea of leadership in sports has been widely investigated in the last 70 years. These theories have been tested by modern psychological and social science professionals. In the sports setting, a coach's leadership style closely affects the relationship between the coach and his/her player and how the athlete establishes his/her learning process of demand and skill.;The study of leadership in sports is not a new idea. In ancient Greece and in China this was a highly developed idea. There is little agreement about the nature of the construct and its influence on player satisfaction. Coaches should have established strong leadership behaviors or skills which will most likely influence an athlete with a more satisfying role in sports. The coaches' actual leadership behaviors must be seen by his/her players as conforming to their own expectations, not as a threat but as an enjoyable compliment to their abilities.;The researcher used a survey questionnaire adopted from the Leadership Scale for Sports. The subjects were 106 coaches from Taiwan and 345 junior tennis players. The age range for the junior tennis players were twelve years old to eighteen years old. The main conclusion from the findings was that the use of transformational leadership behaviors can increase players' satisfaction and improve their performances because these players expected and preferred coaches with these skills. There was no apparent correlation between the coaches' demographic variables and players perceptions of their coaches' style but there was a strong correlation or connection between the level of the junior tennis players' satisfaction and team performance. Junior tennis players who displayed higher levels of satisfaction corresponded to better win-loss records.