Influence of perceived coach feedback on athletes' perceptions of the team's motivational climate

Team motivational climate has been identified as an important variable in the growth and development of youth sport athletes. Coaching behaviors such as determining the presence and extent of social comparison, rewarding and punishing players, and the quality of interpersonal relationships fostered within the team can create a predominantly task- or ego-oriented team climate. Research on motivation has clearly identified many of the positive outcomes associated with athletes' perceptions of a task-oriented team climate. Since the motivational climate refers to the coach's general behaviors in games and practices, it is traditionally assumed that players within a team perceive the same type of team climate. However, research has recently reported that athletes within the same team do not always share the same perceptions of the motivational climate. This has partly been attributed to players' personal interactions with the coach. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of athletes' perceptions of the individual feedback they received from their head coach during practices on their perceptions of the team's motivational climate. In addition, the present study examined the influence of the discrepancy between athletes' preferred and perceived coach feedback patterns on athletes' perceptions of the motivational climate. Participants (n = 70) were 13-14 year old elite male hockey players' who each completed the Perceived Motivational Climate for Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2 Newton, Duda, & Yin, 2000) and the Coaching Feedback Questionnaire (CFQ Amorose & Horn, 2000). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that perceptions of positive individual feedback from the coach (B=.44) led to perceptions of a task-oriented climate, whereas perceptions of negative individual feedback from the coach (B=.51) led to perceptions of an ego-oriented climate. Moreover, the discrepancy between athletes' perceived and preferred coach feedback patterns (B=.23) was positively correlated with athletes' perceptions of an ego-oriented team climate. In general, these findings highlighted the importance of individual coach feedback for creating an effective team atmosphere. In particular, when athletes perceived their coach's behaviors as positive, informative, and supportive, they were more likely to perceive a task-oriented team climate. In addition, the current study identified antecedents (i.e., informative feedback, discrepancy between athletes' preferred and perceived coach feedback patterns) of the motivational climate that were not previously reported. More specifically, this study revealed that a difference between the type of coach feedback that athletes preferred and the type of coach feedback that athletes perceived was likely to result in athletes' perceptions of an ego-oriented team climate. Consequently, youth sport coaches should know their athletes' preferred coach feedback patterns and try to provide them with individualized strategies in order to create an effective motivational climate for every athlete within the team.