| The primary purpose of this study was to systematically examine the behaviors of a successful female and male high school coach of girls' basketball teams and compare to collegiate coach Pat Summitt. A secondary purpose of the study was to examine the correlation between coaches' behaviors and athlete expectancy status. Throughout the season both coaches' verbal and nonverbal behaviors were video recorded over the course of eight practices. A total of 553 minutes consisting of 3,141 of a female coach's practice behaviors and a total of 590 minutes consisting of 3,678 of the male coach's practice behaviors were coded using the Arizona State University of Observation Instrument. Both the female coach and male coach provided instruction more often (female 35.5%, n = 1114, male 29.2%, n = 1072) then any coaching behavior when the categories of preinstruction, concurrent instruction, and postinstruction were combined. Results indicated that the female coach exhibited management (27.9%) more than any other behavior category. The highest category for the male coach was praise (22.1%). The praise to scold ratio for male and female coaches exceeded a 2:1 ratio with male coach exhibiting more praise behaviors and the female coach exhibited less scold behaviors than the male. A Pearson Product Correlation suggested that both coaches' perceptions of athletes' expectancy remained consistent from the beginning to the end of the season. Contrary to predictions, a MANOVA revealed no differences in the quantity or quality of the coaching behaviors that both the female and male coach directed toward high and low expectancy players in the given categories. The implications from this data suggest that successful coaches treated athletes the same in terms of the 13 coaching behaviors and that coaches spend the majority of their time using instruction. |
