Examining the key determinants that influence players’ perceptions of coach effectiveness in one training session.

Using the Working Model of Coach Effectiveness (Horn, 2008) (WMOCE) as a framework this study aimed to research some of the gaps in the literature surrounding this model. This may provide very useful knowledge going forward in how coaches should behave to enhance the chances of the most successful performance from their athletes. The first aim was to explore players’ perceptions of the behavior of their coach at a recent specific timepoint to examine whether the plethora of research conducted retrospectively on this area is valid. The second aim, due to the limited research surrounding this, was to explore the personal characteristics that may influence a players’ perception of the behaviour of their coach. The third aim was to explore how these personal characteristics influenced a players’ interpretation and evaluation, rather than the limited research that has not examined this fully. In order to explore these areas three open-ended semi-structured stimulated recall interviews were conducted on three first team university footballers. In this interview the players were prompted by using their chest-mounted video recording of one recent training session that had been taken prior to the interview. Following thematic analysis the results support previous retrospective studies, particularly on the importance for a coach to illustrate transformational leadership (TL) and a need supportive environment, as well as democratic coaching for student participants. Additionally, personal characteristics of experience in football and the mood of the player at the time were found to influence perceptions. However, the trust in the coach was found to mediate whether such characteristics had a significant impact on the interpretation and evaluation of the coach’s behaviour. Suggestions are made concerning future research to extend this line of inquiry and our understanding of these areas using this methodology