Abstract
Sport is afforded high status in the Australian cultural landscape and is often utilised to promote social integration and individual or group development. This status extends explicitly into the Australian high-performance sector, where success is highly valued. While much is written about the pursuit of success in highperformance sport, less attention has been paid to the critical relationships that facilitate the pursuit. One of the most important interpersonal relationships in highperformance sport is that which is formed between the coach and athlete. In this study, this coach-athlete relationship was examined in relation to its impact on the success of an athlete and/or team, within the context of Australian Softball. To gain further understanding of the elements critical to maintaining an effective relationship, a two-pronged research approach was taken.First, qualitative field data were obtained from high-performance coaches and players. Fifteen high-performance players and five high-performance coaches were interviewed using an in-depth semi-structured approach. From these interviews, themes and sub-themes were generated to determine the elements of an effective and/or ineffective coach-athlete relationship. Second, an autoethnography was undertaken by the researcher⎯a top tier softball coach with 30 years of coaching experience at the high-performance level. The autoethnography provided ‘insider information’ in relation to the inner workings of how the coach-athlete relationship functions over time within the high-performance context. As the author and researcher, I am deeply imbedded throughout. These two lines of inquiry were then brought together for synthesis and analysis to conclude the thesis.
The findings indicate that coaches and athletes viewed the relationship as a partnership, with differing roles and responsibilities, rather than an autocracy. This connected with the view that effective relationships were underpinned by the coach identifying with players (rather than to them) as people before players. This was critical as they noted the impacts of the relationship effected the player within and beyond the sport. The attributes and qualities of a coach considered essential for developing and maintaining an effective coach-athlete relationship were displaying professional and ethical behaviours, demonstrating effective and appropriate communication skills on and off the field, exhibiting authentic coaching and people management skills, and applying game and training expertise through the ability to implement and adapt technical and tactical skills in training and game environments. These findings therefore indicate the value in engaging with the individual as a person before the player. They also highlight a disconnect between the education (informal and formal) of high-performance Softball coaches in Australia and in practice, where educative processes are not currently targeting or prioritising these areas in ways that these findings indicate are essential for effective coach-athlete relationships and overarching success in Australian softball. Therefore, this study has implications for coaches, coach educators, athletes, and their families, for Australia to again be a world force in Softball.
| Date of Award | 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Tony Rossi (Supervisor) |