Coaches’ implementation strategies in providing social support to Singaporean university athletes: A case study

Abstract

Coaches are effective providers of social support to their athletes. Although sport-specific measures of social support have been developed to better understand athletes’ perceptions of available support, limited amount of research has addressed how sport coaches implement specific social support strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine university coaches’ implementation strategies in providing various forms of social support to their athletes. A total of eight sport coaches from team and individual sports (four from each sport) were purposefully selected for this study. Coaches were individually interviewed. The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. The results revealed that coaches from different sports shared similar strategies across emotional, esteem, informational and tangible dimensions, but with some distinguishable differences in the way these strategies were implemented. In documenting the lived experiences of sport coaches, key strategies valued highly among these coaches were highlighted, providing important implications for coaches to know how to incorporate these strategies into their coaching practice to better support athletes’ well-being and improve the quality of coaching. The findings also provide an implementation framework of social support that emphasizes key strategies for coaches to focus on in their coaching approaches.