COACHING AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN SPORTS

 Running head: COACHING AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN SPORTS 1
Effects of Coaching and Encouragement in Enhancing Performance in Sports among
Basketball Players
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COACHING AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN SPORTS 2
Table of Contents
Coaching and Encouragement ........................................................................................................ 3
Research Hypothesis................................................................................................................... 4
Coaching and Sports Performance .............................................................................................. 4
Effects of Positive Encouragement in Sports Performance ........................................................ 6
Methods......................................................................................................................................... 10
Participants................................................................................................................................ 10
Procedure................................................................................................................................... 10
Results........................................................................................................................................... 12
Discussion..................................................................................................................................... 14
References..................................................................................................................................... 16
Tables and Figures........................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix....................................................................................................................................... 23
COACHING AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN SPORTS 3
Coaching and Encouragement
It is customary that every team participating in sports to have a coach. This is due to the
widely held believe that coaching influences sports performance. Gearity (2009) asserts that
effective coaching has been linked to winning. It is for this reason that teams in all sports, both
indoor and outdoor games, have coaches in their pecking. Gearity (2009) observes that in
America, winning coaches are idolized both by the public and the American media. It is
customary for winning coaches to grace cover of popular magazines, receive immense airtime on
television and public discussion on their success. For example, it was observed that when Lady
Vols won its millenniumth basketball game, their head coach Pat Head Summitt was reckoned as
a heroine by the media, fans and the entire basketball fraternity. Similarly in the present
American society, winning coaches are held with high esteem, pocketing highest salaries and
receiving other societal recognitions. Due to the crucial role coaches play in molding a winning
team, college teams are spending millions of dollars to attract good coaches. Edwards (2009)
reports that the University of Alabama spent over $4 million dollars to bring Nick Saban who
was at the time the coach of Miami Dolphins, to the University of Alabama NFL team. This was
done in an effort to transfer the winning ways that characterized Miami Dolphins to the
University of Alabama. Similarly, this case applies in other games such as basketball and
athletics. It is therefore imperative to study the role of a coach in facilitating successful sports
performance. This study investigated whether basketball players who received encouragement
and coaching recorded better shooting scores than their counterparts who did not receive
coaching and encouragement or received encouragement only. The study will be of importance
to coaches, academia and sports fraternity on deducing the importance of coaching and
encouragement in enhancing sports performance. 
COACHING AND ENCOURAGEMENT IN SPORTS 4
Research Hypothesis
The experimental research study was guided by the following two research hypothesis:
H0: Encouragement only does not affect shooting scores in a basketball game.
H1: Encouragement only affects shooting scores in a basketball game.
H0: Both encouragement and coaching does not affect shooting scores in a basketball game.
H1: Both encouragement and coaching affect shooting scores in a basketball game.
Coaching and Sports Performance
Afsanepurak, Hossini and Seyfari (2012) acknowledge that superior sports performance,
which is characterized by winnings, is an interplay of various factors. Gillbertson (2000) in
studying factors that contribute to athletic success points out that there are seven factors that
influence athletic success. The seven factors are: a) coach, b) financial resources, c) motivation,
d) creativity, e) goals, f) structure and lastly g) skills (Gillber