Who Matters? The Perceived Motivational Climates Created by Coaches, Peers, and Team Captains and the Effect on Trait Self-Confidence and Enjoyment in High School & College Athletics

Abstract

Sport is a source of overall well-being in young individuals with regards to health, learning to cooperate, and having fun among other areas. However, the degree to which young athletes are motivated to perform varies greatly based on a number of factors. This study focused on the influence that significant others in the athletes’ lives had on their motivation levels while in sport. Specifically, the study looked at which motivational climate created, coaches, peers, or team captains, had the most significant influence on high school and collegiate athletes. The focus was on the motivational climate’s impact on enjoyment, self-confidence, and resiliency factors when participating in sport. Ninety-five high school and college athletes, ages 13-22, from a high school and college in the Western New York region of the United States completed measures to determine how their enjoyment, self-confidence, and resiliency factors are influenced by the motivational climate created by the aforementioned significant others. The results showed that the most significant predictive relationship was between team captain master climates and enjoyment levels of athletic participation. Future research should be directed at the team captain approach to see if these results can be replicated. These results suggest that team captains, a group that has received little to no attention in the past, can have a significant impact on the sport experience.