Coaching Style Preferences of Division I College and Professional Softball Players

<p>The purpose of this study was to describe the coaching style and leader behavior preferences of softball players. The Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS; Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980) was administered to Division I college softball players and professional softball players from the National Professional Fastpitch league (NPF). Sixty-four softball players completed the Leadership Scale for Sport questionnaire (preference version), 52 Division I college softball players and 12 professional softball players from the NPF. Descriptive statistics revealed that softball players prefer Training and Instruction, Democratic Behavior, and Positive Feedback; players did not prefer Autocratic Behavior or Social Support. Follow-up univariate ANOVAs indicated that Autocratic Behavior was significantly different for Division I college softball players and professional softball players. Pairwise comparisons showed professional softball players significantly preferred Autocratic Behavior to Division I softball players; however, no statistical significance was found when examining coaching style preferences with relation to age and years of experience. Two one-way ANOVAs followed the trend that professional softball players preferred autocratic coaching behavior while Division I college softball players preferred democratic coaching behavior. Thus, female softball players, overall, prefer a democratic coaching style, training and instruction, and positive feedback; however, professional softball athletes significantly prefer autocratic coaching behaviors while Division I college players do not prefer autocratic coaching styles. Age and years of experience were not statistically significant when determining coaching preference, however, a power analysis is needed to reveal the optimal sample size to establish significance. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Education in Recreation and Sport Management (MEd)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Langenfeld, Megan Diane

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dittmore, Stephen W.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Moiseichik, Merry L.
• Elbin, Robert J.

• Leadership
• Sports Psychology
• Sports Management

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-3888