Previous research demonstrates the connection between sport and positive youth development (Fraser-Thomas, Cote & Deakin, 2005), noting that coaches can play a pivotal role in athletes' lives. Researchers have studied transformational leadership in coaching literature along with its relationship to athlete development (Price & Weiss, 2011). One component to this concept is individualized consideration, where leaders show care through supporting their followers' individual needs (Turnnidge & Cote, 2018). This study explored what the process of individualized consideration for youth sport coaches looks like and how consideration differs for each of the individuals they coach. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 male minor hockey coaches whose teams consisted of 9-13 year old male athletes. Further, with personal characteristics of coaches influencing the use of effective coaching practices (Horn, 2008), this study looked to explore the individual skills and tendencies of participants. Surveys were completed to provide description of the context and characteristics of each individual coach. This exploratory mixed-methods design allowed for an in-depth look into the experiences of individual coaches, which proved to expand on the aims of the study and provide richer results of the environment of minor hockey. Findings show that participants are attempting to focus on development with individual athletes, however they are constrained by contextual and structural factors of their sport environment.
Read
