PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean version of Coaching Life Skills in Sport Questionnaire (KCLSS-Q). METHODS Substantive, structural, and external stages were undertaken to address the purpose of this study. At the substantive stage, the scale was translated by discussing with an expert panel and testing item clarity. Ten coaches (9 males, Mage=33.80, SD=4.21) participated in the item clarity test. At the structural stage, descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted. A total of 249 (214 male, Mage=34.18, SD=6.82) and 232 coaches (186 male, Mage=34.26, SD=7.69) participated in the EFA and CFA, respectively. At the external stage, correlation analysis using other scales (emotional intelligence in sport coaching, EISSC) was conducted to examine concurrent validation. A total of 130 copies of the CFA data were randomly extracted and used for this stage. RESULTS For the EFA, the scale extracted five factors with 27 items. In the CFA, however, five factors with 26 items were identified as an appropriate structure. Finally, the relationships of all sub-factors between KCLSS-Q and EISSC were statistically significant in the correlation analysis. CONCLUSIONS KCLSS-Q should reasonably consists of nine items on structuring and facilitating a positive sport climate, five on understanding life skills, four on practicing life skills, five on understanding life skills transfer, and three on practicing life skills transfer. KCLSS-Q can be used as a valid measure to evaluate the coaching life skills of Korean coaches.
PURPOSE This study aimed to apply a capacity building program to sport life skill leaders and to provide cases of this process. METHODS The study participants included four leaders (male=2, female= 2, Mage=37.5) who were managing a sport life skills program at a university. They participated in a capacity building program, which consisted of (a) understanding (leader seminar), (b) application (managing the sport life skills program), and (c) evaluation (leader’s self-reflection), which were conducted in eight sessions. Four leaders conducted self-evaluations using program quality assessment (PQA) during every session, and quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Qualitative data were derived using a cross-case analysis, and quantitative data were used for calculating the effect size after performing the paired t-test. RESULTS Analyzing the reported cases of sport life skill leaders, the use value of the capacity building program was identified. Furthermore, the cases reported by the four leaders enabled observation of how the leader’s capabilities were strengthened. In the paired t-test, the effect size of physical and psychological safety, appropriate structure, supportive relationship, opportunities to belong, support for efficacy mattering, opportunities for life skill building, excluding integration of family, school, and community effort, were all significant. All effect sizes were found to have “very large effects.” CONCLUSIONS The capacity building program played a positive role in strengthening the leaders’ life skill coaching capabilities. These findings have practical implications—chiefly, it is important to strengthen leaders’ or coaches’ capabilities in order to foster life skill development and transfer of student-athletes.
PURPOSE For student-athletes to be able to successfully dedicate themselves to training and competition, the following key factors play an important role: The coach, team climate, and individual motivational characteristics. To test this hypothesis, the structural relationships between having a perceived autonomy support, a caring climate, basic psychological needs, and sport commitment were analyzed. METHODS Participants were 297 high school athletes registered with the Korea Olympic Committee (203 males, 94 females, Mage=17.88 years). Data were collected using sports climate questionnaires for autonomy support, caring climate scale, basic psychological needs scale, and sport commitment measurement. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS The model’s fitness was indicated by x2/df=2.797 (x2=106.288, df=38), CFI=.977, TLI=.967, RMSEA=.078 (90% CI=.061, .096). Examining the various path coefficients revealed that coach autonomy support had a positive effect on the athlete’s caring climate, basic psychological needs, and sport commitment. The caring climate had a significant effect on basic psychological needs, but did not have a statistically significant effect on sport commitment. Finally, basic psychological needs had a positive effect on sport commitment. CONCLUSIONS Coach autonomy support fosters a caring climate, and athletes who are able to perceive this are able to dedicate themselves to their sport since their basic physiological needs are met. Therefore, coaches should use appropriate coaching strategies to enhance athletes' autonomy and foster a caring climate, as both are essential factors for meeting athletes' psychological needs and promoting sport commitment.
