Browsing by Author "Landman, Marc Derek"

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    Exploring the perceptions of coaches regarding coach-athlete relationships when coaching Generation Z South African academy level rugby union players
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Landman, Marc Derek; Kraak, Wilbur Julio; Grobbelaar, Heinrich; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Dept. of Exercise, Sport and Lifestyle Medication.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The coach-athlete relationship is not a mere by-product of the coaching process but serves as its very foundation (Jowett, 2005). Coaches and athletes share an interdependent relationship that connects them on emotional, cognitive, and behavioural levels (Jowett & Ntoumanis, 2004). To effectively coach athletes and cultivate strong coach-athlete relationships, coaches must understand their athletes, including their character, their strengths, and weaknesses. In today's landscape, adapting coaching approaches to align with an understanding of the athletes' characteristics is more crucial than ever before. Coaches now face the challenge of navigating a new generation of athletes, commonly referred to as Generation Z or Gen Z (Francis, 2018). Born between 1995 and 2012, these individuals have grown up in a digital age, shaping their character and behaviour (Rosen, 2010; Seemiller & Grace, 2016; Gould et al., 2020). The purpose of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the coach-athlete relationships with Gen Z academy level rugby players in the South African context. Drawing upon the research by Jowett (2005) and Gould et al. (2020), this study aimed to explore the perceptions of coaches regarding coach-athlete relationships, the factors that influence the coach-athlete relationship and will unpack the process of building healthy relationships from the coach's perspective. To achieve this, a qualitative research approach was utilised, capturing the subjective experiences and perspectives of the coaches through interviews. The 11 participants who agreed to be interviewed are highly trained or national level coaches with more than six years of experience at academy level rugby. The information collection process consisted of one-on-one semi-structured over Microsoft-Teams. The interview script was derived from the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) and in the 11 interviews, there was saturation of the elicited information. To analyse the information, Merriam and Tisdell’s (2016) six-step process of analysis was followed. Six main themes arose from the analysis. Theme one described the coaches' perspectives on working with Gen Z athletes. This theme was split up into three sub-themes, the characteristics of Gen Z which the coaches perceived facilitated their development and those characteristics which debilitated their development, and lastly the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the player’s development. Theme two looked at the first C in Jowett’s 3+1C’s model, which was a Closeness between coaches and athletes. This theme was split up into five themes that the coaches perceived closeness to cover: Loving and caring, getting closer, trusting, respecting, and not respecting some players. The third theme covered Commitment between both coaches and athletes. Commitment was broken into three sub-themes, committing personally, committing towards the team and sacrifices that were made. The fourth theme was the third C, Complementarity, this theme covered the sub-themes of goal setting and collectively working towards a common goal. The fifth theme and final C of the 3+1C’s was Co-orientation. The coaches perceived communication and how each party views their relationship with each other were important and became the two sub-themes. The sixth theme was the process of developing the coach-athlete relationship from the coaches' perspectives. This was broken down into the sub-themes of how the coaches can mentally approach developing the coach-athlete relationship and how they can practically build the coachathlete relationship. To conclude, all facets of the coach-athlete relationship are interlinked and have an impact on each other, and the characteristics of Gen Z effect the coach-athlete relationship. The insights from the coaches’ have been distilled into three practical applications. Firstly, working effectively with Gen Z athletes, secondly, cultivating the coach-athlete relationship and finally some key ideas for developing the coach-athlete relationship.