As an Educator, The Evaluation of the Competences of Coaches from the Point of View of the Elite Athletes: The Case of Elite Taekwondo Athletes

Abstract

This study was aimed at identifying the perceptions and assessments of elite taekwondo athletes toward coaching efficacy. The purposeful sample consisted of 77 elite taekwondo athletes who took part in Turkish national teams, won prizes in Turkish championships or prspective promising athletes. The research data were gathered by using the "Athletes' Assessment of Coaching Efficacy Questionnaire", a 5-point Likert type questionnaire that comprises 26 questions and was adjusted to Turkish and developed by Salman (2012) based on the "Coaching Confidence Questionnaire" developed by Feltz et al. (1999). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was .967. The study used the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Barlett's test to explain the suitability of the research data for explanatory factor analysis, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was found .907. To analyze the data, t test, One-way ANOVA and Tukey's test were performed. No significant difference was found between the groups for coaching efficacy belief based on age group and training age (p>0.05). There was a significant difference in favor of men in all dimensions in relation to gender (p<0.05). As for sports career and national team participation, the study found a significant difference between the all groups (p<0.05). According to the results of the study, the athletes expressed their coaches were sufficient in terms of technique and strategy while they had some deficiencies in character building and motivation.