The coach–athlete relationship: a motivational model

The aim of this paper is to present a motivational model of the coach–athlete relationship that describes how coaches may influence athletes' motivation. In line with cognitive evaluation theory (Deci and Ryan, 1980 Deci EL Ryan RM 1980 The empirical exploration of intrinsic motivational processes In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 13 (edited by L. Berkowitz) pp. 39–80 New York: Academic Press [Google Scholar], 1985 Deci EL Ryan RM 1985 Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior New York: Plenum Press [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Vallerand, 1997 Vallerand RJ 1997 Toward a hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 29 271 360 [Google Scholar], 2000 Vallerand RJ 2000 Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory: a view from the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Psychological Inquiry 11 312 318 [Google Scholar]), a motivational sequence is proposed where coaches' personal orientation towards coaching, the context within which they operate, and their perceptions of their athletes' behaviour and motivation influence coaches' behaviours. Also, coaches' behaviours in the form of autonomy-supportive behaviours, provision of structure and involvement have a beneficial impact on athletes' needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, which, in turn, nurture athletes' intrinsic motivation and self-determined types of extrinsic motivation. Here, we first review coaches' autonomy-supportive behaviours. We then describe the psychological processes through which coaching behaviours have a positive influence on athletes' intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivation. Finally, we identify social and personality processes that determine coaching behaviours.